Nobel laureate Yunus bats for linking Olympics with social business

Nobel laureate and microfinance pioneer Muhammad Yunus on Tuesday batted for linking sports with social business.

"We will discuss how can we link Olympics with social business... how the event can be seen from the perspective of a social business. The idea is to not just consider Olympics as a sport event but how can we tap it for betterment of society.

"I have suggested several things... I have said sports should be linked with social business," Yunus told the media here referring to the topics that will be on the table at 8th Global Social Business Summit 2017 in Paris in November.

He was at Indian Institute of Management Calcutta to deliver the Arijit Mukherji Memorial Lecture.

The Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games Bid Committee last year signed a partnership agreement with the Yunus Centre founded by the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Winner from Bangladesh, to help build social business in the city and draw international attention to the project.

The Grameen Bank founder said the French government has shown a keen interest in his proposal.

He said Anne Hidalgo, the Mayor of Paris, wants to make the city a hub for social businesses.

Asked about the non-repayment of loans by those who are credit-worthy and those who took loans on collateral, Yunus said: "This proves that collateral is no guarantee that the money is returned. Sometimes they are so rich that banks are scared to approach them so that's why I say when you are not getting money despite the collateral then why are you scared of giving collateral."

During the day Yunus attended the board meeting of Indian Corporate Action Tank, the country's first incubator for large organisations to create social businesses. The platform was launched by Yunus Social Business and Tata Trusts.

--IANS

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