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What business entrepreneurs are to the economy,
social entrepreneurs are to social change. They are, writes
David Bornstein, the driven, creative individuals who question
the status quo, exploit new opportunities, refuse to give
up -- and remake the world for the better.
How to Change the World tells the
fascinating stories of these remarkable individuals -- many
in the United States, others in countries from Brazil to
Hungary -- providing an In Search of Excellence for
the nonprofit sector. In America, one man, J. B. Schramm,
has helped thousands of low-income high school students
get into college. In South Africa, one woman, Veronica Khosa,
developed a home-based care model for AIDS patients that
changed government health policy. In Brazil, Fábio
Rosa helped bring electricity to hundreds of thousands of
remote rural residents. Another American, James Grant, is
credited with saving 25 million lives by leading and "marketing"
a global campaign for immunization. Yet another, Bill Drayton,
created a pioneering foundation, Ashoka, that has funded
and supported these social entrepreneurs and over a thousand
like them, leveraging the power of their ideas across the
globe.
These extraordinary stories highlight a
massive transformation that is going largely unreported
by the media: Around the world, the fastest-growing segment
of society is the nonprofit sector, as millions of ordinary
people -- social entrepreneurs -- are increasingly stepping
in to solve problems where governments and bureaucracies
have failed. How to Change the World shows, as its
title suggests, that with determination and innovation,
even a single person can make a surprising difference. For
anyone seeking to make a positive mark on the world, this
will be both an inspiring read and an invaluable handbook.
It will change the way you see the world.
David Bornstein specializes in writing
about social innovations. His first book, The Price
of a Dream: The Story of the Grameen Bank, won second
prize in the Harry Chapin Media Awards and was selected
as a finalist for the New York Public Library Book Award
for Excellence in journalism. His articles have appeared
in The Atlantic Monthly and The New York Times.
He lives in New York with his wife, Abigail, and son, Elijah.
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