A reflection by Maria Castillo
“Money makes you happy but helping others is SUPER happiness!” – Professor Muhammad Yunus, Global Social Business Summit 2014
I was born and raised in Guatemala, a small poverty-ridden country where opportunities for most are lacking or close to nonexistent. For as long as I can remember, I enjoyed feeling a part of my community and contributing positively in some way. Whether it was by doing community service or by donating clothing, I felt inclined to address some of the issues I witnessed daily. When I came to Northeastern, I learned about how social entrepreneurship can help alleviate poverty by creating jobs and opportunities for people. I fell in love with it. As such, I was thrilled to get an invitation from Green St., a venture fund dedicated to the implementation of sustainable agribusinesses, to attend the Global Social Business Summit (GSBS) in the Fall of 2014.
The annually held Global Social Business Summit, hosted by professor Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Creative Lab, is a worldwide forum to create awareness about social businesses and to foster discussions and collaborations for new social businesses. The conference hosts several speakers, ranging from businesspeople representing multinational corporations to start-up entrepreneurs, and provides room and time for discussion with other attendees. Each year has a different theme and this year’s theme was “Shaping Social Business to Shape the World of 2020.”
One of my favorite speeches was by McGill University Social Entrepreneurship Professor Anita Nowak. Professor Nowak talked about “the soft side” of social business and the power of empathy. Empathy is essential in creating a successful social business as it engages and drives people to create a change. She believes that when people empathize with others, they can recognize that they share a common humanity. What she describes as empathetic action is exactly what we are taught to do here at Northeastern and at SEI: confront social injustices not as spectators, but as participants fully committed to ending indignity and suffering.
It makes me extremely happy that this year’s conference was held in a Latin American country because social entrepreneurship is still gaining traction in our region. Having so many successful social businesses share their stories with entrepreneurs from Latin America makes me optimistic about the future of social entrepreneurship in the continent.
The Grameen Creative Lab hosts several events to promote social entrepreneurship worldwide. On May 28th of 2015, they will host the Social Business Day in Dhaka, Bangladesh, where attendants can meet with Grameen social business experts and visit local social businesses. The 2015 Global Social Business Summit will be held on November 5 and 6 in Berlin, Germany. If you are interested in attending the 2015 summit, you can apply to attend as a Young Challenger, where you will attend a pre-meeting with students and young professionals under the age of 30 to discuss and develop social business ideas.
Note: the link is to the 2014 Young Challengers Meeting. The 2015 application and GSBS information has not been posted yet.
