Soul enterprise

A crisis in meaning?

“We are seeing a real crisis in meaning in the workplace,” Jeff Van Duzer told a seminar at MEDA’s annual convention in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Nov. 1-4. The dean of the business school at Seattle Pacific University cited a Harris poll that found only one in five employees are enthusiastic about the goals of their organization, and only one in five see a connection between their work and the goals of their employer. Put those together and you get a very small percentage of workers who see any link between their work and anything they care about, he said.

“From a business standpoint a crisis in meaning is a crisis in productivity,” Van Duzer said. “From a Christian standpoint, what a waste to think you are investing a hundred thousand hours of your life in work that you don’t see as having any significance to anything you care about.” (See full report on page 12)

Do you make your kids proud?

David Henderson is described as an “angel” investor who puts money into companies that are doing good things with water. He believes investing in water and waste water innovation can provide excellent financial returns while helping to solve environmental problems. A reporter asked him if his young children knew what he did for a living. Henderson said, “One of the proudest moments I’ve had so far was when I went and observed one of [my eight-year-old daughter’s] classes. My daughter got up and said: ‘I’d like to introduce my Daddy who is saving the world’s water.’ I was like, ‘Wow’.” (Globe & Mail)

Jesus and the warm glow

Is there a scientific reason why people are generous?

Researchers at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke in Bethesda, Maryland, examined the brains of volunteers as they chose whether to give money to charity or use it for themselves. The scientists used a technique called functional magnetic resonance imaging, which can map activity in various parts of the brain. Their findings were reported recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

They concluded that the people who chose to keep the money they were given did not experience the same joy of those who decided to give theirs away.

The researchers had managed to examine what went on inside each person’s brain as they made decisions based on moral beliefs. What they discovered was that when people were giving money away the part of their brain that was active was its reward center, the “mesolimbic pathway” that is responsible for doling out the dopamine-mediated euphoria associated with sex, money, food and drugs. From this they concluded that the warm glow that comes from charitable giving has a physiological basis.

All this medical research confirms that Jesus was right after all: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” — Adapted from a sermon by Scott Ruddick, MEDA’s director of Integrated

Support Services, at Leamington (Ontario) Mennonite Church

Jesus and the business gap

“It is interesting to note that if it were not for businesspeople we may not have had the gospel. Think about the people whom Jesus chose to walk alongside him. Of the 12, at least four were fishermen, one was a tax collector and one was an accountant. The point is: Jesus bridged the gap and partnered with businesspeople to preach the gospel and advance the kingdom.” — David M. Miller, pastor, Bellwood Mennonite Church, Milford, Neb., in response to MEDA’s convention workshop on pastors and businesspeople

Outsourcing life itself

Has “the market” intruded too far into our lives?

According to Arlie Russell Hochschild, the answer is a firm yes. Her new book, The Outsourced Self: Intim‑ ate Life in Market Times, chronicles how many aspects of personal life have been packaged into commercial expertise and sold back to busy North Americans. She describes entrepreneurial forays into wedding and party planning, dog walking, parenting, photo-album assembly and even the hiring of “gestational surrogates.”

“The market is now present in our bedrooms, at our breakfast tables, in our love lives, entangled in our deepest joys and sorrows,” she writes. “And the more the market is the main game in town, the more hooked we get on what it sells, and the more convinced that paid expertise is what we lack and an even larger service mall is the only way to go.... So as community-starved people come to crave company-provided counsel, comfort, and support, companies extend services — for those who can pay.

“The very ease with which we reach for market services may also prevent us from noticing the remarkable degree to which the market has come to dominate our very ideas about what can or should be for sale or rent, and who should be included in the dramatic cast — buyers, branders, sellers — that we imagine as part of a personal life. Most important of all, it may prevent us from noticing how we devalue what we don’t or can’t buy.”

Overheard

Tricked by the devil?

“The idea that service to God should have only to do with a church altar, singing, reading, sacrifice and the like is without doubt the worst trick of the devil. How could the devil have led us more effectively astray than by the narrow conception that service to God takes place only in church and by works done therein.” — Martin Luther

“People who have good relationships at home are more effective in the marketplace.” — Zig Ziglar

Brewing up peace

Business skills come in handy for emerging Philippines coffee industry

Coffee growers in the Philippines can be grateful that Joji Pantoja knows business. Otherwise they might still be brandishing guns rather than toting sacks of Arabica beans.

For Joji and her husband Dann, who are Mennonite missionaries, the coffee trade they’ve developed among highland tribes has become an important cog in a larger peacebuilding ministry in their native country. It’s also a sparkling example of how “business as mission” can work in unexpected ways.

Dann and Joji left the Philippines in 1986 to work with Filipino immigrants in Winnipeg, where they started the city’s first Filipino church. They later expanded their ministry to Vancouver where Joji worked as a financial planner for a leading investment firm.

In 2006 the couple felt called to return to the Philippines as peacebuilding missionaries under Mennonite Church Canada. After decades of being wracked by Muslim-Christian conflict, their native country desperately needed creative approaches to peace. Over 40 years the strife has claimed an estimated 120,000 lives and dislocated two million people.

Dann and Joji devoted themselves to bringing the evangelical churches and the rebel groups in south Philippines together, and in helping resolve ancient land disputes at the root of much tension.

The coffee business was never their goal, but in a

Facing page: Joji Pantoja — putting old business skills to work as a coffee entrepreneur.

country where people love to visit over food and coffee, perhaps it was bound to happen. One day they were engaged in intense dialogue with warring sides in the conflict zone. “We told one leader to leave his weapons outside and join us for coffee,” says Dann. “We just listened to him talk. Then we had coffee with the guy he was fighting against, and we listened to him. Then we asked if they would be willing to have coffee with each other — and they did!” Someone said, Someone blurted out, “Let’s have coffee for peace.” “Let’s have coffee The phrase stuck, and an idea began to percolate in Joji’s mind. for peace.” They did She was no stranger to how the hospitality trade could enhance social outcomes. Years earlier, after ... and it stuck. graduating from a course in hotel and restaurant management, she had opened a cafeteria for street women and children. Now she pondered adapting a simple social ritual to a higher purpose that could complement their peacebuilding efforts. She knew coffee was the world’s second most traded liquid commodity, after oil. Couldn’t the peace dividend be magnified by empowering coffee farmers? “It was Joji’s idea to make it a brand name and open a shop,” says Dann. With the couple’s entrepreneurial skills and vigorous peace advocacy, a brisk trade emerged. “Coffee is a common product in our country,” Joji says, “but as a crop it has been neglected as other products like bananas and pineapples got more attention.”

She started by encouraging one tribe to plant

coffee trees. Though their ancestral land had been deforested by loggers, the quality ingredients were still there — rich soil, tropical climate, high altitude.

Growing coffee takes time, Joji explains. New Arabica bushes need three years to produce a harvest.

Meanwhile she tested the market abroad. She bought some beans from local farmers and sent them off to be roasted and packaged back in Canada. She contacted Level Ground in Victoria, B.C., a leading distributor of fair trade coffee.

After tasting her sample, the Level Ground folk made a startling request: “Can you supply us with 50 tons a month?”

“That was in 2008,” Joji says. “By 2011 we were able to ship 600 kilograms (1,320 pounds).”

They began to recruit more growers, finally enlisting 450 families from 17 tribes, who now grow a combined total of 2,000 acres of coffee. Many of the growers are former guerrillas.

By any financial yardstick the farmers have done very

Business as mission: Joji and Dann Pantoja during a visit to Mennonite Church Canada offices in Winnipeg.

well. Most had been bottom-of-the-pyramid subsistence farmers earning $1.25 per day. Now they earn $7 a day.

Joji has promoted the cultivation of Arabica coffee plants over lower-quality Robusta plants. Now that farmers realize they will be fairly compensated, they willingly reforest to provide the shade Arabica plants need, thus boosting the local ecology.

Growing coffee has spin-offs beyond increas-

ing income, Joji explains. It helps tribal people establish claims to their ancestral domain and restores denuded forests that have been ravaged by illegal logging. People are building better houses; communities are thriving. In one location the government noticed the surge of energy and decided to build an elementary school.

Growers are also being groomed in a culture of peace,

After tasting a sample, Level Ground officials were eager to put Philippines on their coffee map.

learning reconstruction and how to treat aggressors. Citing the common three Ps of socially responsible business — people, planet, profit — Joji adds a fourth: peace. Joji, an outspoken apostle of quality, proudly notes that a recent bean sample scored an impressive 87.5 percent on the rating scale of the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA).

Level Ground has provided encouragement at each step along the way, she says. “They want to see Philippines on the coffee map, along with Colombia, Peru and Brazil.”

As more farmers’ trees approach maturity, Joji wants to collect enough beans for a full container load.

“We’re looking at shipping 5,000 kilograms [11,000 pounds] in this season, which runs from November to January,” she says.

Local institutions have helped out. Coffee for Peace received a $5,000 grant from Citi Bank and Philippines Business for Social Progress. The money went for a roaster.

Dann and Joji are trying to raise capital to move into the big leagues. Up to now they have been spending their own pension money. “We personally put up 60 percent of the money needed to capitalize this so far,” says Dann. “The rest is from local people who believe in our vision.”

But more is needed for the next step — to buy land and construct a warehouse. Dann estimates they’ll need $250,000.

“We need to look at this as a business, not as two missionaries doing business,” he says. “It can’t stay a Mom & Pop operation.”

Like many entrepreneurs, they are sometimes struck by the scope of what they have gotten into, and the immense possibilities ahead as they prepare to deal with names like Nescafe and Starbucks.

One option might be franchising. In 2009 they established a coffee shop in Davao City, followed by another in 2011. The dream is for every community to have a coffee shop where retail consumption can be paired with education.

Other food products are also ripe for investment. “The Muslims we are working with ask if we can bring in Canadian investors,” says Joji. “They say, ‘we have cocoa, coconut, bananas, pineapples, mangoes, tomatoes and carrots’.”

Dann mentions a Muslim sultan who spoke with him. “He is tired of the fighting,” Dann says. “He would like to use his land for good.”

Thrift store gets a corporate hand

They’d reached a fork in the road. Smashing success had turned a Mom & Pop shop into a big box enterprise

“Clothing into cash”

Many charitable ventures could benefit from a business touch.

Even a thrift shop.

That’s what has happened at the Kildonan MCC Thrift Shop in Winnipeg, a seasoned veteran of the North American network. It went into operation only a few months after the first store was launched in 1972 (see sidebar below).

For years the Kildonan store faithfully served a lowerincome market in the city’s northeast with second-hand clothing, shoes, housewares and other donated goods. Like other volunteer-run stores, frugal overhead enabled it to contribute heavily to the worldwide ministry of Mennonite Central Committee.

Customer traffic grew, prompting relocations. At each move the facilities were improved — another way to help revitalize the neighborhood. By 2010 the Kildonan store occupied a huge facility only a few blocks from where it began. The extra space came in handy, as a thrift shop needs a lot of room to store all the donated clothes, appliances and books that come in the back door. More space is needed to sort, repair and price goods, not to mention put them on retail display.

The new facility had plenty of space — 39,000 square feet in all. Some people wondered if that was too much; perhaps a portion could be rented out commercially.

As with many ventures, managing growth and success invites pressures. As the volume of donated goods surged, so did the volunteer workload, in some cases creating stress.

Questions were raised: Could the receiving and selling of goods be better handled to reflect optimal stewardship, compete in a fluid environment and contribute more dynamically to the community and to the mission of MCC?

Two years ago the board of the Kildonan store invited a review by management consultants Neil and Herta Janzen, who have a long track record of integrating business systems with social enterprise.

The Janzens saw that the store had reached a fork in the road — could it continue with the informal approach that had served it well in the past, or should it make a considered leap into a professional future while still staying true to the original mission?

The previous management approach (essentially a board-run operation staffed by volunteers) was “in line with a Mom & Pop enterprise though it had become a big box operation, with increasing volume, rising sales and more opportunities for community assistance,” says Neil Janzen. “What then should a friendly, caring presence look like in such a big box shop?”

The Janzens made numerous suggestions about defining future vision, long-term planning and maintaining

By any measure it was a brilliant entrepreneurial idea.

In the small town of Altona, Manitoba, four women decided in 1972 to open a shop where volunteers would sell donated clothing and goods at modest prices. The profits would go to the worldwide mission of Mennonite Central Committee.

The idea caught on and spread like proverbial wildfire. Within months, three more shops had sprung up in Manitoba. Neighboring Saskatchewan came next. In 1974 the first U.S. shop opened in Bluffton, Ohio.

Today the MCC Thrift Shop network is the stuff of legend. Across Canada and the U.S., 126 such outlets sell all manner of cut-rate goods from clothing and shoes to toys and appliances.

Over the years thrift shops have raised more than $167 million for MCC’s work. As one official noted, the idea became “a machine that will turn clothing into cash.” ◆

The exterior of the Kildonan thrift shop. Improving the space is another way to help revitalize the neighborhood.

volunteer morale.

They also recommended the thrift shop hire a fulltime manager.

Victor Rempel had recently retired after a

35-year career with Manitoba Telecom Services, the province’s primary telecommunications carrier. He had worked in engineering, then moved into operations and spent the last 10 years in logistics, supply services and purchasing. In 2011 he was hired as chief operations officer of the Kildonan thrift shop.

While the store had performed exceedingly well for decades, some areas had been neglected and needed the skill-set he brought from the corporate world. Even a wellmeaning organization staffed by people with hearts of gold needs good structures, defined policies and operational procedures to make sure the customer is serviced well. One ongoing challenge, faced by any business, was to make sure the commitment to service was evident in every interaction. Volunteers, who are generously donating their time to the enterprise, may need occasional reminders that excellence needs to be foremost. “We’ve got to get out of the mentality that ‘this is good enough’,” Rempel tells them. “Customers will judge us by our worst day. Let’s focus on serving the customer well.”

He points to the store’s vision statement, which calls for “making God visible through our interactions with customers, community, staff and our financial commitment to MCC.”

“Let’s know the customer and make it more than a revenue opportunity; let’s bond with the customer,” he says.

For his part, Rempel says he loves being out on the floor and interacting with customers, some of whom come in daily and whom he has gotten to know on a firstname basis. “That relationship is the difference between us and Value Village and Salvation Army.”

Even well-meaning people need robust policies and procedures to make sure customers are served well.

Thrift shops thrive on volunteers. Kildonan

has 240 of them (plus five paid staff). Women are the backbone, composing 70 percent of the volunteer contingent, Rempel says. “On average, a volunteer will come in once or twice a week. Some come almost daily, others once a month. We have 11 women who started with us in 1972 and are still volunteering. One of them is 92 years old and still comes in once a month.”

An average day will see 600-800 customers, and up to 1,500 on sale days. Rempel estimates that 70 percent are from the store’s target demographic of needy folk in the neighborhood. Others include “thrift store junkies” and customers from all over the city, including a growing younger clientele attracted by exposure on Facebook and social media.

Rempel points to the mission statement, which specifies living out Christian faith by “providing essential merchandise in good condition at affordable prices.”

“We want to be the lowest cost in the city when it comes to essentials,” he says. “For non-essentials we go for near market price.”

Those non-essentials can include genuine antiques, like a finely crafted grandfather clock that is on the floor for $1,750, or a high-quality dining set in the $600-

One original volunteer, now 92 years old, still comes in once a month.

$700 range. A special area is set aside for vintage items (with prices to match). Some are listed on Kijiji, a free online classified service. “That brings in new traffic,” says Rempel, who is happy to attract additional niche customers.

Kildonan is able to sell about 80 percent of the items that are dropped off. Some that can’t be sold are recycled. “We make $100 to $200 a week from recycled steel and copper,” he says. “We keep a lot of stuff out of the landfill.”

It’s not always easy being what the mission statement calls “a caring presence.” Thrift stores aren’t immune to retail travails such as theft. Customers have switched price tags, like one who tried to buy a $170 snow blower for $30.

“Some have come back later and apologized for stealing; others have sent us notes,” Rempel says.

On the other hand, it can be heartwarming to see honesty from the store’s low income target group. One day someone bought a purse and came back later to turn in the money she found hidden inside. It was $200.

The Kildonan thrift shop has become more comfortable with its big box status, even if it doesn’t use the term. At one point it planned to occupy half the building and lease out the other half. Then they decided to take it off the market and grow into it themselves.

As with other thrift shops, surplus funds have gone to MCC but for now a sizeable amount is going to revitalize the building and pay down the mortgage. At current rates that shouldn’t take long, after which even greater contributions can be made. Rempel reports that in 2011 sales rose 70% and 35% in 2012 to $900,000. Clearly the corporate touch is making a difference to the bottom line. ◆

An average day will see 600 to 800 patrons, says Victor Rempel, chief operations officer. Each interaction is a chance to “make God visible” to customers and the surrounding community.

Why good people do bad

“Speed, spin and stuff” can knock us off course, ethicist tells MEDA convention

Until reminded, no one seemed to recall that the 2012 MEDA convention fell almost exactly 11 years after the demise of Enron.

The collapse of that “darling of Wall Street,” said opening night keynoter Jeff Van Duzer, opened the door to “a decade of high-profile sleaze” which saw numerous business icons fall into the muck of fraud and malfeasance. By the end of 2011, Van Duzer went on, the FBI was investigating 725 active corporate fraud cases plus thousands of other business missteps from price-fixing to Ponzi schemes.

“There’s been a steady stream of this stuff,” he said, adding that “it matters,” not only to those who lost their life savings but to everyone else, as well.

It certainly mattered in his job as dean of the business school at Seattle Pacific University, which has seen an unprecedented drop in interest in business programs

Why business matters to God

as prospective students sour on a future in the corporate world.

Faith in business had plunged generally, with only a minority of Americans still trusting business leaders to do what’s right.

“I’m a lawyer by training and we’re used to living in the basement of public opinion, so I suppose it’s nice to get new neighbors now and then,” he said to chuckles from the Nov. 1-4 audience in Niagara Falls, Ontario.

Who were these people who became the new millennium’s models of business treachery? Some of the biggest offenders were decent church-going people; some even taught Sunday school. What caused them to go bad, Van Duzer wondered. Probably being subjected to forces they didn’t understand, plus the existence of “bad systems.”

He concluded that many well-meaning people are “knocked off course” by three things — “speed, spin and stuff.”

Speed

In his seminar on Why Business Matters to God (also the title of his book) Jeff Van Duzer said many Christians have a “thin” theology of business and do not see any Christian purpose in business beyond making money to donate to Christian causes. They might exhibit exemplary honesty and personal conduct but have no idea what God might think about business issues like product pricing or mergers.

Business had two important purposes, Van Duzer said. One was to produce goods and services that enable creation to flourish. Another was to provide an opportunity to express aspects of God-given identity in meaningful and creative work.

Why did this matter? For one thing, he said, it brought meaning to that part of life where most people spend the bulk of their waking hours. It also created a sense that a business operation could help solve global issues. He urged Christian business owners to ask how they could run their businesses profitably but also in a way that addresses some of the big problems in the world.

He referred to Jesus’s words to send workers out into the harvest field. “I always thought that meant pastors and missionaries,” Van Duzer said. “I’ve come to believe it means businesspeople.” ◆ The dizzying pace of business, accelerated by ever-faster communication, was a chief contributor to ethical slackness. As deadlines expanded, business was getting faster and faster and in order to cope, frazzled workers tried to squeeze more and more into every minute, Van Duzer observed. “The more we squeeze in, the more something gets squeezed out. We don’t have time to think and reflect.”

What to do?

For him, the age-old concept of the Sabbath brought a healing rhythm to the frantic pace of business. The concept of the Sabbath was to do no productive work, he said. “Keeping it on a regular basis teaches us that we are not the sum total of what we produce. Our value is not just housed in our capacity to produce. We have value and

worth independent of anything that we accomplish.”

Keeping the Sabbath, he said, “gives you time to think and reflect, an opportunity to re-orient yourself.”

Spin

be headed toward a crisis. Without an accountability structure, even the best leaders can go astray. They incrementalize and rationalize what’s right.”

Stuff

Despite the negative image of By “stuff” Van Duzer said he “spin” in election campaigns, meant money and material trying to present a favorable im- possessions. age was not inherently bad, Van Noting that U.S. worker Duzer said. “Spin is not unethi- output per hour had tripled cal per se. We all want to put since the Second World War, our best foot forward. But busi- he said “the average person ness is spinning more and more works 160 hours a year more and pushing people to make than we used to.” Western more and more extreme claims society had never before seen than can really be justified. such a wholesale willingness

“When we spin too much, to exchange time for money. we get dizzy, and we go right But this extra work had across some lines we should not not managed to fulfill decross.” sires, he said, quoting Robert

His brake pedal to keep Reich, political economist and spin in check was to employ the former U.S. labor secretary, Christian disciplines of confes- that the more people have, sion and community. the more they think they

He had found that meeting need to feel economically periodically with a trusted friend safe. provided a chance to “vomit out all the wrong things For many people, money and stuff had become you’ve done since the last time you met. It reminds you “some deep measure of me,” Van Duzer said. This had that you don’t have to be perfect.” deep ethical implications because “when money ceases to

He conceded the discipline of confession was not be just a measure of what we can buy and now becomes always popular among Protestants who believe that a measure of who we are, the temptation to cut corners Christians can confess directly to God and be forgiven. goes way up.” But, he said, confessing something aloud to someone and One antidote to the power of “stuff” was to “find a being reminded that you marker that reminds you that you do not have to live at “When we spin are forgiven provided “a tremendous release” that the edge of what you can afford.” For him that had been a rusty old car that he drove when he worked as a lawyer too much, we get “frees us from the need to be always polishing the and which he parked beside the gleaming luxury models in the corporate parking lot. This car was a daily reminder dizzy, and maybe apple and spinning a little bit more.” that “I did not need to live at the edge of what I can af ford.” Meeting with a larger Another antidote was to “give, give, give. As you cross some lines accountability group, as accumulate more, give it away. Every time I give money he said he and his wife away I am declaring that it does not control me. It doesn’t we shouldn’t.” have done weekly for identify me. It doesn’t describe me.” Giving money helped many years, provides “break the grip that money otherwise so often has on our a sense of community that undergirds a strong ethical lives.” base. He said he could not succeed as an ethical individ- Van Duzer said Christian disciplines like Sabbath, ual without community and the accountability it brings. confession, community, markers and generosity were He quoted Eric Pilmore (speaker at MEDA’s 2007 conven- habits to be built into life in advance. He said he liked to tion), who had been called in to clean up Tyco after its tell business students that “If you wait until an ethical CEO was jailed for corporate misdeeds: “Good ethical dilemma lands on your desk, and then you say, ‘Oh, I’d leaders without a web of accountability around them can better have community,’ it’s too late.” ◆

Jeff Van Duzer: “Every time I give money away I am declaring that it does not control me.”

Pakistan through different lenses

MEDA staffer sees hope amid the chaos

Bombs, corruption, kidnappings, misery — that may be what comes to mind when people think about Pakistan. But there’s more, much more, says Helen Loftin, MEDA’s director of women’s economic development.

Speaking to the Nov. 2 plenary session of MEDA’s Business as a Calling convention in Niagara Falls, Loftin acknowledged “negative, evil and scary” reports that incite outrage.

“Sadly it is true that all those things are there…but so is a richness, splendor, a spirit and a promise of so much that can lift that country out of much of its despair. We see it in the eyes of the people with whom we are working, the clients, and their children.”

She said working in Pakistan, which MEDA has done for eight years, was not easy. “Stability is tenuous and the trigger points for societal mayhem there seem so fragile and touchy,” she said. But her task on this occasion was to present a different picture of hope and progress that is visible to MEDA staff but often unseen by others.

The country of 180 million people, in a landmass roughly the size of Ontario or Texas, included provinces, federally administered tribal regions and some disputed areas — “all part of a complicated web that veritably weaves instability into its fabric.” Still, each region had its own unique culture producing exquisite artisanal goods such as textiles and jewelry.

Pakistan faced many hurdles such as a population in which 63 percent were under the age of 25 and half lived in poverty; poor infrastructure; industry-crippling energy shortages; soaring food prices; and a currency drop of 40 percent in the last five years.

Plus, Loftin said, “natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods have occurred since we’ve been there, changing the very script of the work that we are doing.”

Unlike in most developed countries, men outnumber women 107 to 100, Loftin said, and “culture dictates that resources are preferentially spent on men and boys before women and girls.”

That makes it difficult for a country to progress, as research consistently shows that empowering women produces broader gains for all citizens in terms of prosperity, health, early childhood development, security and freedom.

Conversely, it was “no coincidence” that countries mired in conflict, poverty and corruption were also those that “devalue and oppress half of their population,” she said. She cited a recent study that ranked 128 countries on how effectively their leaders were empowering women

Photo by Steve Sugrim

Windsor, Ont., pastor Paul Dueck provided spirited musical leadership throughout the convention. Here he performs on a harp from Paraguay, where MEDA began.

as economic agents in the marketplace. On that scale, Pakistan placed 118 out of 128. By comparison, the U.S. was 21, and Canada 22. Still, said Loftin, “I have never been so hopeful for MEDA’s mission and specifically the mission of our women’s economic development team. The momentum and awareness of the role women play in stabilizing communities is building.” She noted that MEDA has been working in Pakistan for eight years and currently works with 13 local partner organizations. Current or recent projects include: • Working with UBL, a major private sector bank in Pakistan, and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, MEDA distributed pre-loaded “smart cards” to victims of the devastating flood in 2010.

“It’s no coincidence • Pathways & Pursestrings has successfully integrated over 20,000 women into market systems in the milk, that countries seedlings, glass bangles and embellished fabrics sectors. • A women’s economic empowerment project mired in poverty reached more than 5,000 women embroiderers in some of the most difficult districts in the country. and conflict tend • MEDA’s Entrepreneurs project continues to build and enjoys a favored position with its funder, United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Despite also to be countries “tremendous challenges on several fronts,” Loftin said it is nearly half way to reaching 75,000 women entrepreneurs that devalue and in four key value chain sectors: dairy, embellished fabrics, honey production and medicinal and aromatic plants. oppress women.” Loftin shared the podium with one of MEDA’s partners from Pakistan, Ramzan Buriro, project manager of the Women Empowerment through Livestock Development (WELD) project. Buriro, who works for Engro, a major milk company, leads a team that ensures close to 19,000 clients are connected to the country’s formal milk sector. He described his company’s perspective on development and women’s empowerment and elaborated on the specifics of the private sector investment made by Engro. Another project participant, client Kalan Bai, was unable to secure a visa but was linked electronically and shared about the impact MEDA’s work has on her and her community. The evening included a Pakistani dinner featuring Tamater Ka Shorba (a spicy tomato broth) along with Chicken Tikka and Mutton/lamb Korma, as well as music played on traditional instruments.

Bridging the pastor-business gap

A workshop prior to the convention focused on how pastors and busi‑ nesspeople could better work together in leadership and ministry. The following comments are excerpted from a report by attender David M. Miller, pastor of Bellwood Mennonite Church in Milford, Neb. At the next day’s annual general

We explored how business leaders and pastors can connect in a meaningful way with each other and jointly contribute to “God-activity” both inside and outside the congregation.

Participants broke into two caucus groups — one for pastors, one for businesspeople. Pastors were asked to share how they experience businesspeople in the congregation. (Do pastors really understand the needs of businesspeople? Can they relate? Are pastors somewhat intimidated by their wealth, power and/or prestige?) Business leaders were asked how they experience the church. (Do they feel as though they are only needed for their money? How can the church see them as having other gifts to share?) The results were compiled from both caucus groups and shared collectively. It was a great start to a long-overdue conversation....

As first a businessperson for 21 years and now a pastor for five years, I have a great passion for these two groups to connect. I believe the real work of ministry doesn’t just happen on Sunday. It takes place Monday through Friday when Christian businesspeople have opportunity to interact with their co-workers, customers and community....

I am excited to see this chasm between these two groups start to close because both are vital to kingdom work here on earth. Can we keep this conversation going and begin to reach across the pew? ◆ meeting president Allan Sauder reported that during 2012 MEDA’s mission to “create business solutions to poverty” helped more than 18 million families “build a future with healthier, more economically sustainable lives. How is that possible with only $5 million in private contributions last year? Does that mean that for every dollar contributed we were able to change the lives of almost four families? The answer is yes!”

Not all were helped in the same way, Sauder said. Through MEDA’s Sarona fund investments over 14 million households at the bottom of the pyramid received increased access to financial services, jobs and other products. The total also included 2.9 million farmers and entrepreneurs who are earning better incomes (often double or triple) through training, access to markets and financial services provided by MEDA’s partners, as well as 1.1 million homes in rural Tanza-

nia that now have mosquito nets to prevent malaria.

Sauder said MEDA’s development efforts reflected four assumptions that had guided the organization for nearly six decades: 1. The poor need access to markets

“Capital investment only works if the poor have access to markets for their production,” he said. “This is what drives our Market Linkages department — ensuring that impoverished producers, whether they are farmers in Ukraine or embroiderers in Pakistan, have reliable access to markets and market information. It also means ensuring that the poor can buy the products they need to live healthy and productive lives — mosquito nets to prevent malaria, quality seeds and other basic farm inputs.” 2. The poor need access to financial services

Some 2.5 billion adults, just over half of the world’s adult population, are not yet able to use formal financial services to save or “During 2012 borrow, Sauder said. Responding to this MEDA helped more need had been a pillar of MEDA’s programthan 18 million ming since the early 70s, even before the families move term microfinance was coined. “MEDA closer to healthy recognized that the poor needed access to and sustainable financial services, not only loans but also access to secure savings livelihoods.” accounts, microinsur-

Photo by Steve Sugrim

MEDA president Allan Sauder: 18 million families assisted in 2012, four for every dollar contributed.

Decade of growth

Allan Sauder noted that the convention hotel had a special place in his personal history with MEDA. “Ten years ago in this hotel I accepted my new role as MEDA president,” he said. told his audience. While noting that financial contributions reached a record $5 million in 2012, up 65 percent from last year, “our base of supporters (less than 3,000

During that time he was fortunate to observe great growth in MEDA’s impact: • Staff doubled to 263 • Contributions grew four times to $5 million • Sarona assets multiplied by four times to $20 million • Revenue grew six times to $33 million • Contracts grew seven times to $186 million • Assets under management multiplied 23 times to $180 million • Clients increased 90 times to 18 million

But, Sauder said, “we don’t exist for the sake of growth. While our vision is that all people may experience God’s love and have a sustainable livelihood, we don’t intend to reach everyone even if we could. We want to invite others into that task, and especially our local partners. We believe that the best economic development is driven by the beneficiaries themselves — they simply need the right conditions.” ◆ ance, and a host of other services.” 3. The poor need access to long‑term investment capital Sauder pointed out that patient investments were vital to MEDA’s founding in 1953. Today’s Sarona funds, named after the first dairy in which MEDA invested in Paraguay, was still a global leader in reaching small and medium enterprises that will become economic drivers. “Sarona funds are at the forefront of convincing the large institutional investors that emerging markets, and particularly small and medium investment funds, are one of the best investments and should be part of every major investment portfolio,” he said. “We know that these investments have impact — in fact we call it impact investing — but institutional investors need to be convinced of the returns and security.” 4. The poor need the wisdom, values and skills of MEDA supporters back home “This is where you come in,” Sauder giving units) is too small and is stretched too thinly to support our ever-growing opportunities.” He said MEDA was targeting a significant increase in private contributions — $5.7 million in total — to assist many more millions of families. “We need you to bring others to us — people like yourselves who are interested in the convergence of faith values, the workplace, and creating effective sustainable business solutions to poverty. No amount of mass marketing will reach those people; we need you to make the connections for us.” Saturday night’s program featured

Plenty to celebrate: Members of MEDA’s board of directors took time out from serious organizational deliberations to engage in a playful moment, possibly symbolizing their reaction to the Cascading Returns part of the convention theme.

a Canadian woman’s efforts to promote entrepreneurship in Afghanistan by manufacturing fragrances using organic oils from orange blossoms.

Barb Stegemann, founder of 7 Virtues Beauty, Inc., said she decided to start the business when a close military friend was wounded by Taliban forces in Afghanistan and she felt the urgency of finding new ways to bring peace.

Who MEDA hires

President Allan Sauder reported that MEDA’s worldwide staff now numbers 263, nearly 80 percent of whom are based overseas. More than 90 percent of overseas staff are locally hired. “This has long been a key operating principle for MEDA — to hire and build upon local expertise (both staff and partners) so that when MEDA leaves, the expertise and dedication remain and the work continues,” he said.

Of 56 North American staff, more than 70 percent are women, including nearly 60 percent of management positions. Eleven percent of North American staff are from visible minorities. ◆

She began at a micro-scale, buying one cup of orange oil to incorporate into perfume production. Once production began she cold-called The Bay, a leading Canadian department store, and managed to get the company to stock her products. Today every Bay store in Canada carries products from her Toronto-based perfumery.

Stegemann said every bottle of her perfume contains the oil of 178 blossom petals, creating a steady demand for farmers’ production.

She said she grew up in a poor family so she knew what it was like to be excluded and “not be invited to the banquet.” But “God’s banquet” was open to all, and “our job is to swing the door open.” Stegemann said her desire was to “leave the earth a better, safer place.”

Conrad Grebel University president Susan Schultz Huxman closed out the Sunday program with a message on how Mennonites could connect service with spirituality. When Jesus recruited his disciples, she said, he “walked up to four small businessmen and said ‘drop your nets. Drop your nets and follow me’.”

She shared stories of Mennonites who had volunteered to serve the church in places of need, and encouraged today’s professionals to likewise “jump the track” to pursue “for-cause” careers.

The 2013 MEDA convention will be held Nov. 7-10 in Wichita, Kansas. ◆

Taking risks with Peter and Cornelius

Outgoing board member Lorna Goertz opened MEDA’s annual general meeting with a meditation on the con‑ vention theme, Shared Risk: Cascading Returns. She told a story of risk from Acts 10, where Cornelius, a devout Roman, invites Peter, a stranger, to his home. Peter, hav‑ ing just received a vision from God that broke his resist‑ ance to things “unclean,” accepts the risky invitation from this Gentile. Peter now understood that God’s gift of salvation was for Gentiles as well as Jews. The doors of the church were now open to everyone and the cascading returns from that shared risk are the disciples throughout the world. Here is an excerpt:

In late 1953, a group of businessmen met in Chicago to form MEDA in response to a great need for capital in the Mennonite colonies in Paraguay. MCC had been assisting them but it was organized to provide relief, not capital. The MEDA founders invested time, counsel and money — $5,000 each. The first project they invested in was the Sarona dairy in Fernheim Colony. There were many more opportunities than the founders could take. Some projects were very successful; others resulted in losses. Lessons were learned.

The successful projects helped establish an economic base in those colonies. The Mennonites there have not kept all of the returns of their efforts for themselves. They have assisted the Indian colonies in the Chaco in developing their education, health care and economy. MEDA partnered with them in some of the projects, and provided money for a loan fund. And, to thank Paraguay for accepting them, the colonists built Hospital Mennonita at Km 81 to treat leprosy.

MEDA was not the only group that shared the risks of the early residents of the colonies. I’m sure that all who were involved are amazed at the cascading returns that are so evident.

Those aren’t the only returns from the commitment of the group of businessmen who met in Chicago. There was enough success to embolden them to expand their work to other countries. Today we can celebrate cascading returns from the formation of MEDA.

Each of us faces opportunities to share in the

risks of others. For some, the opportunity is to invest with MEDA, perhaps in one of the Sarona or MicroVest funds, directly in MiCredito (Nicaragua) or ACM (Ukraine), or together with MEDA Paraguay in Codip SA. Some might volunteer their time and counsel to a MEDA project.

And there are lots of opportunities closer to home. Your business might lend itself to employee ownership or a profit-sharing plan so you take the risk of opening up what have been very private financial records to your employees.

You might hire someone no one else will hire — an ex-convict whose very name causes people to be uneasy, someone who has failed at every job they’ve had, perhaps because of an addiction, a person with a disability, or a refugee or immigrant who lacks language or other skills needed in the marketplace. Or you might mentor someone starting up a business.

You may have seen cascading returns, or the returns may not yet be evident.

In making our selections, we need to listen for God’s call. Most often it won’t be as clear as the call to Cornelius and Peter in Acts 10. It might be like the call to the MEDA founders, or it might be a suggestion from a friend.

Many of us may recognize occasions when we heard God’s call but chose not to share in the risk. We might have preferred to keep our time or resources for our own enjoyment or security or You might hire not wanted to risk being criticized for associating someone no one with persons who were shunned by the society else will, perhaps around us. I’m glad it was Peter an ex-convict, or whom God called to take the good news to someone who has Cornelius. Peter had been unwilling to risk being associated with failed at every job Jesus and denied knowing him three times on they’ve had. the night before his crucifixion. Nonetheless, Peter was later called to shepherd the church, and in Acts 10 was given a clear demonstration that the good news and the church are for the whole world. God’s willingness to use Peter despite his frailties gives me confidence that he will not give up on us even though we don’t always heed his call. He will continue to provide ways for us to share in the risks of others so that all people may experience God’s love and unleash their potential to earn a livelihood, provide for families and enrich their communities. ◆

Lorna Goertz works in business valuation and quality assurance for a mid‑sized accounting firm in Vancouver. During her time on the MEDA board she chaired its audit committee.