MAL WARWICK

 

Mal Warwick

Tuesday, September 10, 7:30 p.m.

The Business Solution to Poverty: Designing Products and Services for Three Billion New Customers 

The fact is none of the well-meaning anti-poverty initiatives to date have achieved much -there are 2.7 billion people today living on $2 a day or less, more than the entire population of the world in 1950. Paul Polak and Mal Warwick argue that the way to help these people is not to view them as victims or as charity cases, but as customers whose needs the market can serve effectively and profitably, without exploitation.

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 they 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, healthcare, and other necessities at a fraction of the usual cost and at profit margins attractive to investors.

Event date: 
Tuesday, September 10, 2013 - 7:30pm
Event address: 
1010 El Camino Real
94025-4349 Menlo Park
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