Yunus meets Canada Finance Minister, addresses social business meetings in Ottawa and Toronto
Yunus Centre Press Release(2 October, 2016):
Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus had an hour long meeting with the Canadian Finance Minister Bill Morneau who visited him at his hotel on last Friday. They discussed about development strategies including the role of social business. Professor Yunus suggested that some part of development aid could be exclusively devoted to financing social business initiatives ie sustainable enterprises that address social needs while unleashing the creative energies of the communities. They talked in particular about Yunus Social Business initiatives in Haiti and Africa where funds have been created to support social businesses in those countries with very good results. They also discussed about developing entrepreneurship programs for aboriginal communities in Canada following the Nobin Udyokta program in Bangladesh to engage the unemployed youth in those communities to create entreprises that bring income for themselves while also generating employment for others. Mr Morneau thanked Prof Yunus for the meeting and also talked about prospects of big Canadian companies operating in poor countries to create social businesses to help overcome their problems.
Earlier in Ottawa Professor Yunus addressed the One Young World Summit audience of 1,300 young people on how they can change the world by challenging the conventional wisdoms that getting a good job is the purpose of life. He said human beings are entrepreneurs and by creating their own enterprises they discover themselves and create new centres of sharing the wealth, rather than working for companies that merely make those who are rich richer. He talked about his own vision of a world with three zeroes - zero poverty zero unemployment and zero carbon emissions - and how the power of youth would be an important force for achieving those goals together with the power of social business and technology.
Professor Yunus was joined on stage by ten members of youth delegation from Bangladesh who were selected through a competitive process by Yunus Centre to attend the One Young World Summit in Ottawa as part of his delegation. They each told the audience what they hoped to do in future to make an impact in Bangladesh and the world.
In Toronto. Professor Yunus was a chief guest of the Toronto International Microfinance Summit (TIMS) and delivered a keynote address at a gathering of 150 participants made up of microfinance practitioners, business persons academic and others. He also addressed a meeting of Rotary in Toronto and shared about his work in social business in Bangladesh and around the world.
Photo Caption 1: Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus with Canadian Finance Minister Bill Morneau who visited him at his hotel during his visit to Canada.
Photo Caption 2: Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus with Canadian Finance Minister Bill Morneau who visited him at his hotel suite during his visit to Canada.
Photo Caption 3: The ten young leaders selected by Yunus Centre on stage with Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus in front of 1300 delegates at the One Young World Summit in Ottawa, Canada
Source: Yunus Centre
Updated Date: 19th January, 2017