Changing the Way the World Views Poverty

Hugh Whalan, who is known as a Destination Entrepreneur, has traveled and started startups all over the world, but is currently serving at the CEO for Persistent Energy Ghana (PEG). PEG Ghana currently sells Pay As You Go solar energy products to Ghanaian people who live off the grid without access to electricity.

When researching Whalan through various articles and videos including this Forbes video, I was a little turned off from him at first. When discussing how to start an international startup he said, “travel to the places you’re interested and soak up the culture, atmospheres, and see business opportunities. It [the startup] can be done inexpensively and there isn’t a lot of competition.” This reminded me of a very privileged mentality—not everyone has the privilege to travel and it he seemed very nonchalant about entering into a non-competitive market and making the most of it.  

When I read Whalan’s piece How Misinformed Ideas About Profit Are Holding Back the World's Poor he wrote for Fast Company, Whalan received three questions/criticism while working with the people of Ghana. He was told: 

• How can you make money working with the poor
• Aren’t you taking advantage of the poor by making a profit?
• “Wouldn’t charity do a better job of meeting their needs?” (verbatim from article)

If I would have read this article two weeks ago or just ignored it because of my first impression of Whalen, I would have asked the same questions, especially the third question.  Before this course, I was a huge believer in charity: sending clothes abroad, making quilts, raising funds, but last week in class, it changed my mind to an extent.

Watching the video with the MoneyMaker's co-founder, Martin Fisher, made me realize that charity can take away worth of something.  Fisher told viewers that when he gave away the MoneyMaker (under a different name), nobody used them, but when the company changed the marketing and sold them (going from social to business venture), the product took off. When a person in poverty makes the financial decision to purchase something that will benefit his or her income that is huge. There is a personal responsibility invested now.  

Whalan brings up an excellent point in this article about selling items to people in poverty.  One specific point that I found interesting was how he said, “status quo for poor consumers is that they routinely pay a lot more for products and services than anyone else. This is something known as the poverty penalty.” The poverty penalty which was coined by C.K. Prahalad in the book, The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid, describes how the poor people pay more for everything than the rich do, and this is a global trend. When people like Whalan are aware of social and economic norms towards people in poverty is when the trend will begin to change.

I still believe in giving to charity, but Whalan and Martin Fisher are two people (there are more, including Ingrid Munro who Whalan quoted) are beginning to change the way the world looks at people in poverty. When the world begins to shift in how the poor are viewed, that is when we will be able to begin to empower those individuals and bring them out of poverty.