He talked about turning traditional banking upside down and creating a new form of business, a so-called “social business” that did not exist just to make a profit.

But the more I’ve looked around during the past few months, the more I can see that what Yunus was talking about was a return to the roots of the free-enterprise system rather than a radical revolution that would overturn traditional capitalism.

This may explain the common thread that ties together this year’s winners of our sixth annual Spirit of Small Business Awards.