A winner of the Nobel Peace Prize offers his vision of an emerging
new economic system that can save humankind and the planet
Muhammad Yunus, who created microcredit, invented social
business and earned a Nobel Peace Prize for his work in alleviating
poverty, is one of today’s most trenchant social critics.
Now, he declares, it’s time to admit that the capitalist engine is broken –
that in its current form it will inevitably lead to rampant inequality,
massive unemployment and environmental destruction. We need a
new economic system that unleashes altruism as a creative force
that is just as powerful as self-interest.
Is this a pipe dream? Not at all. In the last decade, thousands
of people and organizations have already embraced Yunus’s
vision of a new form of capitalism, launching innovative social
businesses designed to serve human needs rather than accumulate
wealth. These businesses are bringing solar energy to millions of
homes in Bangladesh; turning thousands of unemployed young
people into entrepreneurs through equity investments; financing
female-owned businesses in cities across the US; providing
mobility, shelter and other services to the rural poor in France; and
creating a global support network to help young entrepreneurs
launch their start-ups.
In A World of Three Zeros, Yunus describes the new civilization
emerging from the economic experiments his work has helped to
inspire. He explains how global companies like McCain, Renault,
Essilor and Danone have been involved with this new economic
model through their own social action groups, describes the
ingenious financial tools now funding social businesses, and
sketches the legal and regulatory changes needed to jumpstart the
next wave of socially driven innovations. In the process, he invites
young people, business and political leaders, and ordinary citizens
to join the movement, and help to create the better world we all
dream of.
