Hesiod

Someone said that  all is fair in love and war. Others consider that intention gives the morality of an action. Others say that it is the peoples’ character that is morally relevant, not their actions. There are also those who say that it is the consequences of our actions that matter, not our intentions or our character.  As we can see, there are different moral criteria that can measure the morality of profit. Beyond these criteria and beyond the corporate social responsibility (CSR) standards and practices that are different from one market to another and change in time, there is one constant and fundamental moral criterion: the obligation of not doing harm to others, that goes hand in hand with the fundamental human rights. My profit ends where someone’s liberty begins. Every way to make profit is morally right as long as it doesn’t brake others’ rights and as long as it does not take them the opportunities to be happy and to prosper. Like this, profit can become the best way to fight against poverty.

In the Friedman’s flat world and in the today’s information economy, poverty can not be seen as being caused by the lack of resources, but as a consequence of  the lack of access to opportunities toward education and personal development.

The fundamental human right, like the right to life, the property right and the equal access to opportunities of education and career development are the premises that make possible moral and sustainable profit. Any entrepreneurial culture, and entrepreneurial project, any program that aims at alleviating poverty must begin from these premises.