The power of sport should be used for social purposes: Muhammad Yunus

Dhaka: Muhammad Yunus, chief adviser to the interim government of Bangladesh, said on Saturday the power of sports should be used for social purposes, as was done in the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Paris 2024 and its partners have decided to make the Olympic and Paralympic Games an economically, socially and environmentally responsible event.

That is why Paris 2024 joined forces with trade unions and employers’ associations and jointly signed a social charter on June 19, 2019. This initiative is the first at a major sporting event and guarantees a responsible and sustainable approach to the Games, according to the description on the Paris Olympic Games website.

“I have been committed to using the power of sport for social purposes. I am glad that the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris have paid attention to this. Together with the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, we have developed a new Olympic concept – the Social Business Olympics,” said the 84-year-old Nobel Prize winner.

Yunus made these remarks while addressing the third Voice of Global South Summit, hosted virtually by India.

Yunus was in Paris when student-led anti-government protests in Dhaka led to the fall of the Sheikh Hasina-led government. Yunus had to cut short his stay in Paris and return to Dhaka after being appointed interim head of the new Bangladesh government on August 8.

“The Paris Olympics were designed to be the Olympics for social enterprise. As countries of the Global South, we can work together to unleash the social power of sport,” said Yunus.

The concept of social business, which Yunus introduced into the economic framework, is defined as a non-dividend-earning business dedicated to solving social problems such as healthcare, education, hygiene, water pollution, unemployment, environmental degradation, etc., according to the Paris Olympics website.

Yunus is the father of microcredit and social business and founder of Grameen Bank and more than 50 other companies in Bangladesh.

Paris 2024, SOLIDEO and the Paris city administration have joined forces with the Yunus Centre, the resource centre for social entrepreneurship in France, and the non-profit organisation Les Canaux, which supports innovative, socially oriented companies, non-profit organisations, foundations and individuals, the website says.