Muhammad Yunus, "A World Of Three Zeros"

I'm incredibly honored to welcome Muhammad Yunus to politics and prose tonight it's a little surreal and special to stand in this room not a huge auditorium or a youtube video but this intimate space with someone who has tangibly changed the world for the better and I'm humbled and excited and a little nervous and I hope you all feel the magic as well at this point in his caresse career professor Yunus needs no introduction but just in case there's anyone here tonight who need some background here's a little bit a native of Bangladesh he studied at Dhaka University and was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to study economics of Vanderbilt in 1972 he became the head of the economics department at Chittagong University he is the founder of Grameen Bank and a pioneer of microcredit an economic movement that has helped lift millions of families around the world out of poverty in 2006 Professor Yunus and Grameen Bank were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize he's here tonight to discuss his new book a world of three zeros the new economics of zero poverty zero unemployment and zero net carbon emissions we have a lot of events here at politics and prose for books dissecting and diagnosing the myriad problems of the world today from climate change to trump to North Korea understanding the nature of the problem is important and essential work but it always leaves us with the question what should we do about it I think tonight's event is doubly special because this book is a fundamentally optimistic answer to that question it offers us hope and direction at a time when we desperately need both please join me in welcoming Muhammad Yunus [Applause] thank you thank you very much well I'm very delighted to be here today and on the occasion of release of my book trying to introduce what I have said in the book and what's coming up in the book I'm very happy to see many known faces around here I thought I'll be all unknown but they see many again very happy to see you all the book is nothing but kind of a sketch of my journey as my work began what it is all about how do we move from one part to the next part of it and so it's all started in a very uncertain way jumping into something I knew nothing about and then later I realized that that was a good start not knowing helps because then you are free you are not bound by the rules and procedures already established so what do you feel free you can do anything you want and see how that works out particularly so because I jumped into something out of the circumstances that I was forced into the economic situation of Bangladesh in the early 70s and then mid 70s we had a terrible war lots of people got killed and Bangladesh became independent separating from Pakistan in 1971 and I was at that time I was teaching at University in NASH in Tennessee called Middle Tennessee State University and after Bangladesh became independent in December of 71 I immediately resigned my job I said I'm going back so I did I give immediately went back and took up a job Chittagong University in Economics Department that's what I teach but all the enthusiasm of liberation everything kind of started fading away because of the circumstances that I see happening in the country our economic situation is getting worse and worse and we ended up with a famine in the country in 1974 that's when really you get hit by the environment forgive you in because here you teach elegant theories of economics but people die in front of you we don't know what to do about it so I lost all my confidence in the subject I thought I thought this was a grand thing and jort teaching but sounded very empty to me myself and I cannot really feel confident to pass on this whatever I know to my students and I was wondering what how now I respond to the circumstances that I am in I felt I'm totally a useless person I can't be useful to anybody because what I learned is a waste of my time and what I see I cannot relate to that I don't know what to do so one idea that I had at least after a period of slight depression then maybe I can do something why don't I just go with to the people which is very close to the University campus at the village be with them and see if I can be of some help to anybody I don't know what but there's a human being probably I'll find a way to make to find my use for them so that was the beginning without any knowledge of what to be done in the process as I was doing it I was feeling a little better because I'm doing something but I started noticing repeatedly what turned turned out to be a very ugly thing that's going on in the village which is the loan sharking lending tiny little money by people to needy ones who are desperate to get some funds for themselves and for this small money the loan shark grabbed everything they got and you see it every day you hear horrible stories after horrible stories from people what happened how destitute they became because of the victimization of the loan sharks you start feeling very ugly inside of you that you can't do anything about it and you're such a person all those education that you have to your life has nothing that contributed to address a simple problem like that loan sharking how how intense it is how you can even raise any question about it and my economics teaching economics learning never gave me any opportunity to find that kind of path that you this is what you do in a situation like that so while I was fuming inside of me one sudden idea was I cannot solve the whole problem of loan sharking but I can help few people in this village why don't tell them the money myself that was the big issue an idea was if I lend the money they will come to me they don't have to go to the loan shark so the problem for them is solved and I will tell them that I'm not giving any conditionality of sacrificing their wealth and whatever little position they have they can just return the money that would be dull so I started and people loved it and the more and more people started coming to me and I was very happy that they're coming to me that they take the money the more they come the more happy I get but I keep on taking money from my pocket and going through enter that it becomes bigger and bigger and I was not feeling challenged by that I because they were doing it with enthusiasm and I'm doing it more enthusiasm to do that it continued then question came very soon I'll be running out of my money what happens so I was trying to make preparation for that so I went to the bank I thought Bank she's the one who should take over this because he's working so beautifully Bank said no bank cannot lend money to poor people dancer I was not very sure what they mean by the heat they cannot lend money where poor people they said and they repeated it many times all along my life that poor are not credit worthy so that was a question that I have to struggle with now I'm lending and they're said they are not credit worthy they cannot lend money to the poor people and soon I started raising another question with them I said should banks tell the people that they are not credit worthy or people should tell them that they are not people worthy so that's the whole thing this is a whole question of who sees what and in what perspective I said from their perspective you simply are not people were the organization they didn't care what I said but I kept on criticizing them and very basic question which still continues after all these 41 years of work that question was never resolved I kept asking that you have created a very funny institution called Bank Bank is supposed to lend money to people but you do it in such a funny strange way you lend money to people who already have lots of money and you don't lend money to people who don't have money I said that doesn't make sense to me I to me the logical thing would be to lend money to people who don't have money and gradually move up after you have taken care of them obviously they thought is a funny thing I said enjoyed it but didn't care to respond to that but I kept on doing poking them so ultimately I resolved that issue with the bankers I offered myself as a guarantor that I'll be a guarantor I'll sign all your papers you give the loan if they don't pay back I'll pay back for you it's at least that way I can open the door for them they were reluctant to accept that but after several months of running around probably the they accepted it probably on the ground not because this was a good proposition for them they they thought I'm becoming more and more of a nuisance for them so one way to stop me is to give some money they are absolutely sure it will not work it will fail when it fails I'll keep my mouth shut because I can't pay them back but whatever reason I was very happy their reason can be dears but my reason is finally door is open I can do that they started taking money from the bank and signing all the papers who cares to read them you never read those papers the fine prints I keep on signing wherever they asked me to sign but I was happy that I can find the money to give the money but after a while there is it becoming bigger they were very reluctant now they don't want to do it because because they think I just beyond my capacity to pay back if they fail which they are absolutely sure is going to fail it's matter of time and I get very very upset with them then I started thinking what do i how do we get out of this one idea came why don't take the other Bank myself see I'm a teacher now talking about creating a bank but I brought up the whole idea how the bank will operate and so on it took three years continuous running around finally to persuade of the authority in the country to get it done we started in 17 1976 and we became a formal bank in 1983 and I was very happy now that we have a bank we can do that and call the Grameen Bank or village bank that was the beginning and that it expanded throughout the country today we have over 9 million borrowers in this bank 1 bank in Bangladesh and we work in 80 thousand villages of Bangladesh meaning every single village of Bangladesh there's a total number so it's around 48 41 years of experience an amazing thing that people still paying back is still that crisis point this collapse and all this thing never materialized on the other hand the idea is a spread all over the world there hardly any country left where microcredit a word or microfinance world is not introduced not programmed has not been introduced so I feel happy that it's happening we didn't come in Bank there are certain things people keep on asking and I'll touch on that because some may be curious about the same issues one is how did you design this bank that you lend money to poor people they are paying back and then you give back again you must have done a lot of research to piece by piece to design everything I said no I have no research at all I just go ahead and see what is needed to be done when we are in a point that we needed to frame a rule or procedure we just look at the conventional banks that there are lots of banks around so just see what they do once I find out how they do it I just do the opposite and it worked it worked and this is a big lesson I have learned all my life doing opposite is a wonderful way to do things because when you are going in a certain direction a destination you follow a route a bit and all that gets you to a bit and destination but if you want to go someplace else that drawer will not take you there you have to build a new road if you are going to just opposite direction then you have to reverse everything that you have done on the other side so that reverse process worked very well to quickly go over some of those reverse things that we do for example conventional Bank asked for collateral we dismissed it right from the beginning no collateral whatsoever so it the idea of collateral even doesn't appear in our mind because if you are giving money to poor women poor men how do you ask for a call hello what she doesn't get it she doesn't have anything so we said this is out so it's a collateral free loan this is one we reversed it they are scho electril we don't ask collateral because we don't ask electron we don't have legal papers between the bankers and the banker and the borrower because if you don't have collateral what papers are you exchanging good since you don't have those papers don't need those papers we don't have any lawyers in our back and we say Grameen Bank is the only lawyer free bank in the whole world and still works in the beginning that's all maybe when you are you're small you can do that but as you get big you'll be running after the lawyers we lend out today last year for example last year we lend out over two and a half billion dollars we don't go to the lawyers for that it still money comes keep coming back I said what if they don't pay back I said what would I should I imagine if they don't pay back they are always paying back for last 41 years so you you lose your sleep worrying about that but I don't know sleep because I know that money would be coming back as it had been done all these years so that's one thing we get off we got the lawyer out we got the collateral out and basic principle that on which the whole bank is built the people should not go to the bank banks should go to people so we reverse that whole thing that it should be the poorest pons ability of the bank to reach out to people and that made it very easy for us to reach out to women because we focused started focused after a while we started focusing on women I'll explain this as another common question the white woman so because we go to the people it's so easy for women to deal with us because they don't have to go any place which is very difficult in Bangladesh to women to go someplace else to banking or whatever it is so that is another other thing and also conventional banks want to do business in the city center first where the money is with the money what the bulk of the money is that's where they want to start the business we reverse that we instead of looking for the city center looking for the money center we go to the more villages our first branch which always should be the one remotest in the region so start with the remotest our idea is if you can do the job at the remotest others will become easy so if you stay and if more can in place it will be difficult to get out of the convenient place to go someplace else so we chose village and grameen bank the bank's name means village bank and will literally mean that 41 years now we have about 2,600 branches not a single branch is located in any city any town in the second in the country still in the village we still function in the village the same policy so we reverse that with the state of money centers we go to the people centre what the people need where the poor people live that's where we wanted to be so this is another one why women because I'm complaining against the banking system not only they don't like people borrow money poor people borrow money from them they also don't lend money to women even if it is she's a rich woman still they don't learn banks were very upset because I'm accusing them for that they said this is not true as it is absolutely true here is your information its statistics that we have not even 1% of all the borrowers they have happened to be women how do you justify that they try to say well they don't come to us at such as I said that's not it your rules are all skilled all kind of bias against women every single rules that you have in your banking so what we did in when we started we wanted to make sure half the borrowers in our program are women so we are focusing on women to come so that we can come to half in half men and women men were coming in naturally we had no problem with them they are very enthusiastic to get the money but women kind of kept withdrawn they don't want to get in they don't want to borrow money they said well we are I don't know how to start a business I don't any idea business I never touched money in my life I don't know how to count money I don't want to create problem for my family by taking money and get into trouble so my students were working with me they didn't upset that I'm asking them to go to the room these are girls students were differ with the designated to go to the women they said was they don't agree to take money why should you force them to take money I'm sorry no I'm not forcing anybody when they say no always remember this is not the voice of her this is the voice of history which created her the history is all about the fears that been generated around her ever since she was born and she was in a kind of a negative side of everything he he is she brought misery to the family by him being a girl in the family and everything she does is wrong so she tries to draw herself from everything as if she doesn't exist and now you're asking her to take money she suddenly she gets very scared that this will disrupt everything around her so she withdraws I said our job is to go back again and again build confidence in her peel off the layers and layers of fear of history that fear that created by history so that someday some of them may say maybe I should try I'm so desperate I can't do anything else so maybe I should take some money do this one I know how to do this one and that is the day we are waiting it will take time but don't give up continue be friendly don't press just try to see what they feel confident a little bit then when we reach that 50/50 level after six years we were very happy that finally we made it everybody said you cannot be done even in Bangladesh we'll never take money even if they she takes money never be able to pay you back all the usual story and now we have done that she is doing very good then we started noticing money going to the family two women brought so much more benefit to the family than money going to the family through men because we have same number of men as women so we can compare person-by-person and we see is very systemic kind of results that the impact in the family is much better if the woman is the family so we question ourselves why 50/50 what is this logic of 50/50 who I don't you change them so we remove that idea of 50/50 we said let's focus on women so that's what we have done focusing on women and continued and that gradually became 80 percent 90 percent now we settled around 97 96 97 percent two days ninety seven percent so out of nine million ninety seven percent are women and then another thing conventional banks are owned by rich people if you own a bank or a share of a bank you feel rich because you are the big owners of the banker in the board we reversed it we make the borrowers of the bank as the owners of the bank so all these nine million women they are the owners of the bank so they sit in the board they make the rules they do the procedure and make bank makes profit profit goes back to the misty vision for themselves so this is another change so everything that been reversed a case after case and we feel happy and I come to United States at the right from the beginning people are very interested in our bank and want to know how it's being done how it can be done in other country some become very enthusiastic wanted to do it in the United States so they did that they started here program they started their program many programs did I keep hearing that complaint all it doesn't work in USA oh this one we tried in this state it didn't work and some say well we did it hundred times so 200 times in different places but every one of them fail collapsed and it will not work we have come to the conclusion I said well you have done 200 times you can do thousand times if you want and in every thousand time you fail but it still I'll say it can be done then say how come we do it doesn't work and you said it can be done I said it can be you fail because you don't know how to do it it's very simple thing so you have to learn how to do it and you do it then you find out you jumped at it and you did it and fail and say complain there it's not working our people are not same as Bangladesh I said people are same everywhere no problem someone like this gathering is a bigger gathering in one meeting in New York when I said that somebody stood up from the audience at the question-and-answer session said why didn't you come and do it here show us how to do that so that you said we don't know show us how to do that and you find out whether it can be done you are so confident I said I'd love to do that but I cannot bring money from Bangladesh to lend money here in New York City so why don't you bring up the money and I'll do the job so that was a question answer at the end of it when we are walking away one of the person present he chased me he came to me he said are you serious you want to do that I said yes because nobody believes that it can be done and I'm from Chile I'm a firm believer that you can be done so if you think it can be done I'll give you the money I'll organize the whole money that you name so I said that's good but you put the money on the table and then we have started to work not a promise promise doesn't meet me any worries oh no no I'll put the money and you do the work so I said okay so that was in 2007 by the end of 2007 he organized he said I'm ready here is the money now you start so I started in January of 2008 in Jackson Heights New York in Queens so we send somebody from Bangladesh to come to USA in Queens they selected the place I have no idea where to start they selected because I said wherever you want find the one that people feel poor people live so that was the kid so the guy who was coming from Bangladesh who's been with setting up branches after branches he has lots of experience I said you go and set up another branch this time it will be Queens in New York he was shocked he said but I've never been to unite this day I have no idea what this I said look I'm sending you to United States not because you are an expert on United States I'm sending you because you're expert and come in bank branch opening so you go and set up another branch she said well if you say so I'll go but I don't know what to do I said one thing you must do don't listen to anybody absolutely keep your ears plugged and concentrate on the work that you know everybody will see it cannot be done this way known only this is America you can do this no these people women will never do such a thing you never try there never listen to anybody just stay on the course and do the job that you're assigned to do create the branch that you want to it best brands it ever made he really did that he absolutely defied all the things very hard for him but he did a wonderful job that could be a book by itself that how this branch was created an excellent branch then it ends excited everybody else in New York every borough wants another branch another branch here and one branch in Manhattan now we have seven branches in New York City and then other cities keep coming our poor are worse than Airport why didn't you do it here I said well very simple procedure I laid down I said put the money on the table we'll come and do a trail so they come organize the money and now standardized how much money you need how how long it take so we put the money we send somebody else to do and do that today we have 20 branches in 12 cities and I in this trip I visited one branch in Oakland another branch in San Jose and then another branch in Austin these are real branch operating there with people and I had a chance to talk to them exactly the same kind of discussion we have villages of Bangladesh we speak in the Oakland or San Jose or Austin or New York City same same same everywhere so I feel very good so within this year within this period since January of 2008 these 20 branches some are seven year old some are six year old five year old one year old and varieties because different time open together today they have nearly hundred thousand borrowers all over United in this twenty branches which is a lot of people and 100% women all of them are women so we didn't bother with men here we just can see that's the way we should have started but we but since we started with 50/50 we keep a little remnant of men to stay so here we started with women continue with women and total long that they have taken taken in this brief period together is nearly a billion dollar and repayment in every single branch that we have is near hundred percent we never had repayment in any branch under ninety nine percent so it's always ninety nine point five ninety one point six and some branches absolutely hundred percent not a single installment best now they are planning to make it half a million borrowers in the next ten years first ten years will be over in January of eight eighteen and then by 2028 they want to have half a million borrowers and giving out ten million ten billion dollar loans and so the reason I'm saying that it's it's a question of people need it but it's not available I tried to explain in the book by saying to me I see the credit in the beginning some of you who are familiar with me for a long time I've been saying credit should be accepted as a human right it's such a vital thing but we don't care with the pay any attention whatsoever credit is an economic oxygen I said if you don't have oxygen in the room will be gasping we cannot take a bit and will become probably in a totally dysfunctional because I cannot breath I cannot take care of myself the relaxes oxygen then via in the economic world the financial services is the economic oxygen if you cannot provide that economic oxygen to people they started gasping they cannot function they could become a week and then we call them poor see they are lazy they are not doing anything you're not caught looking for the cause you're just describing what they're I said now try the oxygen you give the oxygen suddenly they're alive certainly directive certainly they are looking for things and you're arguing if you give me more money I want to expand my business and so on so and that's exactly the voice you hear when you talk to the women they are always they give me more money then I'll expand it every time they pay back their loan size gets bigger - this is a standard procedure they want to jump with it okay slow down we can go step by step so that's what they're impatient now that it's tasted the success in their business and they want to do it more so this is what is missing this is the flaw in the whole system the book that I have now that what a narration of my journey I said the whole financial hole capitalist system is a dysfunctional system and that's what I'm trying to point out I said why people ask me who I poverty who in your eyes why you think because you're working with poor people what is the reason people are poor I said reason is very simple poverty is not created by poor people that is very clear poverty is created by the system that we built around them and that's what caused poverty so it is imposed thing it's not generated from the person is imposed by the system from outside it externally imposed them so once you accept that then you have to find out if you want to find out how to get people out of poverty simple fix the system nobody will be poor just just like that so one of the thing that I did is just a front for microcredit or the financial services microcredit is one part there are many other parts of the system the financial system Grameen Bank word with the savings but the insurance about the pension funds and lots of things we do within Grameen bath so this is what you can do everything that you do for the rich for the poor people and it's a sustainable way not a charity way we are not talking about charity way so we continue to do that so that is the basic thing sometimes I describe poverty by giving a metaphor of bonsai bonsai tree I said take the best seed of the tallest tree in the forest and planted in a little flowerpot that seed will germinate and it will grow but it will grow only this much about 250 feet that's about it it will be the exact replica of the tree that we planted on the floor we have seen the forest but not as tall it will be beautiful but very short why because is it because the seed no bees we pick the best seed but we didn't give them the soil to grow base degree so you have a only flowerpot so according to flowerpot this is what you get I said poor people are bonsai people there's nothing wrong with their seed simply society never allowed them the base on which to grow if they have given the same base they will be as tall as everybody else there is nothing wrong with them they're as energetic as creative err enterprising as anybody could be in the world but you took away everything by putting them in a restricted way the define rehabbed refused you've rejected from the things that you do for everybody else so bring it those facilities then they will be over they'll be done so this is the basic theme of the therapy and I put it this way I said that capitalist system starts with the wrong foot with the people who are the people that creates this system to work interpretation of human being and you are very familiar with that interpretation in the capitalist system its interpretation is human being are driven by self-interest that's the key to the entire capitalist system it is the self-interest so you have to be selfish person you it drives your selfishness into the picture you bring things for yourself that's why the profit thing came that's why the profit maximization came that's where everybody's running to show how successful you are in showing how self-interest driven person you are the more selfless when you are the more successful you are I said but the people I see is different it's not the same people that you created in the theory I see the real people are selfish yes at the same time surface you cannot throw them out that selflessness is built into human being and you just blocked it out in your theory you see you put the lock that no in business you cannot express yourself lessness and it's a very standard thing you say when you are conflicted with something else you said no business is business I mean what that nothing else should be considered in business except for making money I said that's why you've made it one-eyed monsters out of us all we see is dollar sign in our eyes we can't see anything because that's why theory has said is the rest best thing to do that that creates the best result I said though it doesn't so what I'm proposing in this book I said theory should have a new interpretation in order to address the issues that we have created that human beings human beings are selfish and selfless and then you can build a business on the basis of selfishness which we all do and also you can do business on the basis of surfaces which we have done in Bangladesh a lot of them again without realizing what we are doing every time I see a problem and there are plenty of problems with the poor people and particularly Bangladesh anywhere you put people first of all you can get ready way if you are poor you are poor in health by the way it's a two sides of the same coin because you eat this you have been malnourishment you work hard your body doesn't get replenished you are exposed to all kind of enhancing situation you contact diseases so your body goes down and down down and your children are rickety's all kinds of diseases inside inside of them so I wanted to do something about it and I am NOT a doctor so I go piece by piece and every time I see a problem the solution that I bring up in my own way again I'm not consulting the experts I said like I didn't consult out bankers should create a bank I didn't consult the bank the healthy specialist to design with I and I try to understand what the disease is for what solution is then I design it myself every time I try to design it I design it as a business business to solve it so I created many many such companies many many such businesses every problem I see I create a business and that created I don't another round of controversy why are you creating all these businesses where you don't make money you said you don't make money if you're not making money then it's not a business the characteristics of all these businesses in none of these business I want to make money my personally or anybody is allowed to make money personally it works as a business is earns profit profit is plowed back into the business but the investor can take back the investment money in the beginning taking the profit out take the investment money out once your investment money is taken out this every penny that comes into the business as extra is brought back and that's the kind of business we created what we did we disconnected ourselves now I can say that but at the time that's not how I felt I was simply doing something to solve the problem in an efficient way so what I have done I took the whole personal profit idea out of the business then that's what people were challenging then they start a business I said why start a business I prove produce a product or a service I got paid I get I cover every penny of the cost that I incurred I create a surplus it has all the elements of business simply I don't want to take the profit for myself then I started saying is there a law in Bangladesh that if I make money I have to take the money out of the business otherwise I'll be put in jail there is no such a law all I'm doing I'm just buying back to them so I'm not violating any law and it's a business because it has all the characteristics of it except there's no well the owner is saying I don't want to take the profit myself that's a decision of the owner that's all it went on and on and on and then I said mmm this is to give it a shape I said it's a business to solve problem and we let's call them social business so I started calling them social business today there are lots of such companies are happening coming up I define it by saying it's a non dividend company to solve human problems many big companies are getting interested in producing creating those social businesses we have joint ventures with big companies like the known like Intel Corporation with Julia with Uniqlo in Japan with McCain in Canada and so on so this is a kind of thing and many universities now teaching those courses and so on so that's the story of selflessness and business to do that the real essence of the whole thing that I said capitalist system created problem problem of wealth concentration that's what the whole issue around the book that wealth concentration is becoming worse and worse every day today there are only eight people in the world who own more wealth than the bottom 50% of the people so if you take eight billion people on the planet right now wealth of the four billion people equals the wealth of eight people in few years a couple of years back it used to be 62 people have more wealth than the bottom 50% today 62 has become 8 couple of years later what will be the result one person owning more wealth than the bottom 50% and what happened after the two years one person owning 75% of the total world of the people it's a crazy situation capitalist system always pushed the wealth from the bottom to the top it's always there but so far we it was not noticeable it was a slow-motion concentration now it's becoming exponential every day is becoming bigger and bigger so I said this is this you can't call an economy it's a mockery of an economy where all the world goes to pupa and we we are applauding them we are here we don't get anything I said he's huge mushroom of wealth on top which is controlled by a few people a handful of people and the stem hanging from that mushroom is what all the 99.9% of the people have as the wealth and the problem is that mushroom is becoming bigger and bigger faster and faster as a result that stamp that's hang getting slimmer and slimmer every day so people will be having less than this only current full of people who have more and more as to me to my eyes I say it's a ticking time bomb it's a question of explosion any time will explode it will explore in politics it will explore in economics it will explore in societal behavior because anger at the bottom will be just endless you cannot contain it so far we did that because it is slow-motion it didn't happen much in our lifetime very not perceptible it's not lifetime it's just a year by year it's happening so it will become more and more visible you say that so how to adjust that hour if we agree that this such a concentration is going on the next question is can we contain it can we stop it before you stop can we slow it down now it's exponential can we make it linear ok it goes in a linear fashion not in an exponential fashion can we do that can we what are the elements needed to be done to make it happen if we make it slowed down can we continuous disorder so there's some day somewhere it will come to 0 mushroom will be there but it mushroom will not grow anymore they will have 99% we will rest of us will have 1% ok but that's not what it's going to be you cannot slow it down and if you can come to bring the speed to zero can you bring it can you make it negative meaning that that mushroom started shrinking is it possible how would it be possible so that's what I'm describing all my experiences I'm pouring in maybe these things can work in that fashion maybe if we make selfless business social business this could be a way to slow down the process why because in social business there is no conservation because nobody's taking any profit profit it's its concentration come because I'm getting all the profit and the basic feature of capital system is the more you have the more you get that multiplies and the guy doesn't have it it doesn't go anywhere so that's the difference that's the speed and this helps rich and such a level that one drown it becomes twice the size or tripled the size that's the danger so if you have more and more of social business then you not only solve the problem also you are not contributing to the wealth concentration so this is the direction that are saying if we accept the fact that yes we are selfless yes we can create sorts of businesses if we can't do that that will have a negative impact on the social concentration because it is not introducing their second part I am saying again it came from Grameen Bank experienced all the source of my inspiration my immediate attention is from Grameen Bank experience which I do every day day to day where we encourage all the young people in Grameen families there are nine million Grameen families meaning that they are the borrower's of Grameen Bank we wanted to make sure that children go to school because their parents never got it never went to school they are all illiterate so in the very first occasion when we are still small we thought that is not the thing that will take us very far why don't you make sure the children of the families go to school when we were small we're enthusiastic we thought we can do so we energetically put them into school make them stay and that became a culture of Grameen Bank that if you join come in Bank children must be in the school and coming back take their responsible the Grameen Bank give them scholarships coming man give them education loans wherever we tell the student the tea money it's not your problem money is our problem to provide you you stay in school whatever is needed we'll give it here so that's what we did it so we have a new generation second generation coming out of it but then they start saying what is the use of education there's no job Bangladesh doesn't create as many job as people there's so many people in Bangladesh and then young people don't have jobs then I got a little worried how do I respond to that how do we solve this problem I have there's a problem now I have to solve they have to find their way how to solve it I came up to that idea in a different way I started out going with them I said why are you looking for a job who told you to have a job is this does this sound like a question what does he say everybody needs a job now he says why you're looking for a job this is meaning that this is a meaningless question I said and then I kind of preciate them saying because I made up my mind what to say I said look forget about jobs job is an obsolete idea it should have ended centuries back somehow it stayed on you tell yourself again and again every day you wake up first thing you say this I am NOT a job seeker I'm a job creator and behave like a job theatre thing like a job theatre I said if you look for a job if you're a job seeker you feel small you are at the mercy of other people if you're a job creator you feel like you strong and so on so be job here be an entrepreneur that's what it is what does it mean to me I don't have a job he's a big lecture for me I said look people people are not born on this planet to work for somebody else people are always independent this capitalist theory has convinced us that we have to work for somebody else and then we believe it and then we created institutions education everything to prepare ourselves to work for somebody otherwise in our entire history of mankind we were not working for anybody when we were in the caves they're not sending job applications to cave number 5 - cave number 10 hello do you have a job we didn't do that we went out did things for ourselves stood our ground and make things happen if we're sitting there standing job application will be gone clean gone finished that's our history we are go getters that's our history we are hunters gatherers we were farmers that's what we are we did our own thing we didn't work for somebody and this capitalist theory came and said no no some will be to produce everybody else will be entrepreneurs I said why is it because to satisfy the book that the theory that we have to work I'm independent person I'm first of all I'm emphasizing the fair to the young people said human beings are packed with unlimited creative powers that's what the human being entire job of human being as a young person is to unleash the creative power the system has to help me to find out who I am that's what the system is supposed to do not just sacrifice all our cady power at the height of our creativity at the yoke to go and work for somebody to get into a slot I said I said put getting into the slot means you put the giant of a human being into a position of a Lilliput that's what you are I said that's a dehumanizing that's a very human insulting for a human being to fit into a slot and remain entrenched in that slot for the rest of your life when you get a job family gets so excited finally as a young person got a job as if job is the destiny of the person I said job cannot be destiny every human being human being has built for many other purposes no job so I said forget about jobs then they say how do I do we do how can we be interpreters we don't know anything about it because in school did teach us anything about it as a shame on your school which took away all this creative power and evil I said do you remember your mother joined Grameen Bank which year 20 years 25 years back how did she start she pulled all her courage to take a loan of $30 and went to Grameen Bank say I won $30 for to start a business and she took that loan and used it in a way so that she can pay every penny and on the date so that she doesn't miss it and he didn't and that's why Grameen Bank a hundred percent 99 percent recovery record and she paid it back took another loan another loan for 20 years 25 years as many loans as she that she'd made except if you're illiterate mother could take $30 alone and turn herself into intrapreneur the mother who never crossed the boundary of the village in her life if she can do it shame on your education which has completely erased all those I think that you had your mother gave it to you now you lost it so go back to your mother learn from her start all over again find out how she did it and she'll be very happy she thinks you know more than her so she doesn't even talk about it now you go back say I want to learn from me how did you know so you come up with the business idea if you don't have business idea you have in-house business consultant experience of 30 years what are you looking for come up with that so now I'm pushing them so be gradually young people are coming business ideas one after another so now thousands and thousands of young people come with business ideas we created social business venture capital fund so that you come with the business idea we invest in your business we become your partner it's not alone its partnership we become a partner you become successful and return the money that we gave you because we are not interested in your profit we are a social business our job is to help you get into the orbit so that you go zoom now they're doing it so I said anybody can do it and people ask me are you sure people are intrapreneur what proof you have that we know their work that's what we see how come you say all people are interpreting not all people are built for entrepreneurship I said don't tell me that because I'm the one who's dealing with it every day because yeah because I'm doing it every day in Bangladesh because all these women nine million women that Grameen Bank has many millions around the world they're all intrapreneurs and nobody is selected because she has the interpreter quality anybody can join become entrepreneurs that millions and millions are doing that so that proves that it's entropy is built into our system simply we have not provided that so once we build this thing intrapreneurship and also social business then we can create a different kind of world that's when we say we can adjust the problem of poverty zero unemployment zero net carbon emission which I didn't have a chance to discuss but this is what we're all about this is the basic framework of the book to see that we have to come up with the idea redesigning the system if you if you go to the US we use the same Road you'll go to the same destination if you want to go to another world if you want to now this road builds you that well wealth concentration you need a different Road absolutely opposite of what you'd have done so that you build the system where wealth comes from the top to the bottom that's all why I'm saying thank you again thank you everybody everybody who submitted questions I I have them all here we don't have time to get to too many of them I might just be two or three so I'm just gonna start right now one person asks what if economy's crash because of climate change and natural disasters how can we be sure that we don't devolve into every man for himself first of all will not let that happen this is a kind of submission human beings never submit that's not in the gene of human being human being is a fighter to make sure that whatever is odd whatever is different if the wealth the climate is good to destroy us we have to fix the climate before it destroys us and we'll do that and that was the Paris agreement we're sorry that USA has withdrawn and I'm sure you guys probably waking up and say it will go not only we go back to the treaty Paris agreement we will give the leadership at the whole wall to do that and they can do that because they are already because there's no other scope there's no other way that's the only way how do you feel the UN Foundation and un associations can help to forward your theories on poverty related to the UN UN has its own called six sustainable development goals and so on I'm trying to bring to their notice that best way to achieve those sustainable goal is to come with the strategy of three things your young people to organize themselves into it and the second one is social business so that social business is absurd accepted way of doing business more and more because otherwise it's very difficult to achieve those goals and also technology a technology which is very powerful ten so then it soothes exactly to the need of the 17 goals the next question was actually about technology do you think that if data can be obtained from small businesses in real time and be used to provide them with real time advice do we remove risk as an excuse not to learn the problem is not the data problem is a very suspicion that poor people who get away with our money and this is one the basic thing is I don't see dollars in my eyes when I look at the poor people so we have to get the dollar sign glasses off and put the social glasses on suddenly you see it's possible we can do that nothing is beyond the human capacity that's what I keep repeating if we if you decide on something we get it done we are not decided on this this well that's why all these problems come what advice do you have for someone who is about to be starting a master's program and public policy and wants to pursue a career in international development good good well it's a traditional development you'll be studying which probably is not Mike piece of cake you have to be bold if you're looking for development what is a development you have to see what is growth for example in a book I say I'm not interested in the growth of the economy I'm interested in the growth of the people so I was giving the example say we are hundred people here and I have the billion dollar with me and you don't have anything and then the per capita income is distributed and we all have good per capita income and that's what the that's what the economics teaches they do not see that this is concentrated in one hand or few hands and there is no growth of the people but the economy is growing because I have the billion dollar I am running the Public Enemy because I have the money I have the economy in my hand I have the power politics in my hand media's in my hand I control everything because when I have the wealth I have a control over everything so that's not the kind of society we are talking about this is the development you'll be talking that how to make those development happen you have to see the quality of life of all people particularly bottom 10% of the people bottom 10% of the people will show you what is the quality of the society that is the reflection on the entire society not the quality of life of the top 10% um we have time for two more questions okay what role does traditional currency play in promulgating the capitalist system as we know it how do we measure altruism how do we measure out Reza more social good and how would that change society it's not a problem carrying on if you want to have improved currency blockchain and all this stuff digital currency fine show us how it is done but the question is currency for whom that's a question I'm raising whatever shape of currency it is is it in the hands of everybody or is in in my hand billion dollar in me and I think nobody has any anything in their pocket that's why I'm saying whether it is a digital with the non digital which you go back to all the style shells in your pocket but you have to have something in everybody's pocket that's a point that's an issue that we should emphasizing again and again and then the last question what is your typical day like I defend myself why I say that why do you say this this can do that and I have to keep on repeating what I believe how we do that not easy for people to immediately say oh this is a great idea people this is a crazy thing intrapreneur everybody interpreting in my family nobody was we're okay we are fine why should I tell my children to become interpreter I said that's what you start you tell your children that they have two options either they can work for somebody or they can be on their own be who he or she is and that's what you give them idea that this is what he should be or he would be it's up to them but you tell that there are two options don't tell that will get a good grade in school get to the best college and to get a best job that is absolutely no that's not it you have to say that you are a person with unlimited possibilities explore that with the technology in your hand you are more powerful than anybody ever average in the history of mankind so make use of that don't waste that thank you so much thank you and thank you to everybody for coming out tonight we do have books available for sale you

Channel: Politics and Prose

Views: 6,818

Rating: 4.9142857 out of 5

Keywords: P&P TV, Washington DC, Politics and Prose, Authors, Books, Events, Literature, Mohammad Yunus, Grameen Bank, economics, A World Of Three Zeros, poverty

Id: gOG47uPkzpc

Length: 60min 53sec (3653 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 27 2017