With the idea of social business, Prof. Muhammad Yunus has introduced a new dimension for capitalism: a business model that does not strive to maximize profits but rather to serve humanity’s most pressing needs. In contrast to traditional charitable activities, a social business aims to tackle one or more social problems in a financially self-sustainable way.

While investors may be able to receive their investment amount back, all additional profits will remain within the social business to further address and tackle the underlying social problems. Purpose of the investment is purely to achieve one or more social objectives through the operations of the company; the investors search no personal gain.

A Social Business as defined by Prof. Yunus is an innovative approach to tackle the big social and environmental challenges of our times. It is a powerful tool to create a world of three zeros: zero poverty, zero unemployment and zero net carbon emissions.