Today we attended the Oregon Social Business Challenge at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, Oregon. Nobel Peace Prize winner Professor Muhammad Yunus gave the keynote address. The event was to convene a statewide competition among university student teams statewide to develop business solutions to challenging social problems. In other words, it was right up our alley.
Professor Yunus is perhaps best known as the founder of the microcredit concept, the extension of small loans given to individual entrepreneurs too poor to qualify for traditional bank financing. And he has gone on to found and advise hundreds of enterprises falling under the structure of what he deems “social business.”
Keynote Highlights
Yunus made a number of interesting points during his speech, specifically when advocating for social business and its advantages in propelling social good. Making the distinction between raising money through traditional fundraising and earning it through social business, he said, “In charity, money goes—it doesn’t come back.” At DePaul Industries, we blend traditional goals of social good—employment opportunities for people with disabilities—with demand-driven business that fulfill our customers’ needs and solve business problems. We leverage the free market system for social change.
According to the Oregon Social Business Challenge website, “The important thing is not to mix up a social business with a profit-making business (PMB). In fact the inclusion of Social businesses alongside PMBs in the business world will give the free market capitalism a larger, nobler and a more fulfilling purpose.” By the same token, Yunus made sure to emphasize that social business isn’t removing traditional nonprofit work, either. There’s room for all of these structures to transform our world. Between nonprofits, for-profits, and social businesses as a blend of both, everyone has a role in improving our societies and achieving social goals. The important thing is to find the most efficient and effective structure in which to achieve your vision.
The event was sponsored by the Oregon University System and attended by such luminaries as Governor John Kitzhaber, Secretary of State Kate Brown, and Mayor Sam Adams. Many thanks to all of the event sponsors, budding social entrepreneurs, and Professor Yunus for such an inspiring and important event.
Visit Oregon Social Business Challenge to learn more!