Entrepreneurs are everywhere.

Let’s hear it for supply chains. And micro loans. And sales agents on motorbikes. Let’s give people a chance to earn an income and buy aspirational products designed specifically for them. Let’s put our entrepreneurial spirit to work to inspire theirs.

Join us in solving global poverty

Since 1982

iDE has been putting business to work for the poor for more than three decades, using market based solutions to change the living conditions and livelihoods of millions of people around the globe.

20 Million More

We invite foundations, philanthropists, donors and social innovators to join us on a journey to transform 20 million more lives.

Become a 20 Million More Supporter

Solving Poverty with Profit.

Our founder, Paul Polak, was working in Somalia in the early eighties when he began to develop his philosophies and methodologies related to market-based solutions and human-centered design for solving poverty.

Today, we continue to build on those founding principles, living where we work, and always putting the needs of the poor and vulnerable at the center of everything we do.

We're on a mission to develop innovative and compassionate solutions for the most pressing needs in the developing world.

iDE enhances farmers’ ability to produce and sell fruits, vegetables, and grains sustainably. In doing so, we grow their incomes and the availability of food in their communities, region, and country.

Food Security

By promoting high-value, nutritious crops, iDE empowers farmers to earn more income and provide their families and communities with a more varied diet.

Nutrition

By focusing on women as customers and entrepreneurs, iDE strengthens their participation in rural value chains and increases their access to technology, know-how, finance, and markets.

Gender Equity

iDE helps people in rural areas build their resilience to climate extremes through the use of water saving and climate-smart agricultural technologies and practices.

Climate Resilience

Support from donors and foundations funds our efforts to directly address the parts of peoples’ lives that matter—we’re looking for what works, and you can help.

Diarrheal disease causes more deaths in children under five than malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV combined. iDE is taking on this disease by building markets for sanitation, clean water, and handwashing.

Learn more about WASH

Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene

Small-scale farmers grow 80 percent of the food available in rural areas, so improving their productivity is key. iDE creates business opportunities that enable increased productivity and result in greater income.

Learn more about AG

Agriculture for Entrepreneurs

iDE helps connects lenders and borrowers at the most rural level, leveraging the power of lots of little loans to improve living conditions

Learn more about Finance

Access to Finance

We have boots on the ground in eleven countries on three continents, and our teams live in the provinces, districts, and villages where we work.

Bangladesh

Since 1984, iDE has helped expand incomes and improve lives in Bangladesh.

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Burkina Faso

iDE is pioneering market-based solutions in west Africa.

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Cambodia

iDE builds market demand and supply for simple, low-cost, products and services in Cambodia.

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Ethiopia

iDE's solutions address the frequent droughts and humanitarian crises that lead to food insecurity in Ethiopia.

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Ghana

18 million people earn less than $2/day subsistence farming in Ghana.

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Honduras

Climate-smart technology and advice is increasing farmer incomes in Honduras.

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Mozambique

Mozambique is one of the poorest countries in Africa, with agriculture only a third of GDP.

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Nepal

iDE innovations with origins in Nepal include collection centers, multiple-use water systems, and more.

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Nicaragua

iDEal Tecnologias provides farmers cost-effective technology.

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Vietnam

iDE is partnering with the Vietnam government to address agriculture and WASH challenges.

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Zambia

Geographical isolation and limited infrastructure are barriers for rural farmers in Zambia.

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iDE NEWS

iDE promotes business solutions for clean water at World Water Week, 28 Aug - 2 Sep 2016
All water is not equal, and all solutions for clean water aren't either. iDE will be at the World Water Week conference to promote water-smart technology and building markets for sanitation—solutions that work.
August 22 2016
iDE's new brand highlights the power of entrepreneurs to solve poverty
iDE is on a mission to solve poverty. We've already reached over 23 million people using the power of entrepreneurship to increase incomes and improve livelihoods. Now we're going to reach 20 million more.
August 21 2016
Cambodia emerges as sanitation role model for other developing countries
Cambodia is on track to reach its goal of toilet access for 100% of its population by 2025, and now they are training other countries in how to replicate their amazing success.
August 17 2016