Time for a rethink

2 April 2007 at 10:03 am | Posted in Microcredit, Muhammad Yunus, News, Poverty, Sydney Peace Prize | Leave a comment

Sydney Peace Prize recipient and Nobel Peace Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus urged political and business leaders to rethink the economic systems and theories that continued to keep millions around the world enslaved to poverty.

“Poverty is not created by poor people. It is not their fault that they are poor,” Prof Yunus was quoted as saying by the Associated Press. “Poverty is created by the decisions that we have made around the world, by the framework, the theory, and the business definitions we have come up with.”

The microcredit expert was speaking at the Oslo Conference on Good Governance and Social and Environmental Responsibility.

He urged businesses to expand beyond maximising profits into “social businesses” that breaks even while helping people.