Abstract

The main purpose of this study is to discuss about social business in our country as well as around the world. The analysis has been started with the overview about social business. This paper analysis various factors of social business that helps to elaborate the present economic theory and how this helps in our economic development as well as global economy. Present condition about social business and some successful stories about this have been included. We try to find out how social business can help to overcome the financial crisis. And at last, we develop a social business plan that helps to engage in social business.

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Overview of Social Business:

Social business is a new concept and its practice is just beginning. It is about total delinking from the old framework of business. Besides it is also about making complete sacrifice of financial reward from business. Our Nobel Laureate professor Yunus is the idea generator of Social business. At this moment it is spreading all over the world very quickly. It is the alternative of free market economic system. Social business is not for profit business. It has no loss no profit. But it has a good idea to come the poverty.

Social Business is a cause-driven business. In a social business, the investors/owners can gradually recoup the money invested, but cannot take any dividend beyond that point. Purpose of the investment is purely to achieve one or more social objectives through the operation of the company; no personal gain is desired by the investors. The company must cover all costs and make profit, at the same time achieve the social objective, such as, healthcare for the poor, housing for the poor, financial services for the poor, nutrition for malnourished children, providing safe drinking water, introducing renewable energy, etc. in a business way. The impact of the business on people or environment, rather the amount of profit made in a given period measures the success of social business. Sustainability of the company indicates that it is running as a business. The objective of the company is to achieve social goal/s.

Objectives:
This term paper is made towards some several objectives or business. These are y y y To find out the real scenario of social business in our country as well as around the world To show the current advantages and disadvantages of social business in Bangladesh as well as world. To pick up the possibility of development of social business.

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Methodology:
This paper has been developed reviewing some current books, journals, reports, and websites. Most of the data have been collected from various websites and sometimes book cited. The project paper is made an attempt to discuss holistic picture of current scenario of social business. Especially attention has been given to financial crisis and social business.

Limitation of the Study:

During our research we run on several difficulties that have limited our study on the topic. At first, all data have been collected are secondary. So, some inconsistence may occur with the real one. Another limitation is insufficient data that have limited our research.

Social Business:
Money is not the only happiness. There is the another kind of happiness that is the whole key word what makes a new form of business social business. The social business might be described as a non-loss, non-dividend company , dedicated entirely to achieving a social goal. (Yunus, 2010) Social business is a venture whose sole mission is to create a positive impact on society through its good or service, and is thoroughly sustainable or covers its costs. All profit is reinvested into the company in order to expand and create a greater impact. As with any market based approach, social business increase their efficiency and quality through competition but on the basic of social impact rather than profit social businesses, by the nature of being businesses, can scale up quickly and solve the world s problem.

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Social Business vs. Profit Maximize Business:

The main objective of profit maximize business is only the pursuits of maximum profit for its owners with little or no consideration for others. In case of social business, everything is for the benefit of others and nothing is for the owners expect the pleasure of serving humanity. (Yunus, 2010)

Social Business vs. NGOs:

An NGO is a voluntary, non-profit organization that operates, contributes to, or participates in, various project on education, training or other humanitarian, progressive, or watchdog activities. They usually collect donations for running programs for disadvantaged or distressed people. By contrast, a social business is designed to be sustainable. This allows its owners to focus not on asking for donations, but on increasing the benefits they can deliver to the poor or to others in society (Yunus, 2010). The power of the social business to endless recycle money gives it potentially for greater impact than even the best run charity.

Social Business vs. Co-operative:

A co-operative is owned by its members. It is run for profit to benefit the members and shareholders. It had clear objectives such as to empower the poor, to encourage selfsufficiency, and to promote the economic conditions. This kind of business runs to maximize profit for its shareholders or owners not for the welfare of others.

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In case of social business, the investors or owners can gradually recoup the money invested, but cannot take any dividend beyond that point. The purpose of the investment is purely to achieve one or more social objectives through the operation of the company, since no personal monetary gain is desired by the investors.

Social Business vs. Social Enterprise:

A social business is a business, where you don t want to make money for yourself, but you solve the problem with the business model. A social entrepreneur may not be involved in a business at all; it could be just helping your neighborhood improving healthcare, helping people to do that in a new way. (The guardian, July, 2011)

Social Business vs. Corporate Social Responsibility:

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) designates a charity fund set aside by a profitmaximizing company to do some good in the local community. CSR programs are mostly used to build a company s image, to promote the idea that the company is a good neighbor or good citizen By contrast, a social business is directly devoted to changing the economic and social situation of the poor or to creating some other social improvement in the world. In a conference, Prof. Muhammad Yunus clear the difference between social business and CSR. Social business is to solve social problems, the other related philanthropy. CSR came from laudable idea but in course of time it drifted away from the core concept because Public Relations (PR) people use it to build the image of the company. (The Daily Star, July, 2011)

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Pioneer of Social Business:

Social business was first defined by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Prof. Muhammad Yunus and is described in his books like Creating a world without poverty social business and the further of capitalism and Building Social Business the new kind of capitalism that serves humanity s most pressing needs. A number of organizations with which is involved actively promote and incubate social business. These include the Yunus Centre in Bangladesh, the Grameen Creative Lab in Germany and the Yunus Social Business Center University of Florence.

Seven principles of Social Business:

The main seven principles of social business are given below:  Business objective will be to overcome poverty, or one or more problems (such as education, health, technology access, and environment) which threaten people and society; not profit maximization  Financial and economic sustainability  Investors get back their investment amount only. No dividend is given beyond investment money  When investment amount is paid back, company profit stays with the company for expansion and improvement  Environmentally conscious  Workforce gets market wage with better working conditions  ...do it with joy

(www.wikipedia.com)

Types of Social Business:

There are two kinds of social businesses: 1. Type i 2. Type ii

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1. Type 1:
A type is a non-loss, non-dividend Company devoted to solving a social problem and owned by investors who reinvest all profit in expanding and improving the business. (Yunus, 2011) For example, Grameen Danone, Grameen Veolia Water, BASF Grameen.

2.Type ii:
A type social business is a profit oriented business that is owned by the poor or other underprivileged parts of society, who can gain through receiving direct benefit. (www.Wikipedia.com) For example, Grameen Bank, Otto Grameen.

Example of Social Business in our country:

1.Grameen Danone Grameen and Group Danone went into a joint venture to create a yogurt fortified with micro-nutrients to decrease malnutrition for the children of Bangladesh. The yogurt is produced with solar and bio gas energy and is served in environmentally friendly packaging. The first plant started production in Late 2006. The 10-year plan is to establish 50+ plants, create several hundred distribution jobs and self-degradable packaging.

2.Grameen Veolia Water Ltd Veolia, a large French Water Company, joint venture with Grameen creates the Grameen Veolia Water Company which brings safe drinking water to the villages of Bangladesh where arsenic contamination is a huge.

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3.Grameen BASF Grameen and BASF went into a joint venture because there are area s in Bangladesh where there is a high risk of catching Malaria (58K newly infected in 2007). The product created is a mosquito net to protect against malaria, which those families would sleep under. Half a million nets have already been produced. The idea of the joint venture was to develop affordable products for the poor that could protect them from deadly diseases. Grameen BASF has also started the production of micronutrient sachets to sprinkle on food, which provides essential nutrients that are missing from the poor s daily diets.

4.Grameen Intel The Grameen Intel Social Business will continue to work on developing IT solutions, to ensure that the bottom income people begin to reap the benefits of information technology. This social business joint venture is between Grameen Trust and the Intel Corporation. The purpose of this new social business is to assist the rural poor by examining their needs and finding an appropriate solution with the use of Information Communication Technology (ICT). This new company will look at how healthcare, commerce, education and economic activity be improved in rural Bangladesh with the help of ICT. This social business will start with Bangladesh but will also aim to help the poor of rest of the world with use of ICT.

5.Grameen GC Eye Care Hospital In 2001, GB established the Prevention of Cataract Blindness Project, which has now become the Grameen GC Eye Care Hospital in Bogra as a social business. A second Eye Care Hospital has now been built in Barisal, in southern Bangladesh, which began operating in April 2009.

Example of Social Business around the world:

social business is a new concept for us but the expansion of social business is not only exist in Bangladesh but also in others countries. There are some companies like Intel, Veolia, BASF, Grameen creative lab so on operating their social business for the betterment of the society especially for the poor people.

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A successful story about social business in our country

Creating Job: Gameen Employment Services Migrant workers from Bangladesh and from elsewhere in South Asia are often badly exploited. Desperate for work, they travel far from home to provide labour wherever the need is greatest, living in barracks or other temporary shelters and sending money to back home to support their hungry families. Under these circumstances, they are vulnerable to serious abuse. Standard of fair pay, decent working condition, liveable housing and healthcare are often nonexistent or difficult to enforce. When the companies run into financial difficulties or go bankrupt, migrant employees may unpaid or suddenly find themselves jobless and without even a plane ticket to return home. (This was the fate of thousands of Bangladeshi construction workers when the economic crash of 2008-2009 brought a sudden halt to the building boom in the Middle East.) To relieve the plight of these workers, we are developing a social business to be called Grameen Employment Services (GES). Like conventional employment agencies, GES will serve as a subcontractor to the large companies looking for a reliable source of competent workers. However, as a social business, GES will pursue policies designed to protect employees and help them enhance their value on the labour market. It will provide language training (so that migrant workers will be better able to contribute effectively on the job as well as to speak up in defence of their own interests.) as well as basic skills training and such services as help with arranging passports, visas, and medical tests. It will also represent the interests of workers in their dealing with employees for example, by making sure that housing and safety conditions are adequate and by guaranteeing that workers receive every penny of pay that is due them. Remittance from Bangladeshi working abroad makes a significant contribution to the country s economy, as is the case in parts of the developing world. GES will help keep this vital source of money flowing to the families and villages that depend on it while also protecting the human dignity of workers whose labour creates it.(Yunus,2011)

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From the above case study, we have got some positive aspects of social business. These are mention below ..

 Social business may be a subcontractor for the skilled workers. Here, GES serves as a subcontractor to the large companies looking for a reliable source of competent workers.

 Social business will pursue policies designed to protect employees and help them enhance their value on the labour market and in the society.

 Social business like GES will provide language training as well as basic skills training and such services as help with arranging passports, visas, and medical tests.

 Social business will help workers keep the vital source of money flowing to the families and villages and that help to protect the human dignity of workers.

Financial crisis and social business:

The financial crisis has shown us more clearly than ever where capitalism fails. The theory of capitalism assumes that entrepreneurs are one dimensional human beings who are dedicated to one mission in their business lives to maximize poverty this interpretation of capitalism insulates the entrepreneurs for all political social spiritual and environmental dimensions of their live. [The Daily Star, March, 2009]. Capitalism is a half told story. By defining entrepreneur in a border way we can change the character of capitalism radically and solve many of the unresolved social and economical problems within the scope of free market. Originally the credit market was designed to serve people s needs. It was designed to provide business men with capital to fund or expand the companies. Overtime, competing financial institutions aimed higher and higher profits in the credit market using cleaver feats of financial engineering. They
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repackaged mortgages and other loans feats of financial engineering. They repackaged mortgages and other loans into sophisticated instruments whose risk and other characteristics where hidden or disguised then they sold and resold these instruments ,earning slice of profit on every transaction . All the while investors eagerly bid up the prices ,scrambling for unsustainable growth blinded by these unrealistically high rates of return never made an effort to question the risks hidden inside those financial instruments . They gambled that the system underlying weakness would never come to light. Our proposal for social business as a panacea for almost all social and economic problems of the world and the challenge is to innovate business made The personal profit based private sector has its own agenda. It comes into serious conflict with the pro poor, pro woman pro environment agenda. Even profit maximizing companies can be designed as social business by giving full or majority ownership to the poor. Once social business becomes are recognized element in the frame work. it can play a very important role in solving the financial crisis, the food crisis, the environmental crisis furthermore , it can provide the most effective institutional mechanism for resolving poverty , homelessness , hunger and ill health . Social business can address all the problems left behind by the profit making business. [Yunus,2010]. Social business can help to overcome financial crisis through y y y y y y y providing employment enabling entrepreneurship providing stability providing technology infrastructure for the poor improving agriculture in the developing countries making globalization work for the poor

Why social business:

The reason is very simple - Humanity . we want to see the world as a better place where  No single person living in poverty.  A world whose oceans, lakes, streams and atmosphere are free of pollution.
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A world where no child goes to sleep hungry. A world where no one dies a premature death from an avoidable illness. A world where wars are a things of the past. A world where people can travel freely across borders. A world where no one is illiterate and has every one has easy access to education through the application of new miracle technology.  A world where the riches to global are available to all.

How to do social business:

In many ways, a social business is like other business. It has employees and managers, customers and suppliers. it offers goods or service at price that it hopes the market place will find attractive .it has expenses to cover, payrolls to meet and rents to pay .all these financial parameters must be spelled out accurately and through fully in realistic practical business plan. So planning a social business is in many ways similar to planning a profit maximizing business. At first we make a business plan that is very important in our business plan the following issues will be included:       What product or service will we offer? How will we produce this product or service? Who are our customers? How many are there? How do they make their buying decision? How can we find out what price they are willing to pay for the product or service will offer?  What is our competition?  What methods marketing distributing, promoting our product or service will we use?  What are the initial capital expenses we must meet in order to launce the business?

Secondly we consider about the financing for the business. Initially we try to finance from our fund. And we will consider some other partner with when launching our social business. These partners may be:
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Another social business. An NGO or charity. An Investors. An technology partner. A production partner . A distribution partner. A monitoring partner.

About Our Social Business plan

Business Name: Computer Training Centre Location: Rashidpur , Lohagara , Narail . Objectives: (a) Addressing the ruler disadvantageous people with technology. (b) To develop the students in computer skill. (c) To introduce the ruler people with internet and modern communication and information system.

Target Customers: Students and unemployed educated people

Competitors: Many recognized computer training canter and profit maximizing private computer training centre.

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About Our Computer Training Centre:

Name :

Details:

Capital

Tk. 2,00,000 Own capital(10*10,000)1,00,000 Donation(NGOs+MNC) 1,00,000

Trainers Total Computers Our training program

2 persons 5 pieces Ms word, Ms power point, Ms excel Internet Browsing and Graphic Design.

Charge for Program:

Name: a. Package -01

Program: Office Application

Charge: 1000

Comment : Which is more than 500 Tk. less than competitor Which is more than 800 Tk. less than competitor Which is more than 800 Tk. less than competitor

b.Package-02

A+ Graphic

2000

c.Package-03

A+ Graphic +I.B

2500

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Capital Recovery: We expect to recover our investment within 5 years. Details about recovery plan are below:

Years: 1st Year 2nd Year 3rd Year 4th Year 5th Year Total

Amount:(taka) 25,000 35,000 40,000 45,000 55,000 2,00,000

After recover the capital, profit will be used to expand our busines

To sum up:
From the above analysis about social business we can finally say that Social business is an indispensible way of making a poverty free world where people will be considered as assets. We salute honorable Nobel laureate Professor Yunus for creating social business idea. Social business is really a good solution to eliminate social problems.Goverment, itself can never remove all social problems, and so business and business personalities should come forward with a view to serving human spirit. When the selfish business world is increasing its wealth sucking the blood of the poor all over the world, Dr.Mohammad Yunus is advocating for a business which will not make the richer rich rather it will not only remove poverty of the poor but also establish them in the society. Social business as a alternative of green or green business in aspects of to make something (product/service) for the society without destruction or harming the common interest of the society or environment

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1. MUHAMMAD YUNUS(2010),Building Social business. 1th edition, Public Affairs. 2. MUHAMMAD YUNUS(2007), Creating a world without poverty.1th edition, Public Affairs. 3. http//www.Yunus center.org 4. The Daily Star, March13, 2009,p.p.4 5. http//www.WIKIPEDIA.com 6. The Daily Star, July 13, 2011, p.p.15 7. The Guardian, July 29, 2011, p.p.8

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