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0 pointsvidarh12y ago0 comments

38% discount + 10 new jobs per machine. And each additional woman who can now afford to use them, is one more woman who is now more likely to be able to hold down a job or complete school.

I also don't think it's as simple as cutting margins. Note how much of the issue is/was down to social taboos and people being embarrassed about even things like buying them from men in the local shops.

Eventually, sure - as it says in the article he does not see himself as competing with the big manufacturers, but as opening up new markets for them. But if they make inroads it will not not be a bad thing.

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marvin12y ago

My gut feeling is the ripple effects in the local economy is huge. Never mind that this product could probably be produced with less effort at a centralized location - initiatives like these work by both providing a slightly cheaper product and enabling poor people to participate in secondary or tertiary industries.

So in a sense this is an education project on multiple fronts as well. Not just about hygiene and taboos, but also about economics. It's a brilliant illustration that increases in wealth, even from a modest starting point, have large effect. It would be really cool to see this phenomenon studied closer.

World poverty is really just like the Great Depression on a global scale: Lots of quite healthy and able humans which are for some reason (economics, lack of education, lack of communication) unable to participate in global wealth creation. Anything that helps alleviate this problem is a big bonus for humanity.

vacri12y ago

Never mind that this product could probably be produced with less effort at a centralized location

Transport is a significant cost, even in countries with loads of freeways and autobahns. In the rural areas where these machines are being placed, I imagine the transport infrastructure is particularly poor.

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