The article in the url below from BusinessWeek presents an enlightened, progressive approach to combating poverty at the Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP) that was developed by Paul Polak, founder of the nonprofit organization International Development Enterprises (IDE) (Issues: Profit, p200):
“Founded by Polak in 1981, IDE is based on the belief that there are simple solutions to the seemingly complex problem of poverty, and that those solutions are based on enabling the entrepreneurial spirit of the poor.”
Given the fact that “800 million of the world's poorest earn their living from one-acre farms”:
“IDE's focused mission has been to develop radically low-cost tools that will help subsistence farmers become small-scale commercial farmers. … IDE only develops products that will pay for themselves in the first year through the buyer's increased productivity.”
As well as design innovative products, IDE also invests in others who are pursuing equally innovative solutions:
“When IDE began promoting treadle pumps in Bangladesh in the 1980s, for instance, the organization recruited four manufacturers to produce the pumps by offering them marketing assistance.”
Polak reports that his focus on market solutions for poverty instead of charitable handouts, rather than being welcomed, has run into resistance from entrenched interests within the international development community. Polak believes, however, that:
“The only sustainable, scalable approach to fighting poverty is to give poor people a way of increasing their income; to treat the poor as potential entrepreneurs, rather than as recipients of charity.”
As quotes from Polak in the article illustrate, there are often unforeseen consequences of well-intentioned charitable interventions that often undermine the broader objectives that justified the initial action. And, ultimately:
“"We have invested a staggering $568 billion in development aid in Africa over the past 42 years, and have very little to show for it," says a World Bank economist quoted in Out of Poverty.”
Take care
Dave
Bill Werther & David Chandler
Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility
© Sage Publications, 2006
http://www.sagepub.com/Werther
Business Week Online
Insider Newsletter
February 28, 2008
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Giving the Poor a Means to Work
Paul Polak and his company, International Development Enterprises, have helped 17 million people lift themselves out of poverty
by Jessie Scanlon
http://newsletters.businessweek.com/c.asp?695386&c55a2ee820194f0f&69
