Mid November I participated at another amazing event – the Global Social Business Summit (http://www.gsbs-2018.com) in Wolfsburg, Germany. A place where young challengers, pioneers and talents came together from all over the world, all with one single goal in mind – working towards a positive change for a better tomorrow. During the first two day the young participants got the chance to meet the social entrepreneur Hans Reitz and the Nobel Peace Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus, and to learn from them. In addition we had some amazing practical workshops, where we found solutions that make business sense and social good for topics like solidarity, food, energy and more. As the setting of the first days was very familiar, all of us connected with each other and create a network.
Our group engaged themselves with the topic of solidarity. We realized a lot of people think pushing a button on social media is already a contribution or that it is pointless to try and act. What they are missing is motivation, real life examples from random people and active pioneers to show the way. So for that reason we developed a prototype, a mobile hub which includes a human library. We thought of innovative ways to gain people’s attention and decided that Virtual Reality as a method for the human library would be interesting. The aim of this project was to motivate people to take action and participate in a social impact. The mobile hub is supposed to be a place where people can come together, to exchange their experiences and knowledge, learn from and inspire each other. Although it was only an imaginary project, we had a lot of fun and if we had more time we would for sure have developed an even greater concept. I loved this workshop as unfortunately there’s a huge gap between people’s wish to act and their actual actions, and this was the beginning to work on a solution with other young pioneers.
On Thursday and Friday the big international Conference took place with hundreds of participants from all over the world. A lot of people were part of the Grameen Family which was founded by Professor Yunus. Different people presented their current social business projects, like “Boreal Light” who developed a Solar Water Desalination System (http://www.boreallight.com) so they could provide clean water to people in Asia, Africa, South America and the Middle East. We also got to know “makesense” (http://www.makesense.org), a project that connects social entrepreneurs, organizations and individuals, offers different programs and events for a social impact. They offer a platform so changemakers can organize themselves and they can be found in 153 villages around the globe.
One of the most inspiring speeches for me, was from Ron Garan. First I was wondering why a former NASA Astronaut would be speaking at a social business summit. But after listening to his speech, it all made perfect sense. He described his experience when he was up in space, seeing earth in 3D for the first time, and the feeling it triggered. He did such a great job that I actually had the feeling as if I was there living that moment too. He told us, from up there you see earth in 3D in all its beauty, you don’t see any borders or countries. At their impact, the window was laying downwards on earth, showing a flower, a blade of grass and a rock. ‘I am home’ he thought, while they just landed in Kasachstan.
This statement in that moment was so powerful, so meaningful. I think he is completely right, EARTH is our home, no matter what we call the place or village. No matter the country or the borders. And it is our mission to remember this and give our best to improve our home as much as we can. Everyday a little bit, by smiling at someone, holding a door, buying less cloth, upcycling and recycling or walking instead of taking the car or a bus. There are millions of options and you are probably already exercising some of them. If so, try to be conscious about it, it will help you to feel empowered and
journey of happinez 