Young people should come forward to bring about a change in the country’s political leadership and politics as a whole, Nobel Laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus said yesterday.
He said this while talking to journalists after a youth conference on social business at Daffodil International University in the capital’s Sobhanbagh.
When asked whether he would take responsibility in leading any change, Yunus avoided giving a direct answer.
“I belong to the aged group,” was what he said in reply.
At yesterday’s conference, Yunus, a pioneer of social business, called on the younger generation to become “agents of change” through their creativity.
Describing social business as a “mind game”, he said, “Capital is not important for social business. Rather, new ideas are important.”
Crores of young people are unemployed in the world today not because of poverty but because of the system, which the young will challenge and change through social business, Yunus added.
Regarding the cancellation of GSP (Generalised System of Preferences) privileges for Bangladeshi products in the US market, he said Bangladesh had long been manufacturing and exporting readymade garments but was yet to make much improvement in workers’ safety standards at workplaces.
Yunus highlighted Bangladesh’s geo-political position and said, “We need a deep sea-port to increase regional cooperation with China, Myanmar, India, Bhutan and Nepal.”
Daffodil International University’s (DIU) trustee board chairman and president of Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industries Sabur Khan chaired the programme. It was inaugurated by Hans Ritz, founder of the Germany-based Grameen Creative Lab (GCL).
In the evening, Yunus also spoke at the concluding ceremony of the “Social Business Forum 2013″ at North South University in Dhaka.
Bangladesh should be ready to face challenges to take its economy forward, as the growth of the neighbouring economies are very fast, he said.
“Where do we stand today? Where is our economy going? Is it moving at the speed it is supposed to move?”
Bangladesh enjoys advantages of its geographical position between two giant countries, China and India, who will together equal the economy of the rest of the world.
“If the economies of our neighbours grow fast, we have advantages. We can hinge on those economies and change our economy, as there will be lots of things that they will not be interested in doing any more will pour into Bangladesh, as happened in the case of garment industry.”
Bangladesh will have to wake up to live up to the expectation of the people, Yunus said.
“China could not feed people even a few years ago. Millions of people died in hunger. Today, China has completely been transformed.”
Yunus said writing checks or doling out payouts to the poor or doing charities were not a solution, although those were very common in Europe and the USA. That does not help solve the problem.
“Charities and benefits are important items when people are in distress. But at the same time we should be getting ready for the second part of the action — to help them get out of poverty.”
Yunus also called for facilitating smooth movement of people and goods and services among South Asian countries and suggested forming South Asian Union like European Union.
Amin U Sarkar, vice-chancellor of NSU, MA Hashem, former chair of the NSU board of trustees, Ragib Ali, chair of the NSU board of trustees, Abdul Hannan Chowdhury, dean of school of business of the university, and Shihan Ahmed, chief commercial officer of Banglalink, also spoke at the programme.
Source: The Daily Star
