Here's a great story about a Dutch company Vestergaard-Frandsen that is making profits selling bednets and water-filters to poor people (via aid agencies). Apparently they're profitable, which just goes to show you - market forces can be leveraged to work on problems of the poor. Now, we just have to find people who are willing to pay for this kind of thing.
My favorite line:
“Very few companies take the attitude that doing good is good money,” he said. “They make a net, or they make a ceramic filter, and sell it. But make no mistake — as soon as we’ve proven this is a good idea, they’ll come in. They’re sitting there right now, watching us.”
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what rubs people the wrong way is not "profit" but it's "profit at the expense of the poor." people feel less concerned taking a dollar from a millionaire than a poor person. this is the tension, the nuance that we need to consider.
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