When I was in Atlanta last month for the Foundation for Economic Education’s annual conference, FEEcon, I heard a lot of messages of optimism from people who were making the world a better place. One of the most inspiring was the short film and in-person remarks offered by Magatte Wade, an entrepreneur from Senegal.

In the film above, she explains how she built her skin care and cosmetics company, Skin Is Skin, and some of the obstacles she faced along the way, including restrictions and red tape imposed by Senegal’s government—and the governments of many similar developing countries. She said, quite forcefully, what so many others working on development projects have tried to communicate in recent years: people in poor countries don’t want more handouts from the first world. They want (and need) economic freedom in order to build their own success.

Reprinted from the Competitive Enterprise Institute.