As promised, here is a post regarding my finishing of Dr. Muhammad Yunus’ book Banker to the Poor. I actually typed this up in the Houston airport and never posted it.
In the latter chapters of his book, Yunus outlines principles of business based on “social consciousness.” He argues that it is clear that humans have a desire to help others, as demonstrated by willingness to donate to charities, volunteer with organizations, and occasionally help the poor panhandler on the street. If this benevolence exists in society, then, it should be possible to create a framework for what he terms “social businesses.”
In current capitalist structures, the profit-maximization rule prevails: in many cases a CEO of a company may be sued if it is found that he made a decision for a company knowing that his actions would not maximize revenue and profit (this is part of corporate law). Where profit is the only goal, there is little room for companies to take into account the social consequences of their actions. What Yunus proposes is to create businesses that follow a maximization rule in which both profit and social return are taken into account. He describes two types of social business. The first is a business that is owned by investors and provides products or services beneficial to the community. The second is owned by the poor, thus allowing profits to go back to the poor.
Dr. Yunus’ dream still follows the rules of capitalism. Firstly, social businesses will compete with each other for customers and investors. Customers will choose to patronize a business based off both the quality of product and the extent of social return, encouraging the businesses to constantly be improving their service. Secondly, social businesses will compete in the market with profit-maximization businesses. Again, a customer will take into account the fact that social businesses are in some way socially beneficial, an allure that profit-maximizing businesses do not have.
While I'm on the subject of Yunus, I suggest checking out this interesting article.
There isn't particularly much to do in Nebaj. I did a hike last Tuesday that offered wonderful views of the surrounding mountains. Some of the work that I have been assigned is to provide English descriptions for hikes offered by the SolCom tourism office here in Nebaj. This town is actually where it all started, and the restaurant and tourism office are geared toward keeping tourists in Nebaj for an extra day or two, thus contributing to the local economy. My own contributions to the economy thus far involves being slightly ripped off in buying a beautiful woven bag in the market. I purchased it for 150Q when apparently they can go for about 70Q. Fortunately for me, this mistake really only means the loss of about an extra ten dollars for a handcrafted useful item. I know now for the future.
I have also been working on creating a pamphlet (in English) for Soluciones Comunitarias. My first deadline is a week for today, so that the pamphlet may be reviewed at the monthly meeting. That means I will be traveling to Antigua again. I will then have a several day "vacation," as I am arranging to travel up north to visit Tikal, the most famous and largest of all Mayan ruins in the world.
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