Humanitarian author presents college lecture

February 2009

Humanitarian and innovator Dr. Paul Polak presented the February college lecture to an auditorium full of Fulton College students and interested members of the campus community.

Polak, who was originally trained as a psychologist, has spent the last 25 years working to lift the world’s poor out of poverty. The statistics he reported were staggering to many in attendance – 1.2 billion people in the world live on less than a dollar a day.

The problem, Polak said, is that “90 percent of today’s designers work only for the richest 10 percent of the world’s customers.”

“Before I die I want to see this silly ratio turned on its head,” Polak quipped. He is certainly doing his part. In the last 25 years, Polak’s brainchild, International Development Enterprises, has helped increase poor farmers’ net incomes by $288 million annually. The interesting part is they have made a profit in the process.

“I thought it was amazing to hear how we can do so much good in the world without giving away everything we have,” said John Parsons, a senior studying civil engineering. “We have a successful, profitable business whose mission is to change the world – that’s something I never thought possible.”

Polak shared success stories from his years of humanitarian engineering experience and encouraged the students not only to think outside the box, but to “build a new box to think outside of.”

He dispelled three of the “great myths about poverty eradication,” telling students that multinationals – at least as presently constituted – will not solve the problem, neither will national economic growth or massive donations. What has to happen, he explained, is that the poor have to invest in themselves and better their situations. The world's engineers and designers have to make that possible by providing affordable solutions.  

Polak held a book signing at the BYU Bookstore directly following his lecture. “Dream big and dream simple,” said Kyle Smith, a junior studying mechanical engineering. “That’s what he wrote in my book.”

For more information on Polak's work, visit his Web site www.paulpolak.com

 

College News
October 2009

• Fulton College faculty honored with University Awards
• Civil engineering professor honored as ITE Outstanding Transportation Educator
• BYU engineering project leads to sustainable structures for Mozambicans
• Graduation Information