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Thank you for your interesting and informative article on what you’re doing to help reduce poverty in areas where it’s really worse than we here can imagine. I do think that encouraging and assisting small business could make a very big difference in many parts of our own country as well.

It is not possible for even a very small fraction of the 3 billion living in poverty (below $2 per day in income) to become successful entrepreneurs. Most of them do not have any education, business skills or financial resources. In countries like India, the poor are both illiterate and socially disadvantaged; there is little chance that micro-credit or even larger funds can help them plausibly start and run businesses. The present generation of impoverished people can only hope to earn a living by working in the fields for landlords or at businesses nearby.