Out of Poverty

The primary purpose of this book is to tell the riveting, at times humorous, and often inspiring story of poor people as they struggle to create new wealth, aided in their efforts by the unique development organisation founded by the author. OUT OF POVERTY is designed to inspire a revolution in development thinking and practice. Instead of being handed down from the ivory tower or air-conditioned offices, development efforts must have their roots in the village experience if they are to bring about the end of poverty. Some key strategies toward ending poverty discussed in the book are, making money through grass roots enterprises, developing wealth through growing market-centred high value labour-intensive cash crops, access to affordable irrigation, the creation of vibrant new markets to bring seeds and fertilisers, and markets where farmers can sell what they produce at a profit.

Paul Polak is the founder of International Development Enterprises, which currently assists rural farmers in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Ethiopia, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Vietnam, Zambia and Zimbabwe. He is the recipient of the Scientific American Top Fifty award for agriculture policy and the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award. In 2007, IDE received a $13.4 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Polak currently heads D-Rev: Design for the Other 90%, which helps multinationals profitably develop affordable products to help the world’s poor.