What good does the theory [of economics] do if it is not working for people?

The current financial crisis makes it very clears that the system that we have isn't really working, and this is the right time for us to undo things and build them in a new way.

I went to the bank and proposed that they lend money to the poor people. The bankers almost fell over.

There is the expression of selfishness and there is the expression of selflessness - but economists or theoreticians never touched that part. They said: 'Go and become a philanthropist.' I said, 'No, I can do that in the business world, create a different kind of business - a business based on selflessness.'

Unprecedented technological capabilities combined with unlimited human creativity have given us tremendous power to take on intractable problems like poverty, unemployment, disease, and environmental degradation. Our challenge is to translate this extraordinary potential into meaningful change.

A culture that holds people back should and can be changed.

This is not charity. This is business: business with a social objective, which is to help people get out of poverty.