Paul Polak: The Business Solution to Poverty

NEWDAY SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP DISTINGUISHED SPEAKER SERIES

Author and Entrepreneur Paul Polak will be speaking on his revolutionary book Out of Poverty, which has inspired millions of people to look at new ways to change and eradicate poverty.

He will explain:

• How to design and market products that transform the lives of the world’s poor and make a nice profit
• The failure of traditional methods to end poverty as an opportunity for business to open new markets and for the world’s poor to lift themselves out of poverty
• Zero-Based Design: starting from scratch to create innovative products and services tailored for the very poor, armed with a thorough understanding of what they really want and need

For the past 30 years, Paul has worked with thousands of farmers in countries around the world to help design and produce low–cost, income–generating products that have already moved more than 20 million people out of poverty. He leads teams in combining radically affordable technology with radically decentralized supply chains to earn profits while serving the 2.7 billion customers who live on less than $2 a day. He has been titled by some as the father of a new movement to end poverty and has founded 11 companies working in health, international development, and energy. He was named one of the world’s “Brave Thinkers” by The Atlantic for being willing to “risk careers, reputations, and fortunes to advance ideas that upend an established order.” He is also one of Scientific American’s 50 leading contributors to science.

5:15pm Reception
6:00pm Talk