Now, he is trying to build a business centered on customers for whom turning on a light switch is a radical act of upward mobility. There, he profited by protecting Volvo-driving, chardonnay-sipping weekend warriors against the menacing elements of Aspen. He dropped out of college to start Marmot, the outdoor gear company named for the burrowing rodent. Reynolds embarked on what he portrays as an accidental life as an entrepreneur, an outgrowth of his fascination with mountaineering. More than four decades have passed since Mr. “Unless somebody gets rich, it can’t grow.” Reynolds, now in the midst of a global tour as he courts investment on top of the roughly $12 million he has already raised. It is a notion that has provoked the creation of many businesses, most of them failures. But turning plans for basic services into mass-market realities may require the potent incentives of capitalism. Philanthropists and international aid organizations play key roles in areas such as immunizing children. Governments in impoverished countries lack the finance to attack threats to public health, and many are riddled with corruption (though, by reputation, not Rwanda’s). Inyenyeri presents a real-world test of an idea gaining traction among those focused on economic development - that profit-making businesses may be best positioned to deliver critically needed services to the world’s poorest communities. “Do we know that it’s going to work?” he asks.

Protecting His Mate by E.A. Reynolds