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When it comes to philanthropy, Carlos Slim, currently the richest man in the world, has got a very interesting opinion: simply put, he believes charity doesn’t really do much good. Sometime in 2007 he asserted that he believed he could do more by building businesses than by giving away money. Poor people need employment, not just money. “Our concept is more to accomplish and solve things, rather than giving – that is not going around like Santa Claus”, he said.
Today the Mexican magnate still maintains his position on the matter, and the famous Giving Pledge shows it very well: Carlos Slim is not on the list of signatories. Now we could argue that the man is nothing but a greedy billionaire who’s only trying to justify his lack of generosity. Still, we can’t help but notice that he’s really got a point when he sais “Trillions of dollars have been given to charity in the last 50 years, and they don’t solve anything”. No significant change has occurred during all these years of giving money to the poor, and that makes us wonder how efficient philanthropy really is.
However, Slim is not completely against giving. He’s hot his own charity foundation in which he has invested millions of dollars. It’s just that he goes by this old saying: “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime”.
