They said, we have education, but what about jobs? So I started telling them, you should be taking a pledge, and the pledge should be: 'I'm not a job seeker; I'm a job giver.' Prepare yourself to be a job giver.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of entrepreneurship and job creation over simply seeking employment.
Muhammad Yunus advocates for a shift in mindset regarding employment. Instead of passively waiting for job opportunities, individuals should strive to become creators of jobs, taking initiative to develop their own enterprises and contribute positively to society. This perspective encourages personal responsibility and proactivity, promoting economic empowerment through entrepreneurship.
In practice
In a graduation speech to inspire students entering the workforce.
Civilization has given us enormous successes: going to the moon, technology. But then this is the civilisation that took us to debt, environmental crisis, every single crisis. We need a civilization where we say goodbye to these things.
What I did not know yet about hunger, but would find out over the next twenty-one years, was that brilliant theorists of economics do not find it worthwhile to spend time discussing issues of poverty and hunger. They believe that these will be resolved when general economic prosperity increases. These economists spend all their talents detailing the process of development and prosperity, but rarely reflect on the origin and development of poverty and hunger. A a result, poverty continues.
People.. were poor not because they were stupid or lazy. They worked all day long, doing complex physical tasks. They were poor because the financial institution in the country did not help them widen their economic base.
Some people think that poor people are lazy. Actually, it takes a lot of work to survive when you are dirt-poor.
Once poverty is gone, we'll need to build museums to display its horrors to future generations. They'll wonder why poverty continued so long in human society - how a few people could live in luxury while billions dwelt in misery, deprivation and despair.
By simply capitalizing on core strengths and knowledge, companies and entrepreneurs can engage in an emerging business model that will enable them to create - and demonstrate - real, sustainable social impact in society.
May blessings be upon the head of Cadmus, the Phoenicians, or whoever it was that invented books.
Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous.
Read like a wolf eats and write every day. Every. Single. Day.
If we don't stand up for children, then we don't stand for much.
The thing I loved the most - and still love the most about teaching - is that you can connect with an individual or a group, and see that individual or group exceed their limits.
If you take away the gift of reading, you create the gift of listening.
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