Nobel prize winner wants Ugandans to turn into enterprenuers

PIC: Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga receiving a gift  from the vice-chancellor Clarke International University, Rose Clarke Nanyonga. Looking ion (centre) is chairman of Clarke Group, Ian Clarke. Kadaga launched the rebranding of the the University and celebrations to mark 10 years of the university at Serena Hotel on March 6, 2018. (Credit: Wilfred Sanya)

ADVICE

KAMPALA - If you have finished schools and want to be employed, then you are making a grave mistake that you will regret for the rest of your life, according to Prof. Mohammed Yunus, Nobel Prize Winning social entrepreneur and Founder of Grameen Bank.

"In the schools they have taught us to become job-seekers," said Yunus, adding that people need to turn into entrepreneurs so that wealth is spread out across the population. "Wealth globally is concentrated in the hands of a few people and the rest have been left in poverty."

He also added: "In schools, we are teaching people the wrong things. We should be teaching people how to solve social problems."

Yunus, who has revolutionised the banking sector to accommodate rural poor people, was speaking at the Kampala Serena Hotel during the first annual public lecture under the theme: Rethinking Business Education.

He offered his insight on the changes needed in business education based on his experience in Bangladesh and the US. The meeting was attended by government officials, investors as well as medical practitioners and students.

After the public lecture, Rebecca Kadaga, the Speaker of Parliament, launched the rebranding of International Health Sciences University to Clarke International University. 

The institution was founded by Dr Ian Clarke, who operates International Hospital Kampala, Namuwongo under the International Medical Foundation.
Yunus said he had witnessed the worst form of cruelty in which human beings were insensitive to others, something which motivated him to make a difference in the lives of the poor.

He cited how loan sharks often torment poor people by stripping them of whatever they have as they seek to recover their money, including interest.

This was what motivated Yunus to establish microfinance institutions in which he is only interested in recovering the borrowed money and not interest.

"It helps to solve problems of housing, poverty, diseases and water," Yunus said, adding that it is important to for money to be recovered, but more important if it helps to get people out of poverty.

Asked about the cause of the high rate of mortality for local businesses in Uganda and the Youth Livelihood Programmes that have not been successful as expected, Yunus said the businesses have been poorly designed. He said what is needed is a good business plan.