July August 2010
Where Christian faith gets down to business
The other World Cup:
Images you didn’t see Microcredit interest: how much is enough? The pot of gold became his pothole MEDA and MCC — together in Haiti
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The Marketplace July August 2010
Roadside stand
Going forward? Whatever... It’s in — the latest list of business buzzwords that have edged across the line from useful to tedious (at least to some people). A recent survey found “going forward” as the most overused item of business jargon, followed by “whatever” and “it is what it is.” Old chestnuts that also made the list: “at the end of the day” and “out of the box.” Marlin Hershey, a planned-giving specialist most recently with the Mennonite Foundation, has joined MEDA as director of resource development, based in Lancaster, Pa. He is a graduate Hershey of the National Planned Giving Institute of William & Mary College in Williamsburg, Va., and has earned the designation CAP — Chartered Advisor of Philanthropy through The American College. Hershey and his wife, Barbara, live in Lancaster, where they attend East Chestnut Street Mennonite Church. Dream job? People who fantasize about changing careers can take a new job for a test drive while on vacation. VocationVacations (www. vocationvacations.com) gives job-switchers a chance to check out their dream job without burning any bridges. For a fee of $600 to $2,000 they can be connected with a mentor company who will Cover photo by Ray Dirks
The Marketplace July August 2010
show them the ropes (anything from ranching to race car driving) for a few days to find out how it feels. Company owner Brian Kurth says only a quarter of “vocationers” end up making a career switch, but many are able to realistically refocus their own careers after getting an inside peek into something else and finding that their dream job wasn’t everything they thought.
MEDA president Allan Sauder. “He always provided a voice of quiet confidence and strength. We will miss him.” Advance to Boardwalk. You’ve probably played Monopoly at some time in your life. You may have heard it was a game designed to teach capitalism. Not so, according to some new research which traces its origin to the political activism of Elizabeth Magie, a Virginia Quaker. She invented a more complicated version called The Landlord’s Game to teach people the evils of land monopolism. It eventually morphed into today’s Monopoly, reputed to be the world’s most popular board game. (CLAC Guide)
Peter Wiebe, former member of the MEDA staff and its board of directors, has been selected for the 2010 Alumni Ministry and Service award by Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Elkhart, Ind. Wiebe has a long history of service in the Mennonite Church. After retiring from a 45-year pastoral career in four congregations, he worked in church relations for MEDA. He later also served as interim president of Hesston (Kan.) College and interim superintendent of Central Christian Schools, Kidron, Ohio.
Second life. Modern technology keeps opening new avenues of innovation. A Christian company has been formed to provide a second market for wholesome Hollywood films. Wing Cinema and Wing Clips, two separate services, market movies and movie clips for churches to download directly for use in services. The company claims there are more than twice as many churches with wide screens in the United States than movie theaters. Says founder Chris Bueno, “In the Middle Ages, stained glass helped tell Christian stories. Now it’s full-screen projection.”
Dale Weaver, former MEDA officer and board member, died June 13 in Mt. Joy, Pa., at the age of 71. Weaver spent much of his business career in the family poultry business (Victor F. Weaver, Inc.) where he served as CEO. After it was sold he was CEO of New Holland Custom Woodwork, which manufactures church furniture and pews. He was MEDA’s treasurer from 1980 to 1992 and served on the MEDA board for 20 years. “Dale was a good friend of MEDA,” says
Green Mennonites? According to Sustainable Industries magazine, alcoholic beverages are large users of water, as it takes seven gallons of water to brew a gallon of beer, and 17 gallons to produce a gallon of wine. Might this be why many 2
Mennonite groups have had prohibitions against alcohol? Ben & Jerry’s ice cream is, by now, an American icon and a standout example of a business with a multiple bottom line of economic and social goals. But ice cream was not their first choice when Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield decided to go into business together in the 1970s. Their initial plan was a company they were going to call UBS, for United Bagel Service. It would home-deliver fresh bagels every Sunday morning, along with lox, cream cheese and The New York Times. After further study (and consideration of what they might do for the rest of the week) they decided to make ice cream instead. (Ben & Jerry’s: The Inside Scoop by Fred Lager) Hans Vander Stoep has retired after 23 years as executive director of the Canadian Christian Business Federation (CCBF), a MEDAlike organization in southern Ontario. It was formed in 1983 as a forum for Christian Reformed businesspeople to nurture one another and strengthen the faith-work connection. CCBF and MEDA have enjoyed fraternal ties, including periodic attendance at each other’s conventions. For many years CCFB has purchased bulk copies of The Marketplace to distribute to its members. The new head of the organization is Keith Knight, a longtime editor in the denominational and secular press. — WK
In this issue
Carl Hiebert photo
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Can you find your business in the Bible? Page 16
Departments 2 4 18 20 22
Roadside stand Soul enterprise Reviews Soundbites News
Volume 40, Issue 4 July August 2010 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 2010 by MEDA. Editor: Wally Kroeker Design: Ray Dirks
Change of address should be sent to Mennonite Economic Development Associates, 32C E. Roseville Rd., Lancaster, PA 17601-3861. To e-mail an address change, subscription request or anything else relating to delivery of the magazine, please contact subscription@meda.org
A fair bit of interest
Microfinance providers feel unfairly tarnished by media allegations that some lenders are charging the poor excessive interest rates. Experts weigh in on why they charge more than your local bank.
Pot of gold, or pothole?
Entrepreneur William Martens wanted to be a millionaire by the age of 28, and reached his goal with a year to spare. Then he found there was more to life than wealth. Like faith and integrity.
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Homeless in Haiti
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A kick at poverty
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The work-friendly church
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Your business in the Bible
MEDA and MCC, both with long roots in Haiti, are collaborating on a joint project to rebuild and repair houses owned by clients of Fonkoze, the country’s leading microcredit provider.
Amid all the hoopla of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, there’s a side to the planet’s favorite sport you maybe didn’t see. Here’s how the game is played in the backlots of the poor.
Want to help your church breathe new life into its weekday outreach? Here are 10 tips to suggest to your pastor and worship planners to make your church a work-friendly zone.
Throughout history God’s people (Jesus, Paul and Peter, for example) worked at trades. The biblical writers must have thought daily work was important. Check this list to find yours.
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 32C E. Roseville Rd. Lancaster, PA 17601-3861
Published by Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA), whose dual thrust is to encourage a Christian witness in business and to operate business-oriented programs of assistance to the poor. For more information about MEDA call 1-800-665-7026. Web site www.meda.org
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The Marketplace July August 2010
Why don’t we pray for business?
Giving God the business Forty years ago you had to search hard to read about Christian faith in business. Books on the topic were scarce, unlike today when you can find thousands. One gem of the times was God Owns My Business by Stanley Tam, which caught the imagination of a whole generation of Christian entrepreneurs when it was published in 1969. It told the story of an Ohio businessman who started a company (silver reclaiming first, then plastics) and after a few years decided to give God control with 51 percent of the company. It took a bit of legal footwork to pull it off, but eventually it worked, and from that point on Tam was an employee and minority shareholder. Eventually Tam turned over the remaining 49 percent, making God the sole owner of the entire company. Tam was paid a salary, and profits were sent to Christian charities. Early readers may have wondered what happened to Stanley Tam. It turns out that at the age of 94 he is still involved in the company that he turned over to God. The company has 90 employees and ships out $40 million worth of plastic goods a year to customers around the world. Profits still fund various kinds of Christian outreach; officials say tens of millions of dollars have flowed into missionary enterprises over the years. (Marketplace Ministries)
The Marketplace July August 2010
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I’ve been participating in church worship services for 50 years. I’ve heard or offered thousands of prayers in the context of congregational worship. Yet I cannot remember either hearing or offering a prayer that focused on — or even mentioned — business. In my pastoral prayers I would regularly intercede on behalf of government officials, teachers, police officers, firefighters, parents, grandparents, pastors, churches and mission partners. But I cannot remember offering prayers for bankers, lawyers, realtors or salespeople. Nor can I recall praying for business institutions: banks, law firms, corporations, small business, brokerage firms, etc. This seems especially odd to me now, given that the majority of working people in my church were in business settings such as those I just mentioned. Why didn’t I pray for them in the activity that took up so much of their time and meant so much to their lives? Why didn’t I pray for the companies they worked for or, in many cases, owned? I believe this is the norm for Christians, both in their private lives and especially in their corporate worship. Now, I’m sure that individuals pray about their own businesses and jobs. And I would sometimes pray for people’s jobs when they came to seek my pastoral advice about situations they faced in their work life. But for some peculiar reason these private prayers did not impact my public leadership of prayer in worship. If pastors and others who pray in worship services began on a fairly regular basis to pray for businesses and business leaders, for bosses and employees, for church members in their professional roles, that example would have a powerful impact on the prayer practices of the congregation, both in corporate and private prayer. — Mark D. Roberts in Faith in the Workplace newsletter
A river runs through it
Does faith make a difference? Can religious faith make business better at creating prosperity around the world? Does faith improve a firm’s relationship with key stakeholders (customers, owners, workers, future generations)? Are faith‑based and faith‑inspired enterprise solutions to poverty more effective than conventional methods? If you can document a good answer to these questions, here’s an essay contest just for you. The competition is sponsored by two organizations committed to strengthening enterprise-based solutions to poverty that are faith-based and faith-inspired — The SEVEN Fund and the Center For Interfaith Action on Global Poverty (CIFA). Top prize: $5,000. Submission deadline: Oct. 15, 2010. For details, go to http://www.sevenfund.org/faith‑and‑development/
Making genius work Are you a brilliant artist ... or are you someone who can walk alongside and help translate that brilliance into something that works? When God sends us an artistic genius, someone else who “gets it” is usually part of the package, says screenwriter Barbara Nicolosi. “Vincent Van Gogh had his brother, Theo. Emily Dickenson had her sister-in-law, Susan Gilbert. The Beatles had Brian Epstein.” The ability to understand the brilliance of an artist is itself a vocation, she contends. “There are two kinds of people in the world: people who are artists and people who are supposed to support them. Figure out which you are and do it with vigor.” (Quoted in Christian Century)
Young people looking for a career to change the world need go no farther than the kitchen sink to turn on the tap and watch the water flow. Few global issues embrace more of humanity’s prospects than water — a scarce resource that is growing scarcer. There is no shortage of astute public commentary on the state of water, perhaps the most recent being a special report in The Economist titled “For want of a drink.” In its usual crisp fashion, the magazine explores myriad dimensions of this resource, from food security to disease to petroleum production, not to mention the unfolding apocalypse in the Gulf of Mexico. For much of the world, water is a human right — “a necessity more basic than bread or a roof over the head.” It can dominate and destroy lives, especially among the billion people who go to bed hungry every night, partly for lack of water to grow food. “It has provided not just life and food but a means of transport, a way of keeping clean, a mechanism for removing sewage, a home for fish and other animals, a medium with which to cook, in which to swim, on which to skate and sail, a thing of beauty to provide inspiration, to gaze upon and to enjoy,” the magazine observes. Water could be the most expansive cross-cutting issue of our century. Anyone entering a career in engineering, agriculture, industry, economics, law, medicine, accounting, politics or peacemaking, to name a few, could conceivably use their skill-set in the battle to protect this resource.
Overheard:
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“I’d rather fail at something new than succeed at something old.” — Ben Cohen, co-founder, Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream The Marketplace July August 2010
Microfinance interest:
How much is too much? Lenders feel tarnished by critical news reports
M
icrocredit clients along the rocky slopes of western Haiti never heard any loud vroomvroom when Edvy Durandice came calling. All they’d hear was the braying of a mule. While other credit officers traveled on two wheels, Edvy relied on four hooves to navigate the twisting paths to where his clients lived. He became a top performer in MEDA’s village bank program. Loan officers can spend a lot of time visiting clients who depend on them for financial counsel and mentoring. Anyone riding along would see why microfinance can cost three percent a month. “The world of microcredit is a far cry from the loan department of your local bank,” says Julie Redfern, MEDA’s vice-president of financial services. Which is why many microfinance institutions (MFIs) feel unfairly accused by recent debates over the interest rates they charge. Media reports have alleged that a few MFIs have earned huge profits by charging whopping interest rates. That’s not the experience of most microcredit agencies, many of whom struggle just to stay in the black, but the broad brush of headlines has stained many who don’t deserve it.
300 percent. Rates vary depending on context and country. Comparing them with Canada and the U.S. is like comparing apples and potatoes, as microloan rates have to take into account other variables like high inflation, lack of collateral and shorter repayment schedules. Many microfinance institutions charge an annual interest rate of 20 to 36 percent (which Redfern calls “very reasonable”) while some charge 35 to 60 percent, still well below the rates some news articles have targeted. “This reflects the high costs of administering many thousands of small loans and a more personal level of relationship with clients in a high‑risk market,” she says. “It sometimes includes technical assistance such as basic business skills training and support.” Then, too, regional factors like wages can jack up rates. “In countries where labor costs are really low — like India and Bangladesh — MFI rates are correspondingly low,” says Redfern. “In other countries, like Jamaica, wages are high, and rates are, too. In poor countries where there are loads of NGOs we see upward pressure on wages, especially when there is a shortage of skilled labor, as in Haiti.” The high risk of microfinance relates more to the stability of the country and the currency in which the MFI operates than the risk of default on loans by clients, she adds. Most clients are eager to repay their loans, because they know they will need credit again in the future to grow their businesses.
MEDA has been involved in microfinance for 35
years, even before Muhammad Yunus put the industry on the map by launching the Grameen Bank in 1976. From the start, microfinance was touted not as “cheap credit” but rather as “affordable credit.” But “affordable” means different things in different places. In Canada, for example, credit card rates can be at least 20 percent. “People don’t seem to have a problem with that,” says Redfern. “In the developing world, bank credit card rates are often comparable to MFI rates.” Microcredit interest rates have never been as low as what Canadians and Americans can obtain from their local bank, but for the loan-starved global poor, the rates have always been spectacularly below their other alternative — the ever-present loan sharks who charge 200 or
The Marketplace July August 2010
From just about every angle, microcredit
loans to the poor cost more to provide. In Nicaragua, for example, it can cost one percent just to maintain the system, so charging three percent a month is not unreasonable, especially when you add “forgiveness” factors
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such as going easy on small farmers who can’t pay until after harvest. When MEDA lent money to bean farmers in Nicaragua, its penalty for late payment was two-thirds of one percent, far below the 3.5 percent or more charged by other lenders. “We don’t ding them as hard if they fall behind,” a staffer explained. “Nor do we ask for payments to start until harvest is over. These considerations all cost us something.” While a rate of 36 percent may sound high in Canada and the U.S., it’s not as high as it seems when you consider that the term is much shorter (often less than Well-meaning a year) and many small businesses can easily agencies do no recoup their investment several times over durfavors if they ing the span of the loan. “When you lend $75 it costs you just underprice as much in overhead — the bookkeeping themselves and and other office maintenance — as though then go out of you’d lent $5,000,” write Jim Klobuchar business, leaving and Susan Cornell Wilkes in The Miracles clients in the lurch of Barefoot Capitalism. “In microcredit the key to successful lending is the diligence and the good will of the loan officer, who tracks every client as often as once a week, to keep current with the client’s needs, health, and performance. So the disparity in cost of loan maintenance is even more lopsided.” And those additional costs need to be recovered in order to keep the program sustainable so there is money to lend to the clients of tomorrow.
In Thurman’s experience, “when microcredit programs err with interest rates, it is not by charging too much, but rather too little, failing to cover the real costs of delivering their services.... Microcredit organizations must be self-sustaining, able to absorb operating costs, the few bad debts, and currency fluctuations. Otherwise, the only way to cover the shortfall is to take money out of the loan pool. Decapitalizing the loan portfolio will cause the program to stall and eventually fail.”
That said, a few financial institutions have been getting away with charging usurious rates. The New York Times recently reported that Te Creemos, a Mexican lender, charges an annual average rate of 125 percent, giving it the dubious distinction of having some of the highest interest rates and fees in the world of microfinance. The average rate in Mexico is said to be around 70 percent, double the global average. The article mentioned another Mexican firm, Compartamos, which charges an average of over 80 percent in interest and fees. More troubling than the actual rate was that the MFI, as the largest in the region, was pushing up interest rates across the country. The Times noted that “most microlenders are honest, with experts putting the number of dubious institutions anywhere from less than 1 percent to more than 10 percent. Part of the problem, however, is that all kinds of institutions making loans plaster them with the ‘microfinance’ label because of its do‑good reputation.” MicroVest’s Crawford says robust, commercial microfinance is one of the best ways to lift the working poor permanently out of poverty. “There is strong evidence that commercial microfinance leads to rapid scaling, innovative new services and lower costs to borrowers,” he says. “From Bolivia to Mongolia, in market after market, MicroVest has witnessed that commercial competition triggers a steep drop in interest rates, an expansion of geographic outreach and the introduction of higher quality, more diverse financial services. More importantly, commercial microfinance also contributes to a deepening of financial markets, which the Asian Development Bank has shown to correlate with substantial economic development.” Redfern believes that overall, the poor are well served by the institutions providing microcredit. “In any business environment, you can find plenty of opportunists if you choose to look for them,” she says. “Finding an example of an MFI charging extremely high rates and then using it to broadly characterize the whole industry is negligent. I contend that most MFIs are very sensitive to the issue and don’t want to pass on inefficiencies to the poor. Most do their best to balance their business goals and social goals: they have to be profitable and yet improve the lives of the poor. Most MFIs in the world still struggle with profitability and are not making obscene returns, as some news articles have alleged.” ◆
Sustainability is the mantra of MFIs and other
effective development programs. Well-meaning agencies do no favors if they underprice themselves and then go out of business, leaving clients in the lurch. “The best thing you can do for the poor is stay in business,” says Gil Crawford, head of MicroVest, the investment firm founded by MEDA and CARE to provide capital to MFIs. A similar note is sounded by Eric Thurman, former CEO of Opportunity International and HOPE International. “I have learned that programs applying artificially low rates usually fail because interest discounts are used to prop up weak businesses that should, instead, be allowed to close,” he writes in A Billion Bootstraps: Microcredit, Barefoot Banking, and the Business Solution for Ending Poverty. “What poor people need are authentic, durable sources of income.” 7
The Marketplace July August 2010
Potholes on the pilgrim path The pot of gold was full, yet empty. He found there was more to life. Like integrity. William Martens has an extensive track record as an entrepreneur, notably as owner of several very popular Tim Hortons coffee shop franchises, and as head of Marwest, a leading real estate management firm in Canada and the U.S. Along the way he also spent 14 years as a pastor. Martens recently spoke to the Winnipeg MEDA chapter about his pilgrimage in business and faith. Following is a condensed version of his talk.
Erica, know I was going to be late for dinner and my oldest son answered the phone and didn’t even recognize my voice. I knew then I was in serious trouble. But perhaps my greatest disappointment was that I had above all else sacrificed what little religious affiliation I had to God. The belief that financial success was all I needed had ultimately betrayed me. It was a very dark and depressing time in my life. During this time I happened to meet a very poor immigrant, the kind of man I had promised myself I would never be. But he was a very happy poor man. He expressed a lot of joy in life — unlike me. And so I asked him, “How is it possible you can be so joyful and have nothing?” He told me something I had long forgotten — that God needed to be the center of my life, and not financial success. He reminded me that it is only through Jesus Christ, God’s son, that I could find true joy and happiness. And so I recommitted my life to Christ and began a renewed relationship with Him.
I
was one of nine children growing up in an impoverished immigrant family from South America. As a child, I remember watching my Mother chase a bill collector from the porch with a broom. That left an indelible imprint on my mind. I purposed in my heart never to be poor and suffer as my parents had. And so I was driven by a materialistic desire to succeed. I believed that financial success would make life perfect. I set a goal to become a millionaire by the age of 28, and reached it a year early. One morning I came into work and my secretary looked at me and said, “We’ve got to talk.” My experience taught me that either meant “I want a raise,” or “I’m quitting.” To my surprise she looked me in the eyes and said, “For a man who has everything you look like you could jump off the Disraeli Bridge.” Those words stopped me in my tracks because in my heart of hearts they rang true. I had come to believe that financial success would be my pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. But the truth was I had become a miserable angry young man and when I looked into the pot it was full of disappointments and broken relationships. • My co-workers suffered consequences if they got in the way of my goals. • My friends became virtually non-existent as I poured most of my time and energy into my work. • The relationship to my wife and children was a “Hello, how are you” and “What’s for dinner” because I was too preoccupied with business activities. I remember calling home one night to let my wife, The Marketplace July August 2010
Let me pose a question: If people who knew you
were asked for five words to describe you, would integrity be one of them? Integrity is character related. Image without character always comes up short. It isn’t something you can just dress yourself up in and head to work in the morning. It has to become a main component of who you are as a person before God and people. Integrity is about truth and honesty, saying what you mean and meaning what you say. It keeps voice and touch together, being sure that what you say is matched by what you do. And why is that important? It is so that we don’t live a lie. I cannot think of anything more damaging to the Christian witness than an individual who lives a spiritually schizophrenic life believing they can behave differently in their business world than at home or at church.
Here are some things integrity has come to mean for me in business.
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teem which expressed itself in her desire to work My integrity should set an example to those I have exceptionally hard in order to gain my approval been privileged to lead. “Be for her efforts. Well, I’m not proud of it but there a good example to those were times when I knowingly used her insecurities around by modeling what for my own selfish gain. Looking back, I realize is right and true,” says how little I truly valued her. the Apostle Paul. “Why? One of the obvious ways to express value to So that you need not be those under your leadership is a fair wage. At ashamed of yourself” (Titus Marwest, we express our gratitude with bonuses, 2:7). various benefits and stock options. Another way Leadership always we express value is by encouraging staff to cominvolves modeling. This municate ideas and suggestions about workmeans you and I are berelated matters that will allow us to improve their ing watched, from the way environment. We also have a “whistleblower” we dress to how we carry policy that allows anyone within our group of One of several popular Tim Hortons franchises operated by the Martens ourselves, to the way we companies to freely express any concerns or family in Winnipeg: “We wanted to behave. It also means that abuses they might experience or witness. This create a culture in our stores that I carry my faith into the gives them a sense of ownership and responsibilreflected who we are as Christians.” workplace by virtue of beity to their working environment. It also speaks to ing a reflection of Christ. valuing their opinions and thoughts. When Erica and I began working as franchise operaAt Tim Hortons, how we value people takes on a tors for Tim Hortons we wanted to create a culture in slightly different shape. We can’t just increase wages beour stores that reflected who we are as Christians. Our cause there are constraints placed on us as franchise opintent was to model honesty, trust and respect. Over time erators within the quick service industry. However, we can the staff began to realize that if they practiced these very offer affirmations, awards and scholarships that are an same character-related principles, it made their work enviexpression of value. Because wages tend to be minimum, ronment a safe and enjoyable place to be. we will often go beyond to help those who have made It wasn’t long before one of our regional vice-presiTim Hortons their career choice when they may encounter dents commented that our stores appeared to be a direct personal hardship. reflection of the ownership group. This in turn gave us It’s important to me that those under my leadership an opportunity to share the values and principles of life know they count. Talk is cheap, but to step into their lives we hold dear. About a year later one of the VPs asked if I in a meaningful way does more than words ever can. would give the opening prayer at the annual convention Whether they are working for $9 an hour or $90,000 a in Calgary. year, I want to value them as I would want to be valued, At the corporate level I view modeling integrity more and more importantly, to realize that they deserve it beas a mentorship in getting prospective executives onto the cause God values their lives. right path. The truth is that more is caught than taught. Someone once said that “Big ethical decisions in Integrity means valuing people, recognizing that life don’t begin with trumpets blaring but with the small every human being has innate dignity. Genesis 1:27 says everyday choices and decisions we make.” that God created us in His own image. This means we At Tim Hortons we deal with huge amounts of cash. must actually respect and There are many ways not to account for some of it. Howcare about those who work ever, I also know that had I started down that road there “I called home for us and not view them would be a pothole along the way that would swallow as the enemy of competing to say I’d be late me up. My sons who now own and operate the business interests. It took me a while reminded me not too long ago that they were watching to figure this out. I have me, wondering if at any time Dad would compromise his for dinner. My seen many business leaders integrity. I am so thankful to God that I didn’t. use employees to further It was said of Daniel that in all the land there was no son answered their own selfish ends — man like him, “no fault was found in him.” That’s a really taking credit for the hard big statement. It speaks of integrity. Here was a man who and didn’t even work of others, or manipurefused to compromise his belief system. lating employee behavior to God gives all of us the same courage and character to recognize my satisfy one’s own needs. live out our lives in the same way. We just need to allow I used to have a secrehim sovereign control of our lives, and live confidently tary who had low self-esknowing that if we are willing, he is able. ◆ voice.” 9
The Marketplace July August 2010
MEDA and MCC collaborate:
Helping Haiti’s homeless
H
aitians left homeThe project will less by the January earthquake enable Haitian are getting housing help from a collaborative venture involving MEDA and families to Mennonite Central Commitlive in decent tee. MCC has agreed to housing that is contribute $1,430,000 to rebuild and repair hundreds of homes of impoverished rain, hurricane microfinance clients, most of whom are women. MEDA and earthquake will administer and monitor the 18-month project. resistant. The women are clients of Fonkoze, Haiti’s leading microfinance provider. The agency serves 46,000 clients with microloans, as well as more than 200,000 microsavers. The earthquake destroyed a number of Fonkoze’s 41 branches throughout the country and took the lives of five staff. In the weeks following the tragedy, Fonkoze’s credit agents met with all clients to inventory the losses they had suffered. Nearly three thousand clients reported not being able to stay in their houses due to destruction or severe damage. “Most of Fonkoze’s clients cannot afford a loan to build a house,” says Julie Redfern, MEDA’s vice-president of financial services and a member of the Fonkoze board. “As a result, they will either totally decapitalize to invest in a decent house, or endure in substandard and unsafe shelter until they can, bit by bit in maybe 10 years, get back to the living conditions they had before the earthquake.” Fonkoze is committed to addressing these client needs
by repairing those homes that are still structurally sound and rebuilding those that can’t be repaired. It will accomplish this in five stages: • Set up a training center in the community of Fondwa to prepare community teams of masons and carpenters in techniques for building earthquake and hurricane resilient homes. • Build four model homes using those techniques. • Send the teams back to their communities to diagnose which houses can be repaired and which need rebuilding. • Repair and then inspect homes.
A crisis in housing The earthquake claimed the lives of more than 250,000 people, and created 1.3 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) (more have been affected but not displaced). Housing was devastated. An estimated 105,000 houses were destroyed and more than 208,000 damaged. The Haitian government is installing provisional shelters in some sites that will eventually become new permanent neighborhoods with permanent housing and sustainable infrastructures and basic services. In other camps, several initiatives aim to encourage refugees to return home, where possible. The earthquake hit a population that was already very vulnerable: among Fonkoze’s clients there were many families who were not living in decent homes even before the earthquake. ◆
With a GDP per capita of only $525, Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere. Nearly 80 percent of its population lives on less than $2 per day, and many of those, especially in the rural areas, on less than $1 a day. The vast majority have no access to financial services.
The Marketplace July August 2010
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• Rebuild and inspect homes that can’t be repaired. The joint MEDA/MCC project will contribute in all five stages. In addition to rebuilding/repairing homes for 775 families, MCC will also support training and monitoring of home construction/repair. Between now and Nov. 30, 2011 the project aims to equip families with the technical and material resources they need to rebuild and repair their permanent houses so they are rain, hurricane and earthquake resistant. It will also train more than a thousand Haitian women and their adult family members in home ownership and maintenance. “There’s also a considerable training spinoff for local builders,” says Redfern. Local construction teams will be taught “Build Safer” techniques so the homes they build and repair will be as
hurricane and earthquake resilient as possible, using locally available building materials while respecting the environment. Key principles will be A spinoff will be building established such as the use of concrete poles, training for local corrugated iron roof with timber frame, and a clean builders who will concrete floor. Home repairs are estimated to cost an average be taught safer of $600, most of which will be donated by MCC in construction addition to a small component for sweat equity by techniques. homeowners. MEDA’s role will be to manage the funding and provide MCC with quarterly monitoring and audit reports. “We’re delighted that MCC is joining with us in this effort to build on our long-term partnership with Fonkoze to quickly mobilize housing support to many hundreds of clients,” says Allan Sauder, MEDA’s presiMEDA has a long history godent. “Most of these ing back to 12 cocoa coopclients are women, eratives it helped create in the and we believe this is early 1980s and worked with an excellent way to for nearly a decade. (Eight directly benefit the of these organizations still many families these operate successfully today.) women support.” MEDA began its microfinance Both MEDA work in Haiti in 1986, workand MCC have long ing primarily in urban areas. In histories in Haiti, 1994 it started REKO, a rural and both have been community banking program. involved in other MEDA and Fonkoze have post-earthquake worked together since the responses. MEDA is start of Fonkoze’s pioneering managing a $4.5 milwork to improve access to lion grant from The microfinance in rural areas. MasterCard FoundaIn 2004, MEDA turned REKO tion to help Fonkoze over to Fonkoze, which was rebuild its own faciligrowing rapidly, enabling ties and help 70,000 clients to access a fuller range clients improve their of services from credit and livelihoods. MCC is savings to business developinvolved in numerous ment loans. Today, MEDA is rebuilding efforts, an investor and active partner including emergency of Fonkoze, providing govfood distribution and ernance as a board member relief supplies, water and through advisory services and sanitation needs, for microfinance. ◆ and trauma healing.◆
Fonkoze — Haiti’s alternative bank Fonkoze was founded in 1994 by a Haitian priest, Father Joseph Philippe. It has grown faster than any other MFI and today is the country’s largest provider of microcredit. It is widely known as Haiti’s alternative bank for the poor, working to promote democracy in Haiti through economic development. Its 41 branches reach 46,000 women borrowers and more than 200,000 microsavers, mostly women and their families. It is known as the MFI with the smallest average loan size in the country (below $200), as it serves the very poor, mostly small informal traders. It has almost as many borrowers as the entire formal banking sector (which has 54,887 borrowers). Banks and MFIs mostly operate in Port‑au‑Prince where 66 percent of bank branches are located. Fonkoze is the only microfinance provider that serves all of the 10 provinces in Haiti and is a vital part of the rural economy. It offers clients group loans; small business individual loans; microinsurance; savings accounts; currency exchange services and remittance services. Its foundation provides literacy and education classes, fully integrated with financial services, and helps clients and their children to access health care services in their area. Fonkoze is internationally recognized for its comprehensive and innovative approach to poverty alleviation. In 2005 it received the Grameen Foundation’s Pioneer in Microfinance Award for its ability to break new ground in poverty alleviation while operating in one of the most challenging environments in the world. In 2009, the Haitian Studies Association, an organization of academics in the U.S., awarded Fonkoze its Award For Service. ◆
MEDA in Haiti
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The Marketplace July August 2010
Amid the World Cup hoopla, here’s a side you may have missed
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hey call it “the beautiful game.” To most of the world, it’s football. In Canada and the U.S., it’s soccer. In one sense, the game is Big Business at play. Few other sports rival its immense salaries. The global audience for the 2010 World Cup would make any marketer drool. Football is also the game of the poor. Visit countries where MEDA works and you’ll see youngsters turning any vacant lot into a football pitch. “Soccer is anywhere and everywhere, at any time and The Marketplace July August 2010
all the time,” writes Jarred Peters in We Call It Soccer: Understanding the World’s Most Popular Sport. “All you need to play is a ball and a bit of space.” It reigns supreme as the world’s game. “Soccer is one of the few things in life that cuts across all cultures, races, nationalities, religions and languages — as well as age and gender,” says soccer commentator Sean Wheelock. “Next to Mennonite World Conference, the World Cup is the most important force for unity in the world,” quips MWC general secretary Larry Miller, a devoted fan. In the run-up to the World Cup, travel entrepreneur 12
Top: Ray Dirks. Bottom: Carl Hiebert
A kick at poverty
Left photo: Ray Dirks. Other photos: Carl Hiebert
Dave Guenther spent a lot of time in South Africa, the host country. He is CEO of Roadtrips Inc., which specializes in trips to international sporting events, and serves on the MEDA board of directors. He found that while sports in South Africa is still divided along racial and cultural lines (football is the sport of the black majority, rugby the passion of the white community), “kids of all races can be seen playing football. You find soccer fields and players everywhere. Sunday afternoon at the park is bound to yield an impromptu gathering of players chatting, laughing and exhibiting skills.”
As with a basketball hopeful in a U.S. ghetto, or a street hockey player in Canada, soccer holds high hopes for impoverished children in places like Africa and South America. Everyone yearns to become a Fabregas or a Kaka. Beyond that, it is also a way to channel the energies of youth into productive pursuits. For many street children, football offers a way to escape the stigma of poverty as well as a wholesome alternative to life in gangs. It also provides a platform to present the plight of street children and make it a mainstream development 13
The Marketplace July August 2010
Top: Carl Hiebert. Bottom: Ray Dirks.
Mennonite World Cup? Not exactly. Just a pick-up game prior to last summer’s Mennonite World Conference gathering in Asuncion, Paraguay.
issue. This past spring a “street child world cup” was held in Durban (also a host city for the 2010 FIFA World Cup) with more than a hundred street children from eight countries. Organized by the Amos Trust, a British human rights organization, it sought to help young people set goals for themselves, get them away from crime, and encourage them to get an education. Said one teenager who participated, “Meeting these other children helps me a lot because our stories are alike. The Marketplace July August 2010
I also think to myself that if I get a second chance, I must go back to school, and not make the same mistakes I made.” A participant from Tanzania said the tournament showed what street children can do. For his part, “I want to become a professional footballer and play for Tanzania one day at the World Cup — and win it.” Another child said, “When people see us playing football they don’t see us as street kids. They see we are people like them.” ◆ 14
y l d n e i r f k r How wo ? h c r u h c r is you 10
ekday e w m r fi f a o ways t
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ities of their y-to-Friday activ da on M e th e le careers — lebrat even into who h when they ce — ac k re or ’s w od ily G nd suggest to into da Churches expa some ideas to e eathe new life ar br e n er ca H . ch od ur ch for G zone. members. The e work week work-friendly th a m ch ai ur cl re ch rs ur be yo to help make by helping mem ship planners or w d tin board. an or st your pa nt it on a bulle ou m d an ity members mun r where retired ap of your com (o m k a or et w G . rs ty be ci day-to-Friday mem Map your regation’s Mon to show where ng ns co pi sh ur yo pu d of re y Use colo visual displa . You’ll have a ur plant or used to work) bag lunch at yo now br or k . brea le insights into outreach ill gain valuab op in for coffee w dr or to st or pa st ur pa Yo e. 2. Invite your to do the sam a few friends e ag time. ur ur ed members co yo En of office. d a lot s where select en ie sp on u im yo st re te he ce w b, the day-tokpla the part of life about their jo a series of wor lk ta ze ni em ga th or e to av r H 3. Voluntee they work. and Monday.” t witness while nnect Sunday em co th I s lp ow rvice. Why no he “H n ith explai w their fa or voluntary se k ho t. d or w an an , nt on ce si ou fa is for m the Acc day issues they her or Arthur mission people ac m Te m co e ile es th D a ch ith ur es er e Fa 4. Many ch the same for Th e of work. Use resources lik do to r. te ch ar ur ch qu k ur encourage yo tive on the them ch is designed for a 13-wee ay school elec hi w ext of the , k) nt oc co e St th & f 5. Plan a Sund r work in ei tians (Wip is th t hr C ou ce ab la lk tp ta mas for Marke e energized to ’ any people ar m at th uring members d fin ll You’ anecdotes feat y rr ca it at th t church. sletter, sugges ). a church new iday. Fr to Day weekend y da 6. If you have on face M just for Labour ey t th no es g nd ng rin (a le ea al ip w ay ord in worsh jobs and the ch up some Sund a responsive ch bers to show em trates every m ne sk pe A n : 7. Work strikes rs planne ngregatio ur co e yo r th s fo re n ltu tio e cu edical techniHere’s a sugges trate the divers firefighters, m us , ill cs to ni ha rb ec ga m k , their usual wor tricians, nurses eir uniforms. e sight as elec th e in ag se goods and Im orkers sport th k. w e wee fic of d lay to showca an sp di ff ta ip ts sh ai or w w , the trade” cians, janitors nge a “tools of portant e week. 8. Offer to arra k week is an im bers during th or em w m e th by h at rt th ion to signal services put fo t, we are NOT ecial benedict others in Chris br d an rs te is 9. Suggest a sp ple: “S forth into the istian life. Sam t sends us. Go hr is C hr e C th — of go rt pa you do.” ee to heal in all that are NOT just fr d e an w lp d; he se is to sm di irit; go ys “Service En wer of the Sp it door that sa ex e world in the po n th ai s it’ m e ay th w over e. That 10. Post a sign not the outsid , de si in at e th th st it on reminding them trance.” But po as they leave, e se xt week s er ip sh to spend the ne ld last thing wor or w e th to ing out in they are head◆ as ministers.
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The Marketplace July August 2010
Find your business in the Bible
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oah and Jesus were carpenters. Peter fished. Paul made tents. Throughout biblical history God’s people have worked at trades, many of which are mentioned in Scripture. The list doesn’t compare with the 20,000 or so occupations available today, but it signals the importance of daily work in the Bible. Here’s a list of some businesses mentioned or suggested (based on the New Revised Standard Version).*
Builder
Accountant
Scripture doesn’t mention accountants directly, but it does mention their principles and methods. Wherever a census or an inventory of assets or offerings is recorded (Ex. 30:11-15; 2 Sam. 24; Ezra 2; Neh. 7) accountants were probably involved.
The work of wild game hunters and livestock ranchers gave rise to the occupation of butcher. Some animals were declared “clean,” while others were “unclean” (Lev. 11). Paul affirmed that believers could eat what was sold at the Gentile meat markets (1 Cor. 10:25).
Architect
Carpenter
The first building project mentioned in Scripture is the walled dwelling that Cain constructed to protect himself (Gen. 4:17). Hebrew slaves built storage cities for the pharaoh (Ex.1:11). Their descendants built walled cities, houses, palaces and the temple. Nehemiah served as a general contractor to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
Butcher
Biblical references to the tabernacle, temple, palaces and fortifications attest to the need for architects. Walled cities required architects (see Nehemiah). God is described as the preeminent architect, the “builder” and “maker” of the heavenly city (Heb. 11:10).
Carpenters worked with wood, metal and stone to build furniture and farm implements (2 Sam. 5:11). Scripture refers to hand tools such as the ax, hammer, saw and plumb line.
CFO
The Bible mentions several treasurers, powerful government officials who advised and reported to ancient monarchs on financial matters (Ezra 7:21; Neh. 13:13). These could be compared to today’s controllers or chief financial officers.
Baker
Bread was a major food in the ancient world (Gen. 3:19; John 6:13). The pharaoh of Egypt employed a chief baker (Gen. 40:2, 16), and a street in Jerusalem was renowned for its bakers and their shops (Jer. 37:21).
City clerk
Did they issue building permits in biblical times? City clerks, like the one mentioned in Acts 19:35, kept records and handled countless administrative details.
Banker
Bankers and banking were not part of the Jewish culture until the Babylonian captivity. Money as such did not exist at that time. Lending to other Jews for profit was forbidden (Deut. 23:19-20), though loans to foreigners were permitted. By Roman times, bankers were becoming common among the Jews (Matt. 25:27; Luke 19:23).
Dairy producer
Dairy products were a staple of the Hebrew diet. Milkers of cows, goats and sheep had to use the milk promptly as there was no refrigeration. One way to increase shelf life was to make cheese (Job 10:10). David enjoyed cheese or “curds” (1 Sam. 17:18; 2 Sam. 17:29).
Bricklayer
Bricklaying goes back to the construction of a tower at Babel (Gen. 11:3) and the Egyptian captivity, when Hebrew slaves were forced to make bricks without straw (Ex. 1:14). The Hebrews later made brickworkers of their prisoners of war (2 Sam. 12:31). There are also numerous references to masons and stonecutters (1 Kings 5:17-18). The Marketplace July August 2010
Farmer
Agricultural references in the Bible include plows (Is. 28:24), vinedressers (John 15:1-8) and gardeners (John 20:15), not to mention livestock workers listed elsewhere. Cain was the first farmer (Gen. 4:2). See also Joel 1:11-12. 16
Fisher
This is one of the best-known biblical trades, figuring prominently in the life of Jesus’ disciples. It is mentioned in Is. 19:8 and frequently in the Gospels.
(Jer. 6:29; 10:9). Tubal-Cain made tools of bronze and iron (Gen. 4:22). Hiram of Tyre was engaged by Solomon to make bronze pillars for the temple (1 Kings 7:13-22).
Forester
Miller
Loggers were said to be conservationists who practiced reforestation (Is. 44:14). Asaph was the keeper of the king’s forest (Neh. 2:8).
Grinding grain was the work of a miller, often a maidservant. Men would gather grain in the fields, and women would grind it using a household handmill (Luke 17:35).
Garment maker
Plasterer
This trade is implied rather than mentioned specifically. Most of a family’s clothing was made by the women. Various trades were associated with the garment industry. Dyeing was an ancient art among families working in linen (1 Chr. 4:21), as was embroidering (Judg. 5:30) and weaving (Prov. 31:24). Lydia was a dealer in purple cloth (Acts 16:14).
Plastering the walls of a home to form a smooth surface (Lev.14:42-43) was an ancient and widespread craft, sometimes done by homeowners themselves.
Rancher
Those who raise cattle can thank Jabal (Gen. 4:20) for launching their trade. Abraham, too, was rich in livestock (Gen. 13:2). Those who herded other livestock, like sheep and goats, are also featured prominently in Scripture. Rachel, Moses, David and Amos all spent time as shepherds.
Highway contractor
Roads (Prov. 8:2; Luke 14:23) and highways (Num. 20:17) are mentioned frequently in Scripture, though the people who build them are not. The work of the contractor is evoked in the famous call to “make straight in the desert a highway for our God” (Is. 40:3).
RV manufacturer
No, the Bible doesn’t mention recreational vehicles as we know them today. But we’ve all heard of the craft of tentmaking, made famous by Paul (Acts 18:1-3). This had to do with making affordable, mobile shelters for living, working and traveling. Some scholars say a contemporary equivalent might be the manufacture of recreational vehicles.
Innkeeper
In Old Testament times travelers stayed in private dwellings or slept in the open. By New Testament times some people managed inns (Luke 10:34-35). The inn which Mary and Joseph found full (Luke 2:7) could have been a large private dwelling, as it was customary to rent out quarters during festivals.
Secretary
In Hebrew society the job of writing and corresponding for others was done by assistants who took dictation, usually in shorthand (Jer. 36:26, 32). Paul dictated some of his letters to such an assistant (Rom. 16:22).
Jeweler
Ancient peoples were fond of jewelry, using it for gifts (Gen. 24:22) and to adorn priestly garments (Ex. 28:15-28). Goldsmiths helped furnish the tabernacle (Ex. 25:11).
Silversmith
Laborer
Scripture contains more than 200 references to silver and those who worked it. These artisans experienced the indignity of layoffs during Solomon’s time when gold was so plentiful that silver became nearly worthless (1 Kings 10:21).
Laborers could be field hands (Matt. 9:37-38) or workers in the general sense (Matt. 10:10). These might be manual, low-paying jobs, but their worth was considerable in the economy of God (Ecc. 5:18-20). Jesus called for more “laborers” to enlarge the kingdom.
Undertaker
Egyptian embalmers (Gen. 50:2-3) developed their craft to near perfection. Among the Hebrews, who didn’t embalm, the family of the deceased washed the body, scented it with oils and spices, and wrapped it in sheets. Later, a commercial segment emerged to handle this task.
Manager
More commonly referred to as “overseer,” this worker controlled or managed groups of people or projects and was generally responsible for getting tasks done. Joseph became an overseer, a position of great authority (Gen. 39:4).
Well digger
Merchant
This was a skilled profession in ancient Palestine, where little rain fell during most of the year. Wells and cisterns, the forerunners to today’s irrigation industry, were crucial to a region’s economy (Gen. ◆ 21:25). Some wells survived for many generations (John 4:6).
Traders and dealers sold their wares in open bazaars or marketplaces (Neh. 3:32; Ezek. 27:24-25). There are frequent references to false weights and measures (Prov. 16:11) and praise for the honest merchandising skills of the virtuous woman in Prov. 31.
Metalworker
* Adapted from The Word in Life Study Bible, copyright 1993, 1996 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission.
Foundry workers melted, refined and cast ore into useful metals 17
The Marketplace July August 2010
Reviews
Can we log off the longest leash? The Tyranny of E-Mail: The Four-Thousand-Year Journey to Your Inbox. By John Freeman (Scribner, 2009, 244 pp. $25 U.S. $32.99 Can.)
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here’s something sad about an empty inbox. It makes us feel bereft and unwanted. The beep on our screens is our constant reminder that “we are needed,” writes John Freeman in The Tyranny of E-Mail. We are, in short, addicted. “Our desk is Grand Central and we are the conductor, and it feels good. Why? If we’re this busy, clearly we’re needed; we have purpose,” he says. This is not just another rant by a techno-challenged Luddite complaining about the cyber-takeover of our lives. Freeman has crafted a readable history of human communication, from clay tablets to the telegraph to today’s relentless bing on our computer screens, and points out how each successive step has made a difference to how we live, think and relate to one another. E-mail may be fast and convenient, he says, but its wizardry has made us lazier, lonelier and less articulate. He lays out a case for why we should step back and re-engineer a style of communication that is more selective and sociable. After tracing the rise of technological communication, from the Gutenberg Press to the manual typewriter that Mark Twain first used commercially to write a novel, Freeman discourses on the ways e-mail’s stranglehold has changed the way we live. “We work in the most distraction-prone workplace in the history of mankind. We The Marketplace July August 2010
can be reached on the phone, by fax, instant message, Facebook, text message, cellular phone, letter, and occasionally in person. Throughout the day, for many people and especially for the very busy, these various channels and machines are blinking and beeping like an ambulance trying to cross a busy intersection at rush hour.” Studies show many corporate
It has pulverized our days into bitesized moments of attention and strangled our work like a creeper vine on steroids
workers receive 200 e-mails a day, and the average office worker is interrupted 11 times an hour. How ever do we get any real work done? Freeman calculates the cost of these interruptions, in
which e-mail plays a large role, as nearly $600 billion in the United States alone. “The technology that was supposed to set us free to work from anywhere, to check in and clock out on our own time, has now become the longest employee leash ever invented because we can’t seem to log off,” he says, adding, “it has become our iron lung.” It’s not just Luddites who agree with him. He quotes the CEO of a major airline who calls his BlackBerry “the proverbial blessing and curse. It’s a blessing because it liberates you from the office. It’s a curse because there’s no escape.” And then there’s the university professor who has given up e-mail completely because he needs long periods of study and concentration, denied by the leash of e-mail. The professor’s response takes on added heft since he teaches at Stanford, in the heart of California’s Silicon Valley. And the discipline for which he needs
Our rolling to-do list “Our inboxes have usurped the morning paper as a shaping context; many of us check it before we even glance at the news, let alone brew that first cup of coffee, making our daily e-mail (and by extension ourselves) the most important information — the shaping context — of the day. This is an important development. From dawn to dusk, e-mail has become a kind of rolling to-do list that, as more and more information is provided to us electronically ... stretches across all aspects of our life. If this is the first stream of information we dip into in the morning, we begin our days with a contracting sense of the world, rather than an expanding one.” — John Freeman
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chunks of concentrated study? Computer science, no less. Freeman, an e-mail user himself, feels keenly the contradictions of being tethered to, yet frustrated by the commanding presence of technology. “None of us can change the system on our own,” he says. “We simply cannot stop ourselves.” Having said that, he emphasizes that we all need to back up and behold a fullfrontal view of the emperor’s nakedness. We need to “step back to look at the social implications of our ever-proliferating, ever-accelerating forms of communication technology. It’s a task that is harder than ever, given how e-mail has pulverized our days into bite-sized moments of attention.... If we don’t pause to think about whether we need this tool available to us all the time, it will strangle our workdays like a creeper vine on steroids and keep us tied to our machines and our inboxes right up until we crawl into bed.” Beyond the tyranny of the short leash, and the way it fragments our attention spans, Freeman sees lasting implications for literacy. “Empirical evidence is flooding in regarding the ways that screen-based reading, which has grown from e-mail, is changing the way we read generally,” he writes. “Eye-tracking studies have shown that people increasingly tend to leapfrog over long blocks of text. We need bullet points, bold text, short sentences, explanatory subheads, and speedy text. People skim and scan rather than rummage down into the belly of the beast.” And then there are deeper
metaphysical considerations that may or may not matter to any but the most earnest thinkers. “Many of us who work in offices don’t touch a single natural substance all day long, from the plastic keyboard to the mesh fibers on the back of our chair to the faux lacquered tables in conference rooms,” he writes. Lists of how to manage e-mail are as common as the bing of the inbox, and Freeman offers his own suggestions. One is simple to utter, but not so easy to observe: Don’t go to your e-mail the moment you get up in the morning. “Checking your e-mail first thing at home doesn’t give you a jump on the workday; it just extends it,” he says. And once you’re at work, confine yourself to reading e-mails twice a day. “Staying true to the twice-a-day rule is critical for anyone who works in a job that requires sustained concentration,” he says. Another “rule” is to ask yourself frequently — Is this e-mail really necessary? “Not sending e-mail — by which I mean sending a lot less of it — might be difficult at work, but your coworkers will thank you,” Freeman says. “Eighty percent of corporate e-mail problems are caused by one percent of workers who use it inefficiently; are you in that one percent? The survey that turned up this statistic showed that one of the biggest generators of excess mail is a medium-sized message sent to a group of people, which then causes a pinball effect as people chime in and comment, having a virtual discussion.” — Wally Kroeker 19
The Marketplace July August 2010
Soundbites
A challenge to graduates: reboot the world The bad news is that the world being passed on to today’s college graduates is broken, unequal, unstable and unsustainable. The good news is that young people have a chance to “reboot the world” to make it better. That’s the message from Don Tapscott, co-author of Macrowikinomics: Rebooting Business and the World. He was giving the convocation address at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont., in early June. “Your generation will need to turn this situation
“You can be the generation to put the Dilbert cartoons out of business” around — to reboot the world — and each of you will have a role,” he said. “You will need to advocate change in your workplace, community, country and in the causes you join.... In your first job, you will care more about opportunities to learn, do interesting things and have fulfilling work and relationships than about how
much money you make. You can be the generation to put the Dilbert cartoons out of business.” He said aspiring business managers will work in “corporate architectures dramatically different from those of the 20th century — ones that emphasize teamwork rather than hierarchy. If you become an executive, you will lead in the rethinking of the purpose of the corporation – beyond shareholder profit to creating value for all its stakeholders.” Tapscott acknowledged the
Necktie democracy Nothing seems more medieval than dress codes. Office personnel are supposed to stroll around in suits and ties or dresses, but who remembers why? It’s like this because ... well, it just is. The receptionist is the calling card of the company — how silly is that? What customer, supplier, or banker would cancel a deal when he sees a casually attired receptionist? What buyer has failed to do business with a customer because a salesman wasn’t sufficiently fashionable? Dress codes are all about conformity. People want to feel secure, and dressing like everyone else is one way to accomplish it.... We told our office workers and managers they could dress as they pleased. Period. And most gave up suits and ties and dresses in favor of jeans and, on hot days, shorts. Sure, there are moments when more formal attire is appropriate, such as at board meetings and presentations to important customers. But every responsible adult knows how to dress correctly for these occasions.... Democracy is a lot of work ... and it begins with little things, like neckties. — Brazilian entrepreneur Ricardo Semler in Maverick: The Success Story Behind the World’s Most Unusual Workplace
The Marketplace July August 2010
sometimes-agonizing challenge of “fixing the mess my generation has created,” but noted the high-stakes arena today’s graduates face would also be exhilarating. “Five hundred years ago, Martin Luther called the printing press ‘God’s highest act of grace.’ With today’s communications revolution, your generation has been bestowed with a second act of grace. You have a historic occasion to rebuild business and the world. Because each of you can participate in this renaissance, it is surely an amazing time to graduate and to be alive.” (The Globe and Mail)
What I meant was... Our intentions tend to be much more real to us than our actions, and this can lead to a great deal of misunderstanding with other people, to whom our actions tend to be much more real than our intentions. — E.F. Schumacher
From the mailbag I wanted to write you to send you two kudos. First, thanks for the great piece on LCC in the last Marketplace (March/ April). You very sensitively captured the energy and vision of the place. I have been here for eight years now, and was amazed at how someone who has not been here captured us so well. The map graphic is another thing! Apparently someone wanted to expand Lithuania from the map so you could see it. It’s not clear that that is what you are doing, and in the process Lithuania got placed upside down! So...the article communicated accurate information, the map not. Second, I really appreciated the article “Fishy Tale.” In a few brief strokes you wonderfully captured the complexity of poverty issues, a complexity that is often ignored by both conservatives and liberals. I plan to use the article in one of my classes here. — Steve Dintaman, LCC International University, Klaipeda, Lithuania Editor’s note: Our regrets for the map of Lithuania. It became distorted when we lifted a rounded map from a globed surfaced and flattened it for page use.
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Immigrant risk Immigrants are not averse to starting over. They are, by definition, risk takers. A nation of immigrants is a nation of entrepreneurs. — Israeli political economist Gidi Grinstein in Start-Up Nation: The Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle
Power surge
greater than those we could accomplish working as three hundred individuals at home. — Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream
have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas. — George Bernard Shaw
Core innovation
Room with no view
If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange apples, then you and I will still
Appealing workplaces are to be avoided. One wants a room with no view, so imagination can meet memory in the dark. — Writer Annie Dillard
Most people suspend their values about contributing to society when they go to work, believing that it’s something they’re only supposed to be concerned with in their free time at home. It’s when we’re at work that we’re most powerful, because we’re organized and we have the financial resources of the company behind us. The results we can achieve within the company, working together, are far
Corruption eruption The hidden costs of corruption are almost always much higher than companies imagine. Corruption inevitably begets ever more corruption: bribetakers keep returning to the
trough and bribe-givers open themselves up to blackmail. Corruption also exacts a high psychological cost on those who engage in it.... [C]orrupt business people habitually compare their habit to having an affair: no sooner have you given in to temptation than you are trapped in a world of secrecy and guilt. — The Economist
Market realities? Too many of us who consider ourselves Christians have made the mistake of accepting as “market realities” what are just plain injustices within our corporate culture. — Judith Valente, former staff reporter for the Wall Street Journal
“Can we talk?” It is fascinating that the corporate world is increasingly interested in faith at work. About 20 years ago when I was starting my career with IBM, if someone had asked me what I did last weekend, and I replied, “Wow! I heard a great sermon at church!” everyone would have run away and thought I was a religious zealot. But today when I go to a cocktail party in New York City, attend an event in Zurich, or travel anywhere in the world and am asked, “What line of work are you in?” I often say, somewhat mischievously, “Well, I’m in the God business.” Inevitably, that’s followed by silence. Then questioners ask, “What do you mean?” I tell them, “I used to be a partner at an investment bank, but now I think about God and the roles God and theology have in our daily work lives.” Usually there’s a little bit more silence, then one of two reactions: Either they quickly abandon me to grab a drink at the bar, or they start a conversation that often lasts the whole evening. The fascinating thing is eight out of 10 people don’t run to the bar. They say, “Can I talk to you?” — David Miller, director of the Princeton University Faith & Work Initiative, in Our Souls at Work, edited by Mark L. Russell David Miller will be a keynote speaker at MEDA’s upcoming Business as a Calling convention, Nov. 4-7 in Calgary. For more information go to: businessasacalling.org
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The Marketplace July August 2010
News
The slaves among us could work next door
“Human trafficking” is often thought to mean for the purpose of commercial sex, but that’s only half of it, according to Steven Inrig. “It gets packaged as prostitution, but it’s more multi-dimensional,” says Inrig, who teaches ethics and health policy at the UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas. “Some experts say 50 percent has nothing to do with prostitution.” An estimated 27 percent of slave trade victims work at domestic service, 10 percent are employed in agriculture, five percent in sweatshops and four percent in service industries, he said. “It could be going on at your dry cleaners, or where you get your nails done.” Inrig addressed journalists at the annual convention of the Evangelical Press Association in Dallas in early May. Human trafficking is EPA’s 2010 cause of the year. He said today’s slave trade — “the ultimate commodification of life” — is the second largest criminal industry in the world, and “the U.S. is not immune to its reach.” Trafficking was defined as “the recruitment, transportation, harboring, or obtaining of a person for involuntary labor or services by force, fraud or coercion.” An estimated four million people are trafficked every year for a variety of purposes, such as commercial sex, agricultural work or housekeeping. Hotels are increasingly becoming an industry used for trafficking The Marketplace July August 2010
sources of labor. Moreover, the chocolate industry has gotten together in an unprecedented effort to develop a cocoa protocol to cleanse its supply chain. “All the major chocolate companies, labor unions, consumer groups, anti-child labor groups and Free the Slaves were called together to get slavery out of the cocoa product chain,” he said. “It was unique — the first time that a whole industry had committed itself to working together to remove slavery from its products.” Individual investors, he said, could do their part. “Ask your investment manager or mutual fund or retirement account
workers, he said. He cautioned journalists to be wary of inflated statistics, noting that precise figures are hard to come by. His “safe” figure was 12 to 25 million people worldwide in some form of forced labor, with 800,000 to 900,000 of them in the U.S. According to the U.S. State Department, 14,500 to 17,500 foreign nationals are trafficked into the country each year, he said. The most likely victims were impoverished people who lacked a social safety net. Many were recruited through addiction, indebtedness, confiscated documents and threats of violence.
“It could be going on at your dry cleaners, or where you get your nails done” Campaigns of religious and human rights groups were making a difference, said Inrig. “The numbers are improving.” He cited initiatives on the business front, such as the Fair Trade movement which has encouraged companies to eliminate forced and high-risk 22
provider to ensure that your investments are fighting slavery, not feeding it.” He praised the Socially Responsible Investment movement as being “way out in front when it comes to helping individuals and institutions to use their investments for social aims.” They do this in three ways, he said: 1. Screens to exclude offending companies. 2. Shareholder activism — investing in publicly traded companies to speak out as a shareholder and force better anti-slavery practices. 3. Community investment — investing in businesses that specifically benefit communities coming out of slavery. ◆
Third world pump saves soggy basement When the water started rising in his Winnipeg basement during an early summer deluge, Stuart Taylor turned to a unique solution — a foot‑powered irrigation pump that his organization has developed for third‑world farmers. Taylor is the executive director of Winnipeg-based International Development Enterprises (IDE), a non‑profit organization that designs and markets low‑cost irrigation equipment for village farmers in Africa, Asia and Central America. His daughter was the first to alert him to the rising wa-
ters in their finished basement. “Within an hour or so, the place was a swimming pool,” Taylor says. While he started bailing, his wife called local supply stores for a pump, but others had beat them to it and none could be found. “Why don’t you go to the office and grab a treadle pump,” she told him. IDE’s foot‑powered pump is a simple device that resembles a Stairmaster. Treadles drive two pistons that can pump water from up to six meters’ depth. IDE works with manufacturers and retailers in de-
veloping countries to establish local production and supply of pumps and other irrigation technologies. “It’s ironic. We developed this pump so that farmers facing water scarcity can collect and apply water to their fields. In my case, there was anything but a scarcity of water,” says Taylor, who with the pump’s help managed to clear his basement. Some homeowners in the deluged city were left without power and unable to use their electric pumps, which leads Taylor to imagine a new mar-
keting ploy. “I see the business model as part exercise gym and part emergency response unit,” he joked afterward. “We can offer people a good aerobic workout in exchange for pumping out flooded basements. It’s a win‑win.” IDE was founded (with MEDA’s involvement) more than 25 years ago by Paul Polak, Arthur DeFehr and Gerry Dyck. Since then, more than three million families have seen their incomes double or triple as a result of IDE’s small‑scale irrigation solutions and improved market opportunities. ◆
EMU grad trucks home corporate art award Lindsey Grosh got a pleasant surprise upon returning to her York, Pa., home following graduation ceremonies at Eastern Mennonite University, Harrisonburg, Va. Grosh, who graduated cum laude with a bachelor of arts degree in photography, learned that she was a regional winner in a nationwide contest, “Art for the Long Haul,” sponsored by Celadon Trucking Services. She received a $500 prize for a design she submitted for the company’s 25th
Photo by Jim Bishop
olis, is one of North America’s largest truckload carriers with some 4,000 employees and operating 3,300 tractors and 10,000 trailers. Grosh’s winning entry, intended for display on the
Lindsey Grosh anniversary celebration. Celadon, based in Indianap-
side of the company’s tractor trailers, was several photos of piglets from a black‑and‑white photography project on her family’s annual butchering weekend that she merged into a panoramic design. “I think it’s neat that Celadon held this contest just for the sake of supporting the arts,” Grosh said. She hopes to use her photography skills to work in a studio or for a small company in media/communications. (EMU news release)
Coming soon to a highway near you: Lindsey Grosh’s winning design in the Celadon Trucking “Art for the Long Haul” contest. 23
The Marketplace July August 2010
The Marketplace July August 2010
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