Chapter 1

“THE POOR ARE VERY DIFFERENT FROM YOU AND ME”

In this chapter you’ll meet your customers where they live, and you may gain new perspective on poverty as it’s experienced in developing countries.

Unless you yourself grew up in poverty in the Global South, you’ll find an environment there that may be radically different from anything you’ve experienced before. You’ll also learn that the conventional wisdom about poverty being an unrelieved misery is a myth. Here’s a taste of what you’ll encounter as you set out to establish a business to serve the poor — because, if you follow our lead, one of the first steps you take will be to venture out into the field to talk to people like those portrayed in this chapter, the people who will become ...

Get The Business Solution to Poverty now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.