The Grameen Creative Lab's vision is to serve society’s most pressing needs.The difference between rich and poor is not wealth, but opportunity. The poor are the world's greatest entrepreneurs. Each day they must innovate in order to survive. They only remain poor because they do not have the opportunities to turn their creativity into sustainable income.
The Grameen Creative Lab believes that the economic system in which they live does not create enough opportunities for the poor. This is because it lacks a vision.
Many of them have grown up in a society that believed in the "invisible hand" and the "trickle-down effect": if they all pursued their own economic interests, society as a whole would benefit, and if there is economic growth, this growth will eventually benefit the poor, too.
While this has been true for some, it has failed others.Grameen Creative Lab want to make it work for everyone.
This means creating a type of business that is not just about private interest but about collective benefit: the health, happiness and security of all and especially the less privileged. This type of business is social business.
The Grameen Creative Lab's mission therefore is to accelerate social business. They have set themselves ambitious goals:
Their vision is to serve society’s most pressing needs. Leading by example, they accelerate and spread the social business movement worldwide.
They divide their work into 3 pillars: Interact, Incubate, Create.
Interact: "Awareness"
• They organize and consult on public events
• They publish books and articles on social business
• Their senior staff speak at conferences to cultivate a constant exchange on social business
• They network with the community of interest
Incubate: "Understanding"
• They brainstorm social business ideas at creative workshops
• They experiment with their own social businesses on a small scale
• They initiate and support academic research in collaboration with their partner universities
Create: "Impact"
• They consult corporations on how to set up a social business joint venture - worldwide
• They support investors and the public sector to create funds that run as social businesses
• They will create a certification methodology for social business
The Grameen Creative Lab is a social business in itself. They finance theirselves through the products and services within each pillar. Any profits will be reinvested into further accelerating social business and sharing Grameen's and Prof. Yunus' concepts and ideas with companies, universities, NGOs, students, investors and more.
