Global Social Business Summit 2017

Creativity Shows What Comes Next

Dear companions of the Grameen Creative Lab & Friends of Social Business,

The past years' developments have posed extreme challenges for us humanists. As co-founder and managing director of the Grameen Creative Lab (GCL), I have experienced firsthand, along with many social entrepreneurs, the effects of systemic pressure and global crises.It's hard to accept, especially considering our goal of shaping the interpersonal realm in a loving and peaceful manner. Yet, I now keep asking myself: Do we really want a world without all-encompassing loving solutions? Under the pressure of time and these circumstances, I was compelled to take a difficult decision. In December 2023, I filed for discontinuance of Grameen Creative Lab GmbH as a German-registered entity. This for me represents a significant burden, and it is a challenge for GCL colleagues. But I'm happy to see that the radical systemic change being ushered in by social business entrepreneurship continues to become more vibrant.

For the past 16 years, GCL has worked to initiate tens of thousands of projects that touch a billion people every day. Yes, a billion individuals, whose lives have changed in large measure because of GCL's creativity.

This work will continue. I am now working with committed colleagues to transition the Grameen Creative Lab to a new home-base, with renewed momentum and direction. Once the transition is complete, GCL will remain the platform for ideas, projects, and social business solutions as it always has been. What will change is that GCL's work will be even more aligned to the needs of these challenging times, the strengths of our global community and the depth of our human connections, which are vibrant as always. I am deeply grateful for the support of our volunteers, the incredible spirit of our team members, and the contributions of all employees, whose full commitment have contributed to achieving so many successes. The countless comrades at my side, each of whom has grown beyond themselves, as well as the unconditional partnership with the agency Circ, who themselves have become entrepreneurs, represent for me one of the most beautiful forms of Return on Investment.

Everyone is an entrepreneur and, as I would like to add, everyone is a creative. I look forward to the next chapter together with you and our global family – and as always: do it with Joy!


Hans Reitz

Foto Carolin Auer

GRUPPEN-INTERAKTION MIT SOCIAL BUSINESS WOMEN / BERUFSWEGE FÜR FRAUEN

Wir haben unser Programm aktualisiert und werden euch in den kommenden Tagen die Inhalte unserer Gruppen-Interaktionen beim Forum vorstellen. Die Gruppen-Interaktionen sind Workshops zu konkreten Herausforderungen in Wiesbaden, der Region und darüber hinaus zu unseren Themen Arbeit, Bildung, Wohnen, Mobilität, gesellschaftliche Teilhabe, Klima, Energie und Gesundheit & Pflege.

Zu unserem ersten Thema ARBEIT freuen wir uns, ‚BerufsWege für Frauen e.V./ Social Business Women e.V.‘ als Partner mit an Bord zu haben. In dieser Gruppen-Interaktion mit Yvonne Skowronek, Katja Streck und Johanna H**e steht ‚WILMA‘ (Women in Leadership + Management) im Fokus. Politisch, gesellschaftlich und unternehmerisch sind die Weichen für Frauen in Führungspositionen gestellt. Dennoch klagen Unternehmen über zu wenig Frauen in diesen Positionen und Frauen kritisieren ihrerseits die, gläserne Decke‘! Auch als sind Frauen noch immer deutlich unterrepräsentiert. Was fehlt, wo fehlt es und was die Arbeitsmarktanforderungen der Zukunft bringen – das ist Thema dieser Gruppen-Interaktion.
Mehr Informationen zum Ablauf der Gruppen-Interaktion sind hier zu finden: www.friendsofsocialbusiness.com/Themen

BerufsWege für Frauen e.V. setzt sich seit über 30 Jahren für mehr Chancen, Gerechtigkeit und Wertschätzung von Frauen am Arbeitsmarkt ein. Social Business Women e.V. basiert auf dem Ansatz von Friedensnobelpreisträger Prof. Muhammad Yunus, Frauenarmut durch soziales Wirtschaften zu vermindern. Durch den persönlichen Kontakt, den Austausch und die Schirmherrschaft von Prof. Yunus wurde diese Idee weiterentwickelt und im Rahmen von Social Business Women e.V. in einem erfolgreichen Modellvorhaben in Deutschland realisiert und seit 2010 erprobt.

Wir freuen uns sehr, zusammen mit BerufsWege für Frauen e.V. / Social Business Women e.V. allen Interessierten und Engagierten an beiden Tagen des Friends of Social Business Forums diese Gruppen-Interaktion anzubieten.

Interessiert? Dann jetzt anmelden unter: https://www.eventbrite.de/e/friends-of-social-business-forum-2019-tickets-53396715012?aff=ebdshpsearchautocomplete

Social Business - Ideen für einen besseren Kapitalismus Mitte November 2018 war ich zusammen mit Hans Reitz (grameen creative lab) auf dem Global Social Business Summit in Wolfsburg in der VW Autostadt. Die Patenschaft von VW für den Summit ist während unserer Kienbaum Innovation Journey, die wir Anfang 2018 mit allen CxOs der 12 VW Marken gemacht habe...

REFUGEE SOLIDARITY ON GSBS 2017

The number of refugees is currently at an all-time high, 65,5 million people worldwide are refugees according to UNHCR.

Many are forced to leave their homes due to numerous recent armed conflicts in countries such as Syria, Afghanistan and South Sudan. However, armed conflicts are not the only factor forcing people to flee. Many are forced to leave their home countries as a result of climate change, poverty and in order to escape political and religious persecution.

Recently an estimated 370.000 Rohingya people have fled to Bangladesh since the Myanmar Military started to crackdown on the community. Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Muhammad Yunus raised his voice and described the ongoing ethnical cleansing of Rohingya in Myanmar´s Rakhine state as “human disaster”.

Also a series of destructive hurricanes hit the United States, devastating floods in South Asia have killed more than 1.300 people. “Bangladesh is the most densely populated country in the world. It´s becoming a situation where we will have hundreds of thousands of climate refugees”, sags Professor Muhammad Yunus.

The Yunus Centre and The Grameen Creative Lab decided therefore to focus on “Refugee Solidarity” for this year´s Global Social Business Summit 2017. Over the course of the Summit there will be panel discussions and workshops working on what we as a global society can do to effectively overcome this challenge and help refugees around the world.

You can find he registration under: http://gsbs-2017.com/

FOOD AND ITS VALUE – ONE OF THE MAIN TOPICS OF GSBS 2017

Emmanuel Faber (CEO Danone) just published his inspiring speech about food, taken at the Consumer Goods Forum 2017. http://bit.ly/2t3E8uj

On this occasion, The Grameen Creative Lab and Yunus Centre decided to lay a focus on the important topic “food and its value” on this year´s GSBS to initiate a global food revolution.

This special content will be prepared by the GSBS FOOD HUB, a global task force which works together with different stakeholders of the society on long term researches and enlightenment about food. The GSBS FOOD HUB will focus the questions how the international food production can work against diet-related illnesses as diabetes, how malnutrition can be avoided, wasting water and food, soil depletion, and related climate change. Learn in several workshops, parallel sessions, exhibitions and panel discussions from particular food experts how social business initiatives can transform societies as well as the world we´re living in. Register under: www.gsbs-2017.com