The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has joined hands with Yunus Social Business (YSB) to provide financial and technical assistance to the development of the Social Business Incubator Fund to promote social business in vulnerable and underserved communities around the world.A memorandum of understanding (MoU) in this regard was signed by both the parties at the Reagan Building in Washington, in presence of YSB chairman Nobel laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus and USAID administrator Raj Shah, said a Yunus Centre release on Tuesday.
The joint-initiative is aimed at fostering market-based solutions to the critical social and economic challenges faced by the poor around the world, said officials at the MoU signing ceremony.
Speaking on the occasion, Prof Yunus said, “The technical support from USAID will help us to amplify the impact achieved by our Social Business Incubator Funds.”
“USAID’s financial contribution will act as the catalyst in attracting new private sector capital into Social Business, enabling YSB to invest in more social businesses, and to reach even more poor people than before,” he said.
“YSB offices and programs in Haiti, Albania, Brazil, Colombia and Uganda, will seek to collaborate with USAID Bureaus and Missions to find and implement solutions together, combining USAID’s vast international development knowledge with YSB’s expertise in Social Business,” he added.
USAID administrator Raj Shah said, “Our collaboration with Yunus Social Business is indicative of the new model for development that USAID is actively pursuing with a multitude of partners throughout the World, to advance solutions to development challenges that are sustainable in the long-term.”
Besides the MoU signing, Yunus also delivered a speech on ‘Microfinance, Social Business and Eradicating Extreme Poverty’.
USAID assistant administrator Nisha Biswal was also present on the occasion. – UNB
