Innovative Approaches to Reducing Global Poverty (PB)

This book presents many innovative approaches to reducing povertythrough business commitment involvement, and leadership. Some ofthese approaches may look promising now at their current level ofsuccess but will turn out to be limited in their scalability or in theirability to sustain themselves and endure over time. However, all ofthem offer fruitful grounds for inquiry and learning. It is our intentionthat sharing the learning from these projects and initiatives fromaround the world will be useful to others committed to assisting thepoor in escaping from poverty - especially by bringing the poor intoproductive business activities. It is also our intention that theseexperiences stimulate ideas for new directions that build upon and gobeyond the rich variety of projects and successes described by theauthors in this book.The book supports C K. Prahalad's work made available in a numberof ways including his very influential book The Fortune at the Bottomofthe Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty through Profits (Wharton, 2004).Prahalad's work has called attention to creative ways to think aboutthe question ofpoverty and how it might be reduced and eventuallyeliminated. He suggests ways. ofthinking and acting that break manyofthe traditional rigidities that occur in how we think about marketsand business practices. Although one theme ofPrahalad's work relatesto the benefits of marketing to the poor by supplying products betterfitting the needs of low income individuals and groups, his work alsoemphasizes ways in which the poor can produce innovatively conceivedand designed products for themselves and for others. Thisemphasis on enabling the poor to become productive is also presentedforcefhuly in Craig and Peter Wilson' s, Make Poverty Business:IncreaSe Profits and Reduce Risks by Engaging with the Poor Greenleaf2OQ6. Like Drucker, they see the real challenge to be helping thepoor find work that is productive and sustainable. One of their contributionsis their emphasis on the importance of creating access to creditand insurance as an important part of enabling people to achieve productivelivelihoods.