It is not often one thinks about a rock star as a humanitarian. In fact, our society always had a certain stereotype towards rock stars that was far from people who attacked global challenges such as poverty. Bono leads the world in fight against poverty in Africa, changing peoples believes about what a rock star should be doing.

Bono, became a forefront activist to end Third World Debt, and is a spokesperson for the Jubilee 2000 project, a network of people that works together to help third world nations get rid of debt, and Netaid, an organization that inspires young adults to fight global poverty. In 2005, Nono achieved emense success when he was able to persuade global leaders to forgive a $40 billion debt that was owed by mostly third world countries. Among other projects that Bono helped launch are ONE Campaign, Product (RED), DATA and EDUN.

Most of his life, Yunus spent in fight with poverty helping people in villages, he once lived in. He graduated from Dhaka University and received his BA in 1960 and MA in 1961. Later he obtained his PhD. Degree from Vanderbuilt University. Through his career, Yunus lectured at Middle Tennessee State University and then at Chittagong University in Bangladesh. Lecturing economics, Yunus was always interested in applying business concepts to help local communities. In 1976 Yunus was able to secure a loan from the government Jonata Bank. The money would be redistributed and landed to the poor in Jabra. By 1982 the bank expanded offering services to around 30,000 members, and the project that was started from a personal investment of $27 began operating as a full-fledged bank under the new name – Grameen Bank, which means Village Bank. Read more about Yunus.

Nichos Negroponte is the founder and president of the One Laptop Per Child. The company designs, manufactures and distributes cheap, well functioning laptops co consumers in the undeveloped regions of the world. Before he started this venture, Negroponte was a professor at the MIT and a founder of MIT Media Lab. He is the author of a number of books in the IT field.

Here is a collection of videos featuring Nicholas Negroponte:

TED Talk

Internet and Society 2007

Who doesn’t know Al Gore? He, almost singlehandedly turned the attention of the entire world to a climate crisis. There is plenty to learn about this man and his strategies to get people’s attention and work with dozens of organizations and companies to find a viable solution. This is his site.