Social business

Social business was defined by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus and is described in his books.

In these books, Yunus defined a social business as a business:

Unlike a profit-maximizing business, the prime aim of a social business is not to maximize profits (although generating profits is desired). Furthermore, business owners are not receiving any dividend out of the business profits, if any.

On the other hand, unlike a non-profit, a social business is not dependent on donations or on private or public grants to survive and to operate, because, as any other business, it is self-sustainable. Furthermore, unlike a non-profit, where funds are spent only once on the field, funds in a social business are invested to increase and improve the business' operations on the field on an indefinite basis. Per Yunus' quote: "A charity dollar has only one life; a social business dollar can be invested over and over again."

Philosophically, social business is based on what Yunus identifies as the two basic motives of human beings, selfishness and selflessness. Selfishly, people do seek profit through business; however, social business is also based on the latter motive people by performing philanthropic services, like establishing churches, mosques, synagogues, art museums, public parks, health clinics or community centers. For Yunus, the profits made through a social business's operations are less important than the beneficial effects it has on society. Muhammad Yunus has more recently founded Yunus Social Business (YSB) to study, support, and invest in young social businesses.

A Social business is sometimes used interchangeably or in comparison to a Social Enterprise - some have described this as a spectrum, ranging from profit-first corporations to non-profits or charities, with Social Enterprises closer to non-profits and social Businesses closer to for-profits.

These were developed by Professor Muhammad Yunus and Hans Reitz, the co-founder of Grameen Creative Lab:

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