Professor Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2006, visiting Turin Chamber of Commerce President Dario Gallina on Saturday 4 June to announce the GLOBAL SOCIAL BUSINESS SUMMIT 2022 in Turin in November

Economist and entrepreneur, father of microcredit and social enterprises, founder of Grameen Bank, the Nobel Prize winner spoke at the International Festival of Economics.
The meeting in the Chamber of Commerce sanctioned the commitment to bring the annual gathering of the global community of social enterprises, in recent years in Nairobi, Berlin, Paris, Mexico City, Kuala Lumpur, to Turin on 7-8 November

The project to hold The Global Social Business Summit 2022 in Turin in November, organised by The Grameen Creative Lab and Yunus Center, is taking shape with the support of the main local institutional actors and important private groups.

On 4 June, Prof. Yunus was in Turin, a guest at the Festival dell’Economia, and on this occasion he requested a meeting with the local system, to further present the summit and enhance the partnerships and projects that are being outlined for the event.

In the afternoon, he met with the President of the Turin Chamber of Commerce, Dario Gallina, at the historical headquarters in Via Carlo Alberto 16: “Receiving Professor Yunus at the Chamber of Commerce headquarters is an exciting and significant stage of a path that was started many years ago with farsightedness by our organisation with the creation of the Social Entrepreneurship Committee. A path that has allowed us to establish ourselves as an international model in social economy development policies, also thanks to the experience of Torino Social Impact, a territorial platform that now counts 220 partners, dedicated to these issues. The decision to nominate us to host the Global Social Business Summit 2022 next November, after the organisation of the GSG For Impact Investment last 23-25 May and the Social Value International meeting scheduled for October, makes 2022 a special year, which sees our territory as the undisputed protagonist of the global debate on the impact economy”.

“Global warming, the concentration of wealth, the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, rising prices, and food shortages have created a massive combined attack on the world. This worsening crisis needs major collaborative efforts to alleviate poverty, reduce inequality and build a healthier world for all – said Prof. Muhammad Yunus. “We will only succeed if we act together, now. Creativity and human values-driven entrepreneurship can play a significant role in solving society’s most urgent needs, but we need a much more ambitious commitment to the vision of a Three-Zero World (zero net carbon emissions, zero concentration of wealth to alleviate poverty, and zero unemployment) by stimulating entrepreneurship in each and every one of us: the time to do it is now!”

“We are delighted to announce that the Global Social Business Summit 2022, the global gathering of the social business community oriented towards solving society’s and the planet’s problems, will meet on 7 and 8 November for the first time since the pandemic right in Turin, Italy,” continued Nobel Peace Prize laureate Prof. Yunus. “The Summit is an important moment for the global community to engage various parties in addressing society’s inequalities and create systems that work collaboratively for the common good, supporting the transition to sustainable and equitable development.

The city of Turin inspires us by showing the way to adapt to the needs of a sustainable, digitised and rapidly changing society”.

Turin was chosen by the Summit organisers as a model of Social Impact and Social Innovation recognised by the European Commission also through the Torino Social Impact ecosystem, a public-private platform for social impact that today gathers more than 200 local partners.

Who is Muhammad Yunus

One of the greatest entrepreneurs of our time, Prof Yunus can be defined as the father of microcredit and social business. He is the founder of the Grameen Bank, and of more than 60 nationwide social enterprises in Bangladesh.

For his contribution to fighting poverty in the world, Prof. Yunus and the Grameen Bank were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006. Prof. Yunus has countless awards to his credit, such as the US Congressional Gold Medal, the US Presidential Medal of Freedom, the St. Francis Lamp of Peace in Assisi in 2019, the Olympic laurel in Tokyo in 2021, and the UN Foundation’s Global Change Award.

What is the Global Social Business Summit

It is the annual gathering of the social business community.

The Summit is the largest social business platform worldwide and an opportunity to learn from case histories that have changed the world for those who want to.

An intensive conference programme, panel discussions and workshops also offer a unique opportunity to share existing ideas and initiatives, make connections and continue learning from social business actors around the world.

Each year the Global Social Business Summit moves to a new city: 2009 & 2010 in Wolfsburg, Germany; 2011 & 2012 in Vienna, Austria; 2013 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 2014 in Mexico City, Mexico; 2015 in Berlin, Germany; 2017 in Paris, France; 2018 in Wolfsburg, Germany; 2019 in Berlin, Germany; 2021 in Nairobi.