July-August 2020
Where Christian faith gets down to business
Giving back:
Support for suppliers is important to Kenyan entrepreneur
Indiana businesses adapt to pandemic Reflections on layoffs Driving lessons in Haiti
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The Marketplace July August 2020
Roadside stand
COVID-19 threat underlines importance of international development work The coronavirus pandemic may hit developing nations with a triple whammy: attacking people’s health, livelihoods and food supply chains. The United Nations estimates the number of people facing acute food insecurity could double in 2020. UN officials say the pandemic could slash nearly $8.5 trillion from the world economy over the next two years and force 34.3 million people into extreme poverty this year. Without action, as many as 1.6 billion people will be unable to earn a living, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warns. The warning makes clear the importance of economic development. MEDA’s work speaks to improving livelihoods, particularly in the agrifood and agribusiness space. Supporting and helping to create robust supply chains is MEDA’s sweet spot. MEDA partners such as Rose Mutuku, whose Smart Logistics firm is profiled in this issue (see pp 8-10), work to ensure that farmers receive the highest value for their production.
Jordan Valley Links program in promoting financial literacy. JVL has started over 600 savings and loan groups, comprised of 10,000 women and youth. Without any external funding they have generated close to half a million Canadian dollars from which they are borrowing small loans and investing for small-scale businesses, staff report.
MEDA status MEDA staff worldwide have been working from home since the COVID-19 pandemic struck in March. On a few case-by-case exceptions, international staff have been permitted to make short road trips when it was deemed safe to do so and required for their project. In one situation, Ethiopia staff needed to travel by road to gather invoices for rice as well as protective equipment for staff. Hand hygiene, masking and physical distancing are important parts of keeping staff safe in any situation. Those protocols will continue to be used when MEDA
Debt woes in Jordan A recent New York Times article noted that many Jordanian women are becoming trapped in a cycle of debt after taking out microloans from unregulated, unscrupulous lenders. Jordan criminalizes debt, and women who fail to repay promptly are threatened with jail. This sad situation, and the reality that desperately poor borrowers are often illiterate and unable to understand loan terms, underscores the importance of MEDA’s Follow The Marketplace on Twitter @MarketplaceMEDA
The Marketplace July August 2020
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offices begin to re-open. MEDA has dedicated security staff who are closely monitoring the situation. Factors that will influence whether partial reopening of offices is advisable include the following: No increase in disease spread, and ideally a reduction of same, in an area for at least 10 to 14 days. A functioning and intact medical system in the area in question. No government constraints, such as lock-down orders, in that area. No incidental risks, such as workers from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) being blamed for bringing COVID 19 into an area. Measuring those criteria is not simple. Getting accurate data can be difficult in some places MEDA operates. As many as five to 15 percent of people in those countries may have the COVID-19 virus. Of that group, 80 per cent don’t show any signs of illness. Some people point to suggestions of seasonality as hopeful signs. While there is some evidence that heat and ultraviolet radiation appear to kill the virus, there have been significant outbreaks in Nigeria and other warm, sunny climates. MEDA staff will not be working from their normal offices until health officials in various governments say it is advisable to do so and measures are in place to ensure staff can work safely. w
In this issue
Features
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COVID casualties
Reflections on job loss as a result of the pandemic, and how to respond. By April Yamasaki
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Better trees, better lives
MEDA helps Ghanaian farmers flourish through tree crops.
MEDA client Edith Aseiduwaa
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Re-opening under new rules
Elkhart County businesses pivot to operate amid virus fears By Marshall V. King
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Adapting to different rules of the road
Wally Kroeker, retired editor of The Marketplace, reflects on his first international trip — to Haiti — 35 years ago.
Departments 22 Roadside stand 24 Soul enterprise 20 Review Carissa Mast boxes vegetables at Clay bottom farm 3
The Marketplace July August 2020
Soul Enterp prise
Can Zoom replace face-to-face contact? The Analog Church: Why we need real people, real places and things in the Digital Age. Jay Y Kim (Intervarsity Press, 2020, 203 pp., $18 US) By Fred Redekop I received this book March 18. I had been in self-isolation for almost 10 days, at the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis. The purpose of the book is to convince the readers of the need for in-person church, and to move away from technology in worship. Virtual spirituality moves us “toward performance rather than worship.” A timely read for these times of lockdowns and isolations. We cannot currently meet together in church buildings so we are meeting online. Churches are trying to meet together over the airwaves. Even the Old Order Mennonite Church in Pennsylvania meets with the aid of telephone conference calls. Kim’s thesis is at the moment not possible, so it invites the opportunity to reflect on what might happen to us as we meet as a virtual church. Can positives come from forced isolation? Jay Kim is a pastor from California. He is a young church leader on the ReGeneration Project, and has a podcast, Regeneration Podcast. Kim is not anti-technology in his following of Christ, but his book asks questions about how the techie stuff changes some fundamental things that we need to be an authentic Christian community. Kim’s thesis is that we have to continue to meet together, and not be dependent on technology to meet virtually. We should not try to be church through cool technology. He writes, “And in the digital age, one of the most upside down things the church can offer is the invitation to be analog, to come out from hiding behind our digital walls, to bridge The Marketplace July August 2020
our technological divides, and to be human with one another in the truest sense — gathering together to be changed and transformed in real time, in real space, in real ways.” The book has three parts: Worship, Community and Scripture. In the worship chapter he talks of the aspects of worship, focusing on preaching and singing. For preaching he writes, “the sermon is much more than prepared content of the communicator and its public delivery; it is the sum total of its various elements — speaking, listening, delivering, responding — and it involves everyone in the room.” He is not saying good things cannot happen when the sermon is projected to a variety of sites, but it is better in person. As I have been preaching for
“…one of the most upside down things the church can offer is the invitation to be analog, to come out from hiding behind our digital walls, to bridge our technological divides, and to be human with one another in the truest sense.”
many weeks to an empty worship space, I agree with him. It is not normal, but it may continue to be normal. How is this experience for the “hearers?” The Scripture section has a chapter on communion. In the times we are living in today I would have said, you cannot have the Last Supper digitally, but at the church where I pastor, we had to do it. I said the words, “take your piece of bread and your cup of juice.” Kim states, “We must invite them to show up, hungry for the body of Christ, because as much as modern technology wants to tell you so, you can’t eat and drink together online.” But various governments legislated that we could not meet as churches and eat and drink. How did your experience of communion invite you to deepen your relationship with God? Is Zoom, Facetime or Skype a real community? Discuss. w Fred Redekop pastors Poole Mennonite Church. He also serves as a Woolwich Township councillor.
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Pandemic Prayer By Carol Penner Great God: our community gathers in spirit through the marvels of technology to give thanks together. Thank you for medical professionals and staff who work so faithfully in hospitals, clinics and nursing homes… give them strength, courage and personal protective equipment. Thank you for the diligence of scientists working on a vaccine, and the way so many have ramped up the production of essential supplies. Thank you for storekeepers and clerks, farmers and truck drivers, police officers, firefighters and all who show up to work every day in essential services. Thank you for those who care for children in close quarters, and all the creativity and patience they are showing. There is so much to be thankful for, we pause here to lift up our own silent prayer of thanks…. We come to you with many needs today. Hear our prayer for those who are sick with this virus… ease their suffering and restore them to health. Hear our prayer for those who are grieving, who bury their loved ones without the comfort of funerals, or the physical presence of family and friends. Hear our prayer for the unemployed and business owners in this time of financial insecurity… help them survive this economic downturn. Hear our prayer for children whose routines are disrupted and who long to play sports and visit playgrounds… show them how to have fun inside. We pray for vulnerable people everywhere, especially refugees, and people in war-torn countries who have no access to medical care…. we need a miracle to spare them from this virus. Finally, hear our prayer for public health officials around the world— give them wisdom as they make decisions to reduce fatalities. This week, when we are tempted to dwell only on our own loneliness, help us reach out to others, being the community we long to have. Thank you for showing us new ways to be the church, the church alive, vibrant and witnessing to the risen Christ in times like these. Amen. Carol Penner is an assistant professor of theological studies at Conrad Grebel University College. You can read more of her prayers at her blog site: www.leadinginworship.com 5
Volume 50, Issue 4 July August 2020 The Marketplace (ISSN 321-330) is published bi-monthly by Mennonite Economic Development Associates at 532 North Oliver Road, Newton, KS 67114. Periodicals postage paid at Newton, KS 67114. Lithographed in U.S.A. Copyright 2018 by MEDA. Editor: Mike Strathdee Design: Ray Dirks
Postmaster: Send address changes to The Marketplace 33 N Market St., Suite 400, Lancaster, PA 17603-3805 Change of address should be sent to Mennonite Economic Development Associates, 33 N Market St, Suite 400, Lancaster, PA 17603-3805. To e-mail an address change, subscription request or anything else relating to delivery of the magazine, please contact subscription@meda.org For editorial matters, email mstrathdee@meda.org or call (800) 665-7026, ext. 705 Subscriptions: $30/year; $55/two years. Published by Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA). MEDA’s economic development work in developing countries creates business solutions to poverty. MEDA also facilitates the connection of faith and work through discussions, publications and conventions for participants. For more information about MEDA call 1-800-6657026. Web site www.meda.org Want to see back issues or reread older articles? Visit https://www.meda.org/download-issues/ The Marketplace is printed on Endurance Recycled Velvet and is 10% recycled (postconsumer waste), FSC® Certified to help meet client sustainability requirements, Acid Free, Elemental Chlorine Free
Cover photo of Rose Mutuku by Krista O'Brien
The Marketplace July August 2020
COVID-19 and the world of work Author reflects on job loss, how to respond By April Yamasaki Earlier this year MennoMedia made the difficult decision to cease publication of Purpose magazine after the August 2020 issue. For decades Purpose had offered inspirational stories of Christian faith to its readers, but it was no match for the financial impact of the COVID-19 epidemic. Its ministry of nurturing faith and discipleship through the sharing of personal stories will soon be over. By the time MennoMedia made the decision to close the magazine, I had already recruited the three new columnists that were to begin in fall. I had already received their first columns. Given the long lead time to prepare each issue, I had already accepted the other stories and puzzles for publication in September, October, and November. Although my job was ending abruptly, I didn’t feel right about simply walking away without saying anything. To end well, I wanted to thank my co-workers who had warmly welcomed me and helped me grow into my new role. I wanted to tell my new columnists and all of my writers for the fall quarter that their precious words would not appear in print as we had planned. I felt I owed it to them to tell them myself before the official announcement. One long-time writer said she cried when she read my email. Others said, “We understand the practical issues, but it seems like a time, more than ever, when people could use the inspiration that Purpose brings.” Another wrote, “I was The Marketplace July August 2020
and still am so grateful to you for being the one to break the news to me. I did receive your note before the official announcement, and believe me when I say it was so much easier to take this news from you with your kind note.” I’m sad that Purpose will no longer be a resource of teaching and outreach for individual subscribers and for the church. I mourn the loss of work that I loved and the loss of co-workers and writers that I had come to know in my year as editor. And I’m also keenly aware that my experience is just one small personal example among the countless COVID-19-related cancellations and closures in the last months. What began as a few instances of COVID-19 illness quickly became a public health crisis, and as populations went into lockdown and quarantine, the public health crisis soon became an economic crisis. Unemployment soared. Productivity slowed or in some cases stopped altogether. For 2020,
“Personal and corporate lament give us permission to be honest with ourselves, with one another, and with God.”
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the International Monetary Fund forecasts a 3% contraction in the world economy, which would be the sharpest drop since the 1930s. In this time of financial pressure and difficult decisions, how can the church support those experiencing workplace-related disruption, anxiety, and stress? How does Christian faith speak into the lives of business owners and employees, contract workers and freelancers, those with reduced hours or who are suddenly unemployed, and those just entering the job market who see few prospects? As we seek to live out our faith in the world of work and COVID-19, here are some things to consider now and in the days ahead. Realize it’s not all about you. When we’re under stress, we may become preoccupied with ourselves; instead, we need to realize we’re in this together. We need to care for one another, including those most at risk on the job: healthcare workers, meatpacking employees, and others in workplaces where physical distance is difficult to maintain. Whatever our work situation, we are all made in the image of God. Extend grace. Don’t assume that the worker receiving emergency funds is lazy. Or that the employer laying off workers is mean-spirited. Instead of hoarding toilet paper, canned goods, or other supplies, leave enough for others. Wait your turn at the grocery store, and give others physical space. Treat all workers with dignity and
respect. Share what you have. Leave room for lament. Acknowledge disappointment, grief, and loss. When my husband’s job was abruptly terminated a few years ago, I turned to the Psalms. “Give room to my words, O Lord; give heed to my sighing” (Psalm 5:1). “I cry aloud to God” (Psalm 77:1). Personal and corporate lament give us permission to be honest with ourselves, with one another, and with God. Pray. For all who experience work-related stress, for their physical and mental health, for work and provision for them and their families. For those in government to act responsibly, compassionately, and competently. For business, nonprofits, and churches to find new ways of serving and working. For healthcare workers putting their lives at risk, for medical researchers working toward effective treatments and a vaccine. Be mindful of mental health.
While physical and financial needs may be most obvious, mental health is just as critical. According to the United Nations, coronavirusrelated isolation and anxiety could lead to a global mental health crisis. So take time off from the relentless news cycle to rest, seek out wonder and beauty, practice other forms of self-care, seek professional help as needed, and encourage others to do the same. “Cast all your anxiety on [God], because he cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:7). Express appreciation. In Winnipeg two pastors promoted a city-wide whiteout with people posting white hearts, ribbons, and messages in windows and doorways as a thank you to essential workers in their community. On Giving Tuesday, a service 7
organization delivered tulips to all of its contract workers to express gratitude for their work. Say thank you in words and with other expressions of care. Hope in God. Remember that our personal identity and self-worth do not depend on our productivity in paid or unpaid work. We are not ultimately defined by our resume, job title, work experience, pay check, business assets, or balance sheet. Our security rests in our identity as the beloved children of God, who gives us “eternal comfort and good hope” (2 Thessalonians 2:16). w April Yamasaki has served as a congregational pastor and is now resident author with Valley CrossWay Church, Abbotsford, B.C. She writes online and in print about Christian living and often speaks in other churches and ministry settings. The Marketplace July August 2020
Smart Logistics founder Rose Mutuku discusses her company with a visiting MEDA group
Photos by Krista O’Brien
Business to benefit the community Kenyan woman works to raise farmers’ income Rose Mutuku has always wanted to give back to her community by helping farmers in her region. Growing up in a difficult area of Kenya where she had to walk more than six miles to fetch a litre of water, she knew well the struggles of small scale farmers in her region. Through the work of her company, Smart Logistics, and the training the firm has provided to her farmer suppliers, she has conThe Marketplace July August 2020
tributed to major improvements in their lives. “We’ve seen farmers move from grass hut homes, within three years, into very nice homes, because of the amount of money that we have paid,” she recalled during a presentation to a visiting MEDA group earlier this year. Early in her career, she worked for East African breweries as a supply chain manager. 8
While working there, sorghum became a raw material for the brewery. Rose felt sorghum could be grown in her region. She resigned from the brewery to promote sorghum within the community, starting Smart Logistics in 2009. “As I went into the market, I realized there are so much other things I can do.” She started introducing a number of other crops and com-
mercializing them. Up until 2015, Smart Logistics was buying sorghum for other companies as an aggregator or trader. That year, the government hit the brewery with an excise tax for one of their brands that was using sorghum. Mutuku saw a big gap in the value chain she was working with. The brewery quit producing the brand and buying the sorghum. “I didn’t know what to do.” “God was good at that time… my mind started running around and I was now thinking, what else can we do?” One day while doing housecleaning, she saw a plate of beans under her son’s bed. She removed the leftovers from a meal that consisted of a mix of beans and maize. She put the plate, which was dried out from sitting for a period of days, on the kitchen counter, added some hot water and continued her cleaning. When she returned, she found a nutritious, fresh-smelling meal. The notion of being able to recook dehydrated beans kept coming back to her. She began cooking beans and trying to dry them “they burst out, they all became popcorn.” Then she tried cooking them in a microwave and other methods but could not get them whole. Eventually, she cooked the beans and just put them under a bed. “After awhile, they dried, and they were whole.” Mutuku began studying the temperature of the room and was able to reproduce the conditions in her factory, using a heater and fans. “It was about 10 kilos, they worked.” With that success, she packaged beans and gave them to friends, who liked the product and began ordering them. She could not keep up with the orders. Initially, it was difficult for her
to get financing for a woman-led business. “As a woman entrepreneur in Kenya, it’s very difficult. … (Banks) say you have no collateral; you can’t get financing.” After lenders agreed to advance her some capital to put up a larger factory, she started producing beans in quantity. Smart Logistics has developed a number of other products including bean snacks, some done at her factory and some made elsewhere because she does not have enough machines. MEDA became aware of Smart LogisFarmer Paul Makau has seen great benefits from supplying tics after staff memSmart Logistics. ber Walter Tinega ing building a raised bed. met Mutuku at an exhibition. He “Some of the crops that we thought the company could beare buying like sorghum, beans, come a lead firm, providing trainthe pulses, were not commercial ing and assistance to farmers. crops,” she said. “They were sub“With MEDA, we’ve actually sidiary crops. But they are seeing been able to get more than 3,000 an increase in production because farmers to supply us,” Mutuku (their crops) are going to a factory.” said. “The farmers are very happy Since receiving $80,000 in because they know where they are support from MEDA as a matchtaking their products.” ing grant, SL has expanded from MEDA’s support helps financiers one to six product lines, includto believe in the company, she said. ing: bean flours that women use to MEDA’s financial support make soups, stews and thickeners allowed Smart Logistics to start agfor meat dishes for their families, gressively training farmers on qualand a bean snack that combines ity, aggregation and conservation beans with sorghum and a bit of agriculture, as well as providing honey. (Mixed with milk, it turns crop insurance and connections to into porridge that caregivers feed to financial institutions. That support their children.) also helped Mutuku to do product Mutuku has seen farmers development and marketing. improve their productivity, increase Smart Logistics’ training has their land holdings, and most sighelped some farmers to add value nificantly for her, women farmers to the products that they supply. being paid directly. Staff help farmers find innovative Some farmers, who had not ways to dry their products, includ9
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previously earned $100, have earned $30,000 in a season since they started supplying Smart Logistics, she said. Bank accounts were a new idea for some of those farmers. Mutuku recalls one farmer asking not to be paid until he could be told what to do with the money. Others did not understand how to make withdrawals. “It’s quite exciting to see all the transformation that’s been happening to farmers, especially within the period of time that we have been supported by MEDA to operate.” One such farmer, Paul Makau, owns one acre of land on which he grazes his dairy cows and rents another four acres for growing sorghum. “I’ve really improved my income here,” he said of sell-
The Marketplace July August 2020
ing to Smart Logistics over the past three years. Smart Logistics has also created employment for youth. They have bought motorbikes and travel around working as aggregators. The company has increased its staff from 13 to 21 since they began working with MEDA. Sales have increased and now the company has added farmers to its value chain without even having to recruit. “They knock on the door,
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which is a nice thing.” Initially, Mutuku’s husband was not supportive of her running a company. “But with time, as he saw what is coming up, now he is a great supporter of the business.” Her husband works in a government job and sits on the company’s board, offering ideas. Her son is employed by the firm. As with many businesses, challenges remain. Smart Logistics did not have enough raw material to run the factory in January due to drought last year. Heavier rains in early 2020 have made it difficult to dry materials. Even when the weather cooperates, the company cannot meet all of its orders without expanding its production capacity. w
Growing better futures through seedlings Ghana project helps farmers and suppliers profit from growing tree crops Edith Aseiduwaa wanted a better life for her family than her work as a casual laborer could provide. The Ghanaian woman learned the skill of grafting tree seedlings and started a simple nursery near her home. Financial support from Ghana’s export promotion authority gave her operating capital that allowed her to focus full-time on growing cashew seedlings in her nursery. But the government program ended, and she lost her husband. These setbacks left her as a widow with three children to support and forced her to abandon her university studies. MEDA’s Farmers Economic Advancement Through Seedlings (FEATS) program is working to improve the livelihood of Edith, other nursery owners and the farmers that their businesses supply. The lowest (income) 20 per cent of farmers in Ghana are engaged in subsistence farming. FEATS is funded by Global Affairs Canada and donations from MEDA supporters. The project works from an understanding that helping farmers diversify into tree crops can significantly improve their economic wellbeing. Challenges obtaining quality planting materials makes it difficult for farmers to move beyond subsistence cropping and thrive. The FEATS project aims to strengthen the supply of quality seedlings. It also helps farmers gain increased financial capacity and business savvy, something that begins with learning proper record keeping. FEATS works in four areas of tree crops: cocoa, cashew, shea and
Edith Aseiduwaa photo by Elvis Brenya
Edith Aseiduwaa holds a cashew seedling.
rubber. Of these, rubber provides the highest possible returns, says Robert Austin, MEDA’s country director in Ghana. Gender equality, leadership training and training in grafting are key elements of MEDA’s approach. Most of the small and medium (sized) enterprises that grow seedlings for the project are women-led, says Eduoine Francois, senior project manager for MEDA’s West Africa, Middle East and North Africa programs. MEDA provides a discount on the price of seedlings, with farmers paying 50 percent of the cost. One of the project’s goals is that 80 per cent of the 35 supplier firms it works with will be women-led. That has proved challenging, given that many of the firms contacted were 11
micro-enterprises, Francois said. At the same time, those relationships have had positive results, Austin said. “I believe we have set them on a very sustainable path. That’s one of our really happy stories.” A matching grant and training from MEDA allowed Edith Aseiduwaa to expand her operation and develop a sustainable business. Last year, she produced 15,000 tree seedlings and re-enrolled at university to continue working towards a degree in agriculture. She is looking to increase her production this year and “has huge confidence about her future,” Austin said. “I think we at MEDA are delighted that we have helped set her up for life.” w (Photos on the next two pages show other MEDA clients working with seedlings in nurseries - ED.) The Marketplace July August 2020
Photos by Nikesh Ghimire
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Clockwise from upper left: A nursery worker with a grafted cashew plant. Grafting is done to produce a higher quality plant and nut. MEDA staff watch workers put protective covers over grafted cashew seedlings, skilled labor that requires at least a year’s training. Women most often work with seedlings due to their greater manual dexterity. Young laborers in a woman-led cashew nursery. Employing women and youth is a goal of MEDA’s Feats project.
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The Marketplace July August 2020
Doing business in a pandemic time Indiana businesses adapt to new realities following shutdown By Marshall V. King GOSHEN, Indiana — Ben Hartman was transplanting 600 tomato plants on an afternoon in midMarch at Clay Bottom Farm, the business he operates with his wife Rachel Hershberger. She was inside listening to Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb as he issued a stay-at-home order for the state in response to the COVID-19 global pandemic. Rachel came out of their residence near the plots and greenhouse on their farm waving her arms and saying that he needed to stop planting tomatoes because virtually all of them were for local restaurants. Hartman and Hershberger have
built a business feeding others with fresh produce. He has authored two books on how to apply lean manufacturing principles to growing fruit and vegetables. The past several years, they’ve focused on growing for six restaurant chefs in the Goshen area. With one chef, he’s just drawn up a list of what to grow, including Thai basil and cherry tomatoes, and made a handshake agreement. That same afternoon, Hartman and Hershberger started planting turnips, radishes, potatoes, green beans and other items. “We had a sense that diversity was going to be the way through this,” he said. The chef backed out of a handMarshall V. King photos
Ben Hartman and Carrissa Mast wash vegetables to put into CSA boxes at Clay Bottom Farm. The Marketplace July August 2020
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shake deal for Clay Bottom to grow specialty items for them. Another restaurant closed its current location altogether. All the restaurants he sold to closed for at least a few weeks or longer. As they reopened it was on a limited basis. “Overnight, we lost 70 percent of our business,” said Hartman. He and others faced questions about how to navigate an unforeseen, unprecedented business climate that had global and local implications. They’ve spent weeks and months making decisions about how to move forward. Clay Bottom quickly created a Community Supported Agriculture initiative with people paying $300 for an initial 10 weeks of summer vegetables. “It’s going to be a bit more of a gourmet CSA than it would be in normal circumstances,” he said, explaining that the shishitos (gourmet East Asian peppers) he would have sold to a now-closed restaurant will go to CSA customers via no-contact home delivery. They opted to not sell at farmers markets this year because someone on their farm is 60 and has a health issue that keeps them in quarantine. While they often have interns and a larger pool of employees, this year a niece is living with them and working as their only employee. Carissa Mast’s voluntary service term ended due to the pandemic and she landed at Clay Bottom. “I really think things are changing very quickly here, so we want to be as nimble as we can,” said Hartman.
Leaders of Das Dutchman Essenhaus wore matching facemasks and ties made by a longtime employee as they delivered Mother’s Day carryout meals to curbside customers. Photo submitted by Essenhaus.
While Clay Bottom is a small stocked up for cooking at home. stores. “We’ve never shorted anyoperation, Das Dutchman Essenhaus Essenhaus added a second shift and one before on noodles,” said Joel has a restaurant, bakery, inn, theater still couldn’t keep up with orders Miller, director of operations for the and retail shops in Middlebury, from Walmart, Meijer and other Middlebury group of businesses. Indiana. The restauIn mid-March, rant seats up to 1,100 it wasn’t clear that people and can feed the U.S. government thousands on a busy would help businesssummer day as toures pay employees or ists visit Amish councover costs. The famitry near Middlebury ly-owned corporation and Shipshewana. had reserves and was Within two confident that it could weeks, all aspects ride out a period of of the Essenhaus being closed. business were shut Essenhaus down — except one. offered carry-out Production of dried briefly but opted to egg noodles ramped cede that business up. In grocery stores to others. “There’re in this part of the so many restaurants Midwest, noodles are in Middlebury that a staple. They sold stayed open and quickly as people we’re all fighting for Lolly’s Fabrics in Shipshewana has an array of batik fabrics and masks. 15
The Marketplace July August 2020
what little carry-out Middletake money and dirty plates bury can support,” he said. off tables has to be altered. Company officials sent a Miller expects a lighter letter to their 300 employees tourist season this summer, promising to pay them for three but business was above their weeks, assured them it would predictions in the opening cover health insurance payweeks. Sales were 70 percent ments and urged them to apply of last year’s, higher than they for unemployment. The compapredicted. One day was busier ny sacrificed the ability to apply than the same day a year ago, for the federal Paycheck Proteche said. tion Program, but took a tax In nearby Shipshewana, break on payroll, Miller said. customers quickly found their On Easter weekend in way to Davis Mercantile, a colmid-April, Miller went to lection of shops downtown. Plain City, Ohio to help at Der Customer counts were similar Dutchman, a restaurant part to other years as the town’s Zac Stoltzfus manages Davis Mercantile in Shipshewana. of a sister company that was large flea market opened and offering carry-out meals. That a number of customers came That Saturday was the single busiexperience helped as Essenhaus from Michigan, where restrictions est day at Essenhaus in 2019. Miller made plans to reopen in May. on travel and business were tighter. thought they would sell food for They had personal protec“You wouldn’t believe how many 1,000 people and ended up preselltive equipment for employees and Michigan people we have coming ing enough for 2,000, as well as started calling them back. “We in day to day,” said Zac Stoltzfus, struggling to keep pies in the cooler. actually can’t physically get people who manages the mercantile for a They set up a system using techto come back,” he said. The $600 family ownership group. nology to note when someone drove from the Pandemic UnemployWhile much of the mercantile up and delivered the food curbside. ment Assistance program on top closed for March and April, its Rosalie Bontrager, a 40-year Esof unemployment pay means some floors were refinished, other maintesenhaus employee, made matching Americans are making good money nance and cleaning were done, and masks and ties for Miller and other staying at home. “We didn’t expect Stoltzfus communicated with others company leaders helping on a weekthat challenge turning it back on,” in town about how to reopen. end that was special both because Miller said. Lolly’s Fabrics stayed open all of the holiday and reopening. Its first offering of food was a but a week or two due to demand Indiana’s limited reopening take-home Mother’s Day dinner for fabric. The store has a large coincided with the Monday affor pick-up on the Saturday before. stock of batik fabrics and an exteter Mother’s Day and Essenhaus rior entrance. By the end of April, removed tables Lolly’s was open five days a week. to cut capacity to It sold and donated hundreds around 500 seats. of yards of fabric to a business Because of a diligent sewing masks. health department Someone complained to the in Elkhart County, Indiana Department of Labor that Essenhaus worked at Lolly’s was open and an excise offisanitation, but has cer visited. Stoltzfus explained why gone farther as it and the issue was moved up the reopens. “One thing chain. By the next day, Lolly’s was just leads to anothconsidered an essential business as er,” Miller said. Staff a fabric retailer. “That felt good to wear masks and have backing,” he said. sanitize surfaces. Lolly’s has masks for sale and But even how staff the building has hand sanitizer interact with each Customers visit Davis Mercantile in Shipshewana in mid-May. Stoltzfus’s wife Kayla made from other and customers, The Marketplace July August 2020
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Kate Leaman Steury (left) serves a customer at her Shirley’s Gourmet Popcorn location in Goshen.
aloe vera gel, lemon oil and grain alcohol. “There are some aspects of this new normal that will be positive in the long run and that’s the hygiene factor of a lot of this,” said Stoltzfus. Employees are given the option, but not required to wear masks as they return to work. He believes the media fed fear about the virus and doesn’t want to contribute to fear. He expects customer numbers to be back to normal by the middle of July. Stoltzfus, 27, hasn’t lived through financial hardships, but has seen family members become more cautious during leaner times. His grandfather, Alvin Miller, has helped him gain perspective on how to calculate risk and move forward. The Shirley’s Gourmet Popcorn on Main Street in Goshen closed for six weeks during the stay-at-home orders. The six other company and franchise locations in Ohio and Virginia also closed. Nearly
every day the Goshen location was closed, owner Kate Leaman Steury answered a phone call asking for information or an order. During that time, she built clear barriers for the counters and made decisions about how to operate safely after opening in mid-May, including not offering samples and putting container refills in plastic liners.
“I really think things are changing very quickly here, so we want to be as nimble as we can.” Ben Hartman, Clay Bottom Farm
“I’m excited to be reopened, even if I’m not sure what it looks like,” she said. Leaman Steury is building her business in Goshen, having just opened in June 2018. She has focused on bringing happiness and positivity. Having to close meant having to deal with the feelings that brought. “We didn’t close because we failed. We closed because the world stopped,” she said. Now, as she fills orders wearing a mask, she’s still smiling. “You can’t see the smile behind my mask,” she said. “I’m still smiling.” Business owners don’t know how they’ll have to respond or change in the coming weeks or months. They want to keep customers and employees safe. Leaman Steury and others are ready to adapt. “You need to be sharp. You also need to be mentally strong,” she said. w Marshall V. King is a freelance writer and journalist based in Goshen, Indiana.
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The Marketplace July August 2020
Driving Lessons For former Marketplace editor, Haiti required special training, and courage (Editor’s note: Since his retirement, former Marketplace editor Wally Kroeker has kept himself busy with a variety of writing projects in between visits to grandchildren and growing his beloved tomatoes. What follows is the first story in a booklet called Fieldnotes Volume 1. Journal entries from work abroad, a delightful collection of travel tales that mostly never made it into the pages of this magazine. Wally produced the collection for family and friends, but they deserve to be read by a wider audience. This story came out of the first international trip he took as a MEDA employee, in 1986.) By Wally Kroeker Within minutes of getting into a vehicle at the Port-au-Prince airport I realized I was in a time warp, driving-wise. It was the first of several visits I would make to Haiti, and our first exposure to a genuinely low income country. My wife Millie and I were picked up by colleague Ron Braun, then leader of MEDA’s Haiti program, and one of the five smartest people I’ve ever known. A swashbuckling blend of erudition, compassion and cool, he reminded me of Harrison Ford without the iconic fedora. He was Indiana Braun. The airport was not exactly a picture of orderly traffic, so it seemed perfectly natural for Ron to make a safe but verboten U-turn. It caught, however, the attention of a policeman who flagged us down, scolded Ron in Creole and wrote out a citation. Then the officer demanded Ron’s driver’s licence, which he surrendered with surprising calm. As we drove off, Ron explained that they often took your licence and you would supposedly get it back when you came in to pay the fine. In many cases, though, they wouldn’t be able to find it so you’d The Marketplace July August 2020
have to apply for a new one in your home jurisdiction. So why was Ron so casual about handing his over? Despite his fondness and respect for Haitians, he kept expired Manitoba licences handy just in case. One year, in desperation,
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he surrendered his old university library card, complete with student photo. It looked official enough to work. From then on, I retained a couple of expired licences in a special pocket of my wallet. I never needed them. A few days later we were driving on a rural road in Ron’s SUV. A bridge was out, but Ron was not deterred. He put the vehicle into 4WD, pulled off the road and headed straight for the river. It was shallow, and he made it across easily. He smiled, as if to say, “Welcome to the back country.” On one trip to a cocoa coopera-
tive we were stopped by soldiers wearing fatigues and brandishing carbines. The air was thick with implied menace as they demanded a donation of five dollars to their “youth project.” I nearly herniated a lumbar disc reaching for my wallet to comply, but Ron argued with them. “Too much,” he said. They settled for two and I peeled off a pair of American singles. I was too shaken to be grateful for having saved three bucks. For Indiana Braun, it was all in a day’s driving. When on a later visit I was given an Isuzu Trooper to drive to Cap Haitien, our local manager issued a stern alert. “There’s a lot of foot traffic along that highway. They sometimes forget about people like you and stray off the narrow shoulder. If you happen to hit someone, don’t — I repeat don’t — stop as you would back home. Keep going and try to find a police station and turn yourself in.” The issue was vigilante justice. Hit someone with your vehicle and it’s your fault. People appear out of the woods with rocks. You could get stoned, literally. One day we were in a
crew cab on the way to a microfinance project. Up ahead there was a commotion. A vehicle had
crashed and the driver, unconscious, apparently suffered internal injuries. Could we take him to the hospital? We loaded the man into the box of the crew cab and drove to the nearest hospital, where we were instructed to deposit him at a makeshift annex, a free-standing structure a bit bigger than a typical garage back home. We were invited to stand outside the unscreened window where we could watch his surgery — our reward for having brought him in. None of us did. We swallowed the horror that engulfed us at several levels and went on our way. We never heard what happened to him. That was driving in Haiti, the poorest country in the western hemisphere. It was a long way from Winnipeg where my biggest driving challenge was dodging potholes in the pavement. w Wally Kroeker edited The Marketplace magazine for 32 years until his retirement in 2017. He has authored several books, including Faith Dilemmas for Marketplace Christians, and An Introduction to Russian Mennonites: A Story Of Flights And Resettlements-To Homelands In The Ukraine, The Chaco, The North American Midwest, Germany and beyond.
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The Marketplace July August 2020
Review
A commitment to service By Jake King The ServiceMaster Story: Navigating Tension between People and Profit by Albert M. Erisman (Hendrickson Publishers, 2020, 208pp $24.95US) ServiceMaster’s roots lie in simpler times — when door-to-door sales of in-house mothproofing and carpet cleaning were viable businesses — but this company’s singular focus on service-based businesses, God, and people over profit led to voracious growth for nearly a century. The ServiceMaster Story: Navigating Tension between People and Profit chronicles this business’s evolution under the leadership of seven CEOs, five of whom were guided absolutely by the company’s longstanding four objectives: “To honor God in all we do, to help people to develop, to pursue excellence, and to grow profitably.” Through anecdotes and supporting data, author Albert M. Erisman explains this faith- and people-centered culture by biographing each of ServiceMaster’s CEOs as they navigated changing business climates. Founded in 1929 offering the above services, ServiceMaster grew to international conglomerate status by the 1990’s, with well over $5 billion in annual revenue and, oddly enough, three initial public offerings. Faith and purpose were central to founder Marion Wade’s business, “to be accountable beyond himself to do things in the right way, to treat people in the right way, and to value every person made in the image of God.” They have remained so for the better part of its existence. ServiceMaster prioritized employee dignity in businesses like janitorial work that otherwise considered people disposable. New management hires were famously required to spend two to three weeks doing cleaning work themselves to underThe Marketplace July August 2020
stand the value of their employees. Servant leadership and attention to employee well-being led to significant expansion for a company with humble roots. It was the subject of two Harvard Business School case studies, selected repeatedly as Fortune magazine’s service company of the year, and continually earned the commendations of Wall St. analysts. ServiceMaster grew to encompass a variety of service-oriented franchises, a hospital cleaning business, lawncare (Trugreen), and pest control (Terminix). But the company began to lose its way early this century. As the presence of old leaders dwindled, so too did ServiceMaster’s unique ethos. The company hired its first outside CEO, and the original four objectives slowly disappeared. ServiceMaster today is a shell of what it once was: in culture and in its dedication to the original values, but also in revenue ($2.1 billion in 2019, down from nearly $6 billion in 2000). I enjoyed learning about the
“Servant leadership and attention to employee well-being led to significant expansion for a company with humble roots.”
ServiceMaster legacy: the pitfalls of losing the soul of the firm, the importance of developing purpose for employees, and the power of values apparent at all levels of leadership. Those who know the ServiceMaster name will find the book of great interest. But The ServiceMaster Story left me feeling like I’d missed a prequel: what I now recognize as ubiquitous ServiceMaster names came hard and fast. More context on today’s ServiceMaster brands early in the book might have eased the transition. I kept wondering, “Does everyone know of ServiceMaster?” Despite a career in the public markets, I certainly didn’t. An informal survey of family and friends turned up just two who knew the company. One because he had recently bid against a local franchise, and then my Indiana-raised father. That’s for the worse. The ServiceMaster Story is an inspiring, if cautionary, tale, a worthwhile read for those of us navigating the world of people, faith, and profit. Just do some light background reading first. w Jake King tries to navigate faith, people, and profit in his various business ventures. He lives near Lancaster, PA.
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New rights for US consumers Laws require companies to heed customer wishes about data use As US businesses re-open and adapt after the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, they have a new issue to contend with — laws that require them to respect their customers’ privacy rights. The California Consumer Privacy Act, which came into effect earlier this year, is ground-breaking legislation. “For consumers, it’s a huge deal,” says Denver-based privacy expert Teresa Troester Falk. Europeans have had rights around how their personal data is processed as far back as 1995. That was enhanced in 2018, when the EU's General Data Protection Regulation came into force. The California law is the first time that US legislation has allowed consumers to ask companies “what information they have about me,” and to insist that such data not be sold, Troester-Falk said. This legislation affects any firm doing business with Californians that has $25 million in sales or 50,000 customers. California is the fifth largest economy in the world, so any sizeable firm that is processing data will be covered by the law, she predicted. The new measures will have a huge impact on business processes and data flow, given that there are now consumer rights, she said. Developing a corporate policy to comply with the new law is only the first step. Locating data “is not so easy,” given the number of places it resides within an organization and the fact that it flows at a rapid speed, she said. “Just knowing where your data is, now is a big deal.” Companies also need to be aware of nine exceptions under the law that
Teresa Troester-Falk 21
The Marketplace July August 2020
allow them to keep data. Retaining information when it is required to fulfil a contract or for security and fraud detection are examples. Depending on the systems a firm uses, complying with a customer request can cause other, internal problems. “Data deletion can wreak havoc on data tables.” Troester-Falk was raised in the small southern Ontario village of Millbank, west of Waterloo. Her parents operated a building supply centre. The family attended Poole Mennonite Church. That background provided a lifelong connection to family business and made her “an entrepreneur at heart.” She did undergraduate studies at Conrad Grebel University College, then attended law school in Toronto. Her initial legal career was as an international trade attorney for an Ottawa firm. She subsequently moved to the US with her husband. She worked part-time for seven years when her sons were born, then re-entered the workforce full-time as privacy compliance associate for DoubleClick, a corporation that was a pioneer in bringing advertising to the Internet. At the time, DoubleClick (later acquired by Google) was “in the firestorm” of a Federal trade Commission investigation. “It was a happy accident in terms of my career development. … It (privacy law) kind of chose me, I grew up with it and have been in the field now for 17 years.” After working with multinationals in privacy roles and in strategy for a privacy compliance software firm, she started Blue Sky Privacy last September. Through BlueSky, she and over 30 contractors who work with her help companies to build compliance infrastructure. “There’s a huge opportunity in the marketplace, and where I saw a gap was, support for companies to help them operationThe Marketplace July August 2020
alize privacy law requirements.” That opportunity involves helping businesses align their privacy compliance initiatives with their culture, risk profile and existing processes to be sustainable over time. BlueSky works internationally, but the core of its current clients is across the US. Although the pandemic has led to cost-cutting at many organizations, there will be a lot of work in the industry as firms face the new reality, she said. In organizations that have privacy officers, almost half of those people consider building a privacy program their top priority, she wrote in a 2019 article. “We have a unique privacy history in the US,” quite different than the European tradition, she said. The Cambridge-Analytica scandal was the impetus for government regulation, she said. Cambridge-Analytica came under fire after reports surfaced that it had retained copies of private data for about 50 million Facebook users. Many states are following California’s lead. Before the coronavirus pandemic interrupted regular operations, 19 states, including Pennsylvania, Florida, Arizona and Illinois, had pending bills. Nevada has already passed a new law. Will the federal government get in the act and pass overarching national legislation? “Nobody knows,” she said,
“Privacy is something you need to consider now as part of your compliance infrastructure.”
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adding that “everybody now wants federal regulation” despite the failure of other federal privacy bills. An individual’s ability to sue — private right of action in legal terms — is a key element that many politicians want to see in a federal bill. Troester-Falk’s advice to businesspeople can be summed up in three words: “Know your data.” “It’s basic and foundational, but very few companies have invested in data mapping, data inventory,” she said. “It’s a pretty big undertaking, but it’s going to become increasingly important.’’ Knowing what data they have, why they have it and where it is are key issues for companies to understand. A firm that is subject to California law will need mechanisms in place to fulfil customer requests. Given that processing each request can take seven to 12 hours, having a procedure in place that can scale (up) is important, she said. “Privacy is something you need to consider now as part of your compliance infrastructure.” California’s law has “given consumers choice, for sure,” as tech giants are now forced to offer privacy settings, she said. In many ways, organizations such as Google and Facebook "fall outside of large areas of the law, because they have the consent of the consumers." Facebook has over two billion users, more than one-quarter of the world’s population. Asked if the new wave of legislation puts consumers on an even footing with companies in terms of data use, she hesitated. “I think we could have a pretty rigorous debate about that … Leveling the playing field? I don’t know.” Law cannot keep up with changes in technology, she said. By the time European legislation came into place, it was 10 years behind, she said. w
MEDA partner produces face masks to protect vulnerable Tanzanians MEDA partner WOISO Original Products Company, which produces leather and textile apparel, is shifting its operations to manufacture face masks for distribution in the Dar es Salaam region. The partnership between MEDA and WOISO to fund, produce and distribute reusable face masks came in response to the World Health Organization’s guidance on the importance of face mask use to limit and slow the spread of COVID-19, said Fiona MacKenzie, senior project manager for MEDA’s work in Eastern, Southern and Central Africa. Given that MEDA was not working with people most vulnerable to the coronavirus — the elderly, people with compromised immune systems and front-line workers, new arrangements were needed. “We worked through existing networks to establish partnerships to ensure these masks reached those most vulnerable
and in need,” McKenzie said. MEDA has been working with WOISO since 2017 as part of its efforts in Tanzania. In April, as the COVID-19 pandemic formally reached Tanzania, WOISO began addressing dire need in Tanzania for even the most basic protective equipment. MEDA, in support of WOISO, redirected project funds to enable WOISO to re-tool and purchase supplies and begin production. This will result in production of 20-25,000 masks produced per week, up to an initial run of 90,000 masks within the first month. While the masks that WOISO are producing are not surgical N95 masks; they are cloth and reusable, which makes more economic sense in the Tanzanian context for individuals who cannot afford single use masks. WOISO has secured Tanzania Standards Board (TSB) and Tanzania Medicine and Medical Devices Authority (TMDA) endorsement. 23
Photos courtesy WOISO
WOISO staff sew face masks (above left) as well as making footwear components.
MEDA has made funds available to subsidize the cost of masks for the elderly, individuals with pre-existing conditions, and frontline workers — people trading in local markets, most of whom are women. To reach these groups directly, and as rapidly as possible, MEDA is partnering with three new and well-respected non-governmental organization partners: HelpAge, Médecins du Monde Tanzania, and Equality for Growth. w The Marketplace July August 2020
The Marketplace July August 2020
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