Empowering Haiti through social business

After the devastating earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12, 2010, Nobel Peace Laureate Muhammad Yunus, The Grameen Creative Lab and SAP AG initiated YY Haiti (Yunus & You Haiti) with the goal to set up the infrastructure for the creation of social businesses, providing a powerful tool that unlocks economic potential, helps solve social problems and helps the country to recover sustainably.
Through the implementation of this holistic and highly innovative regional development approach YY Haiti aims at invigorating the private sector sustainably and developing viable solutions to resolve long-standing social problems, while transforming the Haitian economy towards more financial independence (in contrast to short-term emergency relief and general charity).
 

Setting up infrastructure: The Grameen Creative Lab and the YY Haiti Social Business Fund

To support and finance social businesses in Haiti, we are establishing the Grameen Creative Lab Haiti as an independent legal entity in Haiti as well as the YY Haiti Social Business Fund. The YY Haiti initiative will incubate and finance social businesses in Haiti. The initiative is focusing in particular on social businesses in the education & vocational training, environment & agriculture, and nutrition sectors. The Grameen Creative Lab will conduct due diligence, provide coaching and consulting to social business entrepreneurs, help create and develop social businesses, and finance these businesses through the YY Haiti Social Business Fund.
The YY Haiti Social Business Fund is at the core of the initiative to inject capital into new social businesses by providing social business entrepreneurs in Haiti with start-up capital. The lack of financing is one of the main obstacles preventing entrepreneurs from setting up social businesses. The Fund aims to break through these impediments and provides deserving social business entrepreneurs with much-needed capital. Furthermore it connects investors with social businesses, giving them the opportunity to help solve social issues in a self-sustainable way.

NEWS!

Information Session

The Grameen Creative Lab Haiti invites you to information sessions taking place every last Friday each month to give the participants a better understanding of a potential cooperation with GCL Haiti and its services.

Timetable information sessions

Date                                   Hours

30 September 2011             10:00 – 11:00

28 October 2011                 10:00 – 11:00
 
25 November 2011              10:00 – 11:00

30 December 2011              10:00 – 11:00

For further information, please contact haiti@grameencl.com.
 

The Grameen Creative Lab Haiti is located in 5, Rue Goulard, Pétion Ville.

Social Business Essay Competition 2011
 

• About the Social Business Essay Competition

The YY Haiti Social Business essay competition is aimed at young people who have creative ideas about how to achieve the Millennium Development Goals through Social Business. The concept of Social Business is new and very innovative as it pursues a social objective within a business structure. Young people have supported and embraced this concept. The world is eager to hear what Haitian young people have to say and what creative ideas they have in order to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
This is an extraordinary opportunity for young students of Haiti, as their ideas will be read through by Professor Yunus, social business entrepreneurs and influential people in the social business movement. They will have the chance to contribute to the development of the social business concept with ideas meant to improve the social and economic conditions of the world poorest countries.