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The vast majority of designers put their talent to where the money is: crafting products and services that aim to beguile the richest 10% of the world’s population. Nothing wrong with making a living. But could the tens of thousands of designers who fashion things that appeal to people’s desires?rather than fulfilling their needs?be missing an opportunity to break into a much, much bigger market? Paul Polak certainly thinks so. Polak, the maverick, septuagenarian founder of In...
Design for the Other 90%News
David Hume wrote in 1742 that legislators and founders of states had to be ranked as superior to inventors in terms of their benefit to humanity; the inventor’s work might increase the commodities and enjoyments of life, but without sound government this would mean little. Hume might have wished to reconsider had he lived to see some modern-day legislatures - or certain of today’s inventors, particularly those who apply brilliant pragmatism to improvin...
Inventors innovate to meet the need’s of the world’s poorest.News
How low-tech, low-cost designs are helping the poorest farmers on Earth grow their way out of poverty. The famed economist Jeffrey Sachs prescribes classic foreign aid in his recent book, The End of Poverty : hundreds of billions of dollars, overseen by the United Nations and the World Bank, for health clinics, schools, bridges, roads and water supplies. Then there’s Paul Polak, the 71-year-old founder of a nonprofit group that takes a minimalist app...
Trickle-Up Economics, by David Armstrong with Naazneen KarmaliBlog Post
Should we crafting a be a business system that enhances the livelihoods of poor people without making a profit for outside investors? Or should it make a profit for investors as well as the poor people who are served by it? To me the answer is obvious.
Guest Post: Is it Immoral to Earn Attractive Profits from Poor Customers?
