Thus spake Gates

Regular leaders of the blog know that this blogger is an unabashed admirer of Bill & Melinda Gates. He is of the opinion that they must be sainted - for they have have done more good in the world than many, if not most, religious leaders.

They publish an annual letter which is like a "State of the Union address" in their field. This time they have answered in their letter, the ten toughest questions they get. And yes, Donald Trump is one of them, but if you expect an incendiary answer, well, you don't know the Gates.

I consider their Annual Letter as required reading for any human being with a heart. Here is this year's letter.

Its a bit different as it addresses questions, some of which are not developmental in nature - like Trump, or what do they do when they disagree. But it is , as always, an interesting and often motivating read.

May I exhort you to read this one, and then every one of their previous 10 letters. It is a far more productive use of your time, than reading you know what !

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The incomparable Bill Gates

I remain confounded as to why Bill Gates is not universally loved in this world. Ask people at random to name the greatest living person  and you'll get a wide variety of names. But I bet, you won't see the name of Bill Gates very much. And yet , to me, he would rank right up alongside with Nelson Mandela for that honour.

Why ?;  do you ask ? here's why.

There have been many incredibly successful businessmen in the world. Few can deny that Bill Gates is one of them. But he is only one of many; many preceded him, and no doubt many will succeed him. But even in the success, you should laud his lifestyle - never ostentatious, low key, with class and style and the very epitome of what a successful businessman should be.

And then he gave virtually all his money to charity. In this, he is rare, but not unique. Others have donated large sums before too. The list of business tycoons, who have been major givers for social causes is an illustrious list.

But he is absolutely unique, in that not only did he give money, but that he quit corporate life and is now an active manager and leader of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He has brought his incredible business and organisational talents to the the social work his Foundation is doing. In that he stands alone. No comparable peer is anywhere close to him in this regard. 

If you don't know what the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation do, visit their website. They have been one of the major players in the virtual eradication of polio around the world. Their work in Global Health is stupendous - he leads the fight against tuberculosis, malaria, cholera, AIDS, and such diseases that affect the poor. The work they do in women's health and family planning is like nothing the world has ever seen. Just witness the latest innovation awards that they sponsored. It was not in some sexy field in social work. It was in innovation in toilet design - sanitary facilities being the single largest problem and the largest cause of disease in the poor world. Who else can think of the Reinvent Toilet award ?

Listen to one of his TED talks here, where he dealt with malaria and education and you'll know what I mean.

Its not just the work that Bill and Melinda do. Its the way they do it. They have brought management excellence and governance to the social field where it was sorely lacking.  On a scale that is staggering. The social sector has been transformed by the Gates Foundation. They bring business discipline - project plans, funding, evaluation, corrections and results to the social field. They work with governments and make sure governance is good enough for the money to reach where it should. Most governmental aid disappears down the pockets of the corrupt. Not so with the Gates Foundation. Nobody dares to steal their money or produce poor results - he runs the programs with the same ruthlessness as in business. He works with governments to influence policy. He doesn't dicatate from corporate headquarters - he is on the field in every poor part of the world. He could remain cocooned in luxury - he instead chooses to visit the most difficult regions in the world. I can bet that he has seen more of India than any reader of this blog has - or for that matter, more than many many Indians.

He does all this with little fanfare. There are no sound bites, no photo ops. He doesn't care for any recognition ; not does he even contemplate indulging in many of the antics the rich do. He is truly a class act.

Is he a perfect human being ? Of course not. He has his faults like anybody else. He does go wrong. He is geeky. Not glamorous. In his business days he has been ruthless to competition like any businessman. But what he has achieved and the manner he is achieving them is almost saintly. Show me one other human being who does more for this world. If ever there is a role model for any businessman, nay, any man or woman, you have to  go a long way to find somebody better than Bill Gates. 

Tell me, why is Bill Gates not the prime candidate for the Nobel Peace prize every year ?

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The Swine Flu vaccine dilemma

Novartis claimed last week that had made the first batch of the vaccine for the H1N1 virus that is the cause for swine flu. What caught my attention was Novartis refusing the call of the World Health Organisation to give the vaccine free to poor countries. Novartis says whoever buys, must at least cover costs. Click here for FT’s reporting of the story.

The issue raises a dilemma for which there are no easy answers. For both sides are right.

From the WHO’s point of view, this is about saving lives. They’ve just declared a global pandemic. Many millions could die. Here’s a way of preventing the disease. In poor countries, people just can’t pay for the vaccines. So if you price the vaccines, they simply won’t use it. So is it ethically OK to let many die when you could possibly prevent it ?

From Novartis’ point of view, they are a commercial organization, not a charity. There is a cost to producing the vaccine. What they are saying to the poor countries is, at least cover costs. If they simply produced every life saying drug and distributed free to people just because they were too poor to pay for the cost, they would soon be out of business themselves. Why would they even want to take up research on swine flu vaccine if they kneow they would lose their shirts because of it.

One answer could be that governments buy the vaccines and distribute free to the poor. But then governments don’t have the money either. What’s so special about swine flu. The common flu kills hundreds of thousands of people every year. Shouldn’t we be distributing common flu vaccines to everybody free. And why not Tuberculosis vaccines, or vaccines against other killer diseases ? There is definitely not enough money amongst governments to distribute every vaccine free.

This is not an easy dilemma. So what is to be done.

I have a humble suggestion. The concept of open source, in the IT world, lends a powerful model. People around the world voluntarily come together and donate their expertise for free. And such projects coexist with the business world where companies charge for a similar product or service. Consumers are free to chose.

In the case of the vaccine, the cost is all in the intellectual property of creating the vaccine. The actual manufacture costs a pittance. So why not create an open source platform for the researchers of the world to collaborate voluntarily. That way Novartis can create and produce drugs and vaccines in the normal business way. The open source guys will create for free.

Both have a place in the world. The on line world has shown us that.

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