author’s statement: “Anyone who has ever dreamt of solving a problem or making a positive change in his or her environment will find encouraging and instructive stories here.”

who: David Bornstein received a Bachelor of Commerce degree from McGill University in Montreal and a Master of Arts from New York University. In addition to writing, he has worked as a computer programmer and systems analyst. He lives in New York City with his wife and son.

Bornstein is also the author of The Price of a Dream: The Story of the Grameen Bank, which chronicles the worldwide growth of the anti-poverty ‘micro-credit’ strategy. The Price of a Dream, which drew on ten months of research in villages in Bangladesh, won second prize in the Harry Chapin Media Awards, was a finalist for the Helen Bernstein New York Public Library Book Award for Excellence in Journalism, and was selected by the San Francisco Chronicle as one of the best business books of 1996.

what: How To Change The World tells the stories of people around the globe who are solving many of the world's most intractable problems. Full of hope and energy, exciting solutions and compelling characters, the book shows how a growing wave of ‘social entrepreneurs’ - individuals with initiative, creativity, savvy and determination - are reshaping the world for the better. These individuals - from doctors to lawyers, from engineers to journalists - are successfully demonstrating that one person with a powerful idea and a passionate drive to succeed can bring positive changes to the lives of thousands or even millions.

social entrepreneurs: what business entrepreneurs are to the economy, social entrepreneurs are to social change. They are, writes Bornstein, the driven, creative individuals who question the status quo, exploit new opportunities, refuse to give up - and remake the world for the better.

In America, one man, J.B. Schramm, has helped thousands of low-income high school students get into college. In South Africa, one woman, Veronica Khosa, developed a home-based care model for AIDS patients that changed government health policy. In Brazil, Fabio Rosa helped bring electricity to hundreds of thousands of remote rural residents. Another American, James Grant, is credited with saving 25 million lives by leading and ‘marketing’ a global campaign for immunisation. Yet another, Bill Drayton, created a pioneering foundation, Ashoka, that has funded and supported these social entrepreneurs and over a thousand others just like them, leveraging the power of their ideas across the globe.

These extraordinary stories highlight a massive transformation that is going largely unreported by the media. Around the world, the non-profit sector is the fastest-growing segment of society, as millions of ordinary people - social entrepreneurs - are increasingly stepping in to solve the problems where governments and bureaucracies have failed. How to Change the World shows, as its title suggests, that with determination and innovation, even a single person can make a surprising difference.