Yunus Centre for Social Business and Financial Inclusion at Montpellier Business School – Home

What is a Yunus Centre ?

Based on the activities of the Chair Microfinance in Developed Countries and the Chair in Social Entrepreneurship & Inclusion, Montpellier Business School (MBS) is launching  the « Yunus Centre for Social Business and Financial Inclusion » on the 9^th of October 2019, in the presence of Professor Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Laureate 2006. This project follows the conference Professor Yunus gave at MBS on the 4^th of March 2019, on the topic of “Social Business”.

Professor Yunus defines “Social business” as a business with an economic model aiming at being sustainable, with no intent to pay any dividend (“non-loss, non-dividend company”). Its objective is to contribute to the resolution of the major society challenges: poverty, unemployment, environment, health… The Grameen Bank Microfinance Institution is the most famous example of such a business.

Why a Yunus Centre at MBS ?

This Centre is an academic hub created in partnership with the Dhaka Yunus Centre (Bangladesh). Its objective is two-fold: train and raise awareness of students on the topic of “social business” through specialized teaching, diploma-led courses, internships, projects with a social impact; develop research and disseminate new knowledge on this topic.

This two-fold objective will be reached through different activities such as:

1. Development of research on the topic of « social business »;
2. An award for the best social business project open to MBS students;
3. Dissemination of teaching and specializations in microfinance, social entrepreneurship, social innovation, management of social and fair-trade economy, financial inclusion, in particular through the creation of a Master of Science specialized in « Responsible Finance and Social Innovation », through the creation of a specialization « Entrepreneurship and Management in social and fair-trade businesses»;
   Promotion of internships, apprenticeship contracts or professional experiences within social businesses in France or overseas;
4. Support of people willing to create their social business, in particular MBS students, but also people willing to create their businesses as a way to escape poverty;

 

These activities will imply collaborating with associations as well as local, regional, national and international businesses, in order to create an ecosystem also gathering people involved in social and fair-trade economy within MBS. These activities will lead to the organization of events such as workshops or conferences on Social Business-related topics (microfinance, social entrepreneurship, social and fair-trade economy, environment, corporate social responsibility, etc.).

More information on the Centre’s activities and events will be available soon on this website.

According to Professor Yunus, the creation of the Yunus Centre for Social Business and Financial Inclusion at Montpellier Business School “is a wonderful opportunity to keep opening the young generation’s minds to the world’s reality and prepare them to find creative ways to solve growing issues of our planet”.  

Contacts 

Dr. Anastasia Cozarenco – Director of the Centre – a.cozarenco@montpellier-bs.com

Dr. Elsa Kassardjian – Development Manager – e.kassardjian@montpellier-bs.com

Dr. Walid A. Nakara – Deputy Director – w.nakara@montpellier-bs.com

 

 

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