Theseus-Attica: A Social Enterprise

A Lesson From History

noreply@blogger.com (netID UK) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 04:26:00 +0000

Coke went public in 1919 at $40 per share. By the end of 1920, the market coldly re-evaluated Coke's future prospects, which battered the stock down by more than 50%. At year-end 1993, that single share, with dividends reinvested, was worth more than $2.1 million. As Ben Graham said: "In the short-run, the market is a voting machine - reflecting a voter-registration test that does not require intelligence or stability - in the long-run, the market is a weighing machine."

Warren Buffett - The Chairman's Letter 1993

Inside Google

noreply@blogger.com (netID UK) — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 08:25:00 +0000

Seen on: YouTube

This documentary gives an in-depth look into the world of Google and search.

Building Social Business Ventures

noreply@blogger.com (netID UK) — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 22:22:00 +0000

Seen on: YouTube

Dr. Yunus shares his strategies for building businesses dedicated to the social good. He describes the founding and structure of Grameen Bank, Grameenphone and other companies he has created to find new solutions.

The Business of Social Networks

noreply@blogger.com (netID UK) — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 06:02:00 +0000

Seen on: YouTube

Social-Networks have impacted millions of lives worldwide. Here's how.

Impossible Is Nothing

noreply@blogger.com (netID UK) — Thu, 22 May 2008 07:27:00 +0000

Seen on: YouTube

Lionel-Messi in an adidas ad. He talks about turning problems to advantages.

Read a Chapter and Pass It On!

noreply@blogger.com (netID UK) — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 22:59:00 +0000

Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty
“I don’t know … there must be a simple way. The borrower comes back with his or her deposit receipt, presents it to the cashier, and the cashier gives back the money. Whatever accounting the bank does is the bank’s business.”

The manager shook his head but did not answer. “It seems to me your banking system is designed to be anti-illiterate,” I countered.

About the Author
Muhammad Yunus was born in 1940 in Chittagong, a seaport in Bangladesh. The third of fourteen children, five of whom died in infancy, he was educated at Dhaka University and was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to study economics at Vanderbilt University. In 1972 he became the head of the economics department at Chittagong University. He is the founder of the Grameen Bank.

Simplicity is the Key

noreply@blogger.com (netID UK) — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 22:55:00 +0000

Excellent example of advertising. The cover of Abbey Road, with its iconic-image of the members crossing the street by the recording studio.

Power of the mobile phone

noreply@blogger.com (netID UK) — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 02:55:00 +0000

Why does poverty still exist despite decades of development aid?

In this talk, Iqbal-Quadir explains why "aid does damages: because it empowers authorities instead of people," and advocates a new approach to development from below, "by the people for the people." His own experience as a child in Bangladesh and later a banker in New York brought him to realize that "connectivity is productivity" -- and that a simple cell phone has enormous power.

Now his telecom company, Grameenphone, offers service to most of rural Bangladesh, creating new opportunities by connecting villages to the world.

When a few cents make sense

noreply@blogger.com (netID UK) — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 03:19:00 +0000

Muhammad Yunus had a great-idea, one that changed Bangladesh and won him the Nobel Peace Prize. Now he has an idea that he thinks could change the way business responds to social problems. His idea is called microcredit -- making tiny loans to those who are unable to qualify for any assistance.

Yunus, a former professor at Middle Tennessee State University, loaned a group of 42 women in a Bangladeshi village about $27 out of his own pocket so they could buy bamboo to make stools and do other work to improve life.

The women paid him back on time, and Yunus and others eventually founded Grameen Bank, which has given collateral-free loans totaling about $6 billion. The bank and Yunus shared the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize. "It's definitely given me lots of visibility," Yunus said in an interview from his office in Dhaka.

"When I talked about microcredit before, people would listen, but now because of the Nobel Prize, they take me more seriously."

Yunus will talk all day about microcredit and the work of Grameen Bank. He used his Nobel Prize lecture to talk about the bank's program to extend interest-free loans to beggars -- the average loan is $12 -- and about how Grameen Bank started a cell-phone service by lending money to poor women.

Grameenphone is the largest cell-phone service in Bangladesh. Yunus calls his new idea "social-business" and is quick to explain the differences between it and a government-run project that might achieve the same goal.

"Government runs with tax money," Yunus said.

"There is no choice. Choice about how the taxes are spent, maybe, but not whether to participate or not. Social business is an option. You can do it if you want to, or not. It is a business, not a taxing authority."

Via The Oregonian

What is a Social enterprise?

noreply@blogger.com (netID UK) — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 17:29:00 +0000

Social enterprises are social mission driven organizations which trade in goods or services for a social purpose. The term social enterprise relates to social entrepreneur, the name originally given to 19th century philanthropic businessmen and industrialists, who had genuine concern for their employees.

Via Wikipedia