Colombia's University Externado de Colombia recently organised a day-long public event on the university campus to mark the visit of Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus on the theme of building a more equitable world through social business, says a press release received on Monday.
The 140-year-old university, with 14,000 students, has already taken a joint programme with Yunus Center and established a 'Yunus Social Business Center' in the university in 2019.
The main event of the day was a dialogue between Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus and former President of Colombia and Nobel Peace Laureate Juan Manuel Santos on the topic of social business as an engine for reducing poverty and building peace, said the release.
Yunus called for an immediate stop to the Ukraine war. He said, there should be an agenda for COP 27. The war-torn world is heavily forced to protect itself from immediate catastrophe from the war rather than paying attention to a more serious crisis of climate emergency.
"This war is already a 'World War' -- a war against the present and future of human beings on this planet. It is a war against whole humanity, not just one country.
"The world has no option but to think about the long-term future. Every single country is forced to divert its resources to address the heavy impact of this war on people, food supply and economy. No person or no country is spared from the impact of this war. It has forced COP goals off the radar of policymakers," Yunus said.
Professor Yunus elaborated on how a world of three zeros -- zero net carbon emissions, zero wealth concentration to end poverty and zero unemployment by unleashing entrepreneurship in all - especially through the mobilisation of young people, can be made possible.
Mr Santos agreed that youth are the key drivers for the creation of such a world and that he supported youth initiatives to create social businesses with the help of Yunus Environment Hub, an organisation dedicated to social business in environment and circularity.
The nearly hour-long conversation highlighted issues of poverty reduction, youth entrepreneurship and social business, the climate challenge, immediate ending of the Ukraine war and building peace as a prerequisite to creating a more equitable world.
The public event at the university was attended by nearly 1000 people including high-level civil society representatives, diplomats, UN organisations, entrepreneurs in person and many more online. The event started with welcome remarks by deans and directors of University Externado de Colombia and the Executive Director of Yunus Centre.
There were presentations made by Yunus Environment Hub on the projects they are undertaking together with the Compaz Foundation of Mr Santos. There was also a presentation by Yunus Social Business, an organisation based in Berlin, which has invested in 12 social businesses across Colombia.
On the sidelines of the event, Professor Yunus held a discussion with Bogota's Mayor Ms Claudia Lopez to talk about ways Bogota and other cities could become three zero cities towards creating three zero world. She later presented her vision and actions to the audience, especially in the areas of women, entrepreneurship and social business.
On the same day, Professor Yunus met with Pedro Ferrari, economic advisor to Colombian President Gustavo Petro, and the country's Vice President, Francia Márquez. Vice President Francia Márquez, a woman of Afro-Colombian origin, expressed interest in establishing a rural model microcredit bank for poor families in Colombia and sought Professor Yunus's advice on the proper steps to take to establish such a bank, including its financing, operational procedures and legal framework.
At the end of the day, in a separate session, Universidad Externado de Colombia presented its five research projects on microfinance, social business, circular economy and peace-building through social business conducted in collaboration with the Yunus Center over the last three years.
Two young researchers who have received scholarships under the joint programme with Yunus Centre were presented, at the meeting. The researchers are business entrepreneurs themselves who are simultaneously conducting independent research on social business.