The Marketplace Magazine September/October 2019

September October 2019

Where Christian faith gets down to business

The Jordan Trail:

Hiking through history Lancaster entrepreneur has many roles Africa’s energy revolution Business as a Holy Calling Grocer puts values above profits

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The Marketplace September October 2019

Roadside stand

Can clean energy bring electricity to one billion unserved people by 2030?

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he goal seems off-the-charts in its boldness.

But industry observers believe that a variety of technologies will bring access to modern conveniences to hundreds of millions of people, largely in Sub-Saharan Africa, within the next few years.

Read about a recent panel discussion on this topic on pp. 8-9 of this issue.

Other observers agree that most of the elements to achieve this goal are in place.

A Forbes magazine story: “Minigrids are Ready to Change the World (Again)” notes that the capital costs of installing mini-grids has dropped by half over the past eight years.

These systems, off-grid electricity distribution networks involving small-scale electricity generation, are now the lowest-cost way of providing power to at least 100 million unserved Africans.

The main barrier to achieving this goal is financing, as funders shy away from small-scale projects.

An investment of $1 billion in the sector is needed to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of universal access to electricity by 2030.

To that end, 10 African governments have appealed to other national governments, international donors and the private sector to commit the capital needed to de-risk the mini-grid sector, in collaboration with international and domestic financial institutions.

our last issue, people who asked to receive an emailed copy of The Marketplace had to cope with a static PDF document.

I have never liked reading PDFs, and think our readers deserve better. Starting with the May issue, we began posting the magazine on the ISSUU digital platform and sending a link to readers who have requested an electronic copy.

Among ISSUU’s many benefits: you can turn pages with a click of a mouse (or swipe of a finger on a phone or tablet), zoom in and zoom out and search for individual words within the magazine. It also helps us to better understand what people are reading, and where they are reading it. We have readers in some unexpected places. Hello Japan, Ireland, Peru and Bangladesh, to name a few.

So far, we have put the past two years’ editions of the magazine on ISSUU. Please visit the web address below and let us know what you think. https://issuu.com/medathemarketplacemagazine

Support for job creation in Jordan

Two stories in this issue (pp. 6-7, 1113) provide a glimpse into the work that MEDA and its Jordanian partners are doing to support small service and tourism-related businesses in Jordan.

Jordan’s tourism sector could

A more reader-friendly online experience

Most people reading this magazine hold it in their hands and turn the pages. Increasingly, folks consume much of their reading material on a phone, tablet or laptop. Up until The Marketplace September October 2019

see strong growth and job creation given the rich history and amazing natural beauty of that area. The tourism sector suffered a serious setback earlier this decade, as the civil war in neighboring Syria kept international visitors away.

In recent years international tourism is once again on the upswing.

But that emerging sector still has much work to do in telling its story and marketing what is available.

Friends who have hiked segments of Europe’s El Camino trail tell me about getting imitation passports stamped, as a keepsake in each village they entered during their sojourn. When I asked a Jordanian guide in February if they do anything similar along the Jordan Trail, it was a new idea.

Several articles in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz suggest the Jordanian government is concerned that a new US peace plan for the Middle East will result in more Palestinians being sent to Jordan. Given that Jordan already hosts the second-highest refugee population per capita in the world, that would be a serious strain on an already taxed economy.

All the more reason to redouble efforts to help people create livelihoods for themselves and their neighbors in this amazing country.

New Lancaster office

People who interact with staff in MEDA’s Lancaster, Pennsylvania office may be interested to know that the office has moved to a more central downtown location, effective Sept. 6. Look for them at 33 N Market St, Suite 400. -MS Follow The Marketplace on Twitter @MarketplaceMEDA

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In this issue

Features

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Building businesses in northern Jordan

MEDA support helps entrepreneurs in Umm Qais strengthen their firms.

Legacy Greens reduces produce waste by making soup onsite Pg. 18

Departments 22 Roadside stand 24 Soul enterprise 21 Review

Volume 49, Issue 5 September October 2019 The Marketplace (ISSN 321-330) 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 2018 by MEDA. Editor: Mike Strathdee Design: Ray Dirks

Postmaster: Send address changes to The Marketplace 33 N Market St., Suite 400, Lancaster, PA 17603-3805

Change of address should be sent to Mennonite Economic Development Associates, 33 N Market St, Suite 400, Lancaster, PA 17603-3805.

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, email mstrathdee@meda.org or call (800) 665-7026, ext. 705 Subscriptions: $30/year; $55/two years.

Published by Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA).

MEDA’s economic development work in developing countries creates business solutions to poverty. MEDA also facilitates the connection of faith and work through discussions, publications and conventions for participants.

For more information about MEDA call 1-800-665-7026.

Web site www.meda.org

Saleh Al-Roussan makes an espresso for a visitor to his cafĂŠ

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Lighting up Africa

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Following multiple career paths

Off-grid, cleantech systems will soon bring power to hundreds of millions who lack access to electricity.

Lancaster entrepreneur enjoys building business, volunteering with MEDA. By Eileen R. Kinch

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Want to see back issues or reread older articles?

Visit https://issuu.com/medathemarketplacemagazine Cover photo of Ahmed Al Omari by Mike Strathdee

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Promoting fresh food

Kitchener greengrocer wants to increase access to local produce. By Mike Strathdee

The Marketplace September October 2019

Soul Enterprise

Overcoming the siren diversions of our digital age Book calls people to daily and weekly habits

By Melodie M. Davis The Common Rule: Habits of Purpose for an Age of Distraction by Justin Whitmel Earley (InterVarsity Press, 2019, 198 pp., $18 US.)

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hat was your response the last time a good friend asked you how you were doing?

If you said with a laugh or a moan, “Too busy,” or just offered an eye roll, this book might be for you.

In his book The Common Rule: Habits of Purpose for an Age of Distraction, author Justin Whitmel Earley uses a memoir style of writing as he sets out to tame the beast of overwork and overdoing anything. Professionally he is a mergers and acquisitions lawyer in Richmond, Virginia, and earlier was a missionary in China. He and his wife have four sons: all of which means, yes, he has learned the hard way about anxiety and overdoing.

The book is directed to Christians who feel addicted to work or who find themselves putting job before family, God, or self. It can help all who desire to nudge work and responsibilities into their proper place: handling them as both necessity and joy.

Earley created a program he calls The Common Rule, which helps inThe Marketplace September October 2019

dividuals not succumb to time sucks such as scrolling the smart phone, burrowing in a newspaper, glazing before the TV, or teeing off too many rounds of golf. His step-by-step instructions help us bask both in God’s love, and work at sharing God’s bounty and mercy with friends, family, and neighbors.

He covers a lot.

The Common Rule includes a total of eight habits — divided into daily and weekly habits.

Daily habits include: kneel for prayer several times a day (wow!); have at least one meal with others; turn off the phone for one hour; and read scripture in the morning before you turn on your phone. The weekly habits include: one hour of conversation with a friend; no more than four hours of leisure media use; fasting from something for 24 hours; and observing sabbath rest.

The material on managing the distractions of modern media (smart phones, computers, email) is worth the price of the book, with practical suggestions to try—and leeway to come up with guidelines that work for you.

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I loved that Earley started his exploration of realigning one’s life and priorities by reminding us that God, as creator and sustainer, worked hard and long! “Go back to the opening act of the Bible. The spotlight has just come on, and we find the Trinity on the stage working together to create this beautiful and bizarre material world. God is different parts blue-collar worker, artist, inventor, tinkerer, gardener, and entrepreneur” (p. 38). Earley reminds us that God worked with his hands.

As the wife of a retired blue-collar worker, I appreciated this shout out. I also resonated deeply with his chapter on how to keep family mealtime.

But kneeling down in your work day? I was fortunate for most of my employed life to enjoy a private office, with a door. I could easily do what Earley recommends—stop midmorning or afternoon and kneel down or stretch out to pray or get in touch with the Holy. If your work setting doesn’t allow that or you are constantly in the public eye, Earley suggests just a few moments of holding out your hands on your lap, in a holy gesture of receiving a gift, can also be a way to slow down and refocus.

The book includes a 30-page resource section. ◆ Melodie Davis, of Linville, Virginia, recently retired from MennoMedia/Herald Press, where she worked as an editor and writer. She is the author of nine books, most recently Whatever Happened to Dinner? Recipes and Reflections for Family Mealtime. You can read her blog at https://findingharmonyblog.com

Four ways to Leave a Legacy through mentoring in retirement

By Jeff Haanen

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entoring in retirement sounds like a wonderful idea. “Invest in the next generation. Share your life experience.

Feel a renewed sense of purpose.”

But, far too often mentoring feels awkward for both mentor and mentee.

To the mentee, it can often feel like a mono-directional exchange of information, the older imparting “wisdom” to the younger during weekly or monthly appointments.

Interactions are often confined to stiff formality and contrived “coffee chats” in which a mentor is supposed to (halo glowing) grace the young Padawan with Yoda-like insight.

To the mentor, the high expectations surrounding mentoring can create a sense of pressure and a feeling of inadequacy that deters people from mentoring in the first place. Doubts creep in. Do I really have something to share with the next generation? Would they want to listen?

I’ve found, however, that the entry point into mentoring makes all the difference. Skilled mentors often share four characteristics.

mentees to learn from a mentor’s mistakes, and, hopefully, not repeat them.

4. Skilled mentors ask more questions than they give answers.

Jesus himself was master of the penetrating question. Questions like “What do you want me to do for you?” made Jesus’ disciples stare into their own souls and ask what they truly desired. Genuine spiritual formation requires introspection, reflection, and prayer that is often the fruit of the right question at the right time.

2. Skilled mentors bless and affirm a younger generation.

Rather than pointing out deficiencies, elders who become effective mentors are first people of wisdom and blessing. Many mentees don’t first need advice. Rather, they need to know they’re valuable and have something unique to offer the world.

1. Skilled mentors find genuine delight They need an elder to affirm their in the next generation and develop identity and point out their unique friendship based on common interests. talents and value.

It might be baseball, city government, or philosophy. But rather than 3. Skilled mentors share their stories starting a mentoring relationship and are genuinely vulnerable with with a “you need this” mentality, their mentees. talented mentors often develop the The truth is, young people want relationship because they’re curito hear more about your mistakes ous about the young person, want than your successes. Having done to learn alongside them, and they hundreds of panel presentations for share a common interest. This kind my work, I’ve found that vulnerability of humility cracks open the door for always goes way further than experlearning to be mutual and shared, tise. Advice is fine — when asked rather than one way. for. But hearing honest stories allows 5

Shaping the Next Generation Harvard sociologist Robert Putnam says about the growing social divides in America, “If America’s religious communities were to become seized of the immorality of the opportunity gap, mentoring is one of the ways in which they could make an immediate impact.”

What if the 87% of Baby Boomers who believe in God decided that they were going to spend their retirement mentoring young people through their local church?

What if America’s retirees traded comfort for purpose, and swapped retirement villages for communities of intergenerational friendship?

“It is more blessed to give than to receive,” said Jesus (Acts 20:35). But Jesus also says that it’s not knowledge but action that brings the blessing.

“Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them” (John 13:17). ◆ This article is an adapted excerpt from Jeff Haanen’s new book An Uncommon Guide to Retirement: Finding God’s Purpose for the Next Season of Life. Jeff is the executive director of Denver Institute for Faith & Work and the founder of Scatter.org, a free learning platform on faith, work, and calling.

The Marketplace September October 2019

Small grants make big impact MEDA helps entrepreneurs in northern Jordan expand their businesses. photos by Mike Strathdee

Umm Qais, Jordan — Sometimes an investment of just a few thousand dollars can help an entrepreneur take their business to the next level.

The stories below highlight several clients of MEDA’s Jordan Valley Links program, which is funded by Global Affairs Canada.

Saleh Al-Roussan had a good job

as an electrical engineer. When the factory closed, he either needed to move away from his home or create his own job. In much of Jordan, 30 per cent of men under the age of 30 per are unemployed.

Al-Roussan, 27, decided to start a café next to Umm Qais’ archaeological museum. The ALHara AlFouqa Cafe serves traditional Jordanian breakfast and lunch items, plus espresso, Turkish coffee and other hot and cold drinks.

A $3,900 (US) grant from MEDA allowed him to cover an open side of the building. This allows him to operate during rainy and cooler seasons. The money also helped with the cost of a point of sale system and tools for the kitchen.

The business operates from 9 a.m. until midnight, seven days a week.

Al-Roussan contributed 30 per cent of the cost of recent improvements. He says MEDA’s help moved his business ahead by six to 10 months. The business has one other employee, who also runs a souvenir shop adjacent to the café.

Future goals include getting more The Marketplace September October 2019

Saleh Al-Roussan hopes his Umm Qais café will become a meeting place for weddings, parties and other special events.

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House of Flowers from their home in Umm Qais.

A grant of just under $3,000 US allowed them to triple the area of the plastic greenhouse behind their house.

The couple has been growing plants for 3.5 years, selling to relatives, nearby neighbors and people from nearby villages.

Clients come to their home, and they deliver plants to people’s homes. Before they opened the business, their neighbors were driving 15 km (about 9.3 miles) to a neighboring village to buy plants.

Wijdan (right) and Osama al Masri in their backyard They currently greenhouse grow 400 different vatables and chairs so he can hold spe- rieties and are planning to add more. cial events at the site. He has hosted Most of the plants they grow, including one birthday party but lost out on flowers, spider plants and Aloe vera, hosting a wedding because he didn’t are ornamental. They are expanding have all the needed equipment.

Wijdan and her husband Os-

sama al Masri operate Bait Al Ward

into more functional varieties.

A grant from MEDA will help them to build a second greenhouse to grow thyme and a home showroom where customers can buy plants. Za’atar, a popular herb blend in regional cuisine, features thyme as the main ingredient. It is a staple in Jordanian breakfasts.

Expanding their operation will result in some seasonal job creation.

They hire daily and hourly workers to bring sand to the greenhouse.

They are also teaching a friend how to garden in exchange for helping at the greenhouse.

House of Flowers also has environmental benefits for the community. They use neighbors’ food scraps to compost and make fertilizer for their plants.

Tareq Massarweh, 27, runs a water filtration business. He is single and supports his parents.

Umm Qais residents like to buy bottled water to avoid unsafe salts and minerals and the sandy debris that sometimes comes out of taps.

Massarweh started the business in 2014. He sells water that people use for drinking, ironing and cooking out of his shop and delivers to customers’ homes within a four-mile radius of his main street storefront. He has two employees. After learning late last year about MEDA’s work, he applied for and received a $3,900 (US) grant. The money helped him to buy a new water purification system and an icemaker.

He also hopes to get new signs, do some marketing for his business and introduce glass jars as an alternative to the blue plastic jugs. Selling bags of ice to passing tourists will become a new line of business.

Before getting the new equipment, he had to sterilize plastic bottles by hand. Now in five minutes he can clean bottles that previously took a day to Tareq Massarweh sells purified water to sterilize and dry. This helps him Umm Qais residents and bags of ice to visiting tourists. keep bottles in circulation. ◆ 7

The Marketplace September October 2019

Turning on the lights in the dark continent Renewables will bring power to a billion unserved Africans within a decade, experts say.

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enewable energy will likely bring power to many underserved areas of Africa within the next decade, industry observers say.

As many as a billion people, most of them in Sub-Saharan Africa, lack access to electricity. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal #7 targets universal access to power by 2030.

Kenya hopes to achieve universal access by as early as 2022, through connecting 1.2 million new customers annually.

Renewable, off-grid power sources will have a major role to play in this transformation, according to panelists at Africa’s Energy Revolution: Perspectives on Cleantech, a recent symposium in Waterloo, Ontario.

Over the past five years, conversations have shifted from relying on the electrical grid in Nigeria, to the off-grid sector as a viable business model, said Ify Malo of the Power for All & Clean Technology Hub. Samson Ondiek from Kenya Power agreed. Close to 70 per cent of the

Peter Nyeko The Marketplace September October 2019

Photos by Mike Strathdee

Samson Ondiek

and wood. The company has set up a pilot plant in northern Uganda, where 80 per cent of the 40 million population lack electricity.

Mandulis has power projects in 16 sites. Off-grid systems in rural communities have allowed rural farmers to triple their incomes from $1,000 to $3,000 a year, Nyeko said.

In some ways, technology is allowing parts of Africa to move ahead in renewable energy quicker than what is being done in the rest of the world, said Aaron Leopold of the African Minigrid Developers Association. “We’re doing stuff that’s really not happening here in North America (or) in Europe,” said Leopold, who is chief executive officer of the Nairobi, Kenya-based organization.

The Internet of Things is making it much cheaper to connect new users to electricity, he said. “We’re really moving … to revolutionize the

600 million residents of sub-Saharan Africa who lack access to power live in remote rural areas and informal settlements in major cities, he said.

Off-grid power stations and mini-grids are the tools of choice in reaching the last mile, off-grid customers.

Most of the people lacking access to power are farmers, said Peter Nyeko of Uganda-based Mandulis Energy. Lack of power means they cannot process their crops and therefore receive less value for their work, he said.

Over two billion people use wood fuels for cooking, with adverse health impacts he compares to the effect of smoking two packs of cigarettes a day.

Mandulis develops renewable energy projects, both ongrid and off-grid, in emerging markets. Its biomass systems use food waste, including corn cobs and rice husks, to produce cooking fuel and Aaron Leopold electricity, replacing charcoal 8

Grace Mbungu

face of the sector in Africa.”

Rooftop solar, solar lanterns that also charge phones, mini-grids and biomass are all contributing to the breakthroughs, with the integration of various technologies providing for integrated energy planning.

Leopold believes that Africa’s energy problem is not primarily related to generation but rather distribution and transmission. He views efficiency of transmission as being the key issue to be addressed.

The Internet of Things, machine learning and artificial intelligence all help to advance the growth of access to electricity in Kenya, Ondiek said.

In some regions, including lawless areas near the Somalian border, staff don’t want to visit to fix machines.

That makes the ability to have remote control of systems critical. Kenya Power also uses drone technology to have some presence in areas “we consider to be a bit dangerous.”

Similarly, technology is solving the problem of how to collect money for the power provided. Kenya Power uses the M-PESA mobile money transfer system for pre-payment.

Understanding customer needs can sometimes be more challenging than technical solutions, said Sebastian Manchester. Manchester is chief technology officer for Jaza Energy, a Halifax, Canada and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania-based “last mile energy firm” that focuses on rural Tanzanian communities.

“Energy is actually the easiest

part of what we do, thinking about the energy revolution,” he said.

Jaza is a for-profit company that grew out of a tree-planting charity. It focuses on developing clean energy to every household in rural communities.

Jaza uses solar systems to charge portable battery packs for electronics in people’s homes, including lights and various devices. It hires women to run the charging depots.

Delivering appropriate customer service has forced Jaza to pivot quickly on several occasions to get products to market faster. On the technical side, their systems have evolved from a “rat’s nest of wires” to a completely plug-and-play approach, and from lead acid to lithium batteries.

The building hubs have gone from brick and mortar to prefab in order to drive costs down. Jaza’s overall goal has been to make “the most comfortable facility for the women who are actually running these hubs.”

The firm also learned that customer problems vary dramatically based on location. When Jaza launched on a small island off the Tanzanian coast, they were serving customers whose main concern was kerosene replacement, to provide better lighting in their homes.

On the mainland, customers had their own solar systems, but were frustrated by frequent battery failure.

Manchester was surprised to see that once people have access to power, they leave the lights on all

Sebastian Manchester 9

night. “We need to be very careful about the assumptions we make and the products we deliver.’’

A focus on electricity can lead to overlooking more basic needs, panelist Grace Mbungu noted. Eighty per cent of African energy consumption is for cooking, said Mbungu, a researcher with the German-based Institute for Advanced Sustainability studies.

She urges business not to talk just about electricity when addressing energy needs.

Malo agrees that cooking needs are left out of the conversation around energy access, a situation she is trying to change in Nigeria. “Energy poverty wears a female face,” she said.

Ify Malo

Overcoming that problem requires teaching women with people who look like them. Sixteen of Malo’s 20 employees are women, 10 of whom are engineers.

Conducting a gender audit of energy policies is important, Leopold said. Many energy plans have failed to provide for street lighting. Lack of streetlights makes it unsafe for women to walk at night, he said.

“Energy policies can be biased … unintentionally or not.”

One of the paradoxes in having businesses try to supply universal energy access is that while having a successful business means focusing on profits, providing universal access means losing money, he said.

Bridging that gap will require public support in order to reach the most marginalized, he suggested. ◆ The Marketplace September October 2019

Soundbites

Look inward when dealing with toxic co-workers Entrepreneur Magazine ran a fascinating piece on dealing with toxic coworkers. Relating to people who deal in blame, defensiveness, stonewalling and contempt can be a challenge.

The best approach to take, the article suggests, is to be vulnerable, not with the troublesome colleague, but with yourself. The proposed threestep solution starts with recognizing your own wounds.

Second, recognize the wounds in others and respond with compassion.

Third, know where your responsibility ends and theirs begins. ◆

Going carbon neutral

Carbon calculators, which estimate how much pollution a person’s lifestyle creates, are becoming increasingly common. Project Wren, a start-up based in the Y Combinator business accelerator, is taking a fascinating approach to measurement and mitigation. Wren calculates a person or family’s carbon footprint based on the size of their home, whether they drive, their electricity bill and how much they spend on clothing, Fast Company magazine reports.

Monthly subscriptions, at a cost of $20 a month for many people, are available to offset those carbon emissions. Wren uses about 80 per cent of the money for tree protection in Peru and training farmers to plant and maintain trees in East Africa. ◆

Serving up opportunity

Tennis champion Serena Williams wants to level the playing field for female and minority entrepreneurs.

Only 2.3 per cent of US venture capital investments in 2018 went to women-led start-ups, Forbes Magazine says in a profile of Williams.

Serena Ventures, Williams’ venture capital firm, focuses on companies The Marketplace September October 2019

started by women and minorities.

Sixty per cent of the $6 million her firm has committed to date has gone to 34 companies led by women or people of color. Most of her investments have been in early stage firms in the e-commerce, fashion, health and food sectors. ◆

Consider the cleaners

Next time your travel includes a hotel stay, leave a few bucks on the bed for the person who tidies up once you check out. Most people—70 per cent—do not tip the housekeeper, Margaret Carlson writes in The Atlantic Magazine. Housekeeping staff, by the way, earn an annual wage of about $25,000, on average. ◆

Toxic tipping?

Not all gratuities make their way into employees’ pockets.

Food couriers are the most vulnerable workers in the modern digital economy, an article in The New York Times suggests. Some food delivery apps automatically reduce a courier’s pay by the amount a customer tips. Other articles suggest that some prominent companies use tips to make up base pay for delivery workers. You can get around this by handing over your tip in cash to the person doing the work. ◆

A dogged pursuit

A Long Obedience is a provocative new short film from Faith & Co. The seven-minute film is part of

Overheard:

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a documentary series by Seattle Pacific University. The series highlights the struggles, triumphs, and stories of business people wrestling with what it means to live out business as their calling.

Gary Ginter was a successful executive in the high-stakes world of futures and options trading, heading three successful firms. He and his wife, Joanna, chose a life of “downward mobility.” They gave away much of their wealth, choosing to live and worship in inner-city Chicago. Asked by an interviewer how much they gave away, Ginter allows that it would have been millions, but cannot recall the number.

For 25 years, he has worked at VAST Power Systems, a struggling start-up. The company is trying to improve the combustion of hydrocarbons to provide better efficiency and less pollution.

Despite receiving a number of patents and investing $6.5 million, the company hasn’t been able to commercialize its technology. This entrepreneurial journey has both deeply tested and strengthened their faith. Now 70, Ginter admits to being tired and would like to stop. Yet he doesn’t feel God has given them permission to stop.

You can watch their story at this website: https://tinyurl.com/ y3cncctu ◆

“If we can detach ourselves from worldly attachments and redirect our efforts toward the enrichment and teaching of others, work itself can become a transcendental pursuit.”

— Arthur C. Brooks in The Atlantic Magazine.

Raising the profile of a little-known gem Outfitter aims to make the Jordan Trail a go-to destination

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Photo by Dara Al-Masri

a group of ten cities that very year, hundreds made up the Roman Emof thousands of pire’s eastern frontier in the adventure seekers first centuries BC and AD. walk the Camino The cities formed a group de Santiago, a network of because of their language, trails that run through every culture, location, and politimajor European city. cal status. Each functioned A lesser known, spectacuas an autonomous citylar hiking experience is availstate dependent on Rome. able on the 398-mile (640 Most of these cities are in kilometre) Jordan Trail that modern-day Jordan. runs the length of Jordan.

Archaeological excavaTourist visits to Jordan tion that began in Umm dropped during the civil Qais in 1974 unearthed a war in neighboring Syria for several years earlier this dewealth of relics from ancade. Since 2016, the tourist cient civilizations, including industry has enjoyed strong a Roman aqueduct. “The growth. Overnight visits in water tunnel, you can see it Visitors to Umm Qais can view ruins that date back to 2018 were up eight per cent only here in Umm Qais.” ancient Roman civilization before the time of Christ. over 2017 numbers.

Al Omari hopes that small town of about 7,000 people in If Ahmed Al Omari has his way, promotion of the tunnel will lead to northern Jordan. the Jordan Trail won’t be a secret Umm Qais becoming a world wonThe panoramic views from the much longer. He works with MEDA der, like Petra in the south. “I want hilltops of Umm Qais are stunning. partner Baraka Destinations to build (Umm Qais) to be like Petra.” the tourism sector in Umm Qais, a Umm Qais is part of the Decapolis, Close to 800,000 people visited

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The Marketplace September October 2019

Petra in 2017. This ancient city has been named a World Heritage site and one of the seven wonders of the world. Capital of the Nabataean Arabs, it is one of the most famous archaeological sites in the world. It is located about 75 miles (120 km) north of the Red Sea town of Aqaba.

Al Omari rents camping gear and

Ruins of an ancient Roman Colosseum in northern Jordan Mike Strathdee photo

Petra includes the ruins of huge ancient temples The Marketplace September October 2019

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Mike Strathdee photo

leads hiking tours for people who want to walk part or all of the Jordan Trail.

Highlights include the Jordan Valley’s grasslands, the Dead Sea, the Red Sea, Wadi “I want (Umm Qais) to Mujid be like Petra.” Ahmed (Jordan’s Al Omari Grand Canyon) and the magnificent ancient city of Petra.

“We are 40 guys (who will lead hikes) on the trail, from here to Aqaba (Jordan’s only port, a city in the southern-most part of the country).”

He tells people to expect to spend 44 days to traverse the trail from one end of the country to the other.

“Normally, we do 20 (km) a day, and we do a day off (each week).”

Tourists can pay to have fully supported hikes where they do not have to carry any gear. “I can support from here to Aqaba, with help from the people (who live along the route of) the trail.”

A person who would like to have the romance of having their camping gear transported by a beast of burden can do so, for a price. Donkeys can be rented, but they are more expensive than using a car, Al Omari said with a laugh.

The trail passes 52 towns along its route and people are starting to offer home stays.

You can see a 21-minute video about the Jordan Trail, including comments from Al Omari, on the YouTube Epic Trails series — Hiking the Jordan trail, at this web link: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=Mp4o5LzAYoo ◆

The Treasury is a central gathering point and the most famous monument in Petra

Hiking through the rugged beauty of the Dana Biosphere Reserve in southcentral Jordan.

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The Marketplace September October 2019

Business as a Holy Calling?

Stewardship of the Sacred

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im A. Dearborn is one of the keynote speakers at MEDA’s upcoming convention: Taking the Leap, to be held Oct. 31 to Nov. 3 at the Westin La Paloma in Tucson, Arizona. The excerpt below is from his book: Business as a Holy Calling: A workbook for Christians in business and their pastors.

One Sunday, our church was commissioning its youth group to go to Tijuana to build houses.

Professional carpenters, an owner of a construction company, a bank manager, and an ER doctor were commissioned with them.

It occurred to me, “Why were we commissioning them for this volunteer ministry, but we’ve never thought of commissioning them for their work in our own city?” Was the same work they did in their daily business now “mission” because it was an “official” church program?

As a pastor, I realized that I was more interested in people’s volunteer time and their charitable giving than in their professional lives. I focused on people’s personal lives, family life, and spirituality — and on recruiting them to volunteer in church-sponsored ministries.

The financial fruit of their work interested me more than how they made that fruit. I could value business as a means to other ends: earning an income, expressing gifts and abilities, creating employment, building caring relationships, maybe doing a little Christian witness, and certainly contributing to charitable causes (like my church). But intrinsically, I wasn’t clear how business contributed to the purposes of God. The Marketplace September October 2019

No wonder many Christians in business feel unsupported and unvalued by their churches for their actual work in business. For the past 30 years, I’ve had the privilege of working with businesspersons and students around the world to discover more fully God’s broad pur-

“The crux of biblical economics is the truth that God owns everything. We are stewards but not owners — of God’s resources.”

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poses of business. Often, business has a far deeper impact on human well-being than churches or NGOs ever will.

Some of the most effective measures to alleviate poverty and enhance human flourishing occur through microfinance and other enterprise solutions.

Business isn’t automatically a holy calling. There is a question mark attached to the phrase. Rather than being merely a means to other ends — providing goods and services, creating employment, making money — business can be a form of fulltime Christian service.

Thus, it’s no surprise that 3,000 years ago, in the ancient Hebrew law, God outlined a complete economic system and precise guidance for how business should be conducted. The foundation of this is summarized in Psalm 24:1: “The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it.” Simply put, God owns everything.

We own nothing. We are stewards, but not owners. In all our work, economic activity, and business we are stewards of someone else’s (God’s), resources. Whatever resource we employ, whether time, money, natural resources, creativity, customers, competitors, or employees, we are surrounded by resources that belong to God. Therefore, business is conducted on holy ground, for we are surrounded by the sacred. Our calling as stewards has many practical implications that shape our business practices.

Stewarding Time, People, and Creation Beginning with Sabbath rest each

Tim Dearborn will be the opening plenary speaker at this year’s convention.

week, everyone — rich and poor, human and animals — is to get a day off from work. The land, environment, and animals were protected from exploitation and destruction (Lev. 25:1-7; 26:34-35). The Old Testament is filled with almost 100 commands to keep Sabbath. Isaiah utters it as a lament, “refrain from trampling the Sabbath and pursuing your own interests” (Is. 58:13). Contrast this with our current 24/7 business life, with people having to work three part-time minimum wage jobs in order to provide for their family, and with the impact of business practices such as ships equipped to be maritime feed lots where freighters feed animals during their international voyage so that they are ready for slaughter immediately upon reaching port. In God’s eyes, we are not mere workers. All people

(and all of creation) deserve a day to rest and be restored, for relationships and recreation. This culminates every seven years in a Sabbath year.

During this year, all people — not just pastors and academics — would get a sabbatical. Everyone, including the land, would get its rest. We are not merely workers. We are created in God’s image for joy-filled relationships and for worship. Not to take a day off, or to permit others to do so, is rooted in distrust in God. The Sabbath protects us from the idolatry of our own effort, the reliance only upon ourselves. God will provide enough.

Stewarding Money We are continually tempted to worship the creation rather than the Creator, and to place our trust in the works of our own hands rather than 15

the One who created our hands. This, in essence, is idolatry and God’s antidote is tithing. Just as most people feel like they don’t have enough time to afford a day off, most people feel like they can’t “afford” to give away 10 percent of their income. In doing exactly that, we remind ourselves not only that God is the source of what we have but also that God can be trusted to provide what we need. The Sabbath and tithing help to protect us from the idolatry of our own effort, and re-center our lives in trust of God. Furthermore, we are commanded to tithe so that “the stranger, the orphan, and the widow shall eat and be satisfied, so that the Lord your God will bless you in all the enterprises you undertake” (Deut. 14.22, 29).

We are entering into a new reformation of the church’s vision for its ministry. Rather than being the center of ministry, the church is a resource for its members’ ministry in daily life. Rather than focusing primarily on people’s personal, family, and spiritual lives — and on recruiting people to serve in church programs — churches are focusing on supporting and encouraging people for their ministry in society. It’s easy to see how our work in education, health care, social and community service relates to God’s kingdom. Jesus did all those things. But business is more complicated. To participate in God’s kingdom purposes in business requires special support, skill, and commitment. When we do business this way, we experience the joy of sharing in the fulfilment of God’s purposes for our lives. ◆ Tim Dearborn has encouraged businesspersons in their participation in God’s mission in the world as a professor, coach, pastor, and mission executive. He has taught the theology of business, and business ethics for Regent College and Seattle Pacific University School of Government, Business, and Economics.

For 10 years he served World Vision International supporting staff in over 90 countries in the integration of their work and faith, and especially several thousand staff involved in microfinance. Most recently, he directed the Lloyd John Ogilvie Institute of Preaching at Fuller Theological Seminary. He has authored more than a dozen books.

The Marketplace September October 2019

Falling into business Young entrepreneur pursues multiple vocations, finds community in MEDA connection

By Eileen R. Kinch

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sk Jake King what he does, and you might hear a variety of answers: freelance consultant, research analyst, copy writer, house husband, entrepreneur.

A Goshen, Indiana native, King graduated from Eastern Mennonite University in 2009 with a degree in English. His career has taken him to Wall Street, Lancaster County, and more recently, his own home office.

King’s initial experience with business was one he “fell into.”

A family friend was looking for a writer and researcher to help produce a newsletter for investors in the healthcare industry. A former editor of his college newspaper with an interest in finance, King entered a whole new industry.

“Every small pharmaceutical company is developing unique drugs,” King explained. “But 90 percent of [those drugs] fail. My job is to figure out who’s got a shot, or if there’s even a market for their product.”

To do that, he reads medical and scientific research, balance sheets, and analyzes the results of clinical trials. His published research focuses on which drugs are most likely to succeed — or not — in development. Finance and healthcare professionals, as well as individual investors, use the research to make investment decisions.

His first role was working remotely for PropThink, a company that produces online newsletters for investors in the healthcare and life sciences sectors.

In 2013, he moved to Brooklyn to work more closely with colleagues The Marketplace September October 2019

and to meet other people in the world of finance.

Even though New York City is full of people, it took a “conscious effort to find a community,” he said. King and his wife church-hopped in the city, but never found a congregation into which they felt wholly immersed.

Three years after coming to that area, they moved to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. They live on his wife’s family farm. He continues to work as a freelancer and researcher in the healthcare sector — and does some investing of his own.

The New York experience — learning from and befriending investors, physicians, and analysts — was a great one. “I rubbed shoulders with some really talented people. I was never the smartest guy

in the room, which made for tons of learning experiences.”

After coming to Lancaster County, he wanted to try something more tangible than the public markets.

Knowing people are willing to pay for convenience — he points to the proliferation of “minute marts” —, King and his father-in-law purchased a small vending machine business and have grown it substantially.

Many competing machines are coin-operated only. He has enjoyed building his business around technology. “It’s a space that’s seen little change over the last 20 years. That has meant even some basic technologies have really set us ahead of the competition.”

He focuses on using technology to create a better customer experi-

Jake King uses technology to give customers a better vending machine experience.

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Jake King photo by Joel Nofziger

Jake King enjoys living and working in rural Lancaster County.

ence. His machines accept credit cards and other digital means of payment, allow for remote inventory monitoring, and let customers contact the business directly.

But the health and environmental consequences of the vending machine business sometimes nag at him. “We’ve tried making healthy foods a priority, but the unfortunate reality is that when we do, we [still] get lots of requests for sodas. People want their mid-day Coke pick-me-up.

So, we try to always make healthier snacks and drinks an option in our machines, at the very least. I still haven’t figured out how to eliminate more of the plastic waste.”

King enjoys the entrepreneurial aspects of the business, sales, and customer relationships. He has learned much about himself, including the tasks he dislikes, since becom-

“I like the building and growing, but long-term grinding is not my cup of tea.” ing a small business owner. “I like the building and growing, but long-term grinding is not my cup of tea.”

When he relocated to Lancaster County, King hoped to be close to family and to connect to the local community. Today, his son is part of the Lancaster Mennonite school system.

His family enjoys their involvement with James Street Mennonite Church.

He loves the country setting, which offers a spectacular view of neighboring farms from his back porch. His freelance work allows flexibility to be with his family. “Living in New York was a great experience.

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But moving back to Lancaster has felt like reconnecting with our roots.”

King laments the solitary nature of research and consulting. Planning events with the Lancaster MEDA hub has been rewarding. He is also helping to plan the MEDAx track for the organization’s annual convention in Tucson this fall. MEDAx offers a series of seminars, events and a pitch competition designed for young professionals.

“MEDA’s mission and successes are absolutely something that resonate with my generation. I don’t feel equipped to assess poverty on a global scale, but (creating) business solutions (to poverty) and job creation are something I can totally understand. With MEDAx and chapter events, we’re trying to make MEDA approachable for a younger audience, and I think the story is just starting to be told.” ◆ The Marketplace September October 2019

Legacy Greens puts values ahead of profits Owner of Kitchener grocery store promotes healthy choices

J

ordan Dolson knows that merchandising choices she makes at her grocery store mean Legacy Greens is less profitable than it could be.

And she’s okay with that.

For Dolson, 35, providing healthy food options for her customers in Kitchener, ON is more important than padding the bottom line. “It’s more of a passion project than a way to get rich,” she says with a smile.

Refreshingly candid about the financial aspects of Legacy Greens, Dolson told an audience at a MEDA hub breakfast that she pays herself $22 an hour.

“I didn’t have this for the first three years of running my business,” she says. “Now I feel financially secure.”

Raised on a farm in southwestern Ontario, she never thought seriously about food and agriculture until Grade 12, when she was captivated by a speaker from an area vegetable farm in her environmental studies class.

But risk-taking and food production run in the family. Her parents gave up their careers and bought a farm in 1985 when they had two small children.

“I never appreciated that as a kid, that they took that risk of entrepreneurship with their lives. I actually never appreciated living on a farm at that time.”

After attending university in British Columbia, she wanted a career in the public sector. She worked for the

federal government for several years, then took a municipal job.

Impressed by Vancouver’s vibrant independent grocery store scene and feeling unfulfilled in her job, she considering grocery as a possible future enterprise. When she turned 30, she moved back to Ontario.

After landing a municipal contract position, she started Legacy Greens as a small market garden in 2014 on a quarter-acre plot at her parents’ farm.

She grew vegetables that she sold at a farmer’s market, a restaurant and a grocery store. That parttime operation netted her around $1,500 the first year.

photos by Kamil Ahmed

Jordan Dolson prices produce at Legacy Greens similar to what chain supermarkets charge.

The Marketplace September October 2019

“I learned what it was like to be a supplier, and I think that is really valuable now that I am a retailer dealing with many suppliers. Suppliers like to get paid, and they like when you’re excited when they bring you their food.”

During a trip to Kenya to visit a friend, she was impressed by the energy of entrepreneurs there. If they could grow businesses in that challenging emerging economy, “starting a greengrocer in Kitchener-Waterloo shouldn’t be a big deal,” she reasoned.

In early 2015, Dolson found a storefront on Kitchener’s main street and negotiated a six-month lease to test

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out her concept and vision.

She invested $40,000 into the pop-up enterprise.

“Any entrepreneur, when you are starting new, you’re not sure you have a market, there is an element of risk and you have to be comfortable that you might fail.”

Failing with that level of invested capital would be “an experiential MBA (master’s business degree).

I would not have been comfortable if that number was $200,000.”

Having a prep kitchen as part of the store, Legacy Greens limits its produce waste to three per cent.

“That’s what keeps us competitive,” she said. “We price our produce similar to what you would see (at local chain supermarkets). They have such a high markup because they have a lot of waste. We’re able to get a lot of profit back because we don’t have a lot of waste.”

“If you eliminate the

“I want to give more shelf space to real food.”

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shrink or waste component, there’s way more opportunity for profit.”

Dolson marks up produce and prepared foods 100 percent. “My formula for that is ingredients plus labor times two is the price.”

During the first year, Legacy Greens grew quickly and built a talented team. “I put a ton of hours in, but it didn’t feel like work. It felt so fun and exciting.”

The store hit her breakeven targets within six months. Her business aligned with her values: including more fresh food options in the core, creating an inclusive and welcoming space, building partnerships to increase access to local food, and providing accessible price points.

“I wanted to make sure that anyone who walked into the store would feel like they could make a purchase.”

She recently decided to stop growing food to sell at the store and is now only buy-

The Marketplace September October 2019

ing produce from other farmers.

Legacy Greens averages $30,000 a month in sales. It focuses on fresh produce and prepared food, including soups, salads, and hummus.

Dolson deals with eight to 15 produce suppliers and 15 grocery vendors. She selects suppliers based on product quality and who she finds the easiest to work with.

Dolson uses only one vendor for each product category.

She gets “fired up about being part of a supply chain where everyone is winning.”

Her point-of-sale system allows her to check sales data from her mobile phone. That comes in handy when she is doing a pickup and deciding how many bananas to buy.

Data drives many of her purchasing decisions. It can also lead to conflict. “What if my values are telling me something else?”

Sugar is a concern for Dolson

since a family member was diagnosed with cancer.

Ice cream is her most profitable item. She also sells a lot of chocolate and caramels produced by small businesses at certain times of the year.

Science shows sugar is not good for health. “How do I address that?”

Paying employees more than minimum wage is important to Legacy Greens owner

J

ordan Dolson knows from first-hand experience that earning minimum wage can be discouraging.

After she left a contract municipal position, she took a mini- mum wage job at a food shop in Guelph for four months to understand the food industry. The store was a butcher shop that also sold some prepared foods, including meat pies.

“I hated earning minimum wage,” she recalls. “That sucked.

But it really allowed me the opportunity to feel what it felt like to be an employee of a food business.”

When she asked a chef friend how to motivate employees while paying minimum wage, his response was blunt: “Don’t pay

The Marketplace September October 2019

them minimum wage.”

Paying more than minimum wage will attract staff who stay longer and feel more appreciated, he said.

At her Legacy Greens store, she pays her full-time staff member $18 an hour for a 40-hour workweek. Part-time staff earn $15 and $16 an hour, more than Ontario’s minimum wage of $14 an hour. “I feel good about that.”

In the early days, Dolson wasn’t always able to pay herself properly. “It was a struggle for awhile, not getting enough out of this, and it’s super important to pay yourself as an entrepreneur. I don’t think you can call yourself a living wage business unless you’re paying yourself, also.” ◆

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This concern led her to turn down a raw cookie dough product. “I want to give more shelf space to real food.”

Those issues never occurred to her during the first year of operation. “It’s necessary that we as entrepreneurs are always kind of assessing our current values and seeing whether our business goals are meeting those.”

The prepared food portion of her business is growing rapidly. “Convenience and access to ready-made meals is something that our culture is now crazy about.”

Customers are challenging her on single-use plastic, asking if they can make a purchase without plastic. “At this point in time, the answer is no, we’re not set up to give you hummus in your own container, but maybe in the future, the answer will be yes.”

For Dolson, food safety is a more important consideration than reducing the amount of single-use plastic.

“Hummus needs to be refrigerated.”

She worries about customers contaminating a batch of hummus through scooping it into an unclean container they bring from home. “I have to choose what I am good at.”

She might eventually consider selling soup, a higher-margin product, in reusable glass containers with a deposit. Getting staff onside with an idea that would require more labor is also part of her discernment.

Legacy Greens saw a 24 percent drop in foot traffic last summer and fall after it moved from a main street location to a side street a few blocks away.

But less traffic didn’t bother Dolson once she crunched year-end numbers.

Her new site offered a better kitchen for doing food prep. Also, the average customer transaction increased by 25 percent, offering better margins.

The future may hold other ventures if she can find a way for Legacy Greens to function well with less of her time. “If a had a business idea with less overhead and more margin, I would consider it.” ◆

Review

Can poverty reduction and evangelism be combined?

By Fred Redekop Becoming Whole: Why the Opposite of Poverty Isn’t the American Dream By Brian Fikkert and Kelly M. Kapic (Moody Publishers, 2018. 297 pp., $21.93 US.)

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t the beginning of this book, the authors invite us to declare our values in making the world a better place. They give us three hypothetical choices.

The first choice is to provide cell phone coverage to better the lives of the poor. The second choice is a health organization that works against the demonic forces of this world to increase the health of the poor.

The third choice is a firm that provides help to the poor (slum dwellers) in job searches, with a grant from the US government. This fictitious company would like to also teach the salvation of Jesus Christ using its own money.

I chose, immediately, to give my $100 to the first company. In my work with Mennonite Central Committee, I have seen some of the dangers of mixing the two models, either working to reduce poverty or working with the church. I worked with refugees, and they would participate in our teaching program, if it meant that they could leave the refugee camp sooner. I believe the rest of the book tries to convince you, the readers, to put your money in the second, and maybe third choices.

The authors, Brian Fikkert and Kelly Kapic, teach at Covenant College in Georgia. The motto of the college is “In all things Christ Preeminent.” Covenant is a conservative evangelical school. Through-

Authors argue for combining poverty reduction and saving souls. out the book, the authors point out the dangers of two theological orientations that pose a danger to their evangelical perspective on reducing poverty in the world. They name them as “Western nationalism and “Evangelical Gnosticism.” Fikkert is a development professor, and Kapic is a theologian. Both of them speak out of a strong evangelical perspective.

Western nationalism is defined as the development strategy of Western civilization without God. This idea might bring about

poverty alleviation, but it misses the spiritual applications. They do not advocate for the prosperity gospel nor to make all people like Americans.

Their main problem of this development program is that it is godless.

Evangelical Gnosticism is the idea that some Christians only care for the souls of people. In the early years of the church, there was the Gnostic movement that divided people into body and soul. The Gnostics only cared for people’s souls. The authors accuse the church of caring for evangelization only.

In the book, I found the diagrams, charts and graphs disorienting and not helpful to the arguments of the two authors. For example, on page 159, there is a chart called Figure 6.2 that fails to explain what they are trying to prove, with arrows going all over the place. This being said, Figure 8.1 on page 261 explains their arguments about Western nationalism and Evangelical Gnosticism, and brings us to their main point, historic Christianity. It is their holistic ideas about doing poverty reduction and saving souls. I found historic Christianity to be too utopian. It might be something to aspire to, but poverty reduction and God are more complex. I think their idea is dangerous, as it has development and the values of the church too closely aligned.

These opposites do not mix well. I continued to give my $100 to the first choice. ◆ Fred Redekop is a pastor of a Mennonite Church, a municipal councillor and a storyteller for MCC. He lives in Elmira, Ontario.

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The Marketplace September October 2019

Comments?

Would you like to comment on anything in this magazine, or on any other matters relating to business and faith?

Send your thoughts to mstrathdee@meda.org

The Marketplace September October 2019

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News

Taking the Leap:

MEDA convention to explore issues around international development, business, and faith

T

aking the Leap is the urday tour option, with visits theme of MEDA’s annual to several local restaurants.

Business as a Calling Other Saturday excursions convention, to be held Oct. 31include a jeep tour of a ranch Nov. 3 in Tucson, Arizona. to learn about desert flora and Tim Dearborn, a professor, fauna with trained guides. coach, pastor, mission execuStargazing near the resort tive and author of more than a Friday evening will be another dozen books, (see excerpt, page highlight. Arizona Star Tours 14), will deliver the opening will bring their mobile observplenary on Thursday evening. atory. Attendees can view the Dearborn has served with World The Westin La Paloma in Tucson, Arizona will be night sky through several teleVision and several universities. the site of MEDA’s annual Business as a Calling scopes or watch green lasers convention Oct. 31 to Nov. 3.

Among other convention that guide Benjamin Loker highlights: Mennonite — a progressive, multi-culwill use to point out constellations • A Friday lunch plenary will tural Anabaptist church in Tucson, will and stars. feature MEDA clients from Ukraine, deliver Sunday morning’s message.

As always, seminars will cover a Ethiopia and Myanmar. Nataliya Tucson is Arizona’s secondwide range of topics related to faith, Sudarkina, co-founder of Agro-Patriot, largest city, and perhaps the oldest business and international developwill talk about her 11-year-old Ukraicontinually inhabited settlement in ment. Among the sessions are: nian garlic firm, which now exports North America. It has a population • Talks by international field staff to five other countries. Metasebia of more than 900,000 and is home to and clients, including the three memAsfaw, whose Ethiopian gemstone the University of Arizona. bers of Friday’s plenary panel; business was profiled in the May The city enjoys more than 350 • MEDA’s Jennifer Denomy on issue of The Marketplace magazine, days of sunshine each year and offers the (Ghana) GROW learning series will discuss plans to expand his businumerous outdoor attractions. and Linda Jones discussing her new ness. Mr. Nyan Linn, owner of Shan World famous for its restaurants, book on women’s empowerment.

Maw Myae, will relate the story of his Tucson is designated a City of Gastron• Ed Zuercher, chief administrative firm, which supplies agriculture and omy by UNESCO (the United Nations officer of Phoenix, Arizona, will dislivestock products in Myanmar.

Educational, Scientific and Cultural Or- cuss keys to high performance leader• A Friday afternoon MEDA pitch ganization), one of only US cities and ship. In 2017, Phoenix was recognized competition. Young entrepreneurs will 26 worldwide with this designation.

by Governing Magazine and Living compete for a grand prize of $10,000, Attendees will have several Cities as the top city in their inaugural with $5,000 going to the runner-up. opportunities to experience some of Equipt to Innovate survey, which rec• Saturday’s night plenary will Tucson’s best restaurants. A Thursognizes Phoenix’s capacity and complifeature Angie Bastian, the co-founder day excursion to visit the Sonoran ance in high-performing governance. of BOOMCHICKAPOP, a natural popDesert Museum and a Tucson-area • a charitable giving seminar led corn brand. Angie and her husband, business will include lunch at El by staff from Everence and AbunDan, founded the kettle corn company Charro Cafe, the nation’s oldest dance Canada; in their garage to build their children’s Mexican restaurant in continuous • a discussion of impact investing; college fund. The business grew operation by the same family.

• an exploration of issues related Friday evening there will be across the US and international marto migrant labor; kets. BOOMCHICKAPOP was acquired a dine-around where people can • Consultant Rebecca Sutherns dischoose from a range of area restauby Conagra Brands in late 2017. cussing five recent, relevant books that rants. A Taste of Tucson will be a Sat- she has read so you don’t have to. ◆ • Carol Rose, co-pastor of Shalom 23

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The Marketplace September October 2019

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