Professor Yunus urges young people to build themselves as ‘three-zero persons’

Desk report: Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus today called on young people to build themselves as “three-zero persons” to protect the planet from destruction, as he delivered a keynote speech at the BIMSTEC Young Gen Forum on the sidelines of the BIMSTEC Summit.

“If we want to provide service, we will have to go to a new civilisation of three zeros – zero carbon emission, zero waste, and zero wealth concentration,” he told the forum this afternoon.

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Prof Yunus said the world is approaching a self-destructive civilisation as carbon emissions, waste generation, and wealth concentration continue under the old economic models.

Stressing the need for the protection of nature, the chief adviser said, “Unless your wealth is shared, you cannot sustain in society.”

Mentioning that human beings are not born to work under anybody else but to be entrepreneurs, he urged the young generation to keep entrepreneurship in mind.

Calling the present young generation the most powerful ever in the world, the 2006 Nobel Peace Laureate said life is about preservation and protection, which is why a new civilisation of three zeros should be created.

About the importance of three-zero clubs, the chief adviser said once five persons come together, they can create a three-zero club where they will personally commit to not contributing to carbon emissions, waste generation, or wealth concentration, thus becoming three-zero persons.

“You cannot change the world in a day… if you want to change, start from your village,” the chief adviser told youths.

In his speech, Prof Yunus recalled the journey of Grameen Bank, which has already brought thousands of rural poor women out of poverty.

He mentioned that when a famine hit Bangladesh in 1974 after its independence, he was thinking that how he could do something for the country.

As a result, the chief adviser said he thought about doing something for a small village next to Chittagong University while he was a teacher there.

Highlighting the challenges that he faced during the initial stage of Grameen Bank, he said there was suspicion over it but “luckily I could speak the local dialect so there was no language difference”.

He said for the first time, he disbursed money equivalent to one dollar to a woman and that was the beginning of the journey, and later a village bank (Grameen Bank) was established.

Terming the rights to credit as part of human rights, the Grameen Bank founder observed that if the rights to credit are ensured, other rights could be established.

He also said that social businesses are a way to solve social problems where it does not accumulate wealth.

At the beginning of his speech, Prof Yunus expressed deep condolence over the loss of lives in a recent earthquake that severely hit Myanmar.