Social business: A novel way to do CSR work and fund NGO work
Tuesday, 10 December 2013 00:00
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A novel workshop on the theme of ‘Social Business’ was conducted for the first time in Sri Lanka by Berendina Development Services and the Yunus Centre at the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) in Bangkok from the 3 to 5 December 2013 in Colombo.
The Berendina group, consisting of the Berendina Development Services and the Berendina Micro-Finance Institute; is a Dutch-sponsored not for profit Sri Lankan NGO group working with marginalised communities in Sri Lanka since 2005. Social Business a brainchild of Nobel Laureate Prof. Muhammad Yunus aims to contribute to poverty reduction and sustainable development by promoting, developing and implementing social business ideas and projects.
Social business strives towards fulfilling a social objective/need, but similar to a business it generates its own revenue stream to meet its expenses.
Once social business investors have been repaid their invested capital, any additional profit generated by the business is reinvested in the same or other social businesses. The success of a social business is measured by both the profit made in a given period, and the impact of the business on people and the environment.
LAUGFS Holdings Executive Chairman W.K.H. Wegapitiya was the chief guest at the workshop. The main panellists at the workshop were Yunus Centre AIT Director Dr. Faiz Shah, Yunus Centre AIT Faculty Advisor Dr. Riaz Khan, Yunus Social Business India Co-Founder and Country Director Aarti Wig, Wetlands Alliance Aqua Outreach Coordinator Dr. Theo Ebbers, Berendina Group Chairman Dulan De Silva and Save the Children International Production and Marketing Specialist Steven Rubinyi.
The workshop explored immensely successful case studies on the theme of social business, such as the Grameen Danone nutrient enriched yoghurt product named Shokti Doi intended to combat malnutrition in Bangladeshi children and the Aravind Eye Care System in India; an unique system which cross subsidizes poor patients through payments received from more wealthier patients.
Themes pertaining to the links between a social business and a social enterprise, impact and community investments and ways of financing a social business initiative and the difference between corporate social responsibility and a social business were also explored.
Field visits to successful social business initiatives in Sri Lanka such as YATV, Berendina initiated social business projects in the Yatiyanthota area in Kegalle district were also organised for the participants.
Towards the conclusion of the workshop, the participants in groups were asked to develop their own ideas for a social business initiative and strategize ways of carrying out this initiative. Around 65 participants representing the leading Corporate sector and NGO‘s took part in this workshop. The Sunday Times, Daily Mirror and Daily FT were the official media sponsors for the workshop.
