My Understanding Of The Scholarly Book ' A World Of Three Zeroes'
The book mainly focuses on how social business is a viable alternative to the conventional business framework – Capitalism. Adam Smith laid down the framework of Capitalism which was later improved on throughout history, however, the fundamental problem remains: It is not a complete system. The capitalist system is recognised to have been the cause of the growing inequality in the world. The ‘Invisible Hand’ of Adam Smith may be heavily biased toward pushing wealth to the rich, as quoted by Mohammad Yunus. He argues for a reevaluation of capitalism and encourages the addition of ‘Social Business’, to account for the ‘Real Man’, one who wants society to flourish as well. He talks of the many successes of social business and how this has also empowered poor women and students all around the world to look at social business as an opportunity.
He begins the story of social businesses with the help of his own Grameen bank. It was a huge success contrary to popular belief that providing loans without documentation will only lead to disaster. Yunus found that the repayment rates were higher than commercial banks. The board and the policymakers of the Grameen Bank were rural Women, and the result established that rural women were highly creditworthy, ensuring repayment at higher rates than commercial Banks.
Upon the success of Grameen Bank, Yunus realised that social businesses could be created to solve the current problems prevalent in society. Thus began the path to the World Of Three Zeroes: Zero Poverty, Zero Unemployment, and Zero Net Carbon Emissions.
The first, Zero Poverty could be done by working around inequality first. He states that poverty is an inherent problem given capitalism's highly unequal economic system. To better explain, he uses an analogy. He says that the capitalist system can be looked at as a collection of magnets of different sizes. The largest magnets attract the smaller magnets to them growing in size continually. The smaller magnets on the other hand are offered no support or opportunity to gather resources to further themselves. They are left with nothing. To eliminate the problem of poverty, Yunus advocates for the poor to have a place in controlling their economic future. He wants them to get a chance at fending for themselves. Using the example of Grameen Bank, he explains that social businesses can provide employment to the poor and that the microfinance from Grameen Bank can facilitate the resources the rural entrepreneurs need to become entrepreneurs themselves. He concludes this idea by necessitating a new economic system that prioritises social and environmental sustainability.
The next on his checklist is Zero Unemployment. He explains that social businesses can create jobs by using the many success stories of entrepreneurs, part of the YSB, and emerging through the Nobin Udyokta program. He first asks people to get rid of the idea that some are incapable of productivity. He uses the example of a Japanese social business, namely Human Harbor (HH) that employs ex-convicts to help eradicate the problem of pollution and environmental damage. The company has had great success earning revenues of $3.5 million and thus proving that no one is incapable of work. This proves that social businesses effectively provide both employment and also help solve problems around the world.
Lastly, the problem of Carbon Emissions. Yunus explains throughout his book, the need for environmental sustainability. He was against the decision of the Bangladesh Government to create a nuclear power plant to boost economic growth, given the country's disaster-prone geographic location and population density, which deem it ideal for disaster when a power plant explodes. Instead, he offers to maintain Bangladesh’s track record of having the least Carbon Emissions, although emissions from neighbouring countries have adversely affected their atmosphere. He says that social businesses can be a great solution, by boosting economic growth while also reducing carbon footprints using the creative ideas the youth entrepreneurs may have.
Yunus also explains how The youth, Technology and the Political system are important tools to achieve the World Of Three Zeroes. Encouraging Youth at the school level and offering entrepreneurship as an option, giving them the freedom to choose, can aid in solving the problems of society. Instead of making the youth believe a job is the most stable and steady way to get a life and should be their only goal, they must be educated about all options equally without scaring them away from one – entrepreneurship. It is the choice that is important.
When it comes to technology, he displays its power by providing one example of the Grameenphone, which provides mobile phone services to rural communities in Bangladesh, and Grameen Intel, which uses technology to improve farming practices and increase agricultural productivity. By tracking and providing information about weather patterns, the best ways to grow and nurture the plants given the patterns, and many more, The Grameenphone has been successful at increasing yield rates for farmers. With that, he emphasises the need for a more equitable distribution of technology and highlights its potential to create a sustainable world with equity.
Finally, he comes to the political system, which he believes should be more fair. The process of choosing the right leader through elections is the fundamental value of democracy, however, it is not all fair. There should be privacy, and complete freedom during elections, and for this, Yunus urges the UN to interfere and help create a more fair system. He also emphasizes the need to eradicate corruption, a deeply rooted issue in the political system.
The book provides an extremely well-argued response against the Capitalist system, explaining its problems well, but does not say it needs to be eradicated. He only expects a change with the addition of the social aspect to make it a complete and sustainable economic system that creates a more equitable distribution of wealth and opportunities. The arguments are well articulated giving very apt and helpful examples to promote a better understanding.
One downside of the book however is the lack of insights relating to the weaknesses and disadvantages of the social businesses. The book can sometimes feel like it is advertising for social businesses and fails to mention the problems of social businesses. It only states the best aspects of the Social Business System.
The book, for the sake of convenience, is simplified for all to understand, however, this leads to oversimplification of the multifaceted issue of poverty. Instead of a sectionalized, well-divided set of issues, poverty is more of a cycle or a domino set where one issue creates another. The same is true for solving these issues. Solving one may create another or amplify an existing problem.
The book as a whole, is very well explained in layman’s terms and hence makes it easy to analyze it and form a strong foundation of knowledge on social businesses and capitalism.
~Shireen Banerjee
Email: shireen20banerjee@gmail.com
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