Grameen Bank, Adidas mull low-cost shoes
Nobel laureate and Bangladesh Grameen Bank Managing Director Muhammad Yunus, on Tuesday, said the Grameen Group, is planning a joint venture with German sports apparel maker to make low-cost shoes for the poor.
If the deal gets through, it will be a major footprint in Yunus’ social business.
Both Grameen Bank and Adidas have signed a MoU to work together on how to bring a low cost product — affordable to the poorest of the lot — into the market.
He said “the shoes will be cheap and affordable for the poor, besides it will protect people from diseases.” This was one of the examples Yunus cited talking on “Social Business: A new paradigm to address poverty”, organised by Ficci and Aditya Birla Group here.
Addressing the captains of Indian industry, he made a clear distinction between ‘selfish business’ and ‘selfless business’. Dwelling on Grameen’s association with Groupe Danone from France with whom they have launched separate joint venture in social business to serve the poor with nutrition, he gave lessons on why and how social business is not charity but business wherein a surplus is passed on to the target group of beneficiaries in the form of lower prices, better service and greater access.
