Global poverty remains one of the defining economic problems of our time. The World Bank estimates that approximately 8.5% of the global population lives in extreme poverty on less than $2.15 a day. When the more relevant poverty line for upper-middle-income countries—$6.85 a day—is applied, the proportion rises to about 44%, or 3.5 billion people. Meanwhile, the UN Development Programme reports that 1.1 billion people across 112 countries experience acute multidimensional poverty, including deprivation in health, education and living standards. worldbank.org
Even these figures do not capture the millions of households living only slightly above official poverty thresholds. They may have employment but possess little capital, limited savings and almost no protection against illness, unemployment or inflation. Poverty is therefore more than low income. It is frequently the absence of assets, marketable skills and the ability to create new sources of income.
The small group that creates employment
Entrepreneurs are a relatively rare economic resource. Almost half of the world’s employed population may be classified as self-employed, but this category includes own-account and informal workers who employ nobody else. The International Labour Organization has estimated that employers—people who regularly provide work to others—represent up to 3% of the global workforce. Measured against the entire world population, that is broadly equivalent to around 1%. ilostat.ilo.org
Yet this small group accepts the financial, professional and personal risks involved in establishing enterprises. Entrepreneurs organise capital, labour, information and technology; identify unmet demand; create products and services; employ people; pay suppliers and generate tax revenue. Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises account for approximately 70% of employment worldwide, according to the ILO. International Labour Organization
Entrepreneurship should therefore be treated as strategic national infrastructure. Countries cannot create sustainable prosperity solely by distributing existing wealth. They must continuously generate new economic value—and that requires people who know how to turn knowledge, talent and ideas into functioning organisations.
The missing link in conventional education
General education provides indispensable foundations: literacy, numeracy, languages, history and scientific understanding. The problem is not that these subjects lack value, but that students are rarely shown how to connect them with economic life.


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