California State University Channel Islands

Camarillo, CA. August 11, 2010 – The California Institute for Social Business (CISB) at CSU Channel Islands (CI), in conjunction with the Grameen Creative Lab, will host a Social Business Training Forum on Thursday, Aug. 26, 2010, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The event will take place on campus and the cost is $300 per person, which includes lunch. For non-profits, the cost is $200 per person.

CI’s California Institute for Social Business was launched in February by Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank in Bangladesh and creator of microfinance, a means for the poorest of the poor to attain a better economic and social existence. This fall CISB plans to hire a Director and establish its curriculum.

Muhammad Yunus joined forces with Hans Reitz, a German entrepreneur devoted to social business, to form a joint venture, the Grameen Creative Lab. This venture presents training sessions based upon the seven principles of social business.

CI’s training forum, conducted by Reitz, President of Grameen Creative Lab and Martin Loeffler, Director of the San Francisco branch, will offer a series of workshops with breakout sessions and plenty of question and answer time for attendees. The afternoon portion will be devoted to workshop sessions. The forum will be presented again on Friday for CI’s faculty, staff and students.

The forum will address various social business issues. What is social business and how is it different from social entrepreneurship? How does social business address corporate social responsibility in individual companies? How is social business distinct from philanthropy? Social business has been used in third world countries but how about its use closer to home?

A major thrust of the Grameen Creative Lab is to encourage corporations to invest a portion of their profits, money that might otherwise fund philanthropic donations, in social business. It is the difference between a sustainable business and a donation, a long term solution and a short term fix.

Corporate Social Responsibility professionals, philanthropic foundation professionals, individuals who want to know more about the movement and perhaps set up their own social businesses and non-profit agencies seeking a way to become sustainable without grants or philanthropy are encouraged to attend. For those who do attend, it is suggested they read Muhammad Yunus’ book, Building Social Business, prior to the training forum.

For information about the Grameen Creative Lab, please visit www.grameencreativelab.com. To RSVP, contact Eva Gomez at 805-437-3271 or eva.gomez@csuci.edu. Event information will be sent upon receipt of registration.