Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad, Former Prime Minister of Malaysia was hosted by 2006 Nobel Peace Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus on the second day of the global conference “Social Business Day 2023″ under theme “War, Peace and Economics: The Future of Human Beings.” Mahathir Mohamad stressed that to change the world and make it a better place to live in, war should be made illegal.
“If one person is killed, the government must take severe action. War is a crime. There must be world government to monitor countries and summon anyone who creates war or kills anyone,” said Dr Mahathir on Day 2 of the 13th Social Business Day attended by 700 Delegates from 31 countries around the world, including Japan, China, Philippines, Nepal, Colombo, India, Italy, Brazil, and more.
He added, “Some entities in the West, who profit from producing and selling weapons at high prices, often provoke nations into going to war. He condemned the idea that war solves problems and instead urged countries to work together for the common goal of peace and stability.
He shared his views on various global issues, including climate change, the Ukraine war, the China-Taiwan conflicts and Covid 19 and mentioned that to tackle all these problems, the concept of Social Business should be kept at the forefront. He further said that to change the world and make the world a better place in live in, war should be made illegal.” War is a profitable business for those who produce and sell weapons at very high prices, he added.
The conference has brought together 120 speakers worldwide such as Marina Mahathir; columnist and activist, Sharifah Sofia Albukhary; Trustee of the Albukhary Foundation; HE President Jose Ramos Horta of Timor Leste, Mr Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee, The Honourable Marina Silva, Minister of Environment, Federative Republic of Brazil; Dato’ Shahira Ahmed Bazari, Trustee and Managing Director of Yayasan Hasanah; Maimunah Mohd Sharif, UN Habitat Chief were among the dignitaries that addressed the event. Dr Devi Shetty, founder of Narayana Hrudalaya and Ms Andrea Jung, President of Grameen America joined the event virtually.
Excitement built up during the introduction and announcement of the global Social Business Design Competition 2022 and the Social Fiction Design Competition 2023 winners where the youth were encouraged to present social business plans and social fiction ideas that inspires solution to the challenges faced by a young person in the world of 2050.
The International Olympic Committee Vice President, Ser Miang Ng, delivered a keynote address emphasizing the power of sports in promoting entrepreneurship and social impact at a session titled on “Mobilizing Sports and Social Business in the New Economic Landscape”
The day continued with discussions on topics like circular transition to a green economy, mobilizing sports for social business, replication of microcredit, and the role of AI in social business leadership. Eight breakout sessions, hosted by different organisations from the Social Business ecosystem, including Yunus Centre, Albukhary International University, My Harapan, Yunus Social Business, and Grameen Creative Lab provided a platform for experts and practitioners to share strategies, case studies.
A video recorded speech was played at the Conference from HE Jose Ramos Horta, the President of Timor Leste on the theme of the conference, who had been confirmed to attend the event, but could not because of an invitation to attend a meeting in Ukraine on same dates.
The day concluded with remarks from Professor Muhammad Yunus, who shared “Nations invest billions of dollars in producing weapons. They have a big budget for weapons and war, but no budget for peace.” He further highlighted that the world needs a new civilization and warned of emerging new technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), which seems to be replacing humans causing millions of people to lose their jobs. He urged the people to find Social Business solutions to turn young people into entrepreneurs rather than running after jobs. He said all human beings are born as entrepreneurs.
Two specialized events were conducted the following day, Social Business Academia Dialogue and 3Z Club Convention. Crucial issues in academia surrounding Social Business were discussed by participants, that includes academics, students and practitioners representing 12 universities of the 105 Yunus Social Business Centres (YSBCs) around the world.
The 3ZERO Club Convention brought together a total 17 3ZERO Clubs representing Malaysia, Bangladesh, Canada, India and Nepal who takes actions to bring tangible solutions for creating a world of three zeros – zero net carbon emissions, zero wealth concentration for ending poverty and zero unemployment by unleashing entrepreneurship in all.
At the conclusion of the Social Business Day, Professor Yunus went to Kuala Lumpur to attend events organized by Sunway University and University Kebangsann Malaysia (UKM) both of whom have established Yunus Social Business Centres.