Is anyone familiar with Tom's Shoes? http://www.toms.com/ http://www.toms.com/ The gist of their company is that for every pair of shoes they sell, they give a

Is anyone familiar with Tom's Shoes? http://www.toms.com/ http://www.toms.com/ The gist of their company is that for every pair of shoes they sell, they give a pair away to children in impoversihed countries. Seems like a really nice thing to do. That said, I've always thought they would be better off helping would-be entrepreneurs in those countries to make and sell shoes of their own. IE, perhaps they could use their resources to help people in those countries learn how to make the shoes, provide some assistance in sourcing the materials, etc. As it is today, if someone in those areas where they give shoes away has any aspiration of making shoes, they have no chance because they won't ever be able to compete with someone coming in and giving away free shoes. When the kid who received the new pair of free shoes inevitably needs another pair, there is infrastructure in place for him to get those new shoes, rather than waiting for Tom's to show up again with more free shoes. I'm not knocking Tom's because I think their intentions are simply to help people. But I do think they're missing the target - I think that is what Senor Slim is referring to.