I recently watched Muhammad Yunus full of joy, sharing his story and advocating for his ideas during his Nobel Lecture of December 10, 2006, at the Oslo City Hall, Norway. I was deeply inspired and connected to his values and believe. I would like to contribute my 2 cents in promoting his lecture in this post.

Muhammad Yunus talked about poverty as the absence of human rights and the need to promote social businesses either as non-dividend and not-for-losses businesses or those owned by their customers, the financially poor, as it is the case for Grameen Bank. Muhammad Yunus also talked about the need for a new kind of social business marketplace, the need to fight terrorism in the most sustainable way by diverting the developed nations spending from war into the poverty fight. He also shared all the diversifying efforts the Grameen organization is taking to address the multidimensional needs of the poor. Out of the many creative and incredible stories, he shared the initiative of lending to the beggars of Bangladesh. The Grameen bank today lends to 85,000 beggars. Out of those, 5,000 of them decided to transform themselves from beggars to door-to-door salesmen with the help of Grameen. It is wonderful to see that there is a deep belief in enterprising rather than charity as a mechanism to bring forth a sustainable future.

It was revealing for me to learn of his beginning as a professor, emotionally connected to people, troubled by the contrasts between theory and the reality out of the door of his classroom. He started finding ways to protect the dignity of the women borrowing from lenders who abused of their financial vulnerability. As he saw results in the little he thought he did initially, he looked at the traditional banking system to solve the borrower condition. But this banking system did not respond limited by its traditional practices, its lack of trust of customers and the demand for collateral. Thus, he decided to take it in his hand, from his own pocket literally.

This story was vivid to me, raised in a town surrounded and living with poverty. A reality we became used to. As I matured, this reality transformed from being natural to intolerable to me. My fellow Venezuelans, many of them, yet today, live vulnerable to the daily abuses of the imperfect market and a state that is unaccountable and ill-powered to respond and bring dignity and prosperity. After many years, the reality of exclusion and now segregation is there regardless of the good service that media and propaganda brings to my country government. I am just a new kid around the block. I am in Yunus late 70s. And I may not reach high and deep as he has. But watching Muhammad Yunus was supportive to this early, struggling path as social entrepreneur.

As Yunus, I believe in every human being regardless of his or her social and economical condition. Every one. The financial condition, the lack of access to basic human rights or any prejudice we may expectedly live with does not take away our humanity, our dignity, our creativity, our ability to prosper when given the chance and the right conditions. I firmly agree that it is not about charity. It is about giving opportunities and accompanying and supporting each other in the process.

For many years, I have been an advocate and practitioner of innovation. One of the convictions that I have always communicated to the youth is: “The world is what we want it to be. We have the power to change it and build the future we dream. What we have now is what we human beings created for ourselves given the conceptions of the times. But this does not have to be the future. In fact, it will not be. This is just a step in the long, continuously-emerging and erratic experiment called humanity.” I gladly heard Yunus bring that message loud and clear to inspire and support the many of us making our away through social enterprising.

Honor to Muhammad Yunus and the many who around him and in many other microfinance institutions are building this wonderful new world of hope, dignity and prosperity for every one.

Lecture movie: http://nobelprize.org/cgi-bin/asxgen.asx?id=88&type=lecture&year=2006

Lecture text:  http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2006/yunus-lecture-en.html

First, I would like to express my sorrow
for what you are going through. You both feel hurt. I am sorry for your
families in pain. My condolences and thoughts are with you.

I have been engaged reading the stories, looking at the
heart-breaking images, reading the discussions in online fora, news
media and blogs. Some people justify war in the name of honor, faith or
national pride and interests. I respect their position. However, in my
core, I cannot justify war.

I believe that life is our utmost precious right and our source of
joy. The life of a Lebanese or an Israeli girl could be the life of my
children. For me, every girl counts. Every life is sacred. I cannot
justify the stabbing of any single life.

In the previous times of history, signed by the lack of
understanding and means of communications, many were the myths, many
the misunderstandings, many the misconceptions, many the fears of the
unknown. War was a human reaction to secure the life of the closest
ones.

Today, July 2006, in the era of knowledge, information and
communication, our human culture still drags those old paradigms to the
management of conflict. In many circumstances we have not been equipped
with the ability to dialogue, the understanding that nature demands a
giving to gain, that our social nature is a conversation continuum of
trade-off and negotiation. Today, dialogue is our ultimate tool for the
survival and advancement of life.

On the other hand, our natural social and cultural evolution also
drags a history of psychological and emotional wounds.  In the process
of learning, we have made many mistakes. We have. And we could have not
expected otherwise.  For such is our nature. But this also implies, that
as a human race, forgiving is of utmost importance to move on as
society.  The contrary is just jail for our existance and a vicious
cycle of hatred and death passed to our children.  Could we embrace
learning, failure and forgiving as society?

To the hearts and minds of the Lebanese and Israeli, to the hearts
and minds of every human being on this single and only earth, I beg
you: Let us stop war with each other.

Let us embrace dialogue, learning and forgiving. Let us stop this
suffering and embrace the joy of understanding. Let us leave war behind
as a means of negotiation. Let us embrace each other in dialogue,
learning and trading-off for the sake of every human life and the
future of our children.

Peace be in you.