Books
Out of Poverty
“I wrote Out of Poverty to start a revolution, and that revolution begins with you.”
— Paul Polak
“Revolutionary change in markets is usually based on breakthroughs in affordability and miniaturization, married to innovations in marketing and distribution.”
— from Out of Poverty by Paul Polak
“This book is full of life principles. It is the best book I have read in a long time. Out of Poverty teaches us to think simple. Paul Polak brings forward ideas and solutions that bypass government agencies and other leaden institutions. Ideas that work!”
— Paul Newman
“One of the most hopeful propositions to come along in a long time… original, ambitious, and practical.”
— Bill Clinton
“Offers optimism… not just for those fighting poverty and those fighting to get out of it, but for any company interested in a basically untapped 1 billion-person market.”
— Business Week
VIDEO: From Out of Poverty:
Paul Polak’s 12 Steps For Practical Problem Solving
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| Out of Poverty Flier DOWNLOAD PDF |
Out of Poverty Press Release DOWNLOAD PDF |
Out of Poverty Fact Sheet DOWNLOAD PDF |
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Paul Polak Photo Credit: Ray Ng 
The Business Solution To Poverty, Designing Products and Services For Three Billion New Customers
Paul Polak and Mal Warwick’s new book, The Business Solution to Poverty: Designing Products and Services for Three Billion New Customers, offers a bold and brilliant new market-based approach to end global poverty.
The book views 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.
It shows why business is better equipped to eradicate world poverty than nonprofits or governments. It is co-authored by businessman and inventor Paul Polak, who has helped nearly twenty million people get out of poverty, and prominent serial social entrepreneur Mal Warwick.
Details how to design and market products that transform the lives of the world’s poor— and make a nice profit.
The nearly three billion people living on $2 a day are not just the world’s greatest challenge—they represent an extraordinary market opportunity. The key is what Paul Polak and Mal Warwick call 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, and driven by what Polak and Warwick call “the ruthless pursuit of affordability.”
Polak has been doing this work for years, and Warwick has extensive experience in both business and philanthropy. Together, they show how their design principles and vision can enable unapologetic capitalists to supply the very poor with clean drinking water, electricity, irrigation, housing, education, health care, and other necessities at a fraction of the usual cost and at profit margins comparable to those of businesses in the developed world.
Promising governmental and philanthropic efforts to end poverty have not reached scale because they lack the incentives of the market to attract massive resources. This book opens an extraordinary opportunity for nimble entrepreneurs, investors, and corporate executives that will result not only in vibrant, growing businesses but also a better life for the world’s poorest people.
Berrett-Koehler Publishers
Hardcover: 264 pages
ISBN 9781609940775
Includes discussion guide
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(available in hardback, Kindle, audio and large print paperback versions)
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Start by going to where the action is, talking to the people who have the problem, and listen to what they have to say.