Grand Hotel Wien supports the Global Social Business Summit 2011

November 2nd, 2011

The Global Social Business Summit was initiated in 2009 by Professor Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize winner and founder of Grameen Bank, together with his creative consultant Hans Reitz and with the support of the Autostadt theme park in Wolfsburg.

Each year, the Global Social Business Summit brings together pioneers from the worldwide social business movement active in the entrepreneurial, political, NGO, and academic sectors. This year's summit will take place in Vienna from November 10 to 12, 2011. The event offers a unique opportunity to network with others about social business and gain deeper understanding of the subject.

The concept of social business has established itself as a new model for overcoming social and economic challenges, both among opinion leaders and decision makers, and has been inspiring people all over the world. The event is a creative opportunity for many initiatives, projects, and companies that have been launched in the context of the summit. The energy it generates helps participants establish basic conditions, multiply best practices, and learn from past experiences. With the UN initiative YY Millennium Tour, social business is also making a strategic contribution towards the achievement of the UN Millennium targets.

Looking back on five years of the Peace Prize, Prof. Yunus champions the solution of social challenges through social business and wants to inspire young people in particular to shape their own future. In his role as MDG advocate, he will initiate the YY Millennium Tour at this year's Summit together with UN representatives in order to give young people around the world the opportunity to achieve the UN Millennium targets in their respective countries by establishing social businesses.

Podium discussions with high-ranking representatives from business and politics on the potential of social business stimulate topical exchange during the focus groups and working forums. Interactive formats, creative environments, and inspiring participants make the Global Social Business Summit one of the leading platforms for innovative social models. Social Business joint ventures like Grameen Danone, an enterprise that produces the well-known Shokti Doi yoghurt to combat malnutrition in Bangladesh, will present themselves and invite a meaningful exchange of ideas. The Summit also serves as a platform for the experimental ideas and creative solutions required to combat the most urgent social problems and offers opportunities to make a first step to resolve these problems.

Those who want to hear Prof. Yunus's inspiring words in person can attend his public talk on November 10, 2011, at 8:30 p.m. For additional information on the 2011 Global Social Business Summit, visit www.gsbs2011.com.

The Grand Hotel Wien is proud to be a hotel partner of the Global Social Business Summit 2011.