January February 2014
Where Christian faith gets down to business
Sold!!
Auction high jinks raise cash in Wichita How shall we feed a hungry world? By the numbers: a decade of growth Marking 60 years of global innovation
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The Marketplace January February 2014
Roadside stand
Good law, justly enforced If you want to feed the hungry, reduce poverty, make peace and save the environment, an important wrench in the dogood toolbox is a robust legal system, justly enforced. So says Lowell Ewert, director of peace and conflict studies at Conrad Grebel University College, Waterloo, Ont. “The ripple effect of good law is felt throughout society in ways that we often do not acknowledge,” he writes in the Canadian Mennonite. He cites economist Amartya Sen, a Nobel laureate, who contends that there has never been a famine in a country where basic civil and political rights are respected. The reason? Because the ability of citizens to participate in the political process and hold their leaders accountable provides a policy foundation that makes famine less likely. Likewise with protecting the environment, which becomes easier when a free and independent press informs the public about environmental risks, and these informed people have the right to work for change without risking their lives. “I also argue, although I can’t prove it,” Ewert writes, “that natural disasters, like earthquakes, floods and droughts, cause more harm, and usually longer-lasting harm, where civil and political rights are weakly enforced. A society in which rights are respected is better able to learn from disasters, publicly air mistakes that were made that led to the disaster causing more
Cover design of MEDA’s auction by Ray Dirks
harm, and hold those in power accountable for their corruption, negligence or ignorance.” Those who learn from their mistakes are better able to adapt so they don’t make the same mistakes again, he writes. And a lot of people who hold seemingly unexciting jobs in the pursuit of good law have an important role in helping make that happen.
empty tube to throw away.” But when community prosperity rises, there’s an attendant increase in empty boxes, tin cans, juice cartons and plastic bags. Charities in Canada face a declining level of public trust, according to a new study by the Muttart Foundation. It surveyed how some 4,000 people view the 85,600 charities operating in Canada. It found a loss of trust in how charities use donated money, especially those involved in international development. While hospitals and health-related charities enjoyed the trust of 80 percent or more of Canadians, charities that focus on international development were trusted by only 50 percent. That level has fallen from the 57 percent reported in the Foundation’s 2006 survey. Churches and other places of worship were trusted by 59 percent, and environmental charities by 67 percent. Three-quarters of respondents thought charities spend too much money on fundraising and administration. One piece of good news in the report was that younger people (ages 18 to 24) are more trusting of charity leaders. (Globe & Mail)
Dream job. When it comes to work, young Canadians seem to be a happy bunch. Nearly half (46 percent) of those under 35 say they have found their “dream job,” according to a survey by Pollara for the Bank of Montreal. Two thirds (65 percent) say they look forward to going to work every day, and 70 percent feel valued at their job. Money mattered somewhat, but not hugely. Of those who made less than $50,000 a year, 58 percent said they looked forward to work; among those who made more, the figure was 69 percent. (Canadian Press) Garbage wealth? Some development practitioners have their own informal ways to measure wealth in remote villages. One is tin roofs. If the number of corrugated tin roofs increases, it’s probably a sign that material wealth has grown. Another metric, apparently, is garbage. A staff member of the Millennium Villages Project in Uganda counts piles of garbage to gauge newfound prosperity. The reasoning is this, writes Nina Munk in her new book, The Idealist: Jeffrey Sachs and the Quest to End Poverty, “In really poor rural places there’s almost no trash: where no one buys toothpaste, there’s no
The Marketplace January February 2014
Some people work hard to find business references in the Bible. Too hard, sometimes, as in this rendering of a favored psalm: “The Lord is my banker, my credit is good ... Yea, though I walk in the very shadow of debt, I shall fear no evil.” It comes from Prosperity, a 1936 book by Unity minister Charles Fillmore. Say it ain’t so. Baseball fans are familiar with the fifthinning pause to smooth the 2
infield in major league games. This is important to ensure a tidy diamond for the second half, right? Not according to sportswriter Steve Rushin in his new book The 34-Ton Bat. He tells the “true story” of how today’s game of baseball emerged, along the way debunking some fond myths. One of those is raking the infield, which he claims has nothing to do with baseball and everything to do with boosting business. “The gratuitous ritual masks a kind of time out, the sole purpose of which is to get the fans out of the seats and off to the concession stands,” writes Paul Dickson in his Wall Street Journal review. “Now, as the groundskeepers go back and forth, smoothing the infield dirt needlessly, fans can buy T-shirts and hot fudge sundaes served in inverted plastic baseball hats....” — WK
In this issue
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Feeding a hungry planet
They gathered in the nation’s breadbasket under the theme, “Cultivating Solutions: Harvesting Hope.” The leadoff speaker soon showed they couldn’t have picked a more pressing topic.
9 By the numbers
“I happen to enjoy numbers,” president Allan Sauder told MEDA’s AGM. He went on to compare current performance with the numbers from a decade ago. The impact was startling.
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Serious bidding drew $15,000 for brass bookends. Page 12
The MEDA convention took a break from serious deliberations for some fun and auction antics. When all the bids were in, $86,000 had been raised for a new soybean project in Ghana.
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Roadside stand Soul enterprise Reviews Soundbites News
Volume 44, Issue 1 January February 2014 The Marketplace (ISSN 0199-7130) is published bi-monthly by Mennonite Economic Development Associates at 532 North Oliver Road, Newton, KS 67114. Periodicals postage paid at Newton, KS 67114. Lithographed in U.S.A. Copyright 2013 by MEDA. Editor: Wally Kroeker Design: Ray Dirks
Sold! To diehard hockey fans
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Caring enough to invest
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Lessons from the goats
What the poor of the world really need is not more aid and charity, Gerhard Pries told MEDA’s AGM. They need more investment tailored to promote both profit and social benefits.
They roamed freely through the African village, creating a nuisance. Why not fence them in? That, the young development worker soon found, would have been a disaster. By Merrill Ewert
Change of address should be sent to Mennonite Economic Development Associates, 1891 Santa Barbara Dr., Ste. 201, Lancaster, PA 17601-4106. To e-mail an address change, subscription request or anything else relating to delivery of the magazine, please contact subscription@meda.org For editorial matters contact the editor at wkroeker@meda.org or call (204) 956-6436 Subscriptions: $25/year; $45/two years.
Postmaster: Send address changes to The Marketplace 1891 Santa Barbara Dr., Ste. 201 Lancaster, PA 17601-4106
Published by Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA), whose dual thrust is to encourage a Christian witness in business and to operate business-oriented programs of assistance to the poor. For more information about MEDA call 1-800-665-7026. Web site www.meda.org
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The Marketplace January February 2014
What’s the right job for you? Maybe you’re just starting your career. Maybe you’re in a job but feel unfulfilled. Don’t worry. The cement hasn’t hardened. Young people entering the work force today can expect to change careers half a dozen times during their lifetime. Sadly, some studies show that 60 to 80 percent of workers feel mismatched to their jobs. For Christians, that can be a spiritual issue. “Choosing the job you long to do may be the most far-reaching commitment to Christ you can make,” writes David Frahm in The Great Niche Hunt: Finding the Work that’s Right for You. He believes that natural interests, abilities and even limitations are part of God’s plan. That’s why it’s important to uncover “Who am I?” and to ask, “What do I really want to give my world through my work?” He suggests: (1) inventories to help identify how you process information, solve problems and influence others; (2) self-tests to help find suitable job environments; and (3) functional resumes to help articulate marketable skills to employers who can use them. That doesn’t mean you should bail out of an entry-level job. The recent recruiting season has seen financial It may be helpful — if you learn from it. firms trying to win over student prospects by putWriter Tim Stafford had many menial jobs early in life — bus ting their best feet forward, reports The Economist. boy, janitor, window washer and irrigation-pipe mover. He didn’t Aware that the financial crisis gave their reputations always enjoy them but he learned important lessons that have a black eye, firms are trying to show they have served him through life. “I learned how to keep at a job and not plenty of soul. cut corners, even when nobody is watching. I learned that workEver since the crisis, students reportedly have ing hard at a job is actually easier than loafing at it.” become more concerned about the ethics of their Even low-skill jobs like flipping hamburgers can be helpful. future employers. “Banks have cottoned on,” says “True, a job selling hamburgers won’t make a splash on your the magazine, “placing much more emphasis on resume,” says Stafford. “It will, though, teach you how to show social responsibility in their recruitment presentaup on time, behave responsibly, do your duty without shirking tions. Prospective applicants learn that working for and get along with your co-workers. With those lessons learned, a bank will help the global economic recovery and you’ll do all right in the working world.” remedy social injustice.” At a different level, beware the lure of the fat paycheck. Goldman Sachs’ recruiting messages target Many people have gone into jobs (or kept them too long) those who are “interested in serving something because of money. Choosing work solely on the basis of money greater than their own personal interest,” people can doom you to what writer Blaine Smith calls “a life of proswho want to “make a difference in the world.” perous mediocrity.” Big firms are also promising to treat employees Putting financial considerations at the top of the list of better. One “announced that its junior staff will priorities is possibly “the most insidious factor keeping Chrisno longer work between Friday night and Sunday tians from being where God wants them,” he says. “Many are morning — though they should still ‘check their promoted from a position where they are using their gifts to a BlackBerrys on a regular basis’.” better-paying, more respectable position which does not tap their potential as well. Before long they adapt to a more extravagant lifestyle that is difficult to give up. They can’t free themselves from ‘the golden handcuffs’.” Another set of handcuffs comes from geographical inertia — staying where you are because you don’t want to move, whether that’s across town or across the country. “Many of us will find the opportunity to use our most important gifts only if we’re willing to forge beyond our comfort zones,” Smith writes.
Capitalism with soul
Excerpted from You’re Hired! Looking for work in all the right places, a career guide from MEDA. Available for free download at www.meda.org
The Marketplace January February 2014
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To lead ... or not
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Are you a leader? If so, do you know why? Good questions for anyone starting a career. People complain about a “leadership crisis,” that we don’t produce as many leaders as we used to, or that we need college and seminary courses to help grow more leaders. Do leaders ever wonder how they got that way? Were they born to it, like someone with perfect pitch? Did somebody make them a leader? If so, how could they be cloned? A Mennonite official once said the art of leadership was to find out where people are heading and then run like mad to keep ahead of them. He may have been joking. Or not. To management guru Peter Drucker, “The only definition of a leader is someone who has followers.” To one Mennonite seminary professor, “All of God’s people are leaders.” By leader he means anyone who seeks to influence others and make a difference in the lives of people around them. Another view is more hierarchical — the leader as The Boss over a large number of people. What are some duties of leadership? Long-range strategic planning, says one guru-of-the-month. Naw, says another, “that’s the task of managers; a true leader is more concerned with setting vision.” One retreat leader sees leadership as influence, another as competence, and a third as “the ability to inspire confidence, to motivate, to know where you want to go and then convince others to follow.” A writer in Canadian Business summed up leadership attributes as graciousness, the ability to listen, discipline, vision, judgement. But, one could argue, someone with plenty of influence might lack grace and discipline. Someone of great competence might lack vision or judgement. How about this: “My favourite definition of a leader is someone who gets people to go places and do things that they would never go to or do on their own.” (David Posen in Is Work Killing You?) It can get confusing.
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Monday morning quiz Here’s a list pf questions to ask about a job or company you’re considering. If you’re feeling brave, show it to your prospective employer. • What kind of reputation does this employer have in the community? • What are its values? Are they clearly stated? How do they line up with mine? • How does this company treat minorities, women, seniors, the disabled? • Is it family-friendly? [If you are married:] What price will my spouse have to pay? • Will I be proud or embarrassed to tell others that I work here? Ask these questions about the job: • Will my Christian faith and values be a plus or minus for this company? • What’s the chance this job will require me to do something that goes against my principles? • Will the work I do help other people? • Does the job look interesting enough to keep me from getting bored? • Does it provide adequate support? • Does it use my gifts in a useful way? Will it give me a chance to grow (or at least look good on my resume later)? • Will this job make me a better person?
Overheard:
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“Sheer competence is much underrated as a spiritual discipline.” — Haitian philosopher B. Boku
The Marketplace January February 2014
How will we feed them? Convention considers more solutions for a harvest of hope
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of meeting food needs in a world that is growing by 200,000 people very day. Thompson said world food demand was projected to grow 70 percent between now and 2050 — not only from population growth but also from economic growth that triggers increased consumption as newly affluent people eat more and better. “By midcentury we need to feed the equivalent of two more Chinas,” he said. That is a formidable prospect, as right now one in eight people cannot afford a nutritional minimum of 1,800 calories per day, he added. The dual challenges were to, first, feed a growing population (most of whom will be in low income countries) at a reasonable cost without damage to the environment, and second, reduce extreme poverty in rural areas, where most of it is concentrated. Agriculture alone can’t solve the problem of rural poverty, he said. “To solve the world’s hunger problem, the world poverty problem must be solved.” Seventy percent of extremely poor people live in rural areas where options for making more money are limited. They can gain access to more land, increase productivity of what they produce, or shift to higher value crops. Some of that is easier said than done, he said. Farming more land was not the answer, as most available cropland was in remote areas of inferior soil and minimal infrastructure. Dramatically increasing the
Photo by Steve Sugrim
magine a world without bananas. Imagine growing tropical fruit in central Canada as climate change makes the prairies warmer and wetter. Imagine having to boost global food output by 70 percent by 2050. Those were just a few of the scenarios painted by global food expert Robert L. Thompson in his leadoff address to MEDA’s annual convention, held Nov. 7-10 in Wichita, Kan. The gathering, MEDA’s most visible annual event, drew a total of 509 attenders (376 full-time; 133 part-time) for a weekend of speeches, workshops, tours, a zany fundraising auction, and plenty of business networking. The theme was “Cultivating Solutions: Harvesting Hope,” which lent itself not only to MEDA’s tagline (“Creating business solutions to poverty”) but also to the urgency of global food issues. It also suited the convention’s location in the breadbasket of the country, as well as MEDA’s increasing programmatic efforts to boost food production (soybeans, rice, cassava, etc.) in Africa and elsewhere.
Thompson, a world authority on global agricultural development and food security, is currently a visiting scholar at Johns Hopkins University and longtime professor at the University of Illinois. He presented a stirring, if somewhat bookish, address on the challenge The Marketplace January February 2014
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Photo by Steve Sugrim
amount of global land under cultivation could only be achieved by destroying forests with accompanying loss of wildlife habitat and biodiversity. In his view, the only environmentally sustainable way to grow more food was to increase productivity, and those efforts were hampered by issues of water, climate change and public policy mindsets that seemed biased against meaningful progress. An example of the latter was politicians who, facing a constant stream of migration to urban areas, typically want to keep food prices low at the expense of farm sustainability. “Cheap food policies designed to keep urban food prices low have turned the terms of trade against farmers, reducing the incentive to Farmers will have invest, and causing agriculture to underperform, relative to its potential,” to double “crop Thompson said. A related issue was per drop” through water. Farmers accounted for 70 percent of the better water use world’s fresh water use, but with the pressure of and droughturbanization cities will outbid agriculture for more water, he pretolerant crops. dicted. Thus, farmers will have to double “crop per drop” through more efficient water use and more drought-tolerant crops. He predicted that climate change will create more extreme events like droughts and flooding but not all regions will suffer the same. The Canadian prairies, for example, could reap some agricultural benefits from warmer weather and more water. Thompson lamented that foreign aid for agriculture had gone in the wrong direction, declining in many categories between 1980 and 2005. More public sector investment was needed, not only for agriculture but also for roads, energy and telecommunications to enable better agricultural production.
“By mid-century we need to feed the equivalent of two more Chinas,” said opening night keynote speaker Robert Thompson.
tolerance and disease resistance was needed, in other words, more acceptance of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). While GMO crops were well entrenched in many North American sectors, they were less accepted, even banned, by some overseas countries. While Thompson was careful to say genetically engineered crops are not a silver bullet and “won’t solve all the problems,” he believed they had a role to play in “opening new frontiers” such as increased drought tolerance and resistance to disease and viruses. “If we didn’t have GMO papaya we would not have papaya today,” he said, adding that bananas will be lost in 20 years if the benefits of GMO aren’t employed. Governments had essentially ceded biotechnology to the private sector, which he felt had run away with the research. “There is nothing inherent in biotechnology that says it must be done by the private sector,” he said. One way in which the issue had been distorted, and the actual science ignored, had been when private companies patented biotechnology and made people pay to use it. When it comes to GMO, he said, the scientific community is agreed that “the technology does not make food unsafe.” The private sector, including farmer-owned coopera-
One conclusion from Thompson’s speech
was that more adaptive plant breeding to build in drought 7
The Marketplace January February 2014
Photo by Steve Sugrim
tives, needed to build the marketing infrastructure, “but this will happen only if government provides a legal environment and public policies that create a positive investment climate.” Many in the crowd seemed to agree with the steps he suggested for the future. Not all were as comfortable with his debunking of “phony research” that promoted certain ideological positions. Thompson praised MEDA for its attention to smallholder agriculture and empowering women. On the matter of population control he drew applause for saying “nothing affects fertility more than educating girls,” an area MEDA takes seriously in its efforts to empower women.
Saturday keynoter David Haskell, With three Mennonite colleges nearby, the convention had plenty of musical CEO of Dreams InDeed, an organization input like the Bethel College Jazz Ensemble (pictured). that seeks to strengthen social entrepreneurs in difficult regions, urged his audience to “dream of about healthy change. synergy” to leverage greater impact. He illustrated prin“Where are you headed in 10 years,” Woodbury ciples from his research and experience that unlocked the asked the family business owners in attendance. Were the power of networks to weave collective impact. right structures and ownership plans in place? Were fam“What is your dream?” he asked his audience. “Why ily members playing to their strengths or working against did God put you on this planet?” the grain? Were performance expectations clear for both Haskell said his litmus test for a worthy shared dream family members and employees? Did people know where included questions like, “Do the poor see the dream as they stand? good news? Does the dream invite all to participate and Other seminars tackled topics such as What Matters require all to change? Is the dream worth bleeding for?” to Your Employees; Building Leadership Opportunities for He pointedly posed a dream question to MEDA as Women; Keys to Sales Success; What Boards and Board it celebrated its 60th anniversary: “What’s the dream for Members Need to Know; The Entrepreneurial Spirit of MEDA for the 70th? What’s the dream for your business?” Orie O. Miller; and Making the Internet Work for You. Sunday’s worship speaker was Marion Good, regional Local tours visited businesses like Excel Industries, director of resource development in MEDA’s Waterloo Learjet, Harper Industries, Belite Aircraft, Jako Farm, Menoffice. She told inspirational stories from her own life and nonite Press and Flint Hills Design, and attractions such as from her MEDA travels of overcoming obstacles on the an underground salt museum, historic Wichita, Cosmospath to hope. phere and Space Center and Kauffman Museum. Musical input was strong from area Mennonite colMore than 30 seminars explored various aspects leges and artists. The convention heard from the Sunflowof professional development, business and MEDA-related er Trio, the Hesston College Bel Canto singers, the Bethel topics. College Jazz Ensemble and the Tabor College Concert A pre-convention seminar on “Sustaining Your Family Choir. Business,” with family business specialist Lance WoodThe next MEDA convention will be held Nov. 6-9 in bury and attorney Timothy Moll, addressed succession, Winnipeg with the theme “Human Dignity through Entrebalance, legacies and working through conflict to bring preneurship.” ◆ The Marketplace January February 2014
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By the numbers Excerpts from president Allan Sauder’s “state of MEDA” message to the Annual General Meeting:
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’m going to take a bit of a risk. People say one thing that keeps our AGM from being boring is that we tell lots of stories from our work and don’t spend all of our time hashing through numbers. Well, I happen to enjoy numbers, and I think they are an important part of our story. I’m not going to take you back to the beginning of MEDA 60 years ago, but rather to 2003 when we celebrated our 50th anniversary at the convention in Winnipeg. I am going to look at where we were then and where we are today, 10 years later, by answering 10 frequently asked questions with some numbers. 1. Where does MEDA work? In 2003 we listed 25 countries where MEDA was engaged. Today, that number has doubled to 49, from Afghanistan to Zambia. Among these, MEDA had projects and/or direct investments in 21, another 20 received indirect investments through one of the funds with which we are invested, and eight received Like yeast in consulting services only. 2. How do we decide bread, seed where we will work? answer involves a capital from six That four‑legged stool of questions. The first leg we look decades ago is at: Is there a need? It can be argued that every society has still leavening poor people who might benefit from MEDA’s work, but the reality is that we don’t new impact work in higher-income countries, like Japan. The second leg: Does the need fit one of our core competencies? We won’t be effective if we lose our focus on what we do best. The third leg: Can we find key local partners who have the competence, with support from MEDA, to deliver specific aspects of the project and, most importantly, to carry on the work beyond the life of the project? And the final very important leg: Can we find matching funds from an institutional donor to multiply the funding that our private supporters provide? This year, we were able to multiply every donated dollar
Photo by Steve Sugrim
What a difference a decade makes
President Allan Sauder at the AGM: “I happen to enjoy numbers.”
by a factor of 6.8 with government and foundation funding. In 2003, that factor was 4.6. 3. How many staff does MEDA employ? The past decade has seen our staff grow from 120 to 318, including 61 positions based in our four North American offices, 242 in our overseas offices, and 15 interns. Working through local partners has helped us keep our staff growth small compared to other growth indicators. 4. How big is the Sarona Risk Capital Fund? In 2003, we listed total assets in the fund of $5.4 million. Today assets stand at $20 million, an increase of 3.7 times. But that’s only the beginning of the story. This seed capital fund, which includes 1953 dollars repaid from that first 9
The Marketplace January February 2014
Photo by Dave Warren
Extending the reach: MEDA’s numbers don’t even count the 117 people employed by this Nicaraguan chile farmer during peak season.
5. How many partners does MEDA have? In 2003, we listed 50; today that number has grown to 223 — an increase of 4.5 times. I already mentioned our partners’ importance in multiplying the impact of our staff and carrying on with the work. More important, they are based in the communities where we work. They know what’s going on and how best to respond. They are our best ally to ensure that staff remain safe in the often volatile situations where we work. And, they are key to building trust with and among clients. 6. How much private funding do you get? This year we were grateful to receive almost $6 million in private contributions from our supporters in the U.S., Canada and Europe. This is an increase of 4.6 times since 2003 when our private funding totaled $1.3 million. 7. What accounts for MEDA’s considerable growth in revenue? In 2003 our total revenue was only $6 million; this past year it was $41 million, a growth of 6.8 times. Although our revenue tends to fluctuate year‑on‑year based on the types and cycles of projects we undertake, the overall trend has been one of significant growth. Three factors have been important: (a) The quality of our work and our increased ability to measure the impact of projects has given us a strong reputation with institutional donors. We now have a well‑diversified base of support from the Canadian, U.S. and British governments, as well as from The MasterCard Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and an exciting new project in Yemen funded by the
MEDA investment in Paraguay 60 years ago, is truly the leaven in the bread — the initial risk capital that multiplies in impact many times over. Our 2003 annual report described our investment in creating MicroVest, “a new investment fund partnership that aims to raise $20 million of private capital to invest in profitable microfinance institutions around the world.” Well, 10 years later Like yeast in MicroVest has assets under management of over $200 bread, seed million! The year 2003 also saw capital from six us increase our investment with MEDA Paraguay in decades ago is CodipSA, a manioc starch processing company, as they still leavening prepared to open their second factory. Ten years later, new impact four factories are in production, providing more than 8,000 small farmers with a reliable market for their manioc, supplying over 75% of the Paraguayan starch market as well as being the largest South American exporter of starch, serving countries around the globe. Our investment of $422,000 has been more than repaid through dividends and sale of shares, and the value of remaining Sarona shares sits at $1.8 million. The Marketplace January February 2014
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European Commission. (b) Institutional donors are interested in scale, and MEDA has been able to scale up our interventions to reach millions of families. For instance, in Tanzania, where we have been working for the past decade to build supply channels for insecticide treated mosquito nets, more than 35 million nets have been distributed; the proportion of children under five sleeping under a net has increased from just 16 percent to over 73 percent; the under-five mortality rate has dropped by 28%; and 200,000 lives have been saved. That’s the kind of impact that donors, and indeed taxpayers want to see. (c) Finally, our work in engaging the private sector in development — a course set for us 60 years ago by none other than Orie Miller, a businessman and head of Mennonite Central Committee — is of great interest to governments today. Governments recognize that true sustainability depends on engaging local and international markets for the benefit of the poor. 8. It seems your projects are getting larger. Where a $3 million project was once our outer limit, we now have projects 10 times that size. In 2003, we had a total of $22 million of active contracts; today it’s $175 million, a growth of eight times. Keeping our pipeline of contracts full is a constant challenge. The time between submitting a proposal to getting all approvals in place can run several years. In the meantime, donor priorities can and do change. We remain closely in touch with our institutional donors and strive to ensure compliance with increasingly complex contractual terms and audit requirements. 9. Please explain “assets under management.” Our annual report shows we had $340 million assets under management this year, an increase of more than 43 times since 2003, when we had less than $8 million. This total includes a series of burgeoning investment activities (Sarona, MicroVest, MiCredito) that support a range of micro, small and medium‑sized businesses. Sarona Asset Management (SAM), a separate company we set up a couple years ago, manages our many investments and creates investment vehicles to attract and invest capital in emerging markets for the benefit of the poor. MEDA’s own Sarona Risk Capital Fund (SRCF) is invested in 118 companies (from microfinance to agriculture) that employ 164,000 people and serve more than 38 million low-income clients. (For more on the new frontiers of impact investing led by Sarona funds, see the following
article by Gerhard Pries.) 10. How many clients do you reach? That’s our most important number, and it has by far grown the most. In 2003, we reached an estimated 250,000 clients; this year that number was 42 million — a multiple of 170 times! Not all were helped in the same way. Through our Sarona fund investments over 38 million households at the bottom of the pyramid now have increased access to financial services, jobs and other products that make a real difference in their lives. And 3.1 million farmers and entrepreneurs are earning Like yeast in better incomes (often double or triple what they earned before) through training, acbread, seed cess to markets and financial capital from six services provided by MEDA’s partners. Some 1.7 million homes in rural Tanzadecades ago is more nia now have mosquito nets and better health. And those still leavening numbers don’t even count the clients of organizations new impact we worked with in the past who continue to receive services from our local partners long after MEDA is no longer involved. In September, I visited clients of our TechnoLinks project in Nicaragua. One farmer, Eddy Sandoval, is a contract grower for one of our partner companies, Chiles de Nicaragua, which buys chiles from 170 farmers like Sandoval and ships chile paste to the McIlhenny Tabasco Co. in the U.S. Sandoval proudly showed us a video he had made about the chile growing process, and how he had learned to apply drip irrigation to his seven-acre plot. He said he made about $8,000 to $12,000 profit every year from his chiles — a significant amount for this poor farm family. Most impressively, during the three-month growing season he employed 117 people from his community. These are impact numbers that our estimates of client reach don’t even begin to count. Obviously, numbers are not the only measure of our success, but to businesspeople they mean something. For me, they are an important part of honoring our vision — that all people may experience God’s love and unleash their potential to earn a livelihood. ◆ 11
The Marketplace January February 2014
Sold! Spirited auction raises $86,000 for new MEDA project in Ghana
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ho, other than the most die-hard fan, would shell out $8,500 to watch the Detroit Red Wings play hockey? Or pay $15,000 for a pair of brass bookends fashioned by beloved MEDA stalwart Erwin Steinmann? It was all part of the Friday evening highjinks as MEDA celebrated its 60th anniversary with a celebratory fund-raising auction. Former board member Paul Tiessen, a professional auctioneer, entertained the crowd with hilarity and antics while eliciting topdollar bids to support a new MEDA project in Ghana. Tiessen himself arranged one of the most popular items — a hockey package of four tickets to see the Detroit Red Wings play the Chicago Blackhawks on Jan. 22 — through his friendship with Red Wings coach Mike Babcock, his summer cottage neighbor in Saskatchewan. The tickets are Babcock’s family seats, and come with an opportunity to watch both teams practice that morning, plus a postgame dressing room visit to meet players and coaches, and an autographed jersey of Red Wings captain Henrick Zetterberg. Bidding was lively and brought a total of $8,500 through a joint purchase by Red Wings fan David Seyler, New Hamburg, Ont., and Blackhawks enthusiast Pat Vendrely, Flossmoor, Ill. The two friends plan to attend together but “their wives will sit between them during the game,” says Carol EbyGood, convention planner. Ron Schlegel, Ayr, Ont., was the high bidder for a pair of distinctive brass bookends celebrating the 60-year anniversary. They were designed by longtime MEDA member Ervin Steinmann, co-founder of Riverside Brass & Aluminum Foundry in New Hamburg. Riverside Brass did the rough machining and The Marketplace January February 2014
MEDA staffer Meghan Denega displays brass bookends crafted by longtime MEDA member Ervin Steinmann.
Ron Schlegel is presented with commemorative bookends which he got for a bid of $13,000, then good-naturedly upped it to $15,000. 12
Spotter Bob Kroeker (standing at left) checks signals with Curt Dorsing, who went home with an original painting by Marketplace designer Ray Dirks.
MEDA’s multimedia designer Steve Sugrim models an autographed jersey of Red Wings captain Henrick Zetterberg.
which he did, upping his bid to $15,000. Other auction items included various Hockey fans David Seyler and Pat Vendrely joined forces to win the bid tours, vacation packages and football tickets, for a hockey package featuring the Detroit Red Wings and the Chicago Blackhawks. a rare Sauder Woodworking tractor-trailer replica signed by the late Erie Sauder, one engraving, and Steinmann himself did the polishing and of MEDA’s founders, as well as fruit baskets, finishing. original paintings and quilts. A silent auction featured Schlegel, who made the final bid of $13,000, later items ranging from furniture to artwork. mentioned that he would have been willing to bid even The auction raised $86,000 for MEDA’s new GROW higher for the one-of-a-kind set. Word got back to a MEDA project, which helps women in Ghana improve nutrition, income and soil fertility by growing soybeans. ◆ staff member who invited him to pay more after the fact, 13
The Marketplace January February 2014
Caring enough to invest MEDA pioneered the idea that private capital can produce both profit and social benefits. The financial world has since taken note. Gerhard Pries is managing partner of Sarona Asset Management, a company set up by MEDA to invest for the benefit of the poor. His comments to the Annual General Meeting:
company that gathered shareholder capital here to invest in the Sarona Dairies in South America to produce both profit and social benefit. Sixty years ago half‑dozen years ago it was unheard of to I stood in front of you use private capital to declaring that the world achieve development needed less aid and results. But it worked, more investment, less charity and then as now. more capitalism. Today, as a child of Friends who knew me as a MEDA, Sarona Asset centrist, or possibly even cenManagement Inc. cartre‑left, thought I must have been ries out that element of served some Ayn Rand kool‑aid, MEDA’s mission: creator was sleeping with a copy of Hearing the call to invest: Gerhard Pries addresses the ing business solutions to Atlas Shrugged under my pillow. AGM poverty by investing in I was also roundly chastised private business, by infusing companies with progressive for casting aspersions on the good work of certain charibusiness strategies, and by caring about companies’ social table institutions, which of course was not my intent as I and environmental outcomes. had actually been referring primarily to bi‑lateral aid. In the mid‑90s we began building investment funds so We all knew, I argued, that throughout recorded huprivate individuals could invest with us. Between our Miman history there hadn’t been a single case of sustained croVest and Sarona funds, we now manage $340 million poverty reduction without growth in that economy. We of investment capital, all knew that, if people had a way to earn a living, they’d seeking to deliver atfeed their families and build healthy communities. Our investments tractive financial returns Yet for over 60 years, the world had focused on buildto our investors while ing latrines, digging wells and generally pushing gelatin build companies building up companies uphill. Trillions of dollars of aid had been ploughed into and communities where developing countries with negligible impact on poverty. by infusing them we invest. Finally Africans had risen up, declaring, “Your aid is We may be at an killing us! Keep it out of our continent. Instead, believe in with solid social inflection point, where us! Invest in our people; invest in our businesses.” investing in developing We hear you, Africa. MEDA heard you 60 years ago. and environmental countries is now a believable strategy; where Sixty years ago MEDA was created as a private values. we will begin to chaninvestment company — a tax‑paying private investment
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The Marketplace January February 2014
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nel not thousands, not millions, but — dare we believe — even billions of dollars of capital to developing countries.
It wasn’t always so. Thirteen years ago, The
Economist declared Africa a lost continent. Thirteen years ago, when we spoke to investors about investing in Africa, Asia and Latin America, we were turned away at the door. Sure, they had interest. Sure, it was intriguing. But my, what risk that must entail! “Do you really think we won’t lose it all?” Today, The Economist has changed its tune, and so have our investors. Today our investor capital flows to agro‑processing companies such as Khyati Foods Ltd. in India, a private company that supports 10,000 smallholder farm families by processing their organic cotton and soybeans for
Goshen students win ... again
G
oshen College business students won first place at the Student Case Competition during MEDA’s annual convention in Wichita. This was the second year in a row that Goshen won the MEDA convention’s annual competition for college and university students enrolled in a business‑related program. Teams from six schools were invited to develop a business plan for Prairie Harvest, a local foods market in Newton, Kan. Teams had several weeks to research the company and prepare a solution to one of its challenges. During the case presentation, the teams offered a business plan to the judging panel, made up of MEDA staff and Prairie Harvest owners Becky Nickel and Carrie Van Sickle. “The way the GC team incorporated our overall store mission — local, healthful foods in a community‑minded business, with the novelty of peppernuts — was impressive,” Nickel said. The first round of judging determined Goshen College and Tabor College, Hillsboro, Kan., as the two finalists, with Goshen gaining top spot in the second round. Other schools were Bluffton (Ohio) University, Canadian Mennonite University, Winnipeg, Conrad Grebel University, Waterloo, Ont., and Eastern Mennonite University, Harrisonburg, Va. Goshen’s team was composed of Niles Graber Miller, a senior business major from Goshen; Karli Graybill, a senior accounting major from Goshen; Luis Lopez, a senior accounting major from Asuncion, Paraguay; and Josh Stiffney, a senior accounting major from Goshen. As part of its research, the team visited a local business back home with a similar business plan and market. “To have advice from a real business experience gave us credibility and helped us see the solutions with real scenarios and achievable goals,” said team member Lopez. “The GC team had exactly the right approach, which was to get out of the classroom and learn from a real business,” said Michelle Horning, Goshen’s professor of accounting. ◆
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In 2000, The Economist had a dim view of Africa’s prospects (left). By 2011, their opinion had changed.
export to Europe and America. We like Khyati because it is profitable, because it is environmental, and because it is social. We invest in private companies in developing countries: • small to mid‑market companies with an enterprise value of $1‑150 million; • companies that need growth equity; • companies that need professional management to help them achieve world-class standards of excellence. And with each investment, whether in an agro‑processing company, a micro‑finance bank, a technology company or a consumer goods company, we seek to build up companies and communities by infusing them with progressive social and environmental values. Today, such investments attract $340 million into our funds. What started with MEDA members, is now attracting capital from pension funds, university endowment funds and family investors from around the world. The mustard seed is growing. And so I’ll repeat what I said a half-dozen years ago: • When capital is invested with care and positive intent, business can be a force for positive social development. • With formal regulation and social intent, business can bring hope and peace to poor communities around the globe. Slowly but surely this world is becoming a better place. Let’s keep leading that change. ◆ The Marketplace January February 2014
Lessons from the goats
They were a nuisance, wandering freely through the villages. It made sense to fence them in. Or so he thought. by Merrill Ewert
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used to fence in farmers’ goats. By fencing in the goats, I reasoned, the people would be rid of several problems. They would also improve the nutrition of their animals who would graze on better grass in pastures outside the village. Farmers could monitor their animals inside the fence and augment their diets with millet, corn and grass. I saw a potential breakthrough in goat production in the community through the introduction of this new technology.
he ink was barely dry on my Tabor College diploma when I first arrived in Southern Zaire (now Congo) to manage a feeding program for tuberculosis patients at a Mennonite Brethren mission hospital. With a grant from a European funding agency, I was also encouraged to help local villagers address the agricultural problems of the region. One of the first things I noticed was the goats that roamed freely through the villages. Thin, smelly and covered with flies, they nonetheless wandered in and out of houses, defecated in the compounds, ate cassava (people’s staple food) from the drying racks, rummaged through the garbage and nibbled at the laundry drying in the sun. The goats destroyed gardens in the community protected by small, stick fences that were easily breached. I saw families become angry with each other when the animals of one ate the vegetables of the other. At best, these goats were a health hazard and a general nuisance. Raised on a Minnesota farm, I had won awards for my pedigreed sheep. I understood the basic principles of animal husbandry. This experience combined with my anthropology courses at Tabor led me to conclude that there must be a better way to raise goats in Zaire. After discussions with several local farmers, I ordered 50 rolls of wire from the United States which would be The Marketplace January February 2014
Meanwhile, political problems flared up in
Zaire. Mail was lost and messages went undelivered. For reasons unknown, my order for 50 rolls of wire never arrived at its destination. The wire was never shipped and the goats continued to wreak havoc in the community. I discovered, however, that most farmers could not have afforded to purchase rolls of wire from me. Through observation and experience, I also learned more about goats. 1. God feeds the goats. Farmers may be responsible for feeding their families but God feeds the goats. A goat raised inside a fence, I learned, will surely go hungry. They are expected to scavenge. To help villagers achieve a better life, I had proposed a solution through which the goats would probably have starved to death. 2. Goats eat garbage. Though goats snatch cassava from the drying racks, they also eat garbage, drink rain 16
water from tin cans lying in the village and drain puddles which attract mosquitoes. I had said, in effect, “I have a great idea to help improve your lives – banish your garbage disposal systems from the village!” 3. Grass draws mosquitoes. The Anopheles mosquito which carries malaria is responsible for more deaths than any other living creature in the world. Goats destroy grass by tearing it off at the roots. Left to themselves, they will strip a village of grass thereby making it a less desireable habitat for mosquitoes. These indigenous lawn mowers that I tried to remove from the community help reduce malaria by controlling the grass. 4. Snakes dislike bare ground. A grassy compound is an invitation to snakes to join you at home. With a little help from their goats, villagers keep the ground bare around their houses, effectively discouraging these visits. If a snake slithers into the compound in spite of this precaution, you can usually find it by following its tracks in the dust. My proposal for improving goat production in the community implied removing its He had unwittingly snake control system. 5. It’s cold at 3,000 planned to get rid feet. Grass walls are poor insulation against of their indigenous cold weather. However, goats inside your lawn mowers that house will keep you warm. By trying to confine animals to fences help keep malaria outside the village, I was guaranteeing that at bay people would be cold at night when dry season winds chilled the community. 6. Goats hear thieves. Some goats sleep inside the houses while other farmers build lean-to shelters under the eaves. People told of being awakened at night by the bleating of goats when thieves sneaked into their compounds. My suggestion for solving the community’s goat problem was to keep nature’s burglar alarms outside the village. There, they would be of no assistance, and would probably even be stolen themselves. 7. Lions eat goats. One family tied its goat to a tree inside the compound and woke in the morning to find only the leash remaining. Tracks in the dust revealed that a lion had stopped by for a midnight snack. Goats that sleep in your house, however, are reasonably safe. My plan for a goat pasture outside the village would have been tantamount to opening a cafeteria for the lions and leopards of Southern Zaire. 8. A sick goat is a dead goat. When you sleep with your goat, you usually notice when it’s ill. If animals sleep outside the village, they may become sick and die before you notice. An apparently sensible solution for raising goats had the potential for economic disaster should health problems enter a particular herd. 9. Every goat in Africa has worms. Goats raised in
restricted areas have higher rates of infestation by internal parasites and are more susceptible to its consequences. Though I did not understand the physiological principles involved, I observed that health problems quickly spread throughout a herd when goats are raised in restricted quarters. However well-motivated, my proposal for improved animal husbandry practices had yet another fatal flaw.
The goats of Southern Zaire taught me some
important lessons. First, farmers know more about their problems than we development workers usually realize. At the same time, we understand much less than we think we do. Generally, things are not what they seem to be. Urgent human needs often compel development workers to take immediate action. We draw on our training as we interpret the problems of development and reflect our own experience as we suggest possible solutions. Not surprisingly, this can lead to big mistakes. Second, the process of development takes much longer than we imagine. Introducing new solutions before we understand the problems they are designed to solve is a serious but common mistake. It took me years to learn what Zairian farmers have always known. Short-term workers should be more modest in making development decisions. Third, real understanding comes through relationships. I tested my goat fence proposal on various farmers who all agreed that it was a brilliant answer to a pressing local problem. Thus convinced of its viability, I moved ahead, believing “this is what the people want.” Much later, I learned that my friends had carefully told me exactly what they thought I wanted to hear. They did not want me “lose face” or feel badly by disagreeing with my proposal. Some also felt that I might have some inside information that superseded what everyone had known for generations, that you cannot raise goats inside fences under those conditions. Only after I had established deeper, personal relationships with several individuals did I begin to understand some of the deeper problems of the community. Only then were people willing to point out the flaws and weaknesses in my suggestions. Development is a process of growth through which people progressively become more aware of their own problems and committed to finding appropriate solutions. We can facilitate that process, provide technical information and encourage them in this quest for a better life. We must, however, be modest in proposing solutions to problems we may not understand. That understanding comes not as a result of our technical competence but through the personal relationships of trust with those whom we want to serve. ◆ Merrill Ewert was president of Fresno Pacific University from 2002 to 2012 and now carries the designation President Emeritus. He earlier worked at Cornell University and Wheaton College and spent many years in development work, including stints with Mennonite Central Committee and Medical Assistance Programs. His article first appeared in this magazine in May/June 1987.
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The Marketplace January February 2014
Reviews
Sprawling canopy spans 400 years The Fehrs: Four centuries of Mennonite migration. By Arlette Kouwenhoven (WINCO Publishing, 2013, 264 pp. $29.95 Cdn.)
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modern parable of wanderings. For an author new to Mennonites, Kouwenhoven provides a remarkably thorough yet sprightly recasting of the Anabaptist story, stretching her narrative canopy over martyrs, merchants, brandy distillers, farmers, industrialists and pioneers. Along the way she sensitively explores how various segments of the Mennonite diaspora have chosen alternate approaches to tradition and change as they have sought to live out their faith. The story follows the de Veer descendants from Holland to the Danzig area of Prussia where they envisioned a free and secure future. Kouwenhoven’s depiction of this chapter in the Mennonite story is as succinct a narrative as you’re likely to find. While many Mennonites thrived there in business, farming, industry and shipping, they were never fully accepted and were unable to realize the flowering they desired. Thus they were poised to look favorably when Czarina Catherina II made a generous offer to settle the barren Russian steppes. “The Mennonites received more than any other group,” writes Kouwenhoven. “Catharina, herself of Prussian origin, knew as no other what these colonists — in her eyes Prussians like herself — would be able to contribute. They would make the land fruitful and would serve as an example to other immigrant groups.” The Fehrs (DeFehrs) were among those who went to Russia, and in time found themselves swept along by convulsive events in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. They became migrants once again, moving to central Canada in 1874 and later, and then to Mexico (1925), Belize and Bolivia. The story swerves dramatically as branches chose different paths with very different outcomes. Unlike their forebears who were invited to Russia to set an example of immigrant progress, the group in Mexico set another kind of standard. “Times have certainly changed,” Kouwenhoven writes. “Once invited by the Mexican president himself,
amily trees can be like their botanical namesakes — you can never be sure how wide their branches will spread and how far their seeds will
scatter. In the case of the Fehrs (or DeFehrs, as one branch of the clan is known) the limbs stretch across Europe to Russia, Manitoba and Mexico. In the deft hands of Arlette Kouwenhoven, a skilled writer and anthropologist, their story becomes a microcosm of the Mennonite journey. Follow one line (the Fehrs) and you end up in the Mexican desert where ultra-conservative descendants of 16th century Dutch grain merchant Gijsbert de Veer (born 1556) chose to “abandon the world and all its vanities” and live in a closed subculture isolated from electricity and cars. Follow another, and you find modern Canadian DeFehrs for whom the Anabaptist impulse readily included the embrace of modernity and active presence in the highest reaches of business and entrepreneurship. Anthropologist Kouwenhoven found the story line fascinating and dove aggressively into the written and human records. She immersed herself in Anabaptist history, scoured archives, pieced together letters and diary fragments, and visited Canada and Mexico to assemble a
Sensitive to immigrants “As Art DeFehr explains, ‘Palliser [Furniture] is a microcosm of our globe. If you stroll through our plant you will hear 40 languages spoken and see 70 nationalities represented.’ He admits, though, that there could also be a degree of calculation involved in hiring so many immigrants because ‘immigrants are by nature a highly motivated group.’ And further, ‘one thing our churches don’t always realize, is that providing employment is one of the most important things we can do in a free-market economy. If you give a refugee a job, they don’t need much other help.’” — The Fehrs: Four centuries of Mennonite migration
The Marketplace January February 2014
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Economic Development Associates (MEDA) in 1953. Another branch of the clan launched a thriving furniture manufacturing company that became the largest private employer in Manitoba. Its founder, A.A. DeFehr, was also a founding member of Church Industry and Business Associates (CIBA), one of the organizations that fed into present-day MEDA. Succeeding generations of that clan spread their entrepreneurial wings widely, starting agricultural implement plants, poverty reduction efforts in post-Soviet regions, as well as colleges and institutions like the Canadian Foodgrains Bank. This book is much more than a narrow family history. It is a fascinating story of Anabaptism in modern times, showing how the same original faith can be interpreted so differently by diverse strands of the same genetic and religious DNA. — Wally Kroeker
the Mennonites were seen as an example for the uneducated and lazy Mexican people. Now nearly every Mexican can read and write and ‘modern’ Mennonites in the Cuauhtemoc area even prefer to hire Mexicans rather than their poorly trained brothers.” At the other end of the cultural spectrum one finds the modern DeFehr clan who raised the entrepreneurial bar for all Manitobans, and to whom a separate final chapter in the English version of the book is devoted. C.A. DeFehr left his factory behind and emigrated from Russia in the turmoil following the revolution and started a Manitoba business selling cream separators, hardware and later retail furniture. He shared his prosperity and progressive mindset widely in the Mennonite community as he established an array of church-related institutions, including becoming one of the founding signatories of Mennonite
How it came to be
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of Mennonite families through the centuries.” And it could not have been accomplished without the assistance of numerous historians and archivists — and in particular, the help of Alf Redekopp and Conrad Stoesz at the Mennonite Heritage Centre (MHC). Kouwenhoven first discovered the MHC online. “The archive is an incredibly rich source of material and inspiration and your help was immense,” she said to Redekopp and Stoesz at the North American book launch held “The story at the MHC. The project helped her captures the begin to understand the diversity of lifestyles among experiences Mennonites, and some of the values for those who of thousands eschew all modern conveniences while others beof Mennonite come fully integrated with modern society. But what will remain families through with her is how all the Mennonites she met in the centuries.” Canada and Mexico strive to live out their faith. They are always “...helping other people and always contemplating how to do the things in a way that other people also benefit from their actions,” she says. “I think in Europe more people are very busy pursuing their individual needs and goals. In Canada foremost I see that Mennonite people still value the larger context of family and community. That made me very aware of the directions I should go and focus on the real important things in life.” — Dan Dyck, Mennonite Church Canada news service
n 2007, Arlette Kouwenhoven received a cryptic message from her agriculturalist husband who had travelled to northern Mexico to investigate the purchase of yucca plants: “Cuauhtemoc, Mennonites. Look it up, something for you!” Kouwenhoven — an anthropologist and author — was immediately intrigued. Interested in ethnography from childhood, she was soon immersed in learning about Mennonite migrations from Holland to North and South America. She had no idea Mennonites were linked to Holland. “Amish are well known in Holland, but Mennonites not,” she said at a recent book launch in Winnipeg. How had Mennonites from 16th century Holland ended up in a “horse‑and‑buggy” colony in Mexico? And could a genealogical connection be made to their Dutch ancestral roots? What began with a cryptic message from her husband resulted in a three-year journey of tracing the genealogical roots of the Fehr/De Fehr family line to16th‑century Dutch grain merchant, Gijsbert de Veer in the Netherlands. The newest member of the family was born in Mexico during the course of a project that resulted in research trips to Poland, Ukraine, Canada and Mexico, and a book — The Fehrs: Four Centuries of Mennonite Migration. The story seems incredible: Fifteen generations of Fehrs/DeFehrs searching for the ultimate place to preserve and practice their Mennonite faith. “It is a story about heretics and martyrs, grain merchants and brandy distillers, about farmers, pioneers and industrialists. It is also about tradition and change, inflexibility and adaptation, sorrow and hope and above all about the endless search for salvation,” writes Kouwenhoven. The story is not just for the Fehr/DeFehr family, she insists. “The story captures the experiences of thousands 19
The Marketplace January February 2014
Soundbites
Rise of the big box church “During the larger-than-life 1980s, America’s largest churches were growing — not from a flood of the unchurched — but from the increasing concentration of seasoned churchgoers under one roof. Some theorists predicted that these baby boomers were spiritual wanderers whose comfort in big box establishments — university classrooms, corporate cubicles, and Walmart aisles — predisposed them to church
suburbs, and later to ‘edge cities’ growing near metropolitan hubs, pastors and congregations built sprawling church campuses near freeways and interstates, hoping to capture the largest market share. Each congregation tailored their product to capitalize on their target audience, demographic preferences, and selling features.... “Many prosperity megachurches built in this decade
models that resembled these large institutional forms.... Church growth strategists hoped to capitalize on this by making contemporary churchgoing feel as comfortable as trips to the mall. Continuing in this commercial vein, experts recommended that churches implement marketing strategies and view their church as a product and worshippers as consumers. As populations drifted from city centers to the
minimized ‘churchlike’ features such as crosses, steeples, or stained glass in favor of the bricks, steel, and glass of a corporate headquarters.... Senior pastors took on the title chief executive officer (CEO), frequently splitting their ministries into ‘for profit’ and ‘not for profit’ branches. Successful pastors considered themselves true entrepreneurs, arguing that kingdom principles Continued on page 21
Letters
More of this ilk
very promising), goes deeper than the good news and presents a tableau of the realities of human existence: of hopes and despair, of bankruptcy and profits, of loss and recovery, of health and death. These stories remind us that human existence has Gethsemanes for everyone, whether in business or whatever without glib answers. To assume that God blesses the faithful (with enough prayer of the righteous!) is sadly assuming a “gospel of health and prosperity.” The world’s suffering peoples deserve a better Gospel. I think Marketplace may be a more effective place to discuss these issues than the official church press. I encourage more of this ilk if it is available. — Calvin Redekop, Harrisonburg, Virginia
You have crossed my mind numerous times, but a specific item again flips the switch to write. It was the latest Marketplace (Nov/Dec), which just arrived. There are always reasons for me to be engaged with it. This one has special personal connections, but also carries some more profound implications, which I hope do not escape the readers. First, I happen to have special and deep connections with the persons featured — David Falk, Jack Dueck, Walter Bergen and Merle Good. Each account, including the page ad of Merle’s play, have many implications and lessons, not just for the business sector of the Anabaptist community. Jack, who himself has experienced setbacks, pain and suffering, has written a loving account of David, brimming with pathos and sensitivity. David’s life is truly an admirable and heroic life, also replete with tragedy and triumph. I learned to know Walter in numerous connections including trying to connect my Bergen ancestry with his. His “Potatoes of adversity” is a classic — a modern Job. I congratulate, grieve and admire him for his courage to share his despair and anger. I urged one of my close friends who is undergoing a scenario quite similar, including rejection by his daughter, to read it, and he was deeply moved — a story of dashed dreams. And Merle, whose full-page ad on his new play, “The Preacher and the Shrink,” reflects achievement and triumph after struggles and failures which he and Phyllis have survived. This issue of the Marketplace, along with the hopeful stories of good that are happening (soybeans are
The Marketplace January February 2014
Fodder for sermons I should take a moment to tell you how much I have appreciated (and continue to appreciate) your work over the years. The Marketplace magazine has been such an amazing resource.... It has been fodder for many sermon illustrations and for new insights for me that I share with others into how people can (and do) connect their faith and work. Every year on Labour Day weekend I do at least one sermon on this topic. My Labour Day sermon this year was “Daniel: Mixing Faith & Work” which included an insert of “Resources for Mixing Faith and Work” The Marketplace magazine and work of MEDA have also taught me a lot about best practices in development work around the world. So THANKS and may God continue to bless you and your work/ministry. — David Esau, pastor, Eagle Ridge Bible Fellowship, Coquitlam, B.C.
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News Photo by Marlin Hershey
Ghana client selected as “best soybean farmer” Baala Ajara has many titles — mother, wife, seamstress, farmer and businesswoman. Now she can add “best soybean farmer” in her local district of Ghana. She was selected by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture as 2013 Best District Soybean Farmer based on criteria such as acreage cultivated, record keeping and contribuSoundbites continued from page 20 were, in fact, business principles. They called it kingdom business.” — Kate Bowler in Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel (Oxford, 2013)
Charitable toehold I liken the habit of being charitable to stepping into a hot bath. It may be too hot to be comfortable at first. But if you dip your toe in just a little, then step in a little more, you get used to it. In fact, you start to enjoy it after a short while. — Financial advisor Tim Cestnick in the Globe & Mail
E-mail tyranny The average worker spends 28% of their workweek – about 13 hours, based on a 46-hour week – dealing with e-mail, according to McKinsey Global. That’s 70-odd workdays a year. And that doesn’t even count all the times we check e-mail off the clock or, for that matter, the volume of messages that reach us through “social” services like Facebook and Twitter. — Ivor Tossell in “Why e-mail is broken” in Report on Business magazine
tion to agricultural extension. Prizes included a bicycle, two machetes, a pair of boots, a certificate and two sacks of food products. Ajara, 37, lives in the village of Suke with her husband, Baala Harunah, four children and two relatives. Besides farming, she sells pure water and donuts and mends torn clothes during market days. Her husband farms and works for the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO). Ajara is in her first year with MEDA’s GROW project (Greater Rural Opportunities for Women), which aims to improve access to quality inputs, technical assistance and sustainable markets. One of MEDA’s key partners, Partnerships for Rural Development Action (PRUDA), implements the project in the Lambussie‑Karni District. This isn’t Ajara’s first time cultivating soybeans. Three years ago she helped her husband grow the legume under a NADMO‑sponsored soybean project that gave preference to men. However, they were disappointed when there was no market for their harvested soybeans. Still, Ajara decided to try again when the GROW project began last year. She trusted MEDA’s partner, PRUDA, and liked the project’s strategy of providing marketing expertise and training on how to process soya into nutritious products. She plunged ahead and planted two acres of soybeans. She had three goals: to earn extra income to educate her four children, to support her husband and better feed the household, and “to be able to process soya into various
Sharing lessons: Lead soybean farmer Baala Ajara products and engage in it as a business.” Because of her knowledge and farming expertise Ajara was selected as a lead farmer to assist others. After the training provided by GROW, she applied the lessons on her field and then shared what she learned with her group members. “We were advised to use good seed, sow in line, sow on fertile and flat land, and how to prevent insects and other animals from spoiling our soya,” she says. “I taught my group members all these things.” Despite poor rains, Ajara harvested more than 800 pounds from the first acre 21
alone. Her profits and awards from this year have enabled her to meet all of her household’s food and educational needs. Next year she plans to double her soybean acreage to four. She sees the award as both a motivation and a challenge to work harder in soybean cultivation and support more women as a lead farmer so they can experience similar success. “I am happy that most people, particularly men and our leaders, are now seeing some of the big things we, women, are doing,” she says. “Women have been in darkness for far too long.” — Daniel Penner, MEDA intern
The Marketplace January February 2014
News
Peanut butter project boosts Malawi nutrition Last year Alex Caskey received a call out of the blue from his college friend, Mark Histand. It was an invitation to go to Malawi, Africa, to oversee construction of a peanut butter factory. A St. Louis‑based organization called Project Peanut Butter (PPB), which produces fortified peanut butter for malnourished children in Africa, needed two people with construction experience and the flexibility to spend a year abroad. Mark and Alex had both. Histand’s brother, Martin, is a project manager at PPB and originally informed Mark about the position. After speaking with Mark Manary, founder of Project Peanut Butter and a member of Histand’s church in St. Louis, the two friends, both Goshen College graduates in environmental science, agreed to spend a year overseeing construction of a factory and office. Three weeks later they were on their way. The two quickly realized the challenges of building a 4,000-square-foot factory and adjacent office complex in one of Africa’s poorest and least‑developed countries. In Malawi, construction relies heavily on human power as many labor‑saving machines are not readily available. Histand knew how to build timber frame homes after working for Habitat for Humanity in St. Louis but in Malawi he had to learn how to build with concrete and steel. “We sort of jumped right in,” says Histand. One of their first challenges was to find and manage an architect and contractor who could design and build a long‑lasting concrete structure.
They also faced early setbacks obtaining a building license from the local district council and waiting for materials like cement, rebar and electrical equipment to arrive. After much planning, e-mailing, learning, talking with contractors and procuring supplies, the construction crew finally broke ground in late April. Some 50‑70 Malawian men dug trenches for the footing. In July, the concrete sub‑structure was completed and work began on the superstructure. Working with the large local crew was a highlight. “They take pride in helping the children of their country,” Caskey says. “It’s rewarding to work alongside them.” The new factory will produce a special peanut butter known as a “ready‑to‑use therapeutic food” (RUTF) for severely malnourished children. The blend of peanut paste, sugar, vegetable oil, milk powder, vitamins and minerals has been endorsed by the World Health Organization as one of
Alex Caskey and Mark Histand on the site of the peanut butter factory they helped build. the best ways to treat acute malnutrition. Clinical studies show that 95 percent of children treated with RUTF fully recover from malnutrition. Producing RUTF, called chiponde by locals, also boosts the local economy by using local ingredients and providing jobs for local peanut farmers and factory workers. Once produced and packaged, RUTF can be stored for
many months without spoiling and is eventually administered to children in rural clinics. Histand and Caskey say they heard stories about the wonders of chiponde from friends who work at the clinics. The factory was scheduled to be completed by the end of December with chiponde production up and running as early as January. — Ariel Ropp, Goshen College news service
Numbers don’t lie for prospective accountants For major accounting firms, it seems there just aren’t enough students like Corine Alvarez. She’s on the Dean’s List, plays tennis, has international experience, has had multiple internship and job experiences and has won student business awards. Some would say she’s a typical Goshen College accounting student. That’s perhaps why accounting firms are knocking on Goshen’s door. Three of the top 10 national accounting firms recruit directly from the
The Marketplace January February 2014
college, as do regional and local firms. It probably helps that the college has one of the only regional accounting programs with a required, paid internship, which usually leads to a job offer. “We are able to place nearly 100 percent of senior accounting majors in job‑track internships every year,” says Michelle Horning, professor of accounting. “Our accounting program can’t have enough students. Firms regularly ask, ‘Are there any more?’” 22
Alvarez is one of three accounting students who began her senior year with a job already in place for after graduation. She will move to Chicago to work for Deloitte, one of the largest accounting firms in the world. Five other senior accounting students all have job‑offer track internships, which means they too may be offered jobs. To sweeten the deal, starting salaries can be upward of $50,000 a year. “Our alumni network is strong and close knit and has
Photo by Brian Yoder Schlabach
helped us make inroads to the various CPA firms in Indianapolis and Chicago as well as keeping the local ties strong,” says Russ Rupp, professor of accounting. “It’s a great feeling to have a job already lined up, which surprises many non‑business students who are wondering what the future has in store for them,” Alvarez says. “But, my case is not unique. My graduating class already has numerous job offers and internships lined up for this spring.” Currently, she’s studying for the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) exam, which GC students tend to pass at rates well above the national average. In fact, the Goshen College accounting program is ranked 10th nationally for a program of its size and second in Indiana, based on 2011 CPA exam passing rates for graduates. Alvarez’s family moved between Puerto Rico, the Philippines and Texas before settling in Goshen when she was in the seventh grade. Her parents are both Goshen College alumni, and her older sister attended as well. Alvarez originally wanted to study history, but after her academic advisor recommended she take a finance course, she realized that she really enjoyed accounting work and could see herself working in the field. “My advisor’s whim turned into my career,” she says. Alvarez has had plenty of hands‑on opportunities. As a sophomore, she helped with an audit of a local camp and received an entrepreneurship grant to create her own bookkeeping business. As a junior, she prepared individual tax returns for community members through the IRS Volunteer
Income Tax Assistance program. She has also completed three internships in both public and private accounting. In October, accounting firms made their annual visit to the college to interview accounting majors for internships and post‑graduation jobs. “Goshen is one of the few small schools in Northern Indiana that the accounting firms will visit,” Horning says. Doug Nisley, a partner at Crowe Horwath LLP, which routinely hires Goshen College graduates, says firms look for students who take initiative, have real‑world experience and can think on their feet. “We look for a well‑rounded person who has excellent interpersonal skills as well as a
Accounting major Corine Alvarez: Job lined up
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broad range of knowledge,” Nisley says. “Our clients reside across the United States as well as internationally. Travel to our clients often puts our professionals in new and varying cultural settings. GC grads, due to their liberal arts education, as well as the intercultural experience they have on Study‑Service Term, are very well‑rounded.” Alvarez’s travels and studies have taken her to Peru, Spain and Morocco. “All of these courses and experiences have made the learning in the classroom more real,” she says. “We talk about international differences in business, why not go to Spain and see them first hand?” — Brian Yoder Schlabach, Goshen news service
The Marketplace January February 2014
The Marketplace January February 2014
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