Manifesto for a sustainable future
“Let’s not go back to the world before”
Coronavirus has shocked the whole world, forcing it to face a sudden pandemic.
Since March 2020, around 3 billion people worldwide have been locked in their homes due to the lockdown: people temporarily give up their freedom because of public and global health risks. It is a great sacrifice, but a great act of responsibility. Yet, as Prof. Muhammad Yunus says, Coronavirus represents an unprecedented opportunity for a new sustainable restart of the whole world.
The capitalist economy can be corrected in its distortions by putting the business model of Social Business into practice.
We can and must all participate responsibly in building new solutions and, according to Prof. Yunus, nobody should feel excluded from this global resurgence.
It affects us all: citizens, governments, international organizations, businesses, credit institutions, religious organizations, media outlets.
Starting today, we have the opportunity to redesign reality to make it fairer and more sustainable.
Let us remember that the economy is an instrument created by people and that it can be reconfigured to achieve the greatest possible collective happiness. The pandemic has changed the concept of society and the development of the planet, opening up courageous opportunities and offering us incredible possibilities for a new beginning.
This is why the Fondazione Grameen Italia, through the words of its founder, Prof. Yunus, proposes to face the future with a new Manifesto.
MANIFESTO
We help to make room for new initiatives, to achieve social and environmental awareness as the fulcrum of a new sustainable vision.
Work all together to seize the opportunity presented to us to create a conscious economy for the individual country and the whole world on a social, economic, and environmental level.
Encourage the social enterprise, created to solve people’s problems, not through the creation of a profit for investors, if not for the recovery of the initial investment. Once the original investment is returned, all subsequent profits will be reinvested in the company.
Encourage socio-economic recovery, prioritizing and making room for social enterprises to engage in growing and far-reaching responsibilities.
Help the creation of Social Business Venture Capital Funds: central and local funds capable of stimulating the private sector, through foundations, financial institutions, and economic subjects.
Help finance social businesses for growth with other businesses, by teaming up with those in difficulty to turn them into social businesses too.
Look at the economy no longer as a science aimed at maximizing profits, but as a recovery system based on social and environmental awareness.
Support entrepreneurs and investors in the social enterprise and in their recognition: these are those who do good with enthusiasm, regardless of the context of reference.
Use social business and the microcredit multiplier effect to amplify the social and economic impact.
Believe in the New Recovery Program (NRP) encouragement program aimed at people who want to demonstrate their talents by creating social enterprises: a small initiative multiplied by a large number turns into significant action. Social enterprises will be able to work towards strengthening a solid system capable of responding to social needs.
Nobody has to hide, but they must commit themselves to an important economic recovery driven by economic, social, and environmental awareness. For this change, the time to act is now… right now!