Baugh Center for Entrepreneurship and Free Enterprise to Host Free Screening of ‘Poverty, Inc.’

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Media contact: Eric Eckert, (254) 710-1964
WACO, Texas (April 14, 2016) – “Poverty, Inc.,” a film that follows the butterfly effect of the West’s well-intentioned efforts to do good in developing nations, will air at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 19, in the Paul L. Foster Campus for Business and Innovation Room 240.
“Poverty, Inc.” was created by Michael Matheson Miller to investigate the global industry of foreign aid, seeking to answer the following questions: Are we stimulating development? Or are we unintentionally implementing a system through which the poor stay poor while the rich feel better about themselves?
“The film provides a realistic assessment of the well-intentioned efforts to solve poverty through foreign aid over the last 40 years. Unfortunately, it has done more harm than good,” said Steve Bradley, Ph.D., associate professor of entrepreneurship and faculty director for the Baugh Center for Entrepreneurship. “On the other hand, the movie also provides a very hopeful message of empowering people through their own effort and ingenuity providing for themselves through business. Our role is partnership, not paternalism.”
The film draws from more than 200 interviews filmed in 20 countries, unearthing an uncomfortable side of charity that it begs viewers not to ignore. Conversation and topics include those involved with TOMS shoes, international adoptions, solar energy and U.S. agricultural subsidies. The film opens up a discussion about who profits most from fighting poverty and looks at the multi-billion dollar market of NGO’s, multilateral agencies and for-profit aid contractors.
“A diverse and instructive collection of real-world case studies, ‘Poverty, Inc.’ provides genuine food for thought,” said Peter Debruge in a Variety film review.
“Poverty, Inc.” has won more than 40 international film festival honors including a “Best of Fests” selection to the International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam, the world’s largest documentary film festival.
This event is hosted by the John F. Baugh Center for Entrepreneurship and Free Enterprise, which seeks to extend support to the local, national and global business community to facilitate new business and further the goals of established businesses.
The screening is free and open to the public. The Foster campus is located at 1621 S. Third St.
To view the trailer of the film, click here.
For more information, visit PovertyInc.org.
by Bethany Harper, student newswriter, (254) 710-6805
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