Social Business: A novel way to do CSR work and funding NGOs
View(s):A 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 Bangkok-based Asian Institute of Technology ( AIT) from December 3-5 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 marginalized 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, the local organizers of the workshop said.
“The 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 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,” the statement said.
W.K.H Wegapitiya, Executive Chairman of LAUGFS Holdings was the chief guest at the workshop. The main panelists at the workshop were Dr. Faiz Shah, Director of the Yunus Centre AIT; Dr. Riaz Khan, Faculty Advisor at Yunus Center AIT; Ms. Aarti Wig, Co-Founder and Country Director of Yunus Social Business India; Dr. Theo Ebbers, Aqua Outreach Coordinator, Wetlands Alliance; Dulan De Silva, Chairman of Berendina Group and Steven Rubinyi, Production and Marketing Specialist at Save the Children International in Thailand.
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 – a 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,” the oganisers said.
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 organized 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 NGOs took part in this workshop.