How do we solve the poverty problem?

I was doing some research on sustainable technology. You know solar lantern lamps, life straws and mosquito nets -  Anyway I was browsing and came upon this site: http://www0.gsb.columbia.edu/students/organizations/sec/summerfellows/features_eapen.html

Now don't get me wrong. It is good news to hear more MBA students from one of the Ivy Leagues coming out and wanting to make a difference and becoming socially concious in the work they intend to do. What puzzles me was a few things namely: why do we make stories and glorified a few when really so many thousands out there are working their ass off day in and out already doing it. I don't have an MBA, many of my friends working in the field don't have one. Does that make us less valuable in what we do? Because we don't count numbers or bring in powerful proven technologies into a community, does it mean we contribute less? Because we address social and political concerns associated with poverty - where does that leave us? I didn't think one needs to pursue an MBA in an effort to be socially conscious. I might have been naive when I did my graduate studies.

In relation to the article, can someone really tell me what Jeff Sachs and the Millenium Villages Project have really achieved with all that aid money being poured in (seriously the MVPs are not new at all and its impact have been questioned). Hmm. Sometimes we treat poverty as if it was a technical problem, we unscrew the parts, buy new parts, fix it up with new technology and voila - done. We forget that at the crux of it all, there are messy and often complex social, economical and political conditions attached to it which cannot be easily resolved by new discoveries in engineering or technology.

I tell you what I didn't like in the article: "Now is the time for forward- thinking people like Sachs, who can combine pop culture with economic development to reach the most people, both of those benefitted and the investors. And the time for emerging leaders like Eapen, who can combine two disparate degrees into socially conscious and impactful action, the kind which will lead the way to progress in the 21st century."

It smacks of big city first world arrogance.