ace July August 2018
Where Christian faith gets down to business
Talking Books:
Powering Africa
Training Ghanaian farmers
Leasing to grow in Tanzania Unleashing creativity Techies and church leaders
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The Marketplace July August 2018
Roadside stand
Talking about innovation and technology
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iscussions about the effects of innovation and technology on society can draw sharply contrasting reactions, depending on the context. For every example of promise of helping people’s lives there is a tale of peril, often resulting from unintended consequences. I recently heard a cybersecurity expert warn that unless proper controls are put in place for appliances connected by the internet of things, hackers may one day use your toaster for an electronic attack. In the information technology world, the dominance of a handful of companies means that “never before have we been confronted with megalithic corporations owning so much of our daily experience,” says Loren Padelford of e-commerce firm Shopify. At the same time, Spotify boasts that its platform can enable entrepreneurs, even in places as remote as Fogo Island, N.L., to operate businesses that sell goods far afield. Technology is becoming a superpower for entrepreneurs, Padelford says. That “superpower” helps small firms get their messages out as easily as the mega-corporations and increase diversity among the sellers. Shopify’s fastest-growing segment is businesses started by women over the age of 50, he says. Great new innovations are rarely complex. Apple didn’t invent the smart phone, but they gained dominance in that business by making the devices easier to use. As South African entrepreneur Siyabulela Xuza points out, “Innovation is not rocket science. Innovation is all about simplicity.” Our cover story on the Talking
The Marketplace July August 2018
Books used in MEDA’s in a speech at the True GROW project in Ghana North conference, shows how inexpensive which was attended by communications technolomore than 2,000 tech gy can be an effective way leaders and influencers. to share valuable training Innovation is rarely information with illiterate an invention, rather it farmers. almost always comThe September issue of bines existing elements The Marketplace will have of something, he said. other stories about how exInnovation must be isting technologies are beuseful, as a valuable ing used at MEDA projects user experience is its to improve the lives and defining characteristic. David Johnston businesses of our clients. The best innovaIn this issue, you can read about tions are even more than useful, he how Nigerian entrepreneur Jerry suggested. “Put simply, they are good.” Doubles has used a Facebook page to Johnston challenged the tech secdevelop a successful business, martor to create a culture of obligation to keting products made in Jos. There’s innovate for good. also a story about Siya Xuza’s plan The time has come to slow down to provide clean, inexpensive and and fix things, he said to an audience accessible power to hundreds of milthat works in a sector known for lions of people in southern Africa. disrupting, upending and transformThe Communitech technology ing industries. association, along with the Rideau “We know our happiness comes, Hall Foundation, publicly launched a not from the goods we have, but Tech for Good campaign at their True the good we do together,” he said, North 2018 conference in Kitchener borrowing a quote from the late US this spring. politician Robert F. Kennedy. ◆ Here are the principles behind the Tech for Good movement: Clarification • Build trust and respect your data. A Roadside stand item in the May is• Be transparent and give choice. sue about Eastern Mennonite Uni• Reskill the future of work. versity’s new solar power expansion • Leave no one behind. lost a word en route to publication • Think inclusively at every stage. and may have left readers with an • Actively participate in collaborative incorrect understanding. The project, governance. which will install a 41-kilowatt solar You can read more about the array on a campus office buildcampaign, and get involved, at this ing, could produce 56,000 kilowatt website: https://canadianinnovation- hours of power per year, not 56,000 space.ca/tech-for-good/ kilowatts of power annually. The Author and former Canadian student-initiated project has passed its governor general David Johnston fundraising goal. Thanks to eagle-eyed talked about the campaign, and the reader Karl Dick of Waterloo for catchfundamental qualities of innovation, ing and pointing out the error. -MS 2
In this issue
Features
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Learning to collaborate Pastors, techies need to understand each other better.
Before the deal goes down
Sarona partner researches investments for MEDA.
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A leasing lender
Tanzanian firm connects small business to the equipment they need. By Mike Strathdee
Shoes made in Jos pg. 8
Departments 22 24 20 22 23
Roadside stand Soul enterprise Review News Soundbites
Volume 48, Issue 4 July August 2018 The Marketplace (ISSN 321-330) is published bi-monthly by Mennonite Economic Development Associates at 532 North Oliver Road, Newton, KS 67114. Periodicals postage paid at Newton, KS 67114. Lithographed in U.S.A. Copyright 2018 by MEDA. Editor: Mike Strathdee Design: Ray Dirks
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 mstrathdee@meda.org or call (800) 665-7026, ext. 705 Subscriptions: $30/year; $55/two years.
rvEi1A 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
Baking up growth in Tanzania pg. 13
Visit our online home at www.marketplacemagazine.org, where you can download past issues, read articles and discuss topics with others, all from your desktop or mobile device.
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Don’t fear failure
Let workers take risks, Pixar boss urges. The Marketplace July August 2018
Soul Enterprise
Life lessons from improv God, Improv And The Art of Living By MaryAnn McKibben Dana (Wm. E Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2018, 230 pp, $21.99 US)
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peaking in public tops the list of many people’s greatest fears. Getting up in front of a room full of strangers and doing improv — a performance made up on the spot — is something that can challenge even people used to public speaking. The skills of a good improv artist are things we can all benefit from learning, and are applicable to far more than stand-up comedy, MaryAnn McKibben Dana says. The author, who is a pastor and student of improv, suggests that we are all improvisers. Recognizing this truth can help us in decision making and many life endeavours, at work, in church, or just around the people we interact with every day. The book outlines three types of improvisers, all of whom are as useful in companies, congregations and other groups as they are in onstage situations: Pirates, robots and ninjas. We need all these characters in our lives, in the proper ratios. A pirate is fearless, unpredictable, zany and willing to go for broke. Helpful in small doses, pirates can be exhausting if unrestrained. That sense of restraint is provided by robots, who point out the dangers of a proposed course. Robots are “the logical ones who keep bringing the scene back to reality.” Ninjas are the people who rarely speak up at meetings. When they do speak, everyone listens to the perspectives they bring to situations. Their small, subtle ideas summarize The Marketplace July August 2018
and help to identify consensus. Great improvisers can work with all these personas. Most of us gravitate to the persona that is most comfortable.
~OD, lMPl~~, ANU 1"E At1OFll~ING
“Good enough is the gold standard for improvisers.” The author gives examples of Jesus’ disciples and the type they fit. Peter is a pirate. Hospitality-focused Martha is a robot, as is Matthew. She sees Thomas as being the classic ninja. McKibben Dana is deeply attracted to the concept of sufficiency. Sufficiency is an orientation rather than an amount. It involves “not being constantly on the hunt for something better, but orienting ourselves toward the experience that’s right in front of us, with all of its gifts and limitations.” She stresses the importance of 4
saying yes, even when it is a “yes, and…” Yes, and conversations provide more opportunity for creativity than our natural inclinations to object with a “but.” In different words, that means ignoring “can’t” and embracing “yet.” Her preferred approach “gives space for ideas to grow” instead of choking off creativity. She references the famous Serenity prayer “God give me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.…” as the improviser’s prayer. To achieve that state, we need both hyper attention and deep attention. Multi-taskers are familiar with hyper-attention, the requirement to be aware of many small details. Deep attention allows us to see the bigger picture. McKibben Dana gives examples from Jesus’ life to show best practices in pivoting between the two and the value of being attentive enough to be fully present. Good news for readers who view this goal as a challenge is her perspective that attention is like a muscle and can be developed through practice. In a world that is made up of maximizers and satisficers, she urges us to move to be a satisficer rather than a maximizing perfectionist. “Good enough is the gold standard for improvisers.” That requires making peace with not enough. “Whatever life hands us, we can find the Yes and seek the And.” Successful entrepreneurs have a willingness not just to change approach, but the destination as well, keeping their eyes “open to possibilities off the known path,” she says. -MS
Is technology reducing our sense of good choices? Spiritual discernment starved in digital dessert
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nyone who thinks technology has no impact on spiritual formation is mistaken, Ron Tinsley says. “The Bible consistently warns us about where we fix our gaze and how we direct our desires, he says. “From the golden calf in the Old Testament to Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness, where we focus our inclinations tells others what is important to us. As Christians, our focus should be on Jesus and the Spirit he promised us.” Abundant leisure time and media stimuli provide many more distractions than ancient peoples faced, he notes. “This can draw us away from the rich oasis of experiencing God and increasingly into a digital desert of distractions. Many of them are coming through technology.” Here are a few ways the use of technology is impairing society’s ability to make good judgments: Spectacle: Doxing involves finding someone’s private information (address, phone number) on the Internet and broadcasting it publicly. This is employed via social media during very contentious discussions. People have received death threats because of this practice. Is there such a thing as privacy anymore, even for those we disagree with? Convenience: Some people believe viewing a Christian program or Sunday service on television is the same as being in Christian community. So, if we watch Communion on TV,
is that the same as participating in it? Comfort: Social media encourages us to be armchair activists by signing a petition with one click. How does this quick-click attitude affect our ability to discuss and participate in movements that need sustained participation in real time? Pleasure: When a human is in danger, we are becoming accustomed to seeing ourselves as citizen voyeurs (recording the event) rather than caring citizens (intervening in the event). For
Overheard:
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example, a man drowned because five teens would rather record him with their smartphones struggling for life than help him. How is technology being used to validate our unhealthy gaze? These four human pursuits aided by technology are also contributing to a society that is becoming more narcissistic. This poverty of spirit thrives in the digital desert. My response is to practice being open to the opportunities the Lord provides outside my door instead of scrolling through Facebook. After all, we may live in a time plagued by a lack of discernment, but so did Jesus. All we need is that one seed to fall on good soil. And guess what? There is no app for that. ◆ This is excerpted from Ron Tinsley’s article: “The digital desert: Is technology starving our spiritual discernment?” It first appeared in The April issue of The Mennonite magazine, which focused on technology and faith. Excerpted with permission. You can read the entire article at this link: https://themennonite.org/feature/ digital-desert-technology-starving-spiritualdiscernment/ Tinsley is creative director for Mennonite Church USA and a member of Oxford Circle Mennonite Church in Philadelphia.
“Be joyful though you have considered all the facts.” — Wendell Berry The Marketplace July August 2018
Talking Technology and Theology Business people, techies, pastors need to discuss digital addiction and new ideas, panel says WATERLOO, ON — Pastors and people working in the technology sector need to learn how to talk to each other so they can collaborate to strengthen the church, James Kelly says. Kelly made the comment at The Fusing of Minds: How Tech, Church and Business Can Create Together seminar. It was sponsored by Faith Tech, a Waterloo-based organization. Faith Tech, founded by Kelly in 2016, provides a place for Christians working in the technology sector to share their stories and think about ways to apply their talents to pressing social challenges. Faith Tech’s Waterloo chapter
James Kelly The Marketplace July August 2018
has a network of over 550 people involved. Chapters in Toronto and Vancouver have also connected with hundreds of people. In the US, a Chicago chapter was launched this spring. There has been a Faith Tech event in San Francisco as well. The Waterloo event was held at Shopify, a rapidly growing, publicly traded company whose software allows other firms to set up online stores to sell their goods. Panelists included: Michael Hanna, Shopify’s revenue operations lead manager; John Stix, co-founder of Fibernetics, Canada’s fifth-largest telecom company, and Elle Pyke, a lay minister with the Free Methodist Church and co-founder of the New Leaf Network, which works with church planters. Friends who work in the tech sector have often told Kelly: “I don’t know my place in the church.” When they speak to their pastors, they are asked to fix a PowerPoint presentation or the church’s website, not what they are struggling with personally. At the same time, ministry leaders tell Kelly conversations about digital addiction are becoming increasingly frequent, and they don’t know how to think about it. Digital addiction will be the biggest mental health crisis of the next decade, according to a US author. The church is “15-20 years behind in thinking about any of this stuff,” Kelly said. For a younger generation, tech6
nology isn’t seen as a tool, but rather “part of who they are,” and pastors often don’t know how to deal with that. For Kelly, digital addiction is analogous to eating disorders. “For a lot of people in your occupation, you can’t go without technology, much like you can’t survive without eating.” Digital addiction is a complex issue, “because it’s so tied to our survival now in this world,” he says.
Elle Pyke
Church leaders have “a bit of a lack of imagination… around what it really looks like to use technology,” Pyke said. Fear and a lack of “sanctified imagination” is a big issue preventing leaders
John Stix
from using technology for mission. Hanna sees five categories when it comes to church and technology. One is those who believe that technology is evil. “Thou shalt stay away.” A second view sees technology as being necessary, “so I’ll use it cuz I have to, and I won’t be able to reach the youth if I don’t.” A third layer is the group of people who see technology as being helpful and will use it to engage the broader church community as much as possible, he said. A fourth layer is people who recognize that use of tech gives them an advantage in engaging both church
Michael Hanna
and community. The fifth layer is people who recognize the use of technology as a tool for fulfilling the five-fold roles of ministry laid out in the New Testament book of Ephesians, chapter four: “to equip the church to do the work of the ministry.” The church “ought to be the leaders of technology,” he said. “We ought to be the ones who are producing what is next.” Stix affirmed the need for more conversations like those happening at Faith Tech to provide support for people working in tech. “I became quite lost, as a leader within the very dream that I helped create, but I didn’t know who to reach out to.” A tech sector veteran, Stix admitted to finding the rate of change to be staggering when he visited Silicon Valley in the US recently. Churches need to see how startups throw caution to the wind in trying new approaches and understand that “courage doesn’t exist without the presence of fear,” he said. “We have to be courageous enough to embrace change.” Hanna believes churches can learn rapid prototyping, quickly trying to iterate new services and approaches for their target audiences. Pyke agreed. “My encouragement to church leaders is — try new and strange ideas.” The fastest-growing religious designation is those who claim no affiliation, possibly as many as 35 per cent of people. Among millennials that number is 40 per cent. One in three kids under the age of 20 leave the church. “Whether we like it or lump it, the world around us has changed.” Millennials are a misunderstood group who are looking for 7
authentic connection to purpose, Stix said. As many as 55 per cent of the people in that age bracket are looking to change jobs this year, providing an opportunity for leaders who figure out how to relate to them. People working in tech can still learn important lessons from the church, Hanna said. One of these is the message of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God and recognizing that as children of God, “out of confidence in your identity comes uninhibited creativity.”
“…we will see more encounters with God in boardrooms, in incubators, in cubicles and whatever the space is, than we will see them at the altars of local church buildings.” Church plants are taking unusual approaches to reaching the next generation. The Geekdom House group, which works under Crestview Park Free Methodist Church in Winnipeg, MB is doing outreach to the gaming community to start a church, Pyke noted. “If you don’t like what you are getting, you have to change what you are doing.” Society will soon be at an inflection point “where we will see more encounters with God in boardrooms, in incubators, in cubicles and whatever the space is than we will see them at the altars of local church buildings,” Hanna predicts. Jesus’ experience with his disciples was experiential, not classroom based, he noted. Pyke often thinks of Jesus’ response to a blind beggar who asks him for mercy. The story in Luke 18 says Jesus responded: “What do you want me to do for you?” Pastors, tech workers and business people should all be asking each other that question, she said. ◆ The Marketplace July August 2018
Creating his own job Nigerian entrepreneur sells artisanal products through Facebook page
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ike many highly educated Nigerians, Jerry Doubles struggled to find work after graduating. Despite earning a bachelor’s degree in industrial chemistry in 2009 and applying for hundreds of jobs over the two years that followed, he couldn’t land formal employment with the private sector, the government or the army. Over 250,000 young Nigerians graduate or complete national service annually, far beyond the economy’s capacity to absorb them. According to a 2016 survey of 90,000 people by Jobberman, a leading West African recruitment agency, 47 per cent of university grads in Africa’s largest economy were unemployed. Lack of jobs and the fact that his father was not well known left him without the connections to get started, says his friend, Katelynn Folkerts. Folkerts, who is working on a master’s degree in Peace and Conflict Studies at Conrad Grebel University College, met Doubles during a oneyear SALT (Serving and Learning Together) term with Mennonite Central Committee in Jos, Nigeria. Doubles, a 35-year-old resident of Jos, eventually found a job with a Pampered Chef/Avon type of firm, convincing women to sell beauty products out of their homes. He excelled at the work, developed his skills at marketing products and made enough money to put himself through a Master of Business Administration program by correspondence. After finishing the degree, he realized he needed to change tactics. A lover of computers and e-commerce, he had long dreamed about having an e-commerce website. He especially The Marketplace July August 2018
Photos by Tirzah Hea Halder
Jerry Doubles used Facebook to start a company
wanted to sell Nigerian-made products. “One of the perceptions in Nigeria is that foreign products are always better,” Folkerts recalls Doubles telling her. “When he moved to Jos for university, he was overwhelmed by the amount of talented artisans he saw, just on the street.”
The Made in Jos page now has over 20,000 followers. “He wanted to create a way that he could market their products more widely, and more efficiently, than just in the city.” Starting an e-commerce website without access to capital or ability to get a bank loan was a challenge. Realizing that Facebook is free, he began posting pictures on the world’s most popular social media 8
platform. After creating a Made in Jos Facebook page, he began walking the streets and chatting with artisans who produced excellent quality products. He got their permission to photograph products, then posted the pictures on his Facebook page. Doubles started with shoes, as he figured they would sell best. As friends shared his photos, orders started coming in. A picture of well-made shoes resulted in the post being shared 5,500 times within a day, 112 orders to his inbox, and over 600 phone calls. But the artisan who produced the shoes had only four employees, one sewing machine and very crude tools. Unable to fill that many orders, he was able to expand his staff. Doubles earned enough money to rent an office. Having a business address helped to legitimize Doubles’ efforts in a country where Internet fraud is a severe problem.
The Made in Jos page is now the most popular in Plateau State, with over 20,000 followers. It markets the products of more than 20 artisans, including shoes, clothes, wallets and belts. Doubles’ second entrepreneurial venture accidentally led him into peacebuilding. When he moved into Plateau state, he was amazed at the beauty of the area. Not wanting to explore it alone, he posted “Who wants to go for a hike?” on his Made in Jos Facebook page. Three hundred people responded. Doubles was overwhelmed. For a fee of the equivalent of a few dollars a person, he bought them t-shirts and snacks, rented two coach buses and found first aid and security personnel to come along in case anyone got hurt. He took 300 people hiking, losing the equivalent of $55 US on the outing. But the experiment led him to
realize people were looking for cheap recreational activities. Doubles created Jos Hike It, a second Facebook page, and continued to organize hikes. After losing money on the first six outings, he learned to plan for different sized groups, creating a What’s App group so participants could communicate. The group has grown to encompass a range of other social activities, including swimming, movies and picnics. Members have reported getting jobs through people they met in the hiking group. Others post pictures of products or services they offer during the market Friday sessions on the What’s App group, and participants are encouraged to patronize them. There have been other benefits
Jos Hike It builds community 9
as well. The group has raised money for family emergencies through the Jos Hike It network. Some people have met their spouses while hiking. The experiment hasn’t been without its challenges. Having Muslims and Christians in the same group and taking them to remote places was seen by some as a risk, given sectarian violence in recent years. Logistics and budgeting were less challenging than mediating after someone made an inciting comment. To defuse that situation, Doubles had to deploy conflict resolution and mediation skills. “His job got easier as people learned the norms of the group,” Folkerts said. “People just got used to loving each other.” Spillover effects from Jos Hike It has included Christians and Muslims who met during a hike visiting each other in their homes, each other’s places of worship, weddings and funerals. This has restored behavior that was common “before the crisis,” the period from 2001 to about 2014 when reciprocal clashes between Muslims and Christians occurred in Jos and rural areas of the state. Doubles is now a member of a committee of hikers that oversees Jos Hike It, allowing him to focus on his Made in Jos Facebook page. The Made in Jos business generates enough income to support his parents as well. Doubles’ father, who long hoped his son would get a traditional job, is now proud to say that Jerry is the CEO of Made in Jos, Folkerts said. Doubles also now feels that he has enough income to afford to get married. ◆ The Marketplace July August 2018
The art of assessing the deal Before MEDA invests in a company, a Sarona partner travels abroad to check it out
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erge LeVertChiasson is a firm believer in checking all the boxes en route to a potential investment decision. “Making good decisions is more about the process around the decision and less about the people making the decisions,” he says. LeVert-Chiasson is a Sarona Asset Management partner. Sarona is a private equity fund manager that grew out of MEDA. Whenever MEDA is considering an investment, LeVert-Chiasson is called upon to kick the tires and look under the hood. He travels about three months a year, typically researching two to four transactions for MEDA in a given year. “My job is to think about all the worst possible things that can happen to that money, and to make sure that we’ve covered all of our bases, that we have a way out.” Jerry Quigley, MEDA’s senior vice president, programs, and his team generally come up with investment ideas aligned with programs. LeVertChiasson works with GerThe Marketplace July August 2018
Visiting Tree Global in Ghana
Serge LeVert-Chiasson (left) and members of the Northern Kenya Growth Fund 10
ald Morrison, MEDA’s chief financial officer, in bringing the best of these back to MEDA for consideration. Sarona charges MEDA a quarterly advisory fee as a percentage of the amount invested for its work on these investments. LeVert-Chiasson’s work with MEDA began in 2001, when he spent a year as an intern in Romania. He then worked for Export Development Canada for four years, did a master’s degree in accounting and finance at the London School of Economics, and then an international Master of Business Administration degree at York University’s Schulich School of Business. In 2006, he rejoined MEDA’s investment fund department. When MEDA wants to make an investment, its leadership team asks Sarona to begin a due diligence process. After conducting due diligence research, he sends a preparatory memo to MEDA’s executive leadership team. “Then that’s where the real work begins.” The next phase involves Sarona producing a detailed investment memo
for a MEDA subsidiary to examine. The 10-person Sarona MEDA Investments Inc. board makes a final decision on proposed investments and approves all exits (sales of investments). SMI is made up of past and current MEDA board members plus MEDA president Allan Sauder. It meets six times a year, primarily by teleconference. Sarona tries to structure deals to minimize the downside for MEDA and maximize the upside wherever possible. Investing in developing countries often involves considerable risk. Some firms will suffer defaults, clients who can’t or won’t pay. So how does Sarona decide how much risk to accept?
LeVert-Chiasson points to MiCrédito, the Nicaraguan financial institution MEDA helped to start (and currently holds a 30 per cent stake in). He is on the board of this institution, which sets its default rate at five per cent or less. “You have to take some risks,” he said. “I call them taking intelligent risks.” “The worst thing you can do for the poor is to set up a financial intermediary to support them, and gain their trust, and the business goes under.” “As long as the business is sustainable, a reasonable default rate is fine.” Filters Sarona uses to assess a deal include five Ps and an S. The Ps are people, process, performance,
pipeline (business opportunities) and product. The S is sustainability. In some situations, MEDA has a commitment in a contribution agreement to support a commercial partner in a country where it is working and asks Sarona to evaluate potential partners to choose the best fit for the program. In other situations, such as an investment in Ukraine, Serge found another partner that MEDA hadn’t even considered, but ultimately ended up working with. The most recent deal LevertChiasson worked on, a $775,000 convertible loan investment in Tanzanian equipment leasing firm EFTA, closed in April, four months after he visited the firm. (See story, pg.13)
Private equity firm has its roots in MEDA
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arona Asset Management, a private equity firm that has grown to over $213 million in assets under management over the past decade, had its roots within MEDA’s finance department. Investments were the first emphasis of MEDA’s work when the organization was founded in the early 1950s, but that waned over time. When MEDA’s investment fund development department was re-started in the mid-1990s, Sarona president Gerhard Pries, who was then serving as MEDA’s chief financial officer, was one of the only MEDA staffers working on the project. Pries recalls working to recover lost investments in Latin America, Africa and Asia, and then inviting MEDA members and others to make loans to the organization. “We used this capital to make loans and equity investments, mostly in MFIs (micro-finance institutions) and agro-processing organizations.” Serge LeVert-Chiasson joined in that work part-time in January 2006 and full-time as of May that year. In 2008, Pries and LevertChiasson began thinking of a new
strategy, including a conversation with MEDA’s management and board about buying part of the operation. They saw a number of private equity firms doing an excellent job and thought funneling money to existing funds would be a path forward. In 2009, they began working on a fund of funds. They found it challenging to raise money under the MEDA brand, so they decided to further develop the Sarona brand, which had first been used for investment funds in the late 1990s. Sarona, the name of the Paraguayan dairy where MEDA’s founders made the first investment in 1953, had a good name. The two Sarona partners moved across the street from MEDA’s Waterloo headquarters. Still wholly owned by MEDA, the firm consisted of two partners and an office manager, in a completely hands-on operation. “I still remember fondly having to take the garbage out on Friday afternoons at the end of the week,” LeVert-Chiasson recalls. Sarona’s first fund of funds closed in early 2010, with $13 million US of venture capital raised. While that
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initially seemed like a lot of money, they soon realized that lots of work is required to manage a fund of funds properly. It was also challenging to find high-calibre staff for a small operation. Following a second fund closing, Pries found another partner who wanted to join the firm. “Stellar staff don’t want to work for peanuts, and they also want a share of the upside if things go well,” LeVert-Chiasson recalls. By the end of June 2011, the Sarona partners had concluded a deal to buy 90 per cent of the firm from MEDA. “It’s better to have 10 cents of something that’s going to grow 10, 20, 30 or 40 times the size it is today than to have 100 per cent of something that’s not going to grow, or that can’t be the best in the world,” he said. Sarona now has 15 staff, of which 11 work in Kitchener. The rest are based at its European office in Amsterdam, including Menno Derks, who is a partner in the firm. They plan to add two to four staff later this year. ◆
The Marketplace July August 2018
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Getting to that point involved several other players. Jennifer Ferreri, a senior program manager and financial services consultant at MEDA’s Washington, DC, office, spent several weeks in Tanzania in 2017, identified 10 potential investments in financial intermediaries there, and whittled the list down to three. LeVert-Chiasson examined that short list, meeting with two prior to settling on EFTA. The Sarona Risk Capital Fund typically makes investments between $250,000 and $2 million. The 66-page due diligence report Sarona prepared for the EFTA deal includes analysis of the countries where EFTA works now and plans to expand to in future, its history, growth plans and financials and how they make credit decisions. The document also examines a variety of risk factors, exit scenarios and how the investment fits with MEDA strategy and values. Sarona will occasionally show MEDA potential investment candidate firms that weren’t on its radar. Some earlier MEDA investments, such as MicroVest, a commercial lender that invests in unbanked and under-served markets, had no direct link to MEDA programming. “MEDA has done some amazing, absolutely catalytic investments in building up the industry,” he said. Now all investments undertaken by MEDA are done strategically alongside its programs. LeVert-Chiasson does background checking through his own networks, seeking out the opinions of partners, creditors and suppliers to find the real story on potential investments and the people behind them. “Because the world is so small, you’re going to find a lot of international people to reference.” He knows the relevant people to call in part through his role as board chair for the Canada Forum for Impact Investment and Development. This 45-member organization is a platform for members to learn, share, collaborate and act as a col12
lective voice to strengthen the value and volume of impact investment in developing countries. He sees tasks as being simple, complicated or complex. Making pancakes is an example of a simple task. Building a TV from available components is a complicated process. Complex tasks involve multiple people with very different interests, where the outcome is difficult to foresee. The EFTA deal falls into that latter category of a complex transaction. MEDA initially looked at providing them with a loan, then EFTA closed a $3 million loan agreement with another partner. At that point, EFTA asked for an equity investment. MEDA settled on a convertible loan agreement, convertible to equity under certain conditions. If EFTA converts the loan to equity, MEDA will be a shareholder for six to seven years. If no conversion occurs, the loan will be due at the end of 2019.
“You have to take some risks. I call them taking intelligent risks.” EFTA discussions around an investment memo started in March. That process was followed by a legal closing in late April, then a financial closing, which took another week. In another deal in Mexico, regulatory approval was also required, which can add an additional month or two to the process. Regardless of the partner, LevertChiasson always seeks incentives that align with the interests of an investment partner. “It’s easier to bring a donkey to the water by waving a carrot in front of it than by taking the stick and hitting it in the back. Our approach has generally been – these are our concerns, we’re here to help. We will help you through that and we’ll show you why it’s worth your time. Typically, that leads to a better outcome.” -MS
Growth by leasing Tanzanian firm helps businesses access needed equipment MOSHI, TANZANIA — One of the challenges facing entrepreneurs in developing countries is the inability to get credit. In many African nations, purchasing machinery needed to grow a business can be especially difficult. Tanzanian Banks are very risk averse, requiring 125 per cent collateral for any loans. Tanzanian entrepreneurs and farmers can’t meet that standard. For the relatively small numbers of businesses and farmers who have sufficient collateral, demonstrating that you own land in a country where plots are often held informally is challenging. Neighbors know where your land begins and ends, but banks want
to see papers verifying the claim. A lack of a well-functioning credit bureau or proper financial records magnifies the problem. EFTA (stands for Equity for Tanzania Ltd.) is an alternative financing provider working to help this underserved market. EFTA is a national leasing institution focused on small businesses and farmers, “anyone who is excluded from traditional finance,” says Coy Buckley, the firm’s chief executive officer. “Small business and farmers really struggle to get enough capital to grow,” he said. “EFTA’s leasing model provides a practical, businessoriented solution.”
These small businesses and farmers who are not well served by traditional financial institutions or microfinance are often referred to as “the missing middle,” enterprises that have capacity to grow and employ others, if only they could get access to the equipment they need. The firm’s leasing model gets around the hurdles put in place by conventional financial companies by using the financed equipment as collateral. EFTA works with big suppliers such as John Deere, New Holland and others to get the mix of type of equipment that their customers need. That equipment provides the collateral for its loans.
photos courtesy EFTA
EFTA leased this woman a greenhouse and irrigation equipment 13
The Marketplace July August 2018
About 95 per cent of businesses EFTA works with do not have audited accounts. That means the company needs to research cash flows and help clients model projections. Leasing contracts may date back to Babylonian times in 2010 BC, a Sarona Asset Management analysis of EFTA’s business suggests. (MEDA recently made an investment in EFTA. Sarona’s report was prepared as part of that deal.) Modern leasing contracts were used in the 1700s to finance horsedrawn wagons. Many countries have tax advantages that make leasing tax advantageous compared to borrowing to obtain the same equipment. Leasing has been slower to develop in Africa “in part due to uncertainty of contract law and the lack of financial leasing laws,” the Sarona report suggests. EFTA has 65 staff in eight branches around Tanzania. MEDA’s investment in the firm will be used to support its growth and expansion throughout the country, said Buckley, a US native who has worked in Tanzania for seven years. Half of EFTA’s business book is in agriculture, a sector that makes Sabas Shirima of Rombo, Tanzania, stands in front of oil expelling machines up 80 per cent of the Tanzanian used in agribusiness applications that he leases from EFTA. economy. Manufacturing machines quarterly inspections of stationary Prior to the MEDA investment, and service-related machines such as they were doing 30-40 deals a month. equipment and put GPS trackers on medical devices, printers and transmobile equipment. They are workClients typically pay for assets portation, including school buses, ing on a kill switch prototype that over two to three years. make up the balance of its leases. would remotely switch off equipEFTA requires 10 per cent down Their business model aims to ment if it goes outside of a digital help farmers and other entrepreneurs in some cases, 20 per cent for tracfence. tors. They have increase their capacity Typically, 10 per cent of borfound a big corand value add through rowers will default. “That for us is relation between equipment ownership. down payment and the right balance of taking risk and Most clients are sole having an impact, versus creating a risk of default. proprietors. Buckley “With any situ- business that is sustainable.” would like to work with EFTA achieves a 70 to 75 per ation in business, co-ops or groups of farmcent recovery rate on defaulted you’ve got guys, ers, but has found it difloans. A USAID study several years and ladies, who ficult to get a successful back found that 15 per cent of small act in good faith model for doing so. business loans supported by the govand those who EFTA’s average ernment failed, he noted. don’t.” loan size is $25,000 US The more EFTA takes steps to EFTA has dollars. The minimum taken several steps tighten down its default rate, the less loan they work with is impact it will have, he said. Less risky to guard against $10,000 and the maxicustomers can get bank loans. ◆ losses. They do mum would be $200,000. Coy Buckley The Marketplace July August 2018
14
An energy solution for 600 million people Entrepreneur hopes to bring reliable, inexpensive power to southern Africa
W
hen he was five years old, Siyabuela Xuza saw his first airplane. That strange sight led him to read about planets. The young boy decided he wanted to visit Jupiter and started trying to mix rocket fuel in his mother’s kitchen. A few decades later he heads up a company that he says may soon bring cheap, reliable power to a billion Africans. Xuza, who heads up Galactic Energy Ventures, told his life story and plans for transforming Africa in a keynote speech at the True North technology conference in Kitchener, ON. The amazing journey of this 29-year-old scientist, who had a minor planet (23182 in Jupiter’s asteroid belt) named after him by the NASA affiliated Lincoln Laboratory, has been far from straightforward or easy. An early effort to mix rocket fuel blew up the kitchen. He persisted, eventually developing a cheaper, safer rocket fuel, and turned his attention to building rockets. Those efforts were no less challenging. Model after model exploded on the launch pad. By the time he was 15, friends thought he was a lunatic. His mother thought he was both gifted and disturbed. When he called a government ministry seeking help to build a rocket, the official phoned his mother asking if her son was a terrorist. Undeterred, he kept working on new versions. “I’ve not failed,” he
Siya Xusa wants to power Africa.
recalls telling friends. “I’ve found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” Those setbacks gave way to progress. By 2006, he was invited to attend Nobel Prize ceremonies in Sweden, then the biggest science fair in the world, the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. He won first prize at the competition, and a scholarship to attend Harvard University to study engineering sciences. Back home, attitudes about his work changed dramatically. Xuza was noticed by influential people in the US as well. Michelle Obama gave a talk in which she compared his life journey to that of her husband Barack, then President. Xuza became interested in providing power for mobile phones given their importance in his homeland. He wanted to find a way to extend the battery life and discovered that a combination of butane and micro-fuel cells 15
could deliver up to two weeks power. As with his rocket fuel efforts, persistence was key. After failing 112 times, on his 113th attempt, he was able to develop scalable fuel cell membranes. He started Galactic Energy Ventures in South Africa in part to address the problem that more than 600 million Africans aged 18-35 need jobs and don’t have access to electricity. Xusa envisions a future where affordable and efficient solar panels combined with cheap storage systems will turn homes into personal power plants. He predicts the global energy storage market will double six times between now and 2030. Key to that revolution is the development of higher capacity, vanadium redox batteries, he says. Vanadium batteries have a higher capacity than lithium, can do 100,000 cycles compared with 5,000 for lithium, and don’t pose the environmental hazards associated with lithium. The largest vanadium-based energy storage system in the world is currently an 800Mwh operation in Dalian, China, he said. China, Russia and South Africa all have significant vanadium deposits. Galactic Energy Ventures has raised $50 million US in support of his research. It plans to deliver a state-of-the-art energy storage factory in the next 18 months, employing 330 people directly, and close to another 3,000 indirectly, he said. “It’s an African solution with global appeal.” ◆ The Marketplace July August 2018
Teaching with Talking Books Pre-recorded messages are an effective way of getting info to rural Ghanaian farmers
T
eaching technical information to people who are mostly not literate can pose serious challenges. But if use of books isn’t helpful, talking books can get the message across. MEDA’s Greater Rural Opportunities for Women (GROW) project has made wide use of talking books through a partnership with Literacy Bridge, a Ghanaian non-governmental agency. More than 1,000 lead farmers — producers trained to share information and best practices with their peers — who are part of the GROW project use the technology. Talking Books help them share critical information related to agriculture, gender, nutrition, finance, buyers and suppliers, and other matters that affect the farmers they work with. The Talking Book is an inexpensive, mass communications technology that promotes learning opportunities for women, men and children. Literacy Bridge provides the book to the women in the GROW program at no cost. Users buy the AA batteries needed to power the device, which could also be run by electricity in areas where that is available. Last year, MEDA’s efforts to record timely and valuable advice on pest control saved farmers from having crops in the upper west region of Ghana being ravaged by an infestation of fall army worm. Early warnings helped farmers launch The Marketplace July August 2018
large-scale efforts to rid their fields of the worms. “The Talking Book is much better than the radio because it deals with issues that affect our daily lives,” said Hillia Kazie of Kohuo in the Lambussie District, which is in the upper west region of northern Ghana. “The radio sometimes talks about things that are not useful to us, but we cannot ask the people inside there to switch to a different topic… With the Talking Book we decide what to listen to and when to do that. All the topics are useful.” Literacy rates among women in Ghana are much lower than the proportion of men who can read and write, particularly in rural areas. Talking Books are a powerful exten-
sion tool because multiple messages are recorded in the appropriate local dialect and uploaded to the device for people to listen to and use. Messages are updated quarterly as necessary on emergency issues such as disease outbreaks or pest problems. MEDA technical staff put together the messages and have Learning Bridge translate them into seven local languages. All MEDA groups in the GROW project have a Talking Book device. They listen to information during their village savings and loan associations meetings, and also at the individual or household level, as the device can be shared among group members. If a member misses a meeting or training session, they can
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Ghanaian lead farmers with their Talking Books listen to the Talking Book and catch up with their fellow farmers later. Abina Bagiro is a 64-year-old lead farmer with the Neeweri group, which means “where is better.” Bagiro has found that her participation in the GROW program, and use of the Talking Book, has led to positive changes in attitudes around gender roles in her 14-member household, which includes five children and her husband. Prior to the start of the project, she was responsible for cooking, fetching water and caring for household needs. Her husband, Fatawu Bagiro, decided which crops to plant, took care of the farming and household decision making. Now she and her husband work together to achieve the common goal of improving living standards for their household. “The Talking Book teaches me how to take care of my
children and the roles of a man, a woman and children,” she said. Household members now share responsibilities equally. Males pitch in with cooking, washing utensils and fetching water. Women help with farming and caring for livestock. Fatawu, Abina’s husband, realizes he must rely more on his wife to care for him. He is now supportive of her choice of land to farm and gives free access to the farm, which allows the family to plan their agricultural activities together. “In my household there is nothing
“With the Talking Book we decide what to listen to and when to do that. All the topics are useful.” 17
like this work is mine and the other is not mine,” Abina says proudly. Her two married sons have also heard the Talking Book messages about gender and spouse relationships and have happy and peaceful relationships with their wives and families. If anyone shirks their responsibilities or starts to slip back into an old way of thinking, they are referred back to the Talking Book to listen to the message again. A lead farmer from Kohuo says the Talking Book messages have even helped to expand her family. “My inlaw has become pregnant through the unification between she and her husband through the consistent learning to the gender messages,” she said. “It is my hope that, when she delivers successfully, I will even name the baby after MEDA or PRUDA (Partnerships for Rural Development Action, one of MEDA’s local partners).” ◆ The Marketplace July August 2018
Making room for errors to unleash creativity Pixar president shares thoughts on getting the best from teams By Mike Strathdee
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usinesses that don’t let employees take risks and disapprove of failure will never get the best from their teams, the head of the Pixar movie studio told a recent technology conference in Kitchener. “We have a problem with the word failure,” Ed Catmull said at the True North conference. Catmull, president and co-founder of Pixar Animation Studios and now president of Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios (after Disney acquired Pixar in 2006), has been honored with five Academy Awards. In a wide-ranging talk, he discussed the failures that preceded many of his successes and urged his audience to permit failure to unleash creativity. Failure has two meanings, he said. In the first, failure is viewed as being part of life experience. “It’s a powerful learning tool, and we all know this.” But the second, thinking of people who fail at a test, a class or a job, has a negative connotation. “In politics and business, failure is used as a bludgeon with which to beat opponents. There is a palpable aura of danger around failure. This meaning is deeply ingrained in us.” Every Pixar film — which include Toy Story, Cars and Finding Nemo — has had significant failures along the way, he said. Lessons from the failures led to new insights. The first of these was that Pixar needed The Marketplace July August 2018
to rethink failures and errors. Most people cannot separate the positive and negative meanings of failure emotionally, he said. But that must change for creativity to be unleashed. “Failure is a necessary consequence of doing something new.” Apple founder Steve Jobs learned from failures at Apple, NeXT, and Pixar, Catmull said. Those experiences changed him into a different person “who made Apple as great as it is.” Jobs learned to listen, to have empathy and caring, which led people to be loyal and stay with him the rest of his life. Failure is asymmetric with respect to time, Catmull said. “We only have the luxury of calling a failure a learning experience after it happens.” Zero errors are important in some industries, such as airlines, the medical industry, and banks. “Most of life is not like this, though.” People must be open to things that don’t work to make progress. “I believe that everyone has the potential to be great. It is our choices that enable or block that potential. Remove the blocks to candor, make it okay to make mistakes.” He believes expression of dumb ideas can seed the way for innovative ideas to come out. “We have to work hard to make it safe for people to say things that are wrong.” A computer scientist by training, Catmull is the author of CREATIVITY, INC.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces 18
That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration, a New York Times bestseller. People think of creativity far too narrowly, he said. “Creativity is the process by which we solve problems, whether they are story, business or relationships.” Asking how we become more creative is a natural tendency, but is the wrong question, he said. “The real question is, what are the management, the cultural and the personal forces that block creativity and change.” Early in his career, Catmull realized that smart people were making mistakes that were inhibiting creativity. If they couldn’t see their problems, he reasoned, he probably couldn’t see his either. “How do we fix and address problems that we can’t see?” When he finished university, he hoped to make a movie within 10 years. It took 20 years before he achieved that dream, with the release of Toy Story. Initially, Pixar was a hardware company, making high-end equipment. Despite having Steve Jobs as a financial backer, staff didn’t understand manufacturing, marketing or sales. “We failed as a company, but we stayed together.’’ Not everyone was on the same page at Pixar, however. When they made their first movie, artists and technical staff saw production people as being second class. Information wasn’t passed along. Production
photo by Mike Strathdee
Ed Catmull, president of Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios
staff resented the exclusion and talked about leaving the firm, which came as a surprise to management. Once management understood the problem, they addressed it. By the end of the second film, the first group saw the second as partners, part of the best team in the world, he said. Pixar has put together a group of people who assemble after an early version of a movie has been developed to comment on progress. These gatherings, known as the brain trust, operate under a set of rules designed to allow creativity to flourish. Peer talking to peer is a guiding principle of the sessions. The second rule is to remove the power structure from the room. “Powerful people should not start the discussion,” he said, adding that he prefers managers listen and not speak for at least 10 to 15 minutes. Third, the group is encouraged to say what they really think. Finally, management is asked to watch carefully the dynamics in the room to see if all are contributing and no one is dominating. “Are they really trying to help each other? Are
they trying to impress?” Much of the time, Pixar lives by its principles. Sometimes people learn to tune each other out or defer to what they see as the power structure in the room. Still, “every once in a while, magic happens,” he said. “You feel ego disappear from the room. All attention is on the problem. Ideas come and go, without people being attached to them.”
“Failure is a necessary consequence of doing something new.” Because new ideas are fragile, Catmull sees the need to protect his team while they are solving problems along the way. “All of our films sucked at first.” The path toward making the film UP — which grossed more than $735 million and earned five Academy Award nominations — was wildly unpredictable. Early drafts of the story were all but discarded in 19
subsequent revisions. He sees his job as not being to prevent errors, but to respond when things go wrong. Changing culture is an in-thetrenches experience, he said. “It requires observation, continually looking at the details, and doing hard analysis, self-analysis.” Disney’s animation division floundered in the 1990s (prior to acquiring Pixar) due to a lack of introspection and failure to understand that not all parts of the operation could be run in the same fashion. “The talent was there,” he recalls of successful efforts to revitalize a dispirited Disney animation team. “We just had to remove the barriers to allow this creativity to flower.” “What makes it (change) work in a culture is that everybody owns it.” Catmull, who works in San Francisco, says he makes movies to have a positive effect on popular culture. When Silicon Valley “metastasized” into San Francisco, he realized that he couldn’t compete for employees based on salary. What he can do is compete on meaning. ◆ The Marketplace July August 2018
Review
Persevering after losing it all — twice By Wally Kroeker Surviving Failure (and a few Successes) By Merle Good (Walnut Street Books, 2018, 184 pp., $14.99 US, $19.99 Cdn)
I
t’s one thing to fail in business; quite another to talk openly about it. Merle Good and his wife Phyllis suffered the ignominy twice in more than four decades. His new book boldly strips bare the raw impact of seeing a beloved enterprise on the ropes and offers counsel for others on the same journey. When the Goods formed their company in 1970 to “cobble together a series of arts-related projects into a business,” there was nothing like it in the Mennonite world. The firm grew to encompass book publishing (20 to 40 new titles a year), a stimulating arts magazine called Festival Quarterly, museums, galleries, retail outlets and more. The Goods hit home runs with runaway cookbooks compiled by Phyllis. In 2002 her Fix-It and ForgetIt Cookbook was the bestselling paperback in the US, outpacing all other trade paperbacks by more than two to one. Combined sales reached 12 million copies (exceeded only by cooks Rachel Ray and Martha Stewart). The Good enterprises became a beacon of art and culture among Mennonites who can be shy to recognize art as a faith expression. Untold numbers of poets, writers, painters and craftspeople thrived under their nurturing canopy. In the mid-1990s, disaster forced them to file for Chapter 11 reorganization, and the Goods were thrust into a toxic new world. They received “threatening and mean-spirited messages,” even from within the The Marketplace July August 2018
SURVIVING FA URE
faith community. Vicious gossip abounded. Someone told Merle, “I’m sorry for all the terrible things people are saying about you.” The church offered less solace than one might expect; some leaders sought to have the Goods excluded from membership. Merle was determined to save staff jobs and repay debts — and ultimately did. Creditors were repaid but were oddly silent when they got back more than they had been owed. The Goods strove to maintain their personal bearings. Telling themselves “we did what we could” became a lifeline.
“Creditors were repaid but were oddly silent when they got back more than they had been owed.” 20
“I was scared to smile or laugh, for fear that someone would see me and be upset that I wasn’t taking my failure seriously enough,” Merle writes. The business recovered, but despite some dramatic successes, like growing 1000 per cent in 2002, more danger lurked. Merle’s recounting is a quick intro to the dizzying world of reprints, returns and remainders. The couple survived the 2008 recession, but five years later succumbed to a perfect storm of e-books, online shopping and plummeting print sales. Small publishers were gobbled up. In 2013 the company went into Chapter 7, another form of reorganization that was equally devastating, though “markedly less hostile,” than the Chapter 11 reorganization of 1996. (In a Chapter 7 filing, a trustee pays outstanding debts by liquidating assets. A Chapter 11 reorganization involves filing a petition with a bankruptcy court and keeping a business going while creditors are paid over time.) External forces aside, Merle gamely shoulders blame: “In the end, I was at the controls when calamity struck.” Who should read this book? For starters, anyone who cares about the interplay of faith and commerce. Businessfolk will find poignant insights into the fragility of success and the ever-looming prospect of failure. The church, meanwhile, can learn a few things about supporting people in crisis. The Mennonite world (unlike the rule of law) tends to regard business failure as unforgivable. That needs to change, and this candid book may be a crucial first step. ◆ Wally Kroeker, who has authored several books, edited The Marketplace magazine for 32 years up until his retirement last summer. He lives in Winnipeg, MB.
Signs of Kenya: Memorable images from a MEDA trip photos by Mike Strathdee
These pictures were taken in the Nairobi area of Kenya in late January, as a group of supporters visited MEDA’s MSAWA (equitable prosperity) economic development project. From the top, clockwise: • This roadside sign indicates the challenges of doing business in Kenya. • Back windows of many mini-buses (Matatus, the most common form of transit) had religious themes, including this picture of Martin Luther King Jr. Photos of Jesus were also common. • Tim Sweigart of Kansas looks forward to a meat-lover’s delight at the Carnivore restaurant. It was very tasty BBQ. • Despite the signs, many motorcycles in Nairobi carried three or more people or loads far in excess of their intended capacity. 21
The Marketplace July August 2018
News
Are self-driving cars just around the corner?
H
ow soon will fully autonomous vehicles be in widespread use? It depends who you ask. Getting humans out from behind the wheels of cars and trucks could relieve some societal problems. An estimated 1.2 million deaths occur around the world annually due to car crashes, with 94 per cent of these fatalities caused by human error. Commuters waste a full week of their lives in traffic every year. In the US, there are three non-residential parking spaces for every car. General Motors hopes to launch a fleet of autonomous vehicles in 2019, says Jayant Bonsal, engineering group manager for the automaker’s autonomous vehicle division. GM is committed to a future of
three zeros — zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion, Bonsal said at a seminar on autonomous vehicles at the University of Waterloo. A Chinese automaker has also announced plans to introduce autonomous vehicles in the coming model year. But that doesn’t mean change will occur quickly, or without cost. Society must grapple with job losses that will result from a shift to autonomous vehicles, says Heather Douglas, a UW philosophy professor. In Canada alone, more than 300,000 people make their living driving. Autonomous driving is complicated because, for all the talk of artificial intelligence, computers are, at the moment, “inherently unintelligent,” says Sebastian Fischmeister,
a UW engineering professor. However, the 50-70 computerized systems that are already embedded in cars are becoming too complex for humans to understand, so we will need computers to watch the computers. Complexity will only increase, as multiple sensors are deployed in each vehicle to mitigate error and ensure a system doesn’t just rely on cameras. As accidents caused by human errors plummet, every accident will become a potential product liability case, says George Takach, a Toronto technology lawyer. Uber drivers needn’t worry about being unemployed just yet. “There will be drivers in those vehicles for quite some time,” Bozema Saint John, Uber’s chief brand officer, said at the recent True North technology conference. ◆
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The Marketplace July August 2018
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Soundbites
Canadians have mixed views on overseas development
Churches, farmers and food
A Baltimore pastor has created a network of farm-to-church groups that bring economic power and fresh food to neighborhoods that previously suffered from what he called “food apartheid.” Rev. Heber Brown III started selling eggs after services at the Pleasant
Hope Baptist Church and created a garden in the raised-bed garden in the church’s backyard. He wanted to provide alternatives to more costly, less healthy foods sold at corner stores in “food deserts,” areas that don’t have grocery stores, a Religion News Service story suggests. The Black Church Food Security Network now includes 10 congregations. The network seeks out food produced by black farmers in rural Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina. Churches sell the produce, with profits going back into the network. ◆
village in the country has access to power, Time magazine reports. Those without power rely on kerosene lamps, with all their attendant health and safety risks, to supply light. Only six of India’s 29 states have all homes on the grid. In some poorer states, even the minority of households that have power lines face blackouts lasting hours on a daily basis. ◆
Darkness in India
Millions of people in rural India still lack electricity, despite a boast by the nation’s prime minister that every
Comments?
C
anadians hold fascinating, and sometimes contradictory, attitudes on overseas development work, an infographic article in Faith Today magazine points out. More than seven in 10 Canadians take pride in overseas development work supported by Canadians, and 75 per cent say helping even one family or village is worthwhile. At the same time, more than six in 10 Canadians think Canada should deal with domestic problems before increasing spending abroad, and 69 per cent prefer to donate to charities working within the country rather than on international issues. Most Canadians incorrectly assume that the country’s foreign aid spending is close to or above the United Nations target of .7 per cent of gross national income. The actual figure, as of 2015 was .28 per cent for Canada, and .17 per cent for the US. The United Kingdom, Netherlands, Denmark, Luxembourg and Norway all exceeded the UN target. As with many issues around attitudes to charity and giving, people of faith are much more receptive to supporting international development efforts than the population at large. One in three practising religious Canadians are heavily involved in overseas development work, compared to only one in 20 nonpractising Canadians. The information comes from an Angus Reid Institute survey of 1,802 Canadians in the fall of 2017. ◆
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The Marketplace July August 2018
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