News

Yunus Centre Press Release (26 March, 2019)

Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus was in Manila, Philippines recently for the Social Business Youth Summit and for a book tour of "A World of Three Zeros".

He delivered the opening speech at the Social Business Youth Summit organized by Social Business Youth Alliance which took place at the De La Salle College of Saint Benilde in Manila with a call to the young people to take the lead in creating a new civilization, where the safety of the planet is ensured and the full potential of human beings is realized through entrepreneurship and social business.

On the same day, a MOU signing ceremony took place with Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus, and Dr. Faisal Alih, Chancellor of Foundation University. This became the first Yunus Social Business Centre in the Philippines. The Foundation University is located in Demaguete City in Negros Occidental, 500 km south of Manila. This is the 70th YSBC in the global network, bringing the total of participating countries to 30.  This YSBC will incubate and invest into Social Business with support from Negros Women for Tomorrow Foundation, Inc. (NWTF). NWTF is a non-government organization founded in 1989 committed to the fight against poverty by providing Grameen-based micro financing and developmental services to the marginalized urban and rural poor of Central Philippines.

On the second day of the Summit, a microfinance forum was held which included a keynote by Professor Yunus about the Future of the Microfinance Movement and a keynote by Aris Alip the founder of the largest Grameen Inspired MFI in the Philippines, CARD Bank that reaches 6.5 million members across the islands.

There was also a Panel on “Integrating Social Business in the Micro Finance Institute (MFI) Movement” where the main stakeholders of microfinance movement in the Philippines participated in a discussion with Professor Yunus. All leading MFI’s in Philippines including CARD, ASHI, NWTF received funding from Grameen Trust in late 80’s. The largest MFIs in the Philippines were present at the Summit for this special forum on microfinance. Currently there are 57 Grameen inspired MFI replicators in the Philippines including 16 Grameen Trust partners, which reaches 8 million families all throughout the Philippines.

Other speakers at the Summit included Peter Hunt, Chairman of Grameen Australia, Katrina Dunn, CEO of Grameen Australia, Akkie Okma, Executive Coach & Counselor of Okma Advice, Raymond Patrick S. Serios, Assistant Director of Administration & Strategic Projects, Lamiya Morshed, Executive Director of Yunus Centre, Prometheus Siddiqui, Group Projects Director of Grameen Australia, Léa Klein, Asia Director of Makesense, Dominique V Dauster, Managing Director of Yunus & You – The YY Foundation, Brother Dennis Magbanua FSC, President of De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde, James Centenera, Co-founder of The Ultimate Learning Accelerator (TULA), Abi Mapúa-Cabanilla, Director of Benilde Hub of Innovation for Inclusion, Tq, Antiqueno, Community Management Head of Benilde Hub of Innovation for Inclusion, Shiela Marie, Ladroma, Foundation Program Manager, Atlassian Foundation, Pia Tayag, Managing Director of The Central Bank of Philippines, and Sarah Gregorio, Curriculum Head, Bagospere. 

At the end of the summit, Professor Muhammad Yunus gave his closing keynote speech as the keynote speaker, and reminded the young people about danger of artificial intelligence, wealth concentration, and environmental threat. He urged the audience to create a world of three zeros --- zero poverty, zero unemployment, and zero net carbon emissions.

During his stay in the Philippines, Professor Yunus also spoke at book events at the Future Cities Summit, the Makati Business Club, at the Australian New Zealand Chamber of Commerce and with MakeSense, a global youth focused organization promoting social business.

He also addressed a keynote and book event at the prestigious Asian Institute of Management which also gave a letter of intention to Yunus Centre to begin a Yunus Social Business Centre at their institution.  The event of SBYS 2019 was organized by Social Business Youth Alliance, Grameen Foundation Australia, De La Salle College Saint Benilde with support from DFAT and Negros Women for Tomorrow Foundation together with other organizations.  

The visit ended with a grand reunion dinner hosted for Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus by the inspirational women running Negros Women for Tomorrow Foundation and Dungganon Bank, a Grameen replicator in Negros Occidental. A 40 member team came from the island to join the Summit and this dinner. Corazon Henares and Suzzette Gaston, Co-Founders of NWTF presented Professor Muhammad Yunus with a photo, printed on canvas, taken during his first time to Bacolod visiting the house of a borrower and her children in 1989.

A photo is of Professor Yunus in Bacolod with a borrower of Negros Women for Tomorrow Foundation and her family members in 1989. NWTF currently reaches 500,000 clients, 99 % of which are women.

MoU signed to establish the first Yunus Social Business Centre in the Philippines at Foundation University in Demaguete City in Negros Occidental by Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus, Chairman at Yunus Centre, and Dr. Faisal Alih, Chancellor at Foundation University.

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