Social Business Conference at NCU - Academics, Ecosystem, and Market – Great Leap Forward
To strengthen the bonds between social businesses and academics, the “2015 International Conference on Social Business Development and Management” was held in the university auditorium on June 15th. This conference was co-organized by the Yunus Social Business Centre at NCU, Workforce Development Agency, and Foundation for Yunus Social Business Taiwan. Social entrepreneurs from U.K., Hong Kong, and Taiwan were also invited to share their expertise and experiences with the participations of over 320 persons from social businesses, academics, and government. The theme of this conference is “Academics, Ecosystem, and Market - Big Leap Forward”, which emphasizes the importance of unifying the strength both from the academics and from the different business sectors for social business eco-system.
A highlight of this conference is the opening remarks video recorded by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Dr. Muhammad Yunus. The approach of “Social Business” was proposed by Dr. Yunus, who encourages entrepreneurs to use business principles to achieve one or more social goals. Social business is a complement to traditional profit-maximizing business. Dr. Yunus believes that through social business, the sustainability of society, the economy and the environment can be achieved to attain the global “three zeroes” of “zero poverty,” “zero unemployment” and “zero emissions.”
Thereafter, Dr. Chien-wen Shen, the director of Yunus Social Business Centre, addressed the welcome remarks of the conference. Then, Ms. Kate Pierpoint, Deputy Chief Executive of Manor House Development Trust, gave a keynote speech on “Building Community Resilience through Social Business.” The second keynote speech was presented by Mr. Timothy Ma, the Vice Chairman of Hong Kong General Chamber of Social Enterprises. Mr. Ma shared the standards and development of Hong Kong Social Enterprise Endorsement Mark. The last session in the morning is the Plenary Session hosted by Dr. Li-hsuan Huang, the Associate Dean of the College of Management.
In the afternoon sessions, practice projects of social business were presented by 8 groups of NCU students. They applied what they learned during the college years to help social businesses solve their business challenges. Social business entrepreneurs from New Life Information Services, Farm Direct, Liu Da-Tan Hope and Care Association in Kaohsiung City, and iHealth Express Group also shared their social business experiences with the students and the audience. This conference successfully united the various fronts and strengthened the links in the network of social enterprises in order to bring about benefits in the giant step forward taken in unison by “Academics, Ecosystem and Market.”
