7 reasons I love Bill Gates

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.I love Bill Gates. There, I said it. Yes, he’s a nerd with a love of science and technology – but that only makes him more interesting.
Gates changed the world once by helping to make home computers a reality. Now, for his next trick, he’s trying to change the world again. This time, he’s doing it by investing his fortune in making the world a better place for its poorest people.

1. Philanthropy 2.0. Bill Gates could have sat on his immense wealth, built a new wing on a local hospital or endowed a university library in his own name. He could have taken the second half of his life as a 40 year holiday. He didn’t. He and his wife, Melinda, decided they would give most of their wealth away.
   But they were not content with solving lots of today’s problems only for them to reappear when the cash is gone. They wanted to figure out how to get maximum value from their money. That’s what the Gates Foundation is all about.
   The Gates Foundation looked at where the need was greatest and where they could have the biggest impact. In the process, they have professionalised development aid by introducing better management, more transparency, tapping into cutting edge technologies, and investing in things that have a long-term impact: agriculture, nutrition, sanitation and vaccines.
2. Gates is a pragmatist rather than an ideologue. He wants to figure out what works and then get that done as quickly as possible. He invests in vaccines because vaccines work. That’s all. If they didn’t work or if something comes along that works better, Gates will embrace that. This gives his commitment to immunisation even more weight.



‘Vaccines are miracles because giving children a couple of drops or a shot in the arm prevent some of the worst childhood diseases for a lifetime.’

3. The GAVI Alliance is one of the major legacies of the Gates Foundation. Founded at the turn of the 21st century, GAVI is a public-private partnership dedicated to getting vaccines to those who need them most. It has revolutionised how money is raised and spent, and Gates Foundation cash has attracted billions more from governments and others


"The work our Foundation has done in vaccines through Gavi has been the most important thing that we’ve done."

4. Gates gets collaboration. GAVI, like many other Gates Foundation initiatives, is not a vanity project controlled by Bill and Melinda. It is a partnership that involves the WHO, UNICEF, governments, non-governmental organisations, philanthropists and the private sector.
5. He is ‘an impatient optimist’. Gates wants to make things happen. Even if his goals sometimes look ambitious – ‘We will eradicate four more diseases by 2030′ – you know it’s not a pipe-dream. He once said every home would have a ‘personal computer‘. That seemed almost bizarre at the time. Now many of us have more than one.
6. His independence. Back to his immense wealth: Gates is (forgive the pun) immune to the criticism often thrown at outspoken vaccine advocates i.e. that they have some undisclosed financial interest in fighting for vaccination. What Bill Gates says and does has not been motivated by money for a very long time. Indeed, before he was rich, he seemed to have been driven by a desire to change the world through technology rather than selling out to a bigger rival and disappearing into early retirement. He backs vaccines because they are an incredible development tool.

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

7. Melinda Gates. Software engineer, wife, mother, philanthropist. And vaccine advocate.

What have I missed? Have your say in the comment section below.