Background and Purposes

Founded by the Noble Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, the Yunus Center (http://muhammadyunus.org), an examplar in the global community of social enterprises,  is headquartered in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, a key participant in China’s “Belt and Road” initiative.

Foreign professor Pradeep Ray of the University of Michigan-Shanghai Jiao Tong University Joint Institute (UM-SJTU Joint Institute), who has stayed in touch with the Yunus Center, and his colleague  Associate Professor Soong-chul Ro, who has extensive instructional and practical experience in social enterprises, will jointly manage the Center for Entrepreneurship of the UM-SJTU Joint Institute and expect to facilitate official cooperation between SJTU and the Yunus Center.

This project is designed to give students interested in social enterprises access to field trips in the Yunus Center and help them get a better understanding ofit. By so doing, they will essentially form cooperation with the Yunus Center, and are likely to find more opportunities in the future development of Bangladesh.

General Outline

From May 4th to May 13th, 2018, team members will participate in the “Exposure Visit” program organized by the Yunus Center, where they will conduct a ten-day field research in the company of the staff with the Yunus Center.There they will learn about its operations and interview its founder; then they will also visit non-profit organizations, social enterprises and schools in Dhaka and surrounding areas.

Such field research will not only draw more attention to the Yunus Center but act as basis for following activities of the Center for Entrepreneurship at UM-SJTU Joint Institute. After the field research, the project team will propose a sustainable program to help more students to understand social issues in developing countries and promote the sustainable development of underdeveloped communities.

Management Guidelines

Professor Soong-chul Ro will ensure the implementation of the project, produce a project report, help students with their proposal, and supervise the production of a video record of the whole process.

Both the video and the report will be displayed at the Center for Entrepreneurship, and the proposal will also be applied to the Global Challenge Program next year.