Social business education: An interview with Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus

Abstract

In this interview, Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus outlines the role of social business education and its potential in teaching the next generation of social innovation leaders. Our questions and his responses focus on Yunus's experience, drawing on lessons learned from the Grameen Bank and his most recent educational endeavors, including the Yunus Centre and the Grameen Creative Lab. The interview begins with a discussion of the development and evolution of social business and its distinction from social entrepreneurship. Then, we move on to the role of faculty and community engagement and student qualities that should be sought and cultivated in social business education. Next, Yunus formulates recommendations for what business schools and educators can do to prepare students to recognize and implement new social innovations for their communities. We conclude by highlighting some of the challenges involved in incorporating Yunus's social business model into the capitalist economic paradigm that dominates in western business schools and by reflecting on implications for educators as well as the programmatic challenges in integrating social business concepts and initiatives into curriculum and pedagogy. © Academy of Management Learning & Education.