The Marketplace Magazine July/August 2014

July August 2014

Where Christian faith gets down to business

Sierra Leone

“You haven’t eaten until you’ve had rice”

A few career tips for Millennials What do you do if you’re undercharged?

Bagels and pizza — on your honor

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The Marketplace July August 2014

Roadside stand

Stayin’ Alive MEDA staff who travel overseas take a security course that includes a first aid component. When Helen Loftin, vice president of economic opportunities for youth and women, took the training she had no idea how useful it would be.

Returning from Pakistan with a stopover in the Abu Dhabi airport, she was heading for her gate when a man called frantically for help. His mother had collapsed and was lying on the tile floor, bloody froth seeping from her mouth.

She was not breathing and had no pulse.

“No one was jumping in to help,” says Loftin. “So I did.”

Her mind raced as she summoned her first-aid lessons to mind. “Can I do this? Where are the medical practitioners?”

She locked her hands and began performing chest compressions on the woman.

As she counted aloud she sang Stayin’ Alive in her head — “1,2,3,4 stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive.”

“I didn’t do things perfectly right, I know,” says Loftin.

“I’m pretty sure my form was off a bit.”

Nonetheless, the woman soon revived. Her chest heaved, a weak pulse returned, and she began to breathe.

Paramedics finally showed up after 20 minutes. As they loaded the woman onto a gurney to transport her to hospital Loftin spoke with the man and his wife and offered to contact family members when she reached Toronto.

“I could hear their hearts

Cover photo: Jason Dudek in a field of rice in Sierra Leone

The Marketplace July August 2014

good deed as “giving back”?

That’s not necessary for companies that make a practice of being socially responsible, says marketing consultant Lee Yohn in her book What Great Brands Do: The Seven Brand-Building Principles That Separate the Best from the Rest. Great brands don’t have to give back because “giving back suggests that you’ve taken something that needs to be paid back to balance out your karma,” she says. A brand that is great, however, is already in balance with the world around it.

(Globe and Mail)

Helen Loftin breaking at the height of their crisis,” says Loftin, “and I understood how much they would suffer with her death at this time. And I received the gift of witnessing their relief and love almost palpably flow around me when her vital signals reassured them she was still here.”

Much later, the woman’s ever-grateful son contacted Loftin and reported they were back in Ontario and the woman was receiving continued medical care.

Loftin is grateful, too — for the first aid training she received and for the presence of mind to put it to work.

Robo ethics. A doctoral student at the University of British Columbia is trying to teach robots the difference between right and wrong. Ajung Moon is developing robots that employ logic to make ethical decisions and then act on them. So far she has worked on issues of simple politeness, such as how to behave when entering an elevator. Bigger moral dilemmas will come later.

Moon observes that ethics can be tricky because not everyone agrees on what constitutes a moral principle. When she gets it all worked out, she can move on to greater things, like teaching ethics to humans.

Adgravation. Robocalls are the most annoying advertising tactic according to a survey by the Consumer Reports National Research Center.

Others running close are: false claims that you’ve won a prize or sweepstakes; bills that look real but aren’t; pop-up online ads; and exaggerated ads touting medical cures. These all garnered “most annoying” votes of 70 percent or more.

Least annoying were billboard ads. The survey also found that “adgravation” increases with age. People over the age of 60 were much more annoyed than those aged 18 to 29. Just wait. (Consumer Reports)

Business on the rez. Osoyoos Indian Band in southern British Columbia may be Canada’s most prosperous aboriginal reserve. Last year the 520-member band made a profit of $2.5 million from its various business enterprises. Unemployment is zero. Credit is given to Chief Clarence Louie, who is known (and sometimes criticized) as a tough-talking promoter of business solutions to aboriginal poverty. As he studied his people’s history

Give back? How often have you heard companies explain a 2

Louie became convinced that “the economic horse pulls the social cart” and the most effective remedy to First Nations problems was economic development. “It’s all about having a purpose in life,” he says. “I think people have it backwards when they emphasize social development over economic development. If you get people working, most of the social problems in a community fade away.” (Report on Business magazine) Internet fishing. You’ve heard the old saying, “Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day.” An updated version we heard recently: “Teach a person to use the Internet and they won’t bother you for weeks, months, maybe years.”

Business writing. The conceptual links between running a business and writing a novel are not often explored. Maybe they should be. Writer Eva Stachniak was asked by the Globe and Mail to share the best professional advice she’d ever received. Her answer: “Write books you would love to read. And no other.” Hmm. How would that apply to business? It might make an apt mission statement: “Make products I would love to use.”

“Grow food I would love to eat.” “Sell cars I would love to drive.” Many business owners, especially the kind who read this magazine, already do that but don’t talk about it. If so, they are tapping into a fundamental spiritual insight taught

by Jesus, namely the Golden Rule. — WK

In this issue

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How hard (and long) are we really working? Page 18

Wheels for the journey

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How business battles poverty

Editor: Wally Kroeker Design: Ray Dirks

What do Millennials need? Graduation speaker Joyce Lehman dug into her own past with MEDA and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for tips on how to prepare for a career of adventure.

Charity can help people grab the first rung of the development ladder, but only their own enterprise will allow them to climb the rest of the way.

By Marc and Craig Kielburger

Roadside stand Soul enterprise Soundbites Reviews News

Volume 44, Issue 4 July August 2014 The Marketplace (ISSN 0199-7130) is published bi-monthly by Mennonite Economic Development Associates at 532 North Oliver Road, Newton, KS 67114. Periodicals postage paid at Newton, KS 67114. Lithographed in U.S.A. Copyright 2014 by MEDA.

People in Sierra Leone say that if you haven’t eaten rice today, you haven’t eaten. Jason Dudek and Mountain Lion Agriculture want to help them eat — and grow — as much as they need.

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Departments 2 4 19 20 22

Devoted to rice

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Paying what you owe

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Bagels and butter tarts

His company’s energy account contained an unexpected “bonus” — a substantial undercharge.

Should he let it ride, even though it would violate a company value? By Donovan Oberholtzer John Bergen’s four café bakeries, with their wood-fired pizzas and other delectable fare, are the talk of Kitchener-Waterloo, as is his unusual method of taking payment. By Dave Rogalsky

Change of address should be sent to Mennonite Economic Development Associates, 1891 Santa Barbara Dr., Ste. 201, Lancaster, PA 17601-4106.

To e-mail an address change, subscription request or anything else relating to delivery of the magazine, please contact subscription@meda.org For editorial matters contact the editor at wkroeker@meda.org or call (204) 956-6436 Subscriptions: $25/year; $45/two years.

Postmaster: Send address changes to The Marketplace 1891 Santa Barbara Dr., Ste. 201 Lancaster, PA 17601-4106

Published by Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA), whose dual thrust is to encourage a Christian witness in business and to operate business-oriented programs of assistance to the poor. For more information about MEDA call 1-800-665-7026.

Web site www.meda.org

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The Marketplace July August 2014

Peace work How can your job relate to world peace?

Just about every place you turn there are prospects for violence, so you don’t have to go far to be a peacemaker. You can wage peace on the job.

Hopefully you’ll never experience it yourself, but violence lurks in every workplace. It’s a $4 billion a year problem in North America, producing half a dozen homicides each month. If you become a manager of any kind you will have plenty of opportunities to wage peace. You can distinguish your managerial style by watching for danger areas or “triggers” that can lead to workplace violence (such as job loss or demotion; problems at home; romantic obsession with a co-worker; or increased substance abuse).

Managers spend an average of 15 percent of their time resolving staff conflicts. The lazy ones turn their heads and either let staff battle it out themselves or let them internalize their frustrations (and maybe take it out on their families when they get home). More effective is to cultivate teamwork and delegate with clarity. Ensuring that each person’s work is properly integrated and interrelated with the work of others sends a message of respect for each person’s contribution. That not only reduces strife in the workplace, but also creates synergy and ends up being good management.

Interesting, isn’t it, that something as formulaic as management style can make a difference to peace.

Wherever humans work together there’s a chance of friction. Even something as simple as answering the phone can bring you into conflict. One savvy office

receptionist who gets at least one angry phone call a day relies on a verse from the Bible — “A soft answer turns away wrath” (Prov. 15:1). She defuses seething callers by hearing them out, not leaving them on hold, not being defensive, not passing the buck, and making sure someone follows up.

“Unseen ministers” can bring the leaven of peace to the world at their doorstep.

Valerie works as a liaison between the livestock industry and consumers. Among her tasks is to encourage cooperation as competing interest groups lobby for their approaches to the environment. No one thinks of her as a “peacemaker,” but her goal is to bring warring sides closer together and work towards amicable solutions.

Byron toils behind the scenes for a regulatory agency ironing out wrinkles in a water agreement between the United States and Canada. The work he does is paving the way for greater neighborliness in the future.

In any job, you’ll be part of a working community where you can build relationships of trust and integrity that promote peace.

Excerpted from You’re Hired! Looking for work in all the right places, a career guide from MEDA. Available for free download at www.meda.org

There’s the rub Steve Jobs got an early business lesson from a neighbor’s rock tumbler. “Get some stones,” the neighbor told him one day.

Young Steve complied, and brought back a handful of jagged stones which the neighbor placed in the tumbler along with some grit. He turned on the machine and let it run.

The next day he showed the result. The rough-edge rocks had rolled and rubbed each other smooth, producing beautiful polished specimens that looked like gems.

The young computer genius gained a metaphor suggesting how great products are made. Organize a team of highly talented people, let them work closely together, bump up against each other, argue (maybe even fight) and make noise. Over time they will polish each other and polish their ideas and “what comes out are these beautiful stones.”

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Your biggest legacy “When you’re gone, your work will stand as the single biggest testament to who you were and what you believed.

By ‘your work,’ I don’t just mean your occupation, but any way in which you contribute value to the world using your available resources. This, of course, includes every task you do and project you engage in, but also every time you encourage someone else or contribute to a relationship, every instance in which you make an effort to grow your skills or develop your mind, or every time you go the extra mile even though you are exhausted. Your body of work comprises the sum total of where you choose to place your limited focus, assets, time, and energy.... Naturally, your worth as a person transcends the value you create, but your work is the most visible expression of your priorities.” — Todd Henry in Die Empty: Unleash Your Best Work Every Day

Godly competitiveness You’re ambitious, but does that mean your desire to advance necessarily means clashing with your coworkers?

“Competition is not a bad thing,” say Sebastian Traeger and Greg Gilbert in The Gospel at Work: How Working for King Jesus Gives Purpose and Meaning to our Jobs. “Being a Christian doesn’t mean we just have to curtsy and make way for everyone to pass us up. It’s not competition the Bible forbids, but rather the world’s playbook for competition — the cutthroat mentality that says the only way for you to go up is for everybody else to go down. Our goal as Christians is to compete with and love our coworkers all at the same time. How do we do that?

We compete by working at whatever we do with all our heart, not by undercutting or sabotaging the efforts of our coworkers. Compete, but compete with honor. Win by running faster, not by tripping up all your competitors. Even more, encourage them to run faster too. Help them see where they can improve their work, and congratulate them when they advance.”

Five ways to connect Few executives have done more to promote faith/business integration than William Diehl, former sales manager for Bethlehem Steel and author of books like Thank God It’s Monday. In his book, The Monday Connection, he sets out five ways he sought to carry out Christian ministry at Bethlehem Steel: 1. Being competent. Competence is a primary means of carrying out Christian faith in the workplace. Whether we be a carpenter, a shoemaker, a lawyer, a doctor, or a steel sales manager, to the extent that we are competent in our work, we serve others.

2. Bringing faith into the conversation. As we relate to others in our work, we can bring the presence of God into our interactions.

3. Being ethical. It is through our ethics that we express our Christian values in the workplace.

4. Striving for change. When we work to bring about change in unjust or careless policies or procedures in the workplace, we are serving God. 5. Living simply. Through our lifestyle in the workplace, we demonstrate our Christian values to others.

Overheard:

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“Never commit to anything that you can’t give your all to. Hustle overcomes nearly every shortcoming.” — Entrepreneur Rich Seal

The Marketplace July August 2014

Devoted to rice Jason Dudek is a firm believer that the private sector should lead the way from poverty to prosperity.

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A healthy field of new rice in Sierra Leone. Demand for the crop is rising nearly 20% a year across Africa.

t may seem immodest to say so, but it’s possible Jason Dudek and his partners know more about rice than anyone in Sierra Leone.

“We were among the first in,” says Dudek, CFO of Mountain Lion Agriculture. “Most others are five or 10 years behind us.”

That’s no small feat in a country that lives by rice.

“Rice is the staple food in Sierra Leone,” says Dudek.

“Everyone eats it every day. The local saying is ‘if you haven’t eaten rice today, you haven’t eaten’.”

Most of the country’s farmers cultivate rice, but their efforts are not enough to meet demand. Dudek wants to help Sierra Leoneans to produce and consume all the rice they need.

Rise of rice

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Dudek grew up in a southern Manitoba family

ice is humanity’s leading source of calories, according to The Economist. Half of the world’s population get a fifth or more of their daily caloric intake from rice.

Usually associated more with Asian countries, consumption is rising elsewhere. “In Africa, where a third of the population depends on rice, demand is rising by almost 20% a year,” the magazine says. “At that rate rice will surpass maize as Africa’s main source of calories within 20 years.” ◆

The Marketplace July August 2014

whose ethical stance was shaped by Catholic social teaching. His grandparents were farmers, so he knew his way around soil and crops.

He put himself through undergrad studies in Canada by planting trees in the summer (200,000 of them by his tally). He obtained a degree in philosophy, which means, among other things, that he can now throw around terms like “epistemological humility.”

He followed up by going to the London School of Economics for a master’s degree. Then he and a friend

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Jason Dudek (inset) poses proudly on land being leveled for the foundation of the new rice mill building (since completed).

His goal is

ing from the aftermath of its 1991-2002 civil war. “They inferred from to develop a my tree-planting experience that I could handle national brand going without showers or e-mail,” says Dudek, of rice to feed who fell in love with the African country.

Sierra Leoneans The NGO community was less alluring, however.

“I found very little longstarted a consultancy busiterm commitment,” he reness in Iraq to facilitate calls. “I was disappointed investment. by how little beneficiaries “I found that I really were engaged and inhad a knack for business volved in the processes — and a strong interest in it,” and by how little actually he says.

Moses Samou, one of Mountain Lion’s master farmers, ended up getting to the In 2004 he volundisplays improved seed varieties he is helping breed. people we were supposed teered for a development to be serving.” assignment with the Stirred by the glaring needs he saw, Dudek gathered United Nations and was sent to their roughest outpost. financial backing and opened an orphanage, which by That happened to be Sierra Leone, which was still reel7

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his own admission “spun off into a big deal” and still operates.

By now he had earned two degrees, started an investment company in Iraq and built an orphanage.

Did we mention that he’s only 32?

in this case our smallholder farmers who are often held back by enormous challenges and cycles of subsistence.”

Some 70 percent of Sierra Leone’s people are small farmers who subsist on plots of about three The company he’s part of defines acres. Unfortunately, the quantity Dudek’s social and business passions. He is and quality of the rice they produce a single-minded devotee not only of rice but does not match their appetite for also of the powerful role the private sector it, and up to 30 percent of it has to can play in alleviating global poverty. be imported. Before the civil war, “I’m a firm believer that the private secSierra Leone had a flourishing rice A pot of Sierra Leone’s unique tor — and local Sierra Leoneans as actors industry, and even exported some rice, the most popular dish in the and agents rather than passive recipients of of it. But now, demand for the country. ‘development’ — should lead the way from staple is no longer met by local propoverty to prosperity,” he says. “I have seen the results of duction, creating an unhealthy reliance on imports. Dudek this approach. No one has more of an incentive to make wants to change that.

“The main thing for me is helping farmers,” he says. change happen than those who stand to benefit from it, “They face so many barriers — no access to credit, no access to markets or machines.”

MEDA’s connection

Mountain Lion began laying groundwork in Sierra Leone in 2008 and became incorporated in 2010.

“We designed it as an impact business,” says Dudek.

“Our business model is designed to help farmers break out of the cycle of subsistence that they’re trapped in.”

The company began to create a series of individual solutions with different business divisions that would improve farm practices and milling capacity, provide access to better equipment and inputs (but not necessarily chemicals), and carefully build a national brand of high-quality rice to feed Sierra Leoneans, not to “The main thing export.

In the area of agrofor me is helping nomic practices, Dudek farmers. They face cringes to see farmers burn stubble. “They use a lot of burning, so many barriers which is very bad for the land,” he says. “They — no access to burn because they have this tall, tough elephant credit, no access grass – eight feet tall.

It’s so tough you can’t really cut it down, so to markets or they burn.”

Tropical soil is natumachines.” rally acidic, he explains, and burning just makes it worse. “The first thing is to teach farmers not to burn.”

Because the grass is so tough, most implements just won’t, well, cut it. One implement that does work is a powerful cutter called the Joker, produced by the Horsch company in Germany.

M

EDA is helping Mountain Lion Agriculture improve rice production in Sierra Leone with financial and technical assistance. Besides lending the company $500,000 from its Sarona Risk Capital Fund (SRCF), MEDA arranged an additional $1.15 million of financing, including a $900,000 grant from the African Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF), and $250,000 from the Horsch family of Germany.

The rice-processing company aims to help 5,000 small rice farmers boost production and then buy/ process what they produce. Its “ecosystem approach” draws in multiple elements such as input sales, seed loans, machine rental/sales, a 250-acre research farm and modern processing mill. The ultimate goal is to displace lower-quality rice imports with a higher-quality, competitively priced domestic product that will become Sierra Leone’s first nationally produced brand of local rice in decades.

MEDA’s technical services will include: • Refine, strengthen and expand small-farmer production and training and extension arrangements; • Optimize production and business models leading to improved yields, higher-quality rice, soil health, reduced post-harvest crop loss and better small-farmer profitability; • Help Mountain Lion develop new rice varieties, scale up/replicate milling operations, technology transfer, linkage to national rice breeder/foundation seed sources, improve information and communication technology to better capture small farmer data.

In addition, MEDA board member Donovan Nickel serves on the Mountain Lion Agriculture board. ◆

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honed skills and focused relentlessly on research.

“Now we’re getting four tons per hectare,” he says. “That’s a huge accomplishment. We’re operating in a highly acidic environment with shallow soil, endemic iron toxicity, all kinds of issues. And we’re trying to do it in a way that other farmers can replicate what we’re doing.”

But size of crop is not the prime metric. “It’s not about the yields, it’s about how much money you spend getting the yields,” says Dudek. “Our target is environmental and financial sustainability.”

The Mountain Lion Agriculture team with their high-quality tractor in the foreground.

By his reckoning, if you can help farmers grow and each make an extra 10 or 20 or 30 dollars, that money “In Sierra Leone you need good machines,” says will be spent on food, medicine and education. “All of Dudek. Cheap tractors, which the government has the outcomes normally pursued in development can be imported in large numbers, can wear out in one season. achieved indirectly through business,” he asserts.

The environment is rough, and drivers often don’t know Dudek notes proudly that Mountain Lion has built a enough to raise up the implement at the end of the row. maternity clinic and is constructing a “Bringing in good equipment has doubled library. Being part of the community our yields,” he says.

“All of the they serve goes beyond altruism. “All Mountain Lion’s own 250-acre farm serves the things we do for our community as a model for farmers. Irrigation is still in its outcomes benefit us too,” he says. “After all, if infancy, with farmers dependent on rain or swamps. Dudek is working with a large irriganormally pursued our own guys get sick we’ll want to have a clinic nearby.” tion company to develop a pivot system and a Being community-based brings its multi-user community-based model. in development own set of rewards. “We don’t need The company’s centerpiece is a mill that guards or barbed wire fences,” says processes output from its own operations as can be achieved Dudek. “The whole community is our well as from other farmers in the community. security force.”

Dudek expects it will be the largest and most indirectly through He gets animated as he extols advanced processing facility in the country. Of the nexus where “ethics meet good the thousand farmers Mountain Lion works business thinking.” By making a big with, half already supply rice to the mill, which business.” impact and “doing well,” Mountain is expected to dramatically improve quality Lion aims to model what he sees as the future of capitaland lead the way to the country’s own domestic brand of ism – where pursuing values can make a business more rice. The mill pays farmers market rates and offers interprofitable, not less as is so often assumed. est-free loans to buy high-quality seed for next year.

“Having a long view and integrating values into our Dudek sees the various divisions as feeding into each business model has been an essential part of our success, other. “We can help farmers grow more, and we can as opposed to the financial crises of the past few decades purchase more rice, which is what our mill needs. We which were often created by short-term and profit-exwant to create a national brand to displace lower-quality clusive thinking,” he says. “It is not hard to envision the imports.” future of business and investment as one where profit and purpose become unified. To be able to see this dynamic Dudek says Mountain Lion’s expertise grew from its firsthand in the lives of the smallholder farmers we work own humility — they acknowledged their ignorance from with is really invigorating.” ◆ the outset, and then persistently gathered information, 9

The Marketplace July August 2014

Wheels for the journey What do Millennials need for a career of adventure?

Graduation speaker Joyce Lehman gives tips for preparation.

Seventeen years ago Joyce Lehman came to a fork in the road. A successful Chartered Public Accountant, she was offered a chance to teach at Goshen (Ind.) College. Then she worked for MEDA in Afghanistan, traveled to dozens of countries promoting financial services for the poor, and wound up with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. This spring she spoke to Goshen graduates about the ingredients of exciting career transitions. An abridged version follows.

Others say you are narcissistic, have a sense of entitlement and seek instant gratification. Only one third of you self-describe as religious. You will not only seek new employment online, you will also seek your life partner there.

When man first walked on the moon 45 years ago it was a remarkable achievement, but that will pale in comparison with what you will experience in the next 45. When I graduated from college, a woman had three career choices — teacher, nurse, secretary — and most didn’t aspire to a career at all, often just working long enough to get their husbands established in theirs. Now you have Sheryl Sandberg in her book Lean In saying that the most ou live in a new important career decision a woman world. You are can make is her choice of a life partthe Millennials. ner. Whether that resonates with Once there was you or not, it speaks to the comAt last count Joyce Lehman had set foot in 70 the Greatest Generation, plexity of juggling two careers with countries, many to carry out her second career as then the Baby Boomers, household and family care, if indeed an enabler of business solutions to poverty.

Generation X and now you make those choices at all. Still, you Millennials, also known as Generation Y. You are the given a choice I would take your world in a heartbeat. first to grow up with a computer in your home — you But this world still requires a framework to help navihave distinctly different behaviors, values and attitudes gate through all the decisions. Three pieces of that which as a result of social media, smartphones and other new I have found useful are passion, courage and patience. technologies. Notice I did not say better or worse, just different. And that computer you grew up with? It’s now as Passion obsolete as a land line phone and white pages.

“Do what you love. Hang on to your dreams. Follow your You are entering a chaotic job market and will make bliss.” Clichés, I know. But I’m guessing each of you has many job changes and several career changes in your life. some one thing that you hope to be able to do sooner You will delay the traditional rites of passage into adultor later. Don’t lose sight of it, and when the time is right, hood — foregoing early marriages and mortgages — and make the commitment. Goethe said, “When one is comyou will in fact redefine what it means to be an “adult.” mitted, then Providence moves too.”

It will be about personal abilities and characteristics rather When the Peace Corps was established in the early than about having a “real job” or being “settled down” 1960s, I thought the opportunity to travel to new and and yes, it may drive your parents crazy. unfamiliar places and do good work sounded very appealYou have been described by sociologists as more coning. But that was not an option for me at the time, and fident, tolerant, optimistic and engaged. You are the most the limited choices I had took me in a different direction. racially diverse generation — 43% of you are non-white.

I can’t honestly say with a straight face that I was pas-

Y

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sionate about public accounting or even business in general. But without that time of preparation, I would not be able to do the work I am doing now and feel passionate about — that of finding or enabling business solutions to global poverty.

Many of you want to serve the global community. The disciplines of education or health or social services are easily connected to a life of “service,” but not enough attention is paid to the skills and discipline of business, management, accounting or information technology. So here’s a shout out to you who are embarking on that path.

Every organization on the planet needs people with your skills to help them be more efJoyce Lehman working with a women’s savings group in Mali. ficient and effective. The private that improve the lives and opportunities of the global sector must be part of the solution to many vexing global poor. I have had a lot of people — both young and not so problems, whether disease or food supply, the environyoung — ask me how they can prepare to do what I do. ment or financial services. There will never be enough When I tell them to study business or become an accoungovernment aid money or philanthropic capital to solve tant, I can read the disappointment in their faces. So they these problems alone. The private sector must be part of should NOT aspire it and that requires people with both the skills and passion to do what I do, but to move it forward.

“Financial barriers,” rather find something And I’m not talking about businesses simply giving they both want to do their profits; I’m talking about finding market solutions my friend said, and want to become good at doing — pas“are false barriers. sion and preparation.

And that can take courage.

People use money

as an excuse to

Courage

Once when I was trying to figure out NOT do what they my next move I spoke with a friend who really want.” periodically reinvented herself. She would quit what seemed to be a really great job and move on to something completely different. I knew she was not wealthy and needed a regular paycheck. I took her to lunch to learn how she made those tough decisions.

When I told her I was being tempted by a dramatic career shift she said, “Take a year off. You need time to

Dining at the No Problem fish restaurant in Philippines.

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think and figure out what you really want to do.”

I was hesitant. “But,” I said, “I need a paycheck.” (I still had a mortgage and tuition bills).

She retorted, “I have found that financial barriers are false barriers; people use money as an excuse to NOT do what they really want.”

When I continued to protest, she said “Okay, forget that you don’t think you can do it. How does it There will never sound to you?”

“Are you kidding,” I be enough said. “I’d love to be able to do that.” government or “Well then,” she said, “FIGURE IT OUT!” philanthropic Clearly tired of my excuses, she got up and left me sitting alone in capital to solve the restaurant.

A lot of decisions vexing global don’t get made because of fear — fear of uncerproblems alone. tainty, fear of failure, or the irrational fear The private sector even of what people might think. Bold decisions must be part of it. take courage. It’s not easy to walk through one open door without knowing exactly where it will lead. Many people are not comfortable with ambiguity, but sometimes the movement itself is the most important — and most courageous — first step.

Time out for a tourist visit to the Taj Majal.

how many precautions we take — from airport security to hand sanitizers — we can never be fully protected from harm or misfortune. What’s important is how to respond when unforeseen events do occur (and they will) and how to see the new opportunities that otherwise would never have come your way.

People talk of trying to discern the will of God in making decisions. I was never able to figure out how that was even possible, but I think it may in fact be the reverse — that Providence waits for our commitment and then moves to support us.

At the end of my one year at Goshen, I still had no plan for what to do next and stayed on one more year to fill in for a faculty member on sabbatical. That fall I crossed paths with a friend who told me MEDA was looking for people with a finance background.

It wasn’t the Peace Corps, but close enough. I joined the MEDA staff and entered a great adventure that took me to places like Afghanistan and beyond.

All the rest of what I’ve done in the last 15 years has followed sequentially from that moment, all of which involved events and opportunities that I could not have dreamt would come my way.

So whatever it is — start your own business, find a cure for malaria, become a master teacher, take your family on a trip around the world, climb a mountain, run a marathon, write a novel, travel in space, invent the next big thing — the possibilities are endless. Go for it with passion, with courage, and with the patience required for preparation.

Figure it out. Commit. And Providence will move. ◆

Patience

You may be the generation of “instant gratification” but I’m still going to talk about patience. I’m not suggesting you wait until your mid-50s to make a major career move like I did, but it’s important to take time to prepare. Luck, or Providence (which I prefer) happens at the intersection of opportunity and preparation. You need to be good at what you want to do. In his book The Outliers Malcolm Gladwell says it takes 10,000 hours (or five years of 40hour weeks) to become an expert at anything (athlete, musician, etc.).

Patience is also required for when well-laid plans don’t work. We all know life can change in an instant, sometimes in a good way but most often not. No matter The Marketplace July August 2014

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How entrepreneurship fights global poverty

by Marc and Craig Kielburger

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he last time we visited India we met Charity can help their husbands on the health, education a young man who we thought was and well-being of their families. a mischievous street kid. But he was build economies. Charity people grab the can Entrepreneurs in fact a harbinger of sustainable help people grab the first rung of the economic development. development ladder, but only their own first rung of the enterprise will allow them to climb the rest Maybe 13 years old, he held his hand out for spare rupees. We offered instead to of the way. Entrepreneurs are motivated development buy him lunch, and over chapatis and dhal and able to innovate, devising new ways he shared with us his hopes and dreams. “I to farm, provide basic goods and services, want my own carrom board,” he said, refer- ladder, but and solve social problems — from “edring to the portable, Indian equivalent of air ible insect” farming for improved protein hockey. He thought by renting the board consumption in Thailand, to solar-powered only their own out to passersby, he could earn money to lanterns where electricity is unreliable.

But they can’t succeed in a vacuum. eat and possibly escape his life on the street. enterprise will Among the missing links to productive While kids the world over usually say enterprise in developing countries are basic they want to be a teacher or a doctor when allow them to they grow up, increasingly, many dream of infrastructure, skills, capital, and regulabecoming an entrepreneur. While a univertion. Try being a farmer without a road to climb the rest of get your wares to market; a factory owner sity degree was out of reach for our new young friend, he also realized his hopes for where electricity is always blacking out; or the way. a better future would not be achieved with an aspiring entrepreneur trapped in the handouts from charities. He was determined red tape of arcane bureaucracies. We need to take control of his own fate, however modest the amrich-country governments and international charities to bition, so he wouldn’t need help again. invest in building roads and power grids, provide business Business is often seen by the non-profit sector and skills, and help developing-country governments foster an protest movements as the enemy of sustainable developentrepreneurial climate in their countries and communities. ment in poor countries. But entrepreneurship is a key As individuals, we can help in small ways. Resist supplayer in ending global poverty by reversing the cycle of porting projects that send used clothing or other finished dependency with a cycle of self-sufficiency and employproducts overseas, where these well-intentioned gestures ment. From pint-sized street vendors and rural artisans, displace existing and potential jobs making those prodto technological innovators and social entrepreneurs who ucts domestically. Support charities that offer education, creatively tackle barriers to progress, small businesses are literacy training and micro-loans. And talk to your finanthe building blocks of resilient, independent economies — cial advisor about investing in “impact finance” or other funds that support social enterprises around the world. one carrom board at a time.

There are smart investments with good financial and soDespite the starving-child stereotypes pushed in the cial returns out there — we just have to look. ads of some charities, the entrepreneurial spirit is vibrant We know how important charity is in providing basic in the developing world — even more so than in wealthy needs and empowerment. But if the end goal of developcountries. When governments fail to provide, it’s amazment is long-term self-sufficiency, then we must engage ing how creative citizens become. Our favourite examples the entrepreneurial spirit that is so vibrant in the developoften come to us while parked at a red light: bottled water ing world. The entrepreneurs and their workers will pay on a sweltering day; cell phone batteries that are fully tax, invest back in their communities, and like our ambicharged; even porta potties when the traffic line-up is long. tious young carrom-board-seeking friend’s dream, never Many small entrepreneurs in developing countries are need a handout again. ◆ women, whose contribution to household income and the local economy give them unprecedented power and Brothers Craig and Marc Kielburger are co-founders of Free The Chilinfluence. Empowered, employed women have fewer dren, the world’s largest network of children helping children through education. Their article first appeared on The Huffington Post Canada. children, and tend to spend more of their income than 13

The Marketplace July August 2014

Paying what you owe Faith and family history told him to pay what you owe, even when undercharged Donovan Oberholtzer is Chief Financial Officer for Stauffers of Kissel Hill, a large supermarket and home & garden enterprise in central Pennsylvania. Begun as a fruit stand in 1932, the family company now employs 1,000 people and operates eight stores in the Lancaster-York-Harrisburg area — five home & garden stores, and three supermarkets and home & garden combinations. Oberholtzer, a third-generation family member, has been with the company for more than 40 years.

The following article is adapted from a short address he presented to his home congregation, Lititz Mennonite Church.

by Donovan Oberholtzer

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s a business person who is a Christian, I view our family business as a calling.

I endeavor to incorporate Christian principles in our business practices. That can provide both challenges and opportunities.

Recently we realized that we were not billed by our electric utility provider for two of our locations when we switched providers. It was no small amount — more than $10,000.

I told my assistant to contact our energy broker and tell them we were not billed and to contact the provider.

The broker called back the next day. “Are you sure you want us to contact the supplier?” she asked.

From a single fruit stand in 1932, Stauffers has grown to eight stores in south“Yes,” I said. “Our business praceastern Pennsylvania. tice is to pay what we owe, no more and no less.” and asking God for wisdom).

She sounded surprised and said she was just making She said she brought up our phone conversation at sure. Then she said she didn’t get many calls like that, and their morning managers’ meeting and some of the people I had made her day. didn’t understand why we would do something like that.

Afterwards, I kicked myself for missing the opportuAfter all, they reasoned, we were talking some large dolnity to mention that the reason was driven by my faith in lars. Why not let it ride? It wasn’t our fault we hadn’t been the Lord. billed.

I breathed a prayer of thanks to God for giving me a About three days later, I was at a conference and second chance to explain my actions. she came up to me and said I had caused quite a stir at I shared that our company motto indicates we want their company. I asked her why (while claiming James 1:5 to operate our business to the glory of God and that The Marketplace July August 2014

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Honesty makes good business sense. When trust is high, the speed of a transaction goes up and cost goes down.

CFO Donovan Oberholtzer: “When we do what is right, we can be a blessing to others.”

integrity was the first of our core values. It would seem hypocritical to me as a Christian if we did not pay what we rightfully owed. As a Christian I am called to live and act with honesty and integrity.

AND it makes good business sense. When trust is high, the speed of a transaction goes up and cost goes down. If you don’t trust me, a lot of time and effort is wasted trying to figure out what my angle is. The transaction slows down and the cost goes up.

received trees from the same grower. This time we received 35, but were only billed for the 25 we ordered. My uncle changed the invoice and paid for the extra 10 trees.

A couple of days later the grower called and said that this had been a test to see if we did what we said we would do. He had sent extra trees on purpose to see if we only adjusted the bill when it was in our favor.

I told our broker how much I appreciated the foundation and example that the previous generation had set.

When we do what is right, we can be a blessing to others.

With a big smile on her face she asked, “Do you mind if I give you a hug?”

We both were blessed that day. ◆

I also shared a similar event that happened with my uncle in the business.

A grower delivered 20 trees and billed us for the 25 we had ordered. My uncle reduced the total on the monthly statement and only paid for the 20 he received. After receiving the smaller check, the grower called and asked why we did not pay the full bill. My uncle explained that we only received 20.

We pay for what we receive, and no more.

A couple of months later, we

“Are you sure,” she asked, “you want to pay the difference?”

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The Marketplace July August 2014

Bagels and butter tarts Patrons ooh and aah over John Bergen’s café bakeries

by Dave Rogalsky

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Photos by Dave Rogalsky

n 2002 the men at Waterloohave a wood-fired oven Kitchener United Mennonite for the bagels you have to Church decided to name their do pizza, too,” he said. annual Valentine’s Dinner the That was 2000 and “Henry Bergen Beef Dinner to support now there are four City the annual pork sale at the MCC Relief Café Bakeries in Kitchener Sale in New Hamburg.” Henry, a reand Cambridge, all still tired salesman for legendary meat prorun on the same principles ducer J. M. Schneider, was one of the of honesty and fairness. founders of the meal and had passed Bergen wants things away since the previous year’s dinner. to be simple so products When Henry’s son John came to the are priced in 25-cent increBakery entrepreneur John Bergen (in green), flanked ments with many rounded microphone to receive the honor on

by Rob Engel at left and Anni Nazaretian and Anbehalf of Henry’s family he called to a dollar figure. Instead drea Campbell at right in the Ottawa St. bakery. all the men serving and preparing of cash registers a repurthe dinner forward. Then he leaned into the microphone posed transit fare box stands near the bakery part of each and whispered, “My Dad would be disappointed.” He location and patrons are asked to throw in their totals. continued, “My Dad was an advertising man.” Instead of Staff will make change for patrons but Bergen figures a the long and convoluted name John suggested The Henry cashier would cost him half a person’s wages per location Bergen Beef Bash and produced t-shirts emblazoned with a week so the honor system saves that cost.

HB3. He then drew attention to the fact that the graphics This cash system drives auditors crazy, he says, but a detailed audit has shown that while there is about a 2% looked an awful lot like those of his own City Café Bakery. loss due to patrons not paying, other patrons overpay He leaned in one more time and repeated, “My Dad was about 2.1% on average. That’s much better than the 5 to an advertising man.”

10% loss he had expected and was prepared to tolerate.

John Bergen is a man of values, one of which is selfpromotion. He ran a successful ceramics firm creating “The honor system is deeply ingrained in Waterloo his art for 20 years until age 44. “You have to recreate County,” he says. “Just look at all the end-of-lane sales all yourself every six months in the art world,” he says, but over the place for wood, flowers and fresh veggies with his contemporary design had fallen out of style. His busijust a jar or box for patrons to place their payment.” ness partner then and now, Rudy Dorner, suggested he While staff get no benefits they are guaranteed a take off time and think about what to do next. They met wage over $16 per hour and eight-hour shifts. Bergen for lunch weekly to bounce around ideas. The shortage of figures they can buy benefits with the higher wage rather good lunch places as well as a great bread recipe created than him paying the benefits and lower wages.

by Bergen’s brother David, a dentist in St. Catharines, He looks for people who can multi-task and fit into Ont., led to the idea of a café bakery, and so City Café the chaotic world of a working kitchen: re-heating pizza Bakery on the corner of Victoria and Strange was born. or baking bagels, forming tarts in a tart shell press, and In his signature colored glass frames (blue now, they preparing lunches of sandwiches and salads. If he hires used to be red) Bergen is the face of the enterprise. When someone and they don’t work out, he gives them four he and Dorner were hatching the idea they could think of weeks’ severance pay, saying he made the mistake of no personality connected to cooking or baking in the Wahiring them. Generally folk have 90 days to prove themterloo region. That has all changed. Mention John Bergen selves. This year Bergen expects about an 8% turnover in now and people will ooh and aah over his Montreal-style a staff of 25. A benevolent fund of around $5,000 helps wood-fired oven bagels, rhubarb and butter tarts and out staff who find themselves in difficult straits, such as thin-crust pizzas. The last were Dorner’s idea, too. “If you having to stay home due to illness but being dependent The Marketplace July August 2014

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ing. Waltner-Toews found that there was no case of disease being spread through bread on display. Sending this research to the health board led them to invite Bergen to remove the sneeze guards, which, Bergen points out, actually don’t work anyway if shorter people are doing the shopping (and sneezing).

Overall he insists that what he is trying to do is make it easy on himself. Pay more and you have a stable trained staff. Don’t use cash registers and you have less book work.

Knowing a bit about depression caused by stress, he wants to keep stress down, though he says that most creative people are somewhat manic-depressive. “If you want to do something you need to be somewhat manic to make it happen. But when it doesn’t work you get depressed.” City Café Bakeries required a manic touch to begin but they’ve worked.

Bergen is satisfied with what he has, enough and creative work that pays the way. Rich, he says, is being able to afford a new transmission for your car without having to worry about it. He considers himself rich in many ways.

“Love others as you love yourself,” he says. “So love yourself.”

Then you can love others more.

And maybe open a restaurant.... ◆

Young patron Cam McTavish pays for his lunch on the honor system at City Café Bakery in Kitchener.

on the paycheck. They might get those days paid anyway.

Bergen finds he is constantly learning new things in this stage of his entrepreneurship. Dealing with up to five different parts of government bureaucracies (labor, health, auditors, etc.) he has to constantly figure out how to either prove what he is doing works or find ways to make it work. But it excites him as he is always learning.

When health officials wanted “sneeze guards” installed over the fresh bread he turned to Dr. David Waltner-Toews (professor emeritus at University of Guelph, a specialist in the epidemiology of food and diseases and ecosystem health), to research bread and disease spread-

Dave Rogalsky is a writer for Canadian Mennonite and pastor of Wilmot Mennonite Church, New Hamburg, Ont.

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The Marketplace July August 2014

How hard do you work?

Experts debate whether busyness is a malady or a delusion

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identity and providing the key to meaning and purpose.

Offsetting research suggests a different side to the issue.

Maclean’s, Canada’s national newsmagazine, found “scant evidence that we’re actually busier or more overworked than in the past.” In fact, it found that “today’s employees work less, do less housework, spend more time with their kids and get more sleep than previous generations.”

John Robinson, a University of Maryland professor who heads Americans’ Use of Time Project, found that the average employed American worked 34.2 hours a week last year; workers are getting slightly more sleep than they used to; and people tend to overestimate their work by two to three hours a week.

In Canada, research shows women are putting in about the same number of hours as they did 20 years ago, and men are working 14 minutes a week less.

Researchers with StatsCan found “Canadians seem to be experiencing less time stress.”

The more education and skill your job requires, it seems, the more likely you are to exaggerate the time you spend on it. CEOs were far more likely than office managers to overestimate their work load. Lawyers overestimated their work week by 7.2 hours, Robinson found.

Despite this data, most people think they are suffering from an epidemic of busyness.

“It’s a status symbol to say that you feel busy,” says Robinson.

“If you’re busy, you’re important. You’re leading a full and worthy life,” says Ann Burnett, a North Dakota State University professor who studies busyness. No longer is “keeping up with the Joneses” about money, cars and homes. “Now, if you’re not as busy as the Joneses, you’d better get cracking.”

“You don’t ever want to say you’re working less than other people,” writes Laura Vanderkam, author of 168 hours: You Have More Time Than You Think.

Researchers noted that technology has blurred the lines between work and private time: having your BlackBerry on while you’re watching a movie does not mean you’re working. ◆

o you think you’re working harder than you used to? Or are you working less and enjoying more leisure time?

Whichever way you answer, there’s research to back you up.

Those who feel they’re busier than ever can find support in Brigid Schulte’s book, Overwhelmed: Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time.

She examines the busyness of modern society and warns of its health tolls. But despite people’s complaints, she says, being too busy actually makes us feel good.

One of her examples is a man who claims to work 72 hours a week (because everyone else at his office does) and is contemplating cutting back on sleep so he can be even more productive.

Schulte says working parents in a two-parent family today work a combined 28 days more every year — an extra month — than their counterparts in the 1960s.

In the 21st century, busyness has become a badge of honor. “People now tell pollsters that they’re too busy to register to vote, too busy to date, to make friends outside the office, to take a vacation, to sleep, to have sex,” writes Schulte.

Technology hasn’t helped. Even a one-minute interruption, by tweet or by text, can require 10 to 20 minutes to re-focus on a previous task, she says.

A new therapy niche for psychologists is treating burned-out clients who believe the busier you are, the faster you work, and the more you multi-task, the more you are deemed to be competent, smart and successful.

“It’s the Protestant work ethic in overdrive,” says Schulte.

“If people remain idle, they are miserable,” writes psychologist Christopher Hsee in Psychological Science. “If idle people become busy, they will be happier.”

How did this happen?

For one thing, life got more expensive and wages failed to keep up. People worked more to compensate.

Second, many jobs became less mechanical and work became more creative. Work in the knowledge economy became more enjoyable and easier to overdo. Moreover, work became defined as answering questions of personal The Marketplace July August 2014

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Soundbites

Do we behave differently at work?

Christians often find themselves doing things at work that they’d never do anywhere else — treating people with contempt, losing their tempers, stealing time or supplies, cutting corners or fudging what’s right and wrong. When we decide that our jobs don’t really matter to God, we’re less careful to keep God at the front of our minds when we’re dealing with others. We no longer think to ask ourselves, “What would please God in this particular situation and circumstance?” We find ourselves, without even realizing it, doing our work without thinking about Jesus at all.

How would your work change if you began to approach your job as an arena for God’s glory and your own growth and discipleship? It changes everything. — Sebastian Traeger and Greg Gilbert in The Gospel at Work: How Working for King Jesus Gives Purpose and Meaning to our Jobs

Lethal tranquillity There’s a false belief in many organizations that tension and conflict are signs of an unhealthy team. In many cases, this couldn’t be further from the truth! An effective team consists of people willing to fight for their ideas, challenge others when necessary, and stand their ground when confronted. In the end, however, those same people must be willing to bend to the ideas of others and submit to the decisions made by the leader, knowing that they can’t win every battle. Unfortunately,

only if it contains untruthful remarks.

Others believe gossip is any statement that speaks about an individual and/or an employer without their presence.

Still others suggest a statement would be considered gossip only if it includes disparaging remarks, criticism, rumours and/or consists of a range of behaviour, right up to a malicious form of attack bordering on workplace violence. On the other hand, a review of several dictionary definitions identifies a more toned-down view. Gossip in a dictionary is described as idle talk and/or a rumour that reveals personal or sensational facts about the lives of others.... In any case, most people find gossip is more harmful than helpful, especially in the workplace. — Career consultant Barbara Bowes in the Winnipeg Free Press

managers are often uncomfortable with these fits and spurts and attempt to squash team conflicts so as to preserve the peace. There’s a false belief that tranquillity equals health, but a tranquil team is often a sign of imminent death because it may mean that no one cares enough to make waves.

— Todd Henry in Die Empty: Unleash Your Best Work Every Day

More time Time management techniques are designed to maximize what time we do have available.

But why do we want to gain all this time? Often, it’s to do more of what we’re already doing! To have more meetings, read more e-mails, and meet more customers.... “Time management techniques don’t require us to challenge our fundamental views of time,” writes Robert Banks. In short, time remains the idol that rules our life – time management is just an attempt to squeeze more out of it. — Ken Eldred in The Integrated Life

Double whammy Children growing up in poverty tend to do less well in school and, over a lifetime, earn less.

Some evidence suggests that poor children are more suscep-

tible to depression, substance abuse and disease later in life.

Nurturing parents can offset some of these negatives, but an 11-year study at the University of North Carolina that followed mostly rural poor children showed that parental stress — poverty included — leads to a diminution of nurturing and support by the parents. By the time a child is age three observers can detect that vocabulary, working memory and executive functions have declined in relation to the amount of stress experienced by the parents. — New York Times

How the Bible speaks [W]e are left with the logically perplexing but morally empowering paradox that the Bible is both grossly irrelevant in direct application to current economic problems and incredibly relevant in vision and principle for grasping opportunities and obligations to make the whole earth and its bounty serve the welfare of the whole human family. — Old Testament scholar Norman Gottwald in The Hebrew Bible in Its Social World and in Ours

Send us a memo ot a “faith memo” to share?

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We’re collecting nuggets of faith and business, and we’re inviting your help.

We’re looking for short (100-200 words) bits of business/faith wisdom, something that helped or enlivened your daily work.

Take a few minutes to jot it down, then send it to us. If we get enough, we’ll put them in a book. Maybe we’ll call it The Marketplace Book of Business Wisdom.

Or something like that.

Don’t be shy. Send to wkroeker@meda.org

Chit-chat or gossip?

One of the challenges about gossip is there isn’t strong consensus about what exactly constitutes gossip. Ask a group of people and you’ll get a group of different answers.... For instance, some people believe a statement is considered gossip 19

The Marketplace July August 2014

Reviews

For better or for worse He went there to promote solar ovens.

He ended up getting married — twice Marrying Cuba. By Joe Froese (Friesen, 2013, 145 pp. hc $24.99 Cdn., soft $15.99 Cdn. Available from Amazon)

writes. “I don’t even recall if she ate any of it, but as fate would have it, she was to eat many more meals cooked in a solar oven, including her son’s first birthday cake, because she became my wife.”

In the process, Froese found he had not only married a spouse, he had also — for better or for worse — married a country.

Froese pressed on and drew MEDA in as a sponsor. MEDA had for some time been interested in a Cuba foothold, and this seemed like a timely entry point. The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) was also interested — “they wanted us in Cuba,” recalls Froese — and managed to arrange the first-ever temporary Cuban visa for a technician on a collaborative project. So with the support of CIDA, the sponsorship of MEDA, and the financial backing of the Rotary Club, the project was underway. It called for building 400 solar ovens, utilizing recycled printer plates, throughout Cuba and 50 institutional ovens in daycare centers in Havana.

In a bizarre twist that would surprise no one who knows Joe Froese, a significant ally was the late Vilma Espin, a Bacardi of the famous rum family, and president of the three-million member Federation of Cuban Women who had great interest in promoting safer and environmentally sustainable cooking methods. Vilma also happened to be the wife of Fidel Castro’s brother, Raul, who is currently president of Cuba. Vilma’s organization became a partner in the project, and her husband gave

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ew MEDA projects have had as long legs as a daring attempt to introduce individual enterprise to Cuba some 20 years ago. This book is not about that project, but the story the book tells would probably never have happened without it.

Joe Froese — sometimes referred to affectionately as “solar Joe” by his MEDA friends — is an irrepressible inventor blessed with a vision for the poor and a passion for environmental sustainability. Both of those came together when Joe went to Cuba to promote solar ovens.

This was during the period that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990. Cuba had relied on the Soviet Union for more than 90 percent of its resources and trade — including fuel oil. All this came to a sudden stop.

An urgent need arose for alternate fuels, not all of them safe. Was the country ripe for a solar-cooking revolution instead of burning charcoal or gas?

Enter Joe, an inventive farm boy from Saskatchewan, bearing a low-cost solar oven. He managed to arrange a demonstration of the technology at the Via Pan Am Hotel in Havana, and proceeded to cook a chicken in the Cuban sun.

“One of the people who witnessed the cooking of this sacrificial bird was Esperanza Gonzalez,” Froese

Solar ovens produced by Joe Froese and MEDA in operation on the roof of a Havana apartment building.

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permission to manufacture the solar ovens in a military workshop in Havana.

Another key player was Ron Braun, MEDA’s vice-president at the time and shaper of its economic development strategy. Froese says the visionary Braun was “10 years ahead of his time in Cuba.... He reminds me of someone like Steve Jobs, except Ron was kinder.”

The project flourished for a time, but did not take hold. For one thing, Vilma Espin, for all her positive qualities, demanded much control. For Vilma Espin, wife too another, the country never during that time of Raul Castro, proceeded to the place where a business project Cuba’s current could succeed.* Froese explores president, took numerous dimensions of life in Cuba — its capitalist apprehensions, a special interest machismo, the U.S. in Joe, MEDA and trade embargo, universal healthcare, and an frustrating buthe possibilities of eternally reaucracy. Froese depicts the highs and lows of solar cooking.

Cuban life, never shying away from critique but also not descending to ideological name-calling.

Back in Canada, Joe and Esperanza engaged in various business enterprises. Esperanza operated her own travel business for a number of years, and Joe has distinguished himself as an inventor and producer of a PVC fence-post mounting system.

A few years ago they and their two Cuban-born children (Kianz and Jarmony) returned to Cuba to support the emerging soccer career of Kianz, who had proven himself a phenom in Manitoba but whose potential was sadly under-utilized in Canada’s fledgling soccer culture. The move paid off, as Kianz made it onto the Under-17 Cuban National Team and played in the FIFA U-17 World Cup qualifying matches in Jamaica in 2011. The Froese family is now back in Manitoba, and Kianz is part of the Vancouver Whitecaps soccer organization.

In the Foreword, Fred Knittel notes that Joe has “seen Cuba in all of its infuriating bureaucracy and still loves it for what it is and for its promise for the future. Joe loves the soul and spirit of the Cuban people and he loves a Cuban woman.”

Well said. — Wally Kroeker * While the MEDA episode is only a small part of the book, it plays an important role in Froese’s nuptials and, for obvious reasons, is of special interest for this review.

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The Marketplace July August 2014

News

Student business tackles neighborhood tasks Photo by Kara Lofton

The average junior in tal sustainability major college is better known with minors in business for ridiculous behavior and sociology, tries to or pulling all-nighters conduct his business as to finish last-minute simply and sustainably papers, not running a as possible. “We have successful business that a pretty low overhead employs fellow stubecause we use the clidents. Everett Brubaker, ents’ tools,” he explains. though, is into his third “This allows us to bike summer of operating or walk to client homes “BruCrew,” a workforce and means we don’t of young men (and curhave to maintain and rently one woman) that fuel a fleet of vehicles or takes on tasks as diverse expensive equipment.” as assembling furniture, Brubaker, who will babysitting, making enter his senior year at airport runs and basic EMU this fall, doesn’t landscaping. know what will happen The business to the business after he Everett Brubaker has entered his third summer of running “BruCrew,” emerged out of a combi- dispatching fellow students to work at neighborhood odd-jobs. graduates. “I see potennation of two elements. tial for large growth,” After high school, Brubaker he says, “but I’m not exactly supplement things like camp titled the business BruCrew, took a gap year and went on sure where I want to take it.” counseling jobs or to fit beand officially launched under a cross-country road trip with He hopes the vision will gain tween family vacations. Others that name the next summer. a friend. The trip concluded a clarity this summer as he finds are on call for big moving or “There has been a bit of few months before the start of space to dream and look to furniture installation jobs. a learning curve,” he says as classes at Eastern Mennonite the future. — Kara Lofton Brubaker, an environmenhe explains that he had to University, Harrisonburg, Va., figure out how to get a busiin the fall of 2012. Brubaker ness license, pay taxes, keep didn’t think he had enough books and manage any (small) time for a full-time job so he conflicts between workers and advertised himself as an “oddclients. Problems have been job” man. To his surprise, few “because the people I requests poured in and he Mennonite Savings and Credit The Green 30 is based on bring in recognize that the had to enlist a friend to help Union has been selected for how employees perceive their job is a blessing and are pretty handle the workload. a green award by Maclean’s, companies’ environmental driven.”

That fall, Brubaker took Canada’s leading news magaefforts as indicated in the Best Full-time BruCrew work an EMU business class called zine.

Small and Medium Employer is 20 hours a week, starting “Principles of Management,” The Ontario firm was surveys which MSCU parat $11 per hour and rising to which required developing a chosen for Maclean’s “Green ticipates in each year. A news $12 after the first 60 hours. “I business model. It helped him release from the credit union want to pay them well enough 30” based on how employees think more formally about the perceive their company’s enviadds, “MSCU staff members to be competitive with a fullbusiness opportunity he’d disronmental efforts. have made their voice heard time, minimum-wage job so covered that summer. Brubaker that they can volunteer, read, The magazine (May 26 on our efforts to practice reissue) highlighted two MSCU sponsible stewardship and care spend time with friends and initiatives: solar panels on the for creation.” enjoy their summers as well as Comments?

Maclean’s notes that emWaterloo branch rooftop which working,” says Brubaker. He Would you like to comment on have generated the equivaployee involvement is important believes his model allows stuanything in this magazine, or lent CO2 offset of planting to environmental efforts. “Havdents to make enough to be on any other matters relating 345 trees, and “creation care ing them driven by employees able to invest in activities that to business and faith? Send loans” to finance customers’ and incorporated into the corare inherently valuable. your thoughts to solar and geothermal heating porate culture — rather than Most BruCrew members wkroeker@meda.org and energy-upgrade projects. continued on page 23 are transient, working stints to

Staffers help credit union win magazine’s green award

The Marketplace July August 2014

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MEDA gets $20 million to expand impact investing MEDA and its related company, Sarona Asset Management (SAM), have been chosen to be at the forefront of a $20 million Canadian government strategy to expand impact investing to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The announcement of this initiative, called Impact Investing in Frontier Markets (INFRONT), was made in Mexico City by cabinet minister Christian Paradis, who is in charge of Canada’s development agency — Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD).

Of the total, $15 million flows to the Sarona Frontier Markets Fund 2, LP to serve as a first loss “inducement” to leverage additional capital for frontier markets from private investors. SAM is investing this in emerging and frontier markets in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Green award

continued from page 22 dictated from on high in the boardroom and bolted on as an afterthought — makes green initiatives far more effective at achieving meaningful change,” it says. It quotes a Dalhousie University sustainability expert as saying, “If employees at relatively lower levels of the hierarchy see that it’s not just lip service, but real commitment on the part of the organization, there’s more of a sense they’re actually engaged in something meaningful as a collective.”

The magazine says companies benefit from green initiatives in two ways: it saves money and helps attract and retain talent. ◆

The $4.75 million MEDA portion of the public-private partnership boosts SMEs that play a pivotal role in driving economic growth in emerging economies and face challenges in accessing investment capital, adopting and implementing enlightened business practices, and measuring social impact.

This part of the project has three parts: 1. A large share will finance social innovation grants. SMEs that come up with creative ideas to improve social outcomes will receive matching grants to strengthen their performance. Examples include innovative approaches to energy efficiency, waste management, employee parental leave policies, and environmentally friendly products for farmers.

2. INFRONT is working with a subcontractor, the MaRS Center for Impact Investment, to set up a mentoring program to match senior financial executives with 20 less experienced fund managers in developing countries.

3. The project will also improve impact measurement and reporting, using case studies and other tools.

In addition, $200,000 will be used by DFATD for project monitoring and evaluation.

“In launching INFRONT, we are building on MEDA’s long experience in impact investing, which started with our investment in the Sarona Dairy in Paraguay in 1953,” says Allan Sauder, MEDA president.

“Through this initiative, more than five million women and men in emerging and frontier markets will have access to products and services that will be delivered more effectively and by more socially responsive firms.”

Sauder describes this support of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as pioneering work for those outside the MEDA constituency.

“First of all, making investments that serve the poor, and expecting to get that money back to be used again and again, may be old hat to MEDA — it’s how we started 60 years ago — but to the private equity markets and many governments, the concept of impact investing is very new, and a bit scary. Our history and track record give us the credibility to be among the first to gain the confidence of governments and investors.

“Second, within the relatively small impact investment community, there is limited experience in providing the type of technical assistance that SMEs need to become wellgoverned, environmentally and socially responsible companies.

And, there is work needed to

understand and record this social impact in a systematic way. Through this project we can provide that.

“Third, MEDA and our partner, the MaRS Centre for Impact Investing, have access to a great deal of investment and business expertise that would go a long way toward improving the skills of the investment fund managers with whom we work around the world. We will be reaching out to our supporters for help with these mentorships.”

Katie Turner, senior project manager at MEDA, says the initiative is DFATD’s first foray into the world of private sector investing. “We can be very proud that they started with us,” she says.

Gerhard Pries, CEO of Sarona Asset Management, says SAM has for some time been urging the Canadian government to add impact investing to its range of development strategies.

“We went to the government and said, ‘We’d like you to make an investment to help prime the pump as we recruit private investors.’ And now they have.” ◆

Send us a memo ot a “faith memo” to share?

G

We’re collecting nuggets of faith and business, and we’re inviting your help.

We’re looking for short (100-200 words) bits of business/faith wisdom, something that helped or enlivened your daily work.

Take a few minutes to jot it down, then send it to us. If we get enough, we’ll put them in a book. Maybe we’ll call it The Marketplace Book of Business Wisdom.

Or something like that.

Don’t be shy. Send to wkroeker@meda.org

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The Marketplace July August 2014

The Marketplace July August 2014

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