You don't have to change the whole society. If your social business works with only five people, you have invented a seed! Now you can plant it a million times. Grameen Bank got started in a single village with just $27 in loans. Now microcredit is a worldwide movement that helps millions. Social business is beginning the same journey.

The world faces many overwhelming problems, from the environment to infectious diseases to economic collapse. Don't you find this disacouraging?

This is the luckiest generation in history, because we have thousands of opportunities to make the world a better place. If all the problems had already been solved, we'd be saying, "What am I going to do with my life?" Instead, we can choose from almost unlimited options.

Where do ideas for social businesses come from?

Technology creates incredible opportunities. Look at the iPhone with its beautiful touch screen. Someone could use this same technology to solve the problem of illiteracy. By touching the icons, an illiterate woman in Bangladesh—or the United States—could learn words, hear stories, play games, and teach herself to read and write. All that's required is for someone to see the potential.

When leading corporations like Danone, Veolia, BASF, and Intel work with you to develop social businesses, how do you assess their motives?

Many people wonder whether corporations like these are "using" me to enhance their reputations. Actually, I think I am using them. They give the idea of social business immediate legitimacy. Now business people around the world are developing their own ideas for social businesses. So I would say to anyone who wants to support this important cause: Use me, please!