This video recorded Dr. Yunus speaking at the University of San Diego.

From Poverty News Blog:

Giving to charity is much like investing
Posted: 11 Nov 2008 08:40 AM CST
A great article today in the New York Times about charitable giving. It talks about George Soros $50 million gift to the Millennium Project. Some quotes are taken from Soros about his gift to the charity.

The article also provides some guidance to would be givers on how to choose a charity. Explaining that some research is needed much like you would research an investment. It reminded us that we should have one of these charity oversight groups on our “get Involved Links” so we will add Charity Navigator later today.

Our snippet from the Times article includes Soros explanation on why he thought the Millennium villages was a worthy charity.
Mr. Soros’s gift was for Millennium Villages, a project of Millennium Promise affecting a half-million people in Africa, where more than 80 villages are operating or are planned in 10 countries: Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania and Uganda. Professor Sachs described the project as community-based development using a three-pronged approach — agriculture, health and education.

Asked why he had chosen Millennium Promise, Mr. Soros, a graduate of the London School of Economics, said, “Watching the Millennium efforts, I thought it was worth taking a risk.”

“My calculation in supporting this is as follows: $500 will move a family out of poverty,” he said. “As a pilot program, it will make a big difference in the pilot villages.” That is the first level of risk, he said, and it alone would justify the expenditure.

The second level of risk is leverage, or the hope that the villages will succeed in setting an example. “It can be a model for bringing about systemic change,” Mr. Soros said, and “if it can be scaled up, it will make a very big difference.”

Often pilot programs do not succeed on a larger scale, he added, but in this case he is hopeful. The government of Mali is very supportive, he said, so it could be expanded there.

Asked how he would advise prospective donors, Mr. Soros said they should “do as much research as possible. Looking at the expense issue is relevant but not decisive.” The humanitarian factor is vital. “There is no substitute for firsthand engagement,” he said.

With an international congress attended by 900 delegates, the GENISIS Institute establishes itself as Think-and-Do-Tank for Social Business and the Free University Berlin creates the first “Grameen Creative Lab” in the world with Prof. Muhammad Yunus.

The news is published in German by journalist Franz Alt here.

This passage from an article on the background of newly elected US President Obama is highly illuminating and shows that he was exposed to micro-finance in an Islamic country early in his life:

In Dreams from My Father he tells of his late mother, Ann, a freethinking and fearless white woman from Kansas who married a black man from Kenya. Barely two years into the marriage, she was left to raise Mr Obama alone, yet she returned to college, studied for an anthropology degree and remarried, to an Indonesian student whom she followed to Jakarta with her son. She worked in Asia running microfinance projects that allowed women to become self-sufficient. “She was very clear that the best indicator of how a country is going to develop is how it treats its women and whether it educates its girls,” Mr Obama recalls.

As I’ve just returned from two magnificent conference days on Islamic Finance and Trade, I can only concur with this article:

World turmoil may spur Islamic finance
Afp, Doha  - The  Daily  Star  Dhaka
Wednesday,  October 29, 2008

The fast growing Sharia financial system may receive a further boost as an alternative to capitalism amid the credit crunch and banking crisis, Islamic academics and clerics believe.

Already said to be worth 300 billion dollars and expanding at 15 percent a year, the Islamic system forbids the levying or payment of interest, preferring shared ownership and splitting of profits.

The global economic meltdown shows “the need for a radical and structural reform of the global financial system. The system based on the principles of Islam offers an alternative which could reduce risks,” Hatem al-Naqrashawi, head of theological studies at Doha University, told AFP.

“Islamic banks don’t buy credit but manage concrete assets… which shelters them from the difficulties that American and European banks are experiencing,” explained Abdel Bassat al-Shibi, managing director of Qatar International Islamic Bank.

Islamic finance is different from capitalism in two main ways. It bans interest-bearing loans, seen as usury, a practice forbidden by Islam, and also forbids speculation. Instead, it favours sharing risks and profits between a bank and a client.

Sharia compliant products include Ijara, a way of buying a house through a lease and subsequent ownership, rather than through a mortgage. Others are Musharaka, the sharing of profits and losses, and Murabaha, under which the seller declares the profit margin being made on the sale of a commodity.

Murabaha is seen as a way of enabling a buyer to avoid taking an interest-bearing loan, though some Islamic scholars say it is too similar to the charging of ‘riba’, or interest.

In the past three decades, the number of Islamic financial institutions has risen above 300, spread among 75 countries. Their total assets are more than 300 billion dollars and are growing an at average rate of 15 percent a year, according to studies.

“The collapse of capitalism based on usury and paper and not on the trading of goods on the market is proof that it is in crisis and shows the Islamic economic philosophy is holding up,” prominent Egyptian-born Qatar-based cleric Sheikh Yussef al-Qaradawi told a recent conference in Doha .

“We have all the wealth… the Islamic nation has all or nearly all the oil and we have an economic philosophy which no one else has,” he said, referring to the fact that Islamic countries, headed by Saudi Arabia, hold a large part of the world’s proven crude oil reserves.

Suleiman al-Audah, an influential Saudi cleric, called for an “international Islamic summit to define the framework and the stages of an Islamic economic alternative.”

Some Islamists admit, however, that this alternative is not yet operational.

“Theoretically, the Islamic economic system offers a complete and solid mechanism… but in practice, the Islamic banking experience is not yet mature, because it offers limited products like ‘Murabaha’,” Audah, a moderate Islamist, told AFP.

His caution is shared by Egyptian Islamist intellectual Fahmi Howaidi, for whom the Islamic system “could bring solutions to certain banking problems but cannot be a magic wand” to end the financial upheaval which is shaking the world.

This is a really good juxtaposition of Muhammad Yunus and Michael Milken on Charlie Rose show talking how the quality of life can change in USA through involvement of people in all aspects of their life.  I am not sure how long is the clip available for watching (37 mins duration) so hurry up!

The language is simple and at humane level, it is wonderful to hear about groups of 8,000 business owners acting as mentors for new businesses in USA.  Hopefully many of them will be social businesses in health care where difference made can be immense.

From the Daily Star, Bangladesh
Time for an Asian social stock exchange
Durreen Shahnaz

As I write this article, the storm in the financial markets continues — stock markets in Asia, Europe and the US all are going through roller coaster rides, people fear bank runs and governments are pulling together trillion dollars worth of rescue packages. In this sadly crazy historic moment, when every current option is looking bleak and governments are busy cleaning up the private sector mess, perhaps it is a good time to look some distance into the future toward a gleam of hope for a kinder and gentler form of capitalism. My suggestion for that is to put together effective regional ’social stock exchanges’ in each continent that can spearhead social good through capital markets. I believe Asia is ripe to take the lead in meeting this challenge.

What is a social stock exchange? It is a stock market where investors who care about social and economic returns buy stocks and bonds of companies that have strong economic and social returns. Interestingly, in a social stock exchange both not-for-profit and for-profit companies can participate. For-profit entities can either issue shares representing ownership in their companies or issue bonds. Meanwhile not-for-profit companies can utilise the stock exchange to issue bonds an action in itself that can bring operational accountability to the not-for-profit sector (as opposed to carte blanch donations from foundations).

Although Professor Muhammad Yunus discusses the idea of a social stock exchange in his latest book, Creating a World Without Poverty, and has been promoting it in lecture circles, the concept is not a new one. There are already several Social Stock Exchanges in operation or in the works, albeit each uniquely different from one another.

BOVESPA in Brazil was the first social stock exchange in the world. It was launched in 2003 with the objective of bringing together non-profit organisations and the social investors who are willing to support their programmes and projects. For BOVESPA investors, the return is solely in ’social profit,’ where the investment brings about a more just society with opportunities for the poor and neglected. By providing capital for the non-profit organisations that list on this exchange and the providing social value for the investors who participate in this exchange, BOVESPA aims to change the labeling of non-profit organisations to ‘Social Profit Organisations’. So far about 43 Social Profit Organisations have raised capital through this exchange. However, trading of stock in this exchange is still a distant goal.

Europe’s answer to social investing is the FTSE4Good. Set up by FT Stock Exchange in London, FTSE4Good is an index for socially responsible investment. The definition of ’socially responsible’ for this index is very broad and covers topics such as: working towards environmental sustainability, developing positive relationships with stakeholders, and upholding and supporting universal human rights. There are about 25 companies in this index. Given FTSE financial requirements, these companies are large for-profit entities which in many cases have very tangential effects on positive social change. Their ’social mission’ often springs from the defensive posture of CSR rather than from a genuine effort to make positive social impact.

In North America, Green Stock Exchange (GREENSX) is attempting to become the Social Stock Exchange for that continent (and Europe). This Canada-based social stock exchange is aiming to launch by end of the year to trade shares in social businesses. GREENSX’s definition of social business is a business that makes a profit but benefits society as well delivering a triple bottom line return (economic, social and environmental return). GREENSX’s goal is to provide small green issuers access to public equity capital efficiently while ensuring liquidity for the investors. The success of GREENSX remains to be seen.

There is obviously a budding global interest in the notion of social stock exchange. Recently, Rockefeller Foundation donated $500,000 to the UK government to pay for a feasibility study for a social stock exchange. The Foundation picked UK as the site for the feasibility study because of the UK government’s support for social enterprises. Existing UK government initiatives include legal reforms for separate incorporation for social businesses and plans for a social investment bank funded with unclaimed assets held by financial institutions.

All this is encouraging in a global perspective; now, how about Asia and, in particular, Bangladesh? Bangladesh is a country that continues to produce remarkable social enterprises, and given the state of the country and the world, it can be expected to keep the pipeline of social innovation flowing. The limiting factor is, of course, capital. Let us move a few degrees east in longitude, and there is a country, which — though a small dot on the map — is wealthy, is a player in the financial markets and is itching to make a mark in social business. This country is, of course, Singapore. Singapore is ready, able and perfectly positioned to be the home of Asia’s first Social Stock Exchange. Bangladesh is ready, able and perfectly positioned to pepper that exchange with very effective social businesses. This is a match made in financial heaven.

Now, what’s the next step? It is very simply for the Bangladesh government to have the vision and desire to initiate a ground-breaking discussion with the Singapore government. Bangladesh is well positioned to make its mark in the next economic revolution of conscious capitalism. It can take its rock star social entrepreneurs Yunus and Abed — and get them to perform the ground-breaking concert for the social stock exchange for its potential partner Singapore.

Thus, my request to the Bangladesh finance ministry use this opportune moment — initiate the courtship and get Bangladesh on the global financial map. We are all waiting.
The writer is the regional managing director of Asia City Publishing Group and adjunct associate professor at Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at National University of Singapore.

On this day of blog action, the following comes to mind:

1. the excellent Poverty News Blog
2. the SlideShare contest on the credit crunch where I shall submit a version of what I presented recently here
3. the invitation of the Treasury Select Committee to send questions regarding what they call the “banking crisis” to bankingcrisis@parliament.uk
4. maybe you’d like to sign our online petition targeted at the Treasury Select Committee? See http://tinyurl.com/666rwd

But nobody has set a better example and achieved better results within the constraints of our capitalist system than Dr. Yunus!

What an interesting initiative: October 15th is “Blog Action Day”. So I have registered this blog and In the Spirit of the Forum for Stable Currencies.

I still think that my most promising initiative is our online petition Stop the Cash Crumble to Equalize the Credit Crunch.

Should you want to participate in Blog Action Day, go here.

UNB, Dhaka - The Daily Star - Sunday October 12, 2008

Nobel laureate micro-finance pioneer Professor Muhammad Yunus has defined the American monetary system crash as ‘financial tsunami in Wall Street casino’ and advised preparing for facing the waves of adverse impacts sent across the globe.

He made the wake-up call in the inaugural session of a two-day seminar on ‘Rethinking Poverty Eradication in South Asia: An Agenda for Inclusive Development’.

Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) hosted the seminar to discuss the first draft of the study on the same topic prepared by the CPD as part of its joint-work programme with the South Asia Centre for Policy Studies (SACEPS) at Brac Centre Inn.

Commerce Adviser Hossain Zillur Rahman and Professor Yunus attended the seminar as special guests.

Chairperson of the Institute of Integrated Development Studies (IIDS), Kathmandu, and SACEPS board member Dr Mohanman Sainju chaired the inaugural session where Professor Rehman Sobhan made his maiden power-point presentation.

Professor Yunus noted that the world economy is in a crisis now, which generated in the US a financial system crash but engulfed the world economy.

“The financial crisis will hit us soon and the poorest people will suffer the most. I hope we are prepared to face the heat,” said the Nobel Peace Prize winner, who now propounds social business as an alternative to the crumbling conventional capitalist mode of economy.

He mentioned that the export-oriented apparel sector and remittance would be the prime affected sectors due to this worldwide financial flu.

But, the Grameen Bank managing director also saw an opportunity to restructure the world financial structure and bring the world financial structure in favour of Bangladesh .

For eradicating the most poverty-intensive area of the world, South Asia, Professor Yunus emphasised collaboration of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) countries and network of highways through its member countries.

He also said that the government should look into the progress in achievement of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as these could be achieved in due time.