Building Social Business

Building Social Business will teach you how to change the world for the better by starting a company that does good for mankind, giving you all the answers about how they work and how to begin one of your own.

The biggest distinction between a social business and a normal one is that it isn’t about getting as rich as possible. Normally, a company will pay investors as it becomes very profitable. But instead, a social business will pay back investors only what they put in and the rest of the extra profit goes back into the company, helping it reach its social goal.

Yunus makes sure to separate it from some other types of business, like non-profits and NGOs. While they do a lot of good in the world, neither are self-sustaining because non-profits need grants and NGOs run by philanthropic donation. The goal of social business is to still provide a valuable product or service that will make a profit, but give that profit to a cause instead of investors.

Yunus classifies them into two types. In type I, a company makes a profit and does not hand dividends back to investors on a regular basis. Type II is also like a typical for-profit company, but instead of being owned by executives, it is owned by poor people. Doing this allows the profits of the company to go toward achieving the goal of helping poverty.

An example of this is Grameen Bank of Bangladesh. It is run by the poor people and helps them by providing a job, and it helps the poor in the community also by allowing them to take out loans and start their own small businesses that they wouldn’t be able to before.

What most people will tell you to do when you start a business is to find a problem and seek to fix it with your product or service. Your social business should do the same, but it should be looking to solve a social issue in the world today. You can ask yourself about what is needed in your community or what bothers you most about the world today. Then ask yourself if the skills and talents you have can help solve this problem. Yunus says start simply. You may have many things in the world you want to fix but pick one that you have the best shot at helping in, based on your experience. Once you have an idea, it’s time to get investors. Come up with a reasonable and detailed plan for the next five years of the company, including plans for normal ups and downs. Your budget should show revenue that covers all costs and a rainy…