The Business Solution to Poverty

Chapter 10

DESIGN FOR SCALE

Starting a new business from scratch is one thing. Starting one that’s designed to go global is very different — and that has implications that need to be addressed from the outset.

Over the past three decades, IDE has helped 20 million poor people move out of poverty. On the face of it, this is a laudable achievement, but it’s little more than a hint of what’s possible for the 2.7 billion people in the world who live on $2 a day or less. While achieving scale is the single biggest unmet challenge in development today, we know it can be met. Here are the three practical first steps for doing so.

Pick a Scalable Problem to Work On at the Outset

Five years ago, Paul met with a chapter of Engineers without Borders that ...