SE_Forum: SE-Bar is finally back after the summer break! Listen to guest speaker Lina Stjern from The Fair Tailor. Infohttp://www.se-forum.se/?p=2356 […]
Sustainable Business Executive Education Developing future leaders
The Swedish NGO Social Entrepreneurship Forum (SE Forum) is conducting feasibility study for setting up a new type of management program, a Sustainable Business Executive Education. In April 2009 members from SE Forum will visit Kenya and Ashoka East Africa to investigate possible co-operation. SE Forum have received grants from the Swedish Institute for the feasibility study.
BACKGROUND
Sweden has some of the worlds leading management and business educations, vast expertise and knowledge on business development and world leading companies within cleantech, renewable energy, information and communication technology (ICT) and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). In Sub-Sahara there is thriving entrepreneurship, rapid development within a number of areas and vast needs.
In a think tank established in 2006 by The Swedish Institute of International Affairs and SE Forum good business practice in developing countries were discussed. Now SE Forum wants to contribute to positive development and utilise existing knowledge through a new type of management program to develop future business leaders in Sweden and Sub-Sahara – the Sustainable Business Executive Education.
PURPOSE AND GOALS
The overall purpose for the project is to:
• Combat poverty by contributing to sustainable development in Sub-Sahara
•Develop business and NGO-executives in Sweden and Sub-Sahara and create a foundation for entrepreneurs, new companies and a new generation business leaders to emerge
The overall goals for the project are to:
•Support innovative companies and entrepreneurs in sub-Sahara with compentence, new knowledge, tools, network etc
• Prepare Swedish business and NGO-executives to do more sustainable business and investment in the sub-Sahara region.
FOCUS
The program will combine theoretical with practical training in Sub-Sahara and Sweden. It will be conducted in cooperation with Sub-Sahara and Swedish NGO:s, enterprises and confederations. The program will involve leading management schools and a number of the worlds best lecturers. We believe this new type of program – combining NGO-work, business and social good – will improve all organizations involved.
For more information please contact:
Harry McNeil +46 (0)733 – 312211 harry [at] se-forum.se
In April 2009, representatives from the Swedish NGO, Social Entrepreneurship Forum
(SE Forum) in cooperation with The Swedish Institute of International Affairs (UI), will set out on a learning journey to Kenya and Angola to research and study entrepreneurship with a sustainability perspective in post-conflict regions.
BACKGROUND
In a think tank instigated by UI and SE Forum (financed by Folke Bernadotteakademin 2006-2007) factors and barriers for a good business climate in post-conflict and developing countries were discussed.
SE Forum and UI will now research these factors and barriers further and identify good examples of entrepreneurship in post-conflict countries.
PURPOSE AND GOALS
The learning journey will result in a report and a seminar that will act as a base to further develop and promote social and sustainable entrepreneurship in Kenya, Angola and other post-conflict countries and regions in Africa.
The overall goals with the project is to:
·Increase the knowledge about the role of entrepreneurship in post-conflict regions and lay the foundation for a debate on how Swedish aid and entrepreneurship in post-conflict regions can develop.
·Show examples of social and sustainable companies, businesses and projects in post-conflict regions that have grown and generatet return, and use these to motivate Swedish businesses and investors to increase the interest in investing in new markets.
·Gather general knowledge on how small businesses can grow to become medium and large businesses.
FOCUS
The focus of the research will be to find and study successful examples of entrepreneurship – companies, businesses and projects that have a solid sustainability perspective and have their origin in the region or country. However, valid examples that are of relevance to the research and studies will not be excluded because of, for example, western origins.
On Wednesday 25/2 it’s time for another SE Bar. Speakers this time are eco-toxicologist Magnus Hedenmark (ecoprofits.se) and entrepreneur Mattias Ohlsson who will enlighten us on the philosophy of ”Cradle to Cradle” and how it can turn us into true citizens of the planet and create a waste-free society.
The SE bars take place on the last Wednesday of every month 5.30-7:00pm at restaurant Publik (the top floor of PUB-Huset) in Stockholm.
As always, you will meet other people interested in Social Entrepreneurship and as always, you will meet people from SE-Forum and discuss ways to get engaged in social entrepreneurship. As usual the talk is free of charge and feel free to bring others that might be interested.
Cradle to cradle is a groundbreaking design philosophy created by the German chemist Michael Braungart and the American architect William McDonough. In short it can be described as the idea to create materials, products, industrial systems, buildings or even regional plans with their ”next life” already in mind. This will lead to a waste-free society where obsolete materials are inserted to either a biological or industrial never ending cycle. In extension Cradle to Cradle could lead to a circular economy where humans, industry and nature support each other and where growth even builds natures capacity. Cradle to Cradle has taken Holland with storm. The government as well as multinational corporations endorses the fantastic vision of creating a waste-free society. What can we do in Sweden?
In the Copenhagen Business School auditorium, the humble man in his trademark indian shirt stands waiting for the murmur to subside. Today businessmen, politicians, social entrepreneurs, students and journalists have all gathered here to learn more about the concept of “social business”. The man looking at us, about to speak, is the honored guest and Nobel prize winner Dr. Mohammad Yunus. As he’s done so many times before, he begins to tell the story of his ever ongoing work to create a world without poverty.
“It started almost accidentally”, Dr. Yunus tells us. ”The situation in Bangladesh was so bad you just had to take action. I wanted to react, even if it only meant to help one human being, just for one day.” In the beginning, his goal wasn’t set higher than that. At that point, he made a list of people that he met on the streets on his way to work every day, fellow citizens that were in need of monetary support. He concluded that there were a total of 42 individuals that were in need of a mere sum of 27 dollars. If they could, between them, get that small amount of money it would mean that they would be able to get rid of the loan sharks that profit on the poor sending them down the negative debt spiral. Yunus went with his newly found conclusion to a local bank and asked for help. The bank manager wasn’t impressed. He didn’t want to have anything to do with the business of lending money to poor people. The bank manager explained that, in fact, a bank cannot lend money to poor people because they will not be able to pay the money back. Mohammad Yunus didn’t agree. He also argued that not even one percent of Bangladesh’s population are able to borrow money with the existing rules. But the bank wouldn’t budge.
So, Yunus borrowed the small amount of money himself and lent it to the poor people on his list. The result was very uplifting, every single individual who had borrowed money from him was able to pay the money back, and furthermore, did so with great pride and gratitude. Time after time, Yunus went back to the bank and showed them the good results. More people in need of small loans came to Yunus. After a while he thought, “If the banks refuse to grant the poor people small loans, why don’t I create a bank of my own?”. Everyone he spoke to said it was impossible, but he was convinced it would work and after many months of paperwork Grameen Bank was finally up and running. The main idea was that the bank would actually be owned by the poor themselves. Now, he set a new goal, Yunus wanted half of the loan-takers to be women simply because it was the women who usually did the shopping and made sure that bills were paid in time. However, traditionally the men were the ones in charge of the family’s money. Everyone said that it would be impossible to reach the goal of 50/50, not least the women themselves. “I don’t handle money” was the usual reaction when Yunus tried to persuade a woman to be the loan-taker in the family. Yunus argues that that wasn’t the woman speaking, but the voice of history. Ahead of him then lay the work of building confidence in the women. If only one woman succeeded, he thought, others might become curious and dare to take the step. Yunus did eventually convince a woman to be in charge of the loan and as expected, with her came the others.
After six years the Grameen bank reached the 50/50 goal between men and women. Yunus then quickly decided to focus entirely on women because they did a great job at taking care of the money and helping their families to get out of poverty. Today 97% of the loan-takers are women. These women have a new confidence in themselves. They have all contributed to the fact that as of last year, 65% of the families have crossed the poverty line. As the families started to have a functioning economy, more and more of the children were able to go to school. Today almost every child is enrolled in a school. These children, the poor peoples children, are almost always among the best students in their classes. As of today, Grameen Bank has issued 60.000 student scholarships and granted 32.000 students educational loans.
When it comes to running a social business, Yunus claims, you should be able to recoup your investment money, but not more than that. Traditionally, the concept of business is profit maximization and according to Yunus, that is something that has to change. We need to be a lot less selfish in the way we build businesses. After the success of micro credit banking, Grameen has started many other social businesses. One example is Grameen Shakti aiming to provide Bangladesh’s rural households with green, affordable energy. So far over 200.000 “solar home systems” have been installed. Yunus already has many other enterprises up and running (see links below) and new ideas keep on coming. The next big ones are about yoghurt and fresh water. To help millions of impoverished children in Bangladesh Grameen has partnered with the french dairy company Danone and plans to build a large number of small and local but high technological yoghurt factories across the country. There, vitamin-enriched yoghurt will be made from local farmer’s milk and sold and consumed within days. No need for long transportations and preservatives. The water company, also created in partnership with a french company, Veolia, has a new approach to selling water. The water won’t be bottled in fancy, expensive bottles. Instead, fresh water will be sold by the liter from a tap. The customers bring their own containers and ten liters of water will cost one (1) penny. Yunus explains how he then wanted to produce a environmentally friendly container. The result is a newly developed cup, which is edible, made of corn starch. After listening to Mohammad Yunus’ amazing story, SE Forum’s representatives in Copenhagen left the conference with a feeling that it’s very possible to create a world without poverty. If we just dare to have a mindset that anything is possible. And not to listen to the voices saying “It can’t be done”. And keep in mind Mohammad Yunus powerful statement: “Poverty is not created by the poor”.
Further reading:
Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism (book)
SE Forum is establishing a new management program – the Sustainable Business Executive Education.
Sweden has some of the world’s leading management and business educations, vast expertise and knowledge on business development and world leading companies within cleantech, renewable energy, information and communication technology (ICT) and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). In Sub-Sahara there is thriving entrepreneurship, vast needs and rapid development within these areas.
SE Forum wants to contribute to the positive development and utilise existing knowledge through a new type of management program to develop future business leaders in Sweden and Sub-Sahara – the Sustainable Business Executive Education.
The target group is future sustainable business and NGO-executives.The overall purpose is to combat poverty by contributing to sustainable development in Sweden and Sub-Sahara. We want to develop business and NGO-executives in Sweden and Sub-Sahara and create a foundation for entrepreneurs, new companies and a new generation business leaders to emerge.
Our goals are to develop competencies and tools for handling challenges on important individual, organisational and societal areas. We want to support innovative companies and entrepreneurs in sub-Sahara and prepare Swedish business and NGO-executives to make more sustainable business and investment in the sub-Sahara region. This is of great importance for sustainable development in Sub-Sahara.
The Executive Education will combine theoretical and practical training in Sub-Sahara and Sweden. The program will be conducted in cooperation with Sub-Sahara and Swedish NGO:s, enterprises and confederations.The program will involve leading management schools and a number of the worlds best lecturers. We believe this new type of program – combining NGO-work, business and social good – will improve all organizations involved and contribute to the greater good.
Welcome to contact us if you want to contribute, cooperate or involve yourself in the work with the Sustainable Business Executive Education. harry [at] se-forum.se
