VOA标准英语2008年-New Type of Businesses Pursue Social Goals and

By Mike O'Sullivan
Los Angeles
01 May 2008

A new type of business is focused on making a difference in society as well as making a profit. Mike O'Sullivan reports, so-called social businesses are linking investors¹ in the industrial world and entrepreneurs in developing countries.

Social businesses are taking aim at problems that range from environmental pollution to health care. Better World Books of South Bend, Indiana, targets illiteracy². The company, founded in 2002, collects used books from college libraries and bookstores. It resells them and gives part of its revenue to such programs as Books for Africa.

Other efforts link cash-starved entrepreneurs in the developing world to investors in the rich world. The Calvert Social Investment Foundation has partnered with the Internet site eBay to create the company MicroPlace. It sells securities to investors in wealthy countries and, working through micro-lenders in the developing world, makes loans to small businesses in such places as Tanzania, Kenya, Bolivia, Cambodia and Tajikistan.

Foundation director Shari Berenbach says MicroPlace is opening up the field of social investing.

"We're making it possible for people to invest in, really, units as small as $100, where those funds are then being used to finance micro-finance all across the globe. So it's all about opening up and democratizing and making it possible for all kinds of individuals to invest in social business," she said.

Berenbach spoke³ on a panel at the Milken Institute Global Conference, an annual business forum⁴, together with a man who pioneered the micro-credit concept, Bangladesh banker Muhammad Yunus. Yunus and his Grameen Bank shared the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for efforts in economic and social development. The bank began by making tiny loans, for example, helping⁵ women in rural villages to buy a mobile phone and set up a small-scale telecom company.

Grameen has since launched a number of joint⁶ ventures with major corporations. One project with Intel is creating information technology for the poor. Yunus has also partnered with food processor Danone, known as Dannon in the United States, to produce a yogurt.

"But this is a social purpose-yogurt because there are millions of malnourished children in Bangladesh. What we have done in this company, we picked up all the micronutrients which are missing in those malnourished children, put it in the yogurt, and then make it very cheap so that the poorest children can afford it," he said.

Grameen has also teamed up with the French water company Veolia to provide clean drinking water for the poor in Bangladesh. Yunus says these projects have a greater impact than simple charity.

"That's the beauty of the business. [The] charity collar works only once. Once you have done it, it goes. It never comes back. But if you put this whole thing into a social business format⁷, money recycles," he said.

Some social businesses are profit-making enterprises that return part of their revenue - say, five or 10 percent - to social development. Others, like the Grameen Bank, are grass-roots cooperatives that reinvest their profits in the community.

Some social businesses offer investors a financial return, and others repay investors only the principal. As with any enterprise, social businesses can lack transparency and have problems with fraud and corruption⁸, but these experts say that with the right safeguards, they can fill an important role in economic development.

Some social investment projects have had their growing pains. The online site "Kiva" channels millions of dollars in loans to small enterprises in the developing world, showcasing entrepreneurs and allowing visitors to the website to choose businesses to invest in. However, the effort, which was founded in San Francisco in 2005, had more investors for a time than projects in need of funding.

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation makes both charitable grants and community investments, and Foundation official Debra Schwartz says social business needs the right kind of management.

"It requires a special kind of institution that has creativity and resilience and systems in operation, so it has to have those business disciplines that make it a viable⁹ enterprise or business," she said.

In Bangladesh, Muhammad Yunus and Grameen enterprises have branched out into fisheries, irrigation, textiles, education and other fields. Yunus sees new areas opening up, and says he is exploring the possibility of social businesses in medical care and health insurance.

1 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

2 illiteracy   

n.文盲

参考例句：

• It is encouraging to read that illiteracy is declining.从读报中了解文盲情况正在好转，这是令人鼓舞的。
• We must do away with illiteracy.我们必须扫除文盲。

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。

5 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

6 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

7 format   

n.设计，版式；[计算机]格式，DOS命令:格式化(磁盘)，用于空盘或使用过的磁盘建立新空盘来存储数据；v.使格式化，设计，安排

参考例句：

• Please format this floppy disc.请将这张软盘格式化。
• The format of the figure is very tasteful.该图表的格式很雅致。

8 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

9 viable   

adj.可行的，切实可行的，能活下去的

参考例句：

• The scheme is economically viable.这个计划从经济效益来看是可行的。
• The economy of the country is not viable.这个国家经济是难以维持的。