2.4 Billion Customers: How Business Can Scale Solutions to Poverty

Dr. Paul Polak is the founder of International Development Enterprises (IDE) and DREV, both non-profits, along with for-profit Windhorse International, all of which develop products to serve poor customers. For the past 25 years, Paul has worked with thousands of farmers around the world to help design and produce low-cost income-generating products which have already moved 17 million people out of poverty.

Peggy Reid joined the Lemelson Foundation as Program Director in 2008. From 2001 to 2008, she served as Director of the Public Management Program at Stanford's Graduate School of Business. Her private-sector experience spans product development, management consulting, and mergers and acquisitions. She holds graduate degrees in Business and Theology from Dartmouth and Harvard, respectively, and a B.A. from Wellesley College.

Amy Schefer, Paul Polak's daughter, provided extensive editorial support for this article. She has also been collaborating with Dr. Polak on a blog that will appear on PaulPolak.com.