Eugenio La Mesa's Blog on Social Business

Interview with Holly Mosher for Bonsai movie on Social Business

I've had the pleasure to interview Holly Mosher, an award winning filmmaker who brings socially conscious films to the public. She is the maker of the documentary film Bonsai Movie

When you first heard of Prof. Yunus?
I first heard about Prof. Yunus when it was announced that he had won the Nobel Peace Prize.  

Bonsai Movie Trailer

What is the movie about?
Bonsai is a documentary that follows not only his microcredit but also his work with social business.  
The film start with me following a new bank branch being set up, so that I can follow new borrowers getting their very first loans, as well as seeing what it took for Muhammad Yunus to start this work over 30 years ago.
It was exciting to see first-hand how their lives change over the course of a year.  

I also weave in and out of his companies. When one of the borrowers, Shahnaj, mentions how she lost her son to tetanus after he stepped on a chicken bone in the field after the storms, that’s when the film flows into telling why he opened a healthcare company.  You understand the link between poverty and illness and the deep impact on people’s lives.
Additionally, I also follow two women in the struggling member (beggar member program) as well as Aroti, a successful borrower, who has been with Grameen for over 15 years and now sits on her local village council. 
The film has a deep underlying message of women’s empowerment and how microcredit is an important tool. 

The film also shows Yunus’ trajectory into other fields and you can see what he saw – that just as these people lacked access to financial services, they also lacked access to other things we take for granted from electricity to cell phones.  All of these things that we take for granted are also really appreciated and as useful for the poor.
The film will also leave the viewer feeling as if they themselves have taken a trip to Bangladesh.

Why the name is Bonsai?
When I heard his analogy of how poor people are bonsai people, I was deeply moved.  His analogy goes like this:  if you take the seed of the tallest tree in the forest, a beautiful tree, and you plant it in a flower pot it won’t grow as tall, a bonsai tree.  The same is for people, everyone has the full capacity, but their roots have been potted.

Why you decided to make this movie?
After reading the article on his receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, I immediately knew that I just had to go and make a film about his work.  It mentioned that he was helping 6.5 Million women at the time, and we have 6.5 Billion people on earth, so I quickly did the math and realized he was literally helping 1 out of every 1,000 people on earth – and with just his bank. The funny thing was when I mentioned this to him, he ever so humbly pointed out that each of his women actually represents a family of five.  So needless to say, his work is directly helping 1 out of every 200 people on earth.  And now they are at 8.5 Million borrowers.  
And again, this is only counting his work with microfinance.  His other companies are doing so much for people.

What were the most interesting things you learned?
The most exciting thing to see was the simple ways this work affected people’s lives.  I saw the women gaining confidence and their voice.  I saw them being proud of their capacity to make money.  I saw that one thing several women said was that they simply learned to keep their homes cleaner, which of course helps with sanitation and health. And I saw that they got toilets.  
Additionally I was impressed to see that he is really doing his best to tackle poverty from all angles.  As a professor, he looks for the root cause of problems and tries to teach people ways to solve their problems in a way that is self-sustaining.  

Thanks Holly for your time!
To know more about the movie: web site and Twitter.

Interview with Samantha Caccamo, Social Business Earth founder

  
I've interviewed my friend Samantha Caccamo, founder and CEO of Social Business Earth. In the last 2 years, I've met and talked to her several times both in Italy and abroad at Social Business events.

What is Social Business Earth (SBE)?
Social Business Earth is a social business centre that is committed to educating youth on social business and inspiring people to create new social businesses to tackle poverty and the world’s most urgent social problems. We offer Social Business Workshops in institutions at all levels and organize events on social business. In addition, we provide consultancy to companies, NGOs, investors, entrepreneurs and private individuals on best practices of social business according to the principles of Professor Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Laureate.
One of our main objectives is to also involve the arts and culture in social business. We support and assist anyone who is willing to create a social business, on the condition that they will strictly follow Professor Yunus’ principles! We have many projects in the works and we will post our social business events on our website so stay tuned!

How did it start and why you are doing it?
The idea came to mind after I had the honor and the privilege to meet Professor Yunus several years ago in Europe. Subsequently, I travelled to Bangladesh to learn more about his work. It is mind boggling how one man has been able to change the world and achieve so much. He has done more for the poor than any of us will ever be able to achieve in our lifetime. I was immediately struck by his vision to create a poverty-free world and his concrete ways to achieve this goal when I first heard him speak at a conference. I have always been involved in social problems through NGOs etc. but I believe that social business is one of the most effective tools to solve such problems and create a more complete and inclusive capitalism. 
Capitalism today is a half-done structure and needs to be reviewed.  The marketplace should not only be for those who are interested in profit, leaving no room for the selfless dimension of human beings. Altruistic motivation can be brought into the business world through social business. I suggest you all read Professor Yunus’ Adam Smith lecture that can be found on our website and Professor Yunus’ most recent book “Building Social Business.”

Social Business Earth stems from my strong belief that through social business we can address some of society’s most urgent problems that are currently causing a lot of needless suffering to people for no fault of their own. We have a team of skillful, dedicated and energetic people who work professionally and efficiently to make the world a better place utilizing social business. I believe that eradicating poverty in the world is possible and I am committed to this cause through my work with Social Business Earth.

Which are the main hurdles?
It’s too early to say what the main difficulties are in our work. The social business movement is spreading and gaining ground but it’s a very new concept and it takes a while for people to understand it well.  I think that new laws and regulations should be written by legislators on social business. They are missing at the moment and this can create problems.

Normally people in power who feel threatened by change agents like us constitute the biggest hurdles in our work. Look at what is happening now in Bangladesh with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina trying to abruptly remove Professor Yunus as Managing Director from Grameen Bank, the bank he created in 1983 that provides small loans for income generating activities to lift poor people out of poverty.  He was jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize with Grameen in 2006. The disrespectful way in which the government of Bangladesh is treating Professor Yunus clearly shows its malicious intent based neither on the interest of millions of poor borrowers of Grameen Bank nor on the interest of its better management. This is a political and personal vendetta by the government against Professor Yunus and we hope that they will stop this tirade against him soon. His dismissal is politically motivated and part of a long campaign to take over Grameen Bank. 

Millions of people stand united in support of Professor Muhammad Yunus in this difficult moment.  I have no doubt that he will continue his work for the poor relentlessly and regardless of the court’s ruling. I stand by him and support him wholeheartedly. He is without a doubt an economics genius, a humble and genuine man who spent his whole life working for the poor. He deserves to be treated with respect.

I encourage all readers to support him and sign our petition which can be found here. 

Which are your goals for the next years?
To create new social businesses that will improve the state of the world, bring benefit to the poor and empower women. To accomplish this with skill, love and happiness.

What kind of world would you like to build?
Here is my wish list (please note that this list was compiled on July 11, 2010 and since then one wish has come true: the release of Aung San Suu Kyi on November 13, 2010, an historic day that brought much joy all over the world).

- No more poverty
- Healthcare for everyone
- No more wars or any kind of violence
- Cars, planes, houses and buildings that work with sustainable energy
- No killing of animals to eat them or to make products out of them (I am vegetarian)
- Less PMB (profit maximizing businesses) and more SB (social businesses)
- A world in which people look deeply within themselves and nourish their seed of selflessness and loving-kindness. As a result they act for the benefit of all living beings, transforming their feelings of anger, jealousy, envy and other negative emotions not to damage others.
- Gender Equality. Women are in power as much as men.
- Respect of human rights and no racism
- No more prostitution
- No more child and human-trafficking
- No more recreational drugs and alcohol
- No more unemployment
- No more incurable diseases
- Free Aung San Suu Kyi
- People are mindful of our Mother Earth and the environment and live in such a way not to damage it

It all starts with us. We should not wait for the government or anyone to fix problems. We can do it with social business.

Thank you Samantha for your time and good luck with your social business projects!

Interview with Prof. Cam Donaldson (Yunus Chair in Social Business & Health) on health-care in ASIA

I've had the pleasure and the privilege to interview Professor Cam Donaldson, Yunus Chair in Social Business & Health at the Yunus Centre for Social Business & Health of the Glasgow Caledonian University.
I first met him in November 2010 at the Gloobal Social Business Summit in Germany, and we had a phone conversation a few days ago.

When did it start?
Prof. Yunus visited Scotland in 2008, and he was very touched by what he saw in Glasgow, and he decided to bring Grameen to Scotland.in July 2010 we started the Yunus Chair in Social Business & Health.

What do you study?
There are many gaps in the health  and health conditions of people living in more-advanced economies. These gaps are persistent and are still wide between richest and poorest. I study how micro-credit has an impact on health of people, to improve their life conditions.

What do you think of a Social Business used directly for health-care?
In most Western countries, health-care is provided by the government to everybody, while in Asia the degree of this is less so.
So I think that Social Business, with the cross-subsidisation business model (where wealthier people pay more, and the gross margin is used to cover the cost of the treatment for poor people) has a great potential to enter in the health-care market in Asia, where most insurance companies might not interested to step in.

The Social Business model can also be used in health-care in western countries, and in the UK something is happening in that area.

In 5-10 years, what it going to be the impact of Social Business in health-care in Asia?
I wrote a paper on this subject; in most developing countries there is a new growing middle-class, but there is a long way ahead before we will have a universal health-care system provided by the government using taxpayers money. So, what are those in most need of care to do in the meantime whilst governments cannot afford to cover everyone and conventional insurers do not seem able or willing to enter the market to provide services?
Social Business like Grameen Kaylan, Grameen Eye Care Hospital and Cure Thalassemia enter the market, giving medical services to people who need them. So I see a great potential and impact.

Do you see any risk?
There are some companies and/or entrepreneurs who are entering this market mainly to make money, and not to accomplish the social mission. A threat, similar to that of microfinance, is that, with original health care social businesses showing that this model can work, those who wish to make money might follow them into the market. That's why I think that is is important that the health-care social business follows the 7 principles of Social Business of Prof. Yunus, where the main goal is not profit maximization.

Cure Thalassemia will charge the same price of for-profit hospitals. It has Prof. Lucarelli (the inventor of the Bone Marrow Transplantation from matched donor, and a worldwide authority in the cure of Thalassemia) as scientific advisor, and Pietro Sodani (who works since 10 years with Prof. Lucarelli, and has invented the Bone Marrow Transplantation from mismatched donor) as co-founder and scientific coordinator. What do you think of this business model?
I think that is very effective, because 

• the thalasemia children will be cured by a team of doctors who are the best in the world, and their parents will pay the same price that they would pay elsewhere. 
• Furthermore, since it is Social Business, the parents know that their money will also be used to pay the cost of the cure to a children who can't afford it or to further expand the range of services offered. 

It is a win-win situation.

Thanks again to Cam for his time. 

Grameen Italy: interview with Luisa Brunori, Vice President

I've interviewed Luisa Brunori, Vice President at Grameen Italia, and the promoter of this very nice company. I first met Luisa 1 year ago at the Grameen Global Meeting, and since then we have been in touch and we met at some Grameen events. I''m also going to meet her again to see how can I help for online marketing and social media.

What is Grameen Italia?
Grameen Italy is a Foundation and a public limited company that will provide micro-credit to poor people in Italy. The work will begin in Bologna where it was done the feasibility study and in Modena. Then the geographical range of activity will be expanded along with development plans that will gradually possible. It comes from my idea and it is constituted by an agreement between Grameen Trust, Università di Bologna and Unicredit Foundation. Unicredit Bank is involved in the project  and it will be part of SpA, together with Grameen Foundation. The choice was made on the basis of established relationships between the University of Bologna and Unicredit which manages the Treasury.

When will it start?
The Foundation has already been recognized by the competent bodies. Our  hope / plan is to be operational or the end of this year or early next year. It’s depend on the time necessary for the conduct of all practices that are too numerous and complex because of the nature of the project. We hope that  the new rules of the TUB (Banking Act) on micro-credit to facilitate the realization of our work.

Which are the goals of the first year?
Those objectives that Grameen has had at its birth as well as those who have led Grameen America. Obviously the experience multidecennal will be teaching to the application. Anyway, we will find the interplay between Grameen model and what we might call "genius loci", or  a social relational context sensitive enough to the traditional cooperative arrangements in general.

There will be the involvement of Grameen Bank?
Yes of course, and it will be very significant from the point of view of the model both in terms of responsibility ,that, according to the agreement, it will be strongly focused on their expertise and their operators who will be here on the basis of a project of some years of work.

What is your role?
I'll be the Vice-President of the Foundation. The university, for its institutional reason, cannot enter into a partnership in which there is "business risk". This is the reason for creating the foundation that allows us the presence of Unibo, precisely because of the fact that the original idea as the main report with Yunus correspond to my commitment and responsibility and I am Professor at the University of Bologna .Also, you can add that the raison d'être of the foundation is to implement all that work to outline, research and monitoring and training that is necessary for the development of microcredit in Italy and the philosophy that underlies it.

Which are the main variables in MC, why so much sucess and why your involment?
I have been attracted by MC experience exactely for its complexity and the ability/intuition of the inventor to put together both sides of human relations: tangible and intangible. Money should be seen as a  mean to transform what is shame into pride basically: in other words helping the human side of human beings to be revealed and expanded for the benefit of both the individuals and their community. I have a dream that this phylosophy could be developped at great extent and could become the main stream of economy and human relations. This is mainly the reason for me of the success of this fantastic idea and for me  to be involved in this  journey! You might say it is Utopia: I say it is hope.

 

Who is Luisa Brunori
I am Full Professor of  Group Psychodynamics of Unibo. Founder of CIRIG (Interdipartimental Center for Research and Intervention on Groups) and of  MIO (Microfinance International Observatory) where Prof. Yunus is Honorary President. Bascally I am psychologyst always interested in the group dimensions of individuals and in the importance of the relations between individuals and the society. As a researcher I have been working in the field of the importance of sibling relations in the construction of the psyche and in family relations. I have worked in the field of marginality applying group analysis in prison, in the field of multiculturality and volounteers. I have been in the BoD of the main International bodies of Group Associations both in the clinical and in the developmental field.I am past President of the Group Analytic Societ, London: culturally leader in the group analytical field.
Actually my research interest goes through the "economy of the group" as it is applied in the Microcredit Grameen model trying to elaborate the intertwining between tangible and inangible sides of microcredit and the implementation of social/civic capital through money: /"money for peace"/ in some way.