Dear readers, we are happy to inform that we have finished analysing the feedback on our last year’s pilot launch of Multicultural Times (MT), New Zealand’s first nation-wide multicultural newspaper. As was the case with our Christchurch-based multicultural newspaper, The Migrant Times (TMT), MT too received innumerable accolades, appreciation and love from all of you. We are also very grateful to various communities, leaders, decision-makers and organisations from across the country who have shown immense faith in the idea of MT, and TMT before that. Based on the feedback, and after a lot of introspection, we have taken two strategic decisions to ensure that we continue to lead New Zealand’s journalism landscape towards diversity and innovation, while staying true to the basic tenets of the fourth estate. 1) The future of journalism is digital. We will continue publishing MT on our various digital media platforms and will cease publication of our print version. The reach, engagement and scope of innovation in the digital space is far superior to print. The financial viability is also superior in digital, due to the trade-off between the cost of production and results achieved. A better reach, engagement, innovation and viability, will ultimately lead to better-quality journalism for our society. 2) The future of journalism is data and artificial intelligence (AI). We are exploring how to use open data and natural language generation techniques to generate quality content and narrative stories, pertaining to local issues relevant to people’s everyday lives. We are immensely excited.

Stay tuned.

Muhammad Yunus speaks: Social businesses and entrepreneurship should be encouraged in NZ

Muhammad Yunus speaks: Social businesses and entrepreneurship should be encouraged in NZ

Migrants Centre
Economy

- he was in Christchurch on April 9

Highlights:

  • Wealth concentration at the top worries me most; eight people owning more than the bottom 50 percent of the world's population is unsustainable in the long run
  • I believe in working towards three zeros - zero poverty, zero unemployment, and zero net carbon emission
  • The way to tackle unemployment and get people out of welfarism is to empower them and encourage entrepreneurship

In the last 40 plus years that the Nobel Peace Prize winner, Muhammad Yunus and his brain-child Grameen Bank, have been servicing the people of Bangladesh, the country has taken great strides in all the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – ranging from halving extreme poverty rates to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education.

Sharing this was Yunus, while addressing a gathering in Christchurch on April 9 – an event organised by SingularityU Christchurch Chapter, in a build up to the Social Enterprise World Forum (SEWF) 2017, scheduled to be held in the City in September.

He was visiting South Island to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the Lincoln University to operate the first Yunus Social Business Centre in New Zealand. Such centres are established across the world – including in Australia and London - to build awareness of social business, and undertake training and education, provide mentoring, and support research on social business.

“Our decades of learnings which can be applied to New Zealand as well, include encouraging more and more social enterprises to mushroom in this country. Even private businesses should also direct their CSR funds towards social businesses. Additionally, the way to tackle unemployment and get people out of welfarism is to empower them and encourage entrepreneurship,” Yunus said, elaborating on what New Zealanders can learn from his massive body of work.

“If you ask me what worries me the most, it is the wealth concentration at the top. Eight people owning more than the bottom 50 percent of the world's population. It's unsustainable in the long run,” he added.

Yunus concluded by sharing his vision for the future, “I believe in and work towards 3 zeros. Zero poverty, zero unemployment, and zero net carbon emission.”

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