May June 2010
Where Christian faith gets down to business
To your health:
Dr. Business to the rescue Keeping staff safe in conflict zones An intern’s adventure: stage fright in Africa Youngest worker on Schindler’s List 1
The Marketplace May June 2010
Roadside stand
A tower of babble We’ve noticed a surge of attention in the business press to one of our pet peeves — the painful state of corporate communication. More and more periodicals have been complaining about bad grammar, mind-numbing writing and in-house jargon. And it’s not just that corporate writing is so dull; there’s also a growing suspicion that it’s rooted in something deeper — like lack of integrity. That vaults the issue beyond mere wordsmithing. Why should people in business care about clear speech? “How well you write says a lot about you,” says communications coach Jim Gray in The Globe & Mail. “Unfortunately, many people in the workplace are saying bad things about themselves.” No less a business icon than Forbes griped recently about the “inscrutable babble” of corporate jargonistas. (Some examples: leveraging synergies, implementing core competencies, and facilitating strategic processes to focus on key deliverables.) “Using jargon is not only lazy, it clouds the intended message, something best conveyed in concise English,” the magazine said. What impression does it make, asks veteran communications professor Don Ranly, if the person answering your phone speaks incorrect English? The use of clear and concise language sets people — and businesses — apart from the crowd. Writing and speaking that is dull, uninspired and convoluted is “just not good busiCover photo by Carl Hiebert
The Marketplace May June 2010
The Word on words • “His speech is smooth as butter, yet war is in his heart” (Ps. 55:21). • “Do not be quick with your mouth....let your words be few” (Ecc. 5:3). • “Your speech will mumble out of the dust” (Is. 29:4). • “You are not being sent to a people of obscure speech and difficult language....” (Ezek 3:5). • “Set an example for the believers in speech” (1 Tim. 4:12). • “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech” (1 Pet. 3:10).
ness,” says Jim Ylisela in The Ragan Report. “What good is a vital message if no one hears it? What value is the mission if people don’t understand it?” Experts agree that buzzwords, if employed at all, should be used wisely, not wildly. Jargon, they say, comes across as rude and phoney while clear and plain messages convey that you are honest and friendly. Read any number of company memos and you’re sure to see murky writing and incorrect usage. Check yourself: Do you say you “feel badly” when you “feel bad?” Do you know the difference between “convince” and “persuade,” between “affect” and “effect,” between “infer” and “imply,” between “orient” and “orientate”? Do you know when to use “myself?” (Almost never, it turns out.) Some authorities see ethical issues at play, as corporatespeak, jargon and cliches scrub away real meaning to dodge accountability for mistakes and failures. “The best way to communicate, from the Bible to the
blogosphere, is through clear, simple conversational language,” says Ylisela. “Get rid of the hype, ban the corporate speak, say what you mean and mean what you say. Clarity begets productivity and innovation. Simplicity leads to better understanding, which leads to engagement. Period.” Work escape: Nearly a tenth of workers devote more than 12 hours a day to their profession in order to escape from personal problems, according to the International Labour Organization. Experts say working more than 50 hours a week could be a determining factor in work addiction. (Psych Central News) Spell-checkers? You just can’t trust them, as a prominent Australian publishing firm found. A recipe in its new cookbook for tagliatelle with sardines and prosciutto went to press with a misprint suggesting that the dish required “salt and freshly ground black people.” The publisher blamed the error on a spell-check program that let “people” 2
slip through because it was spelled correctly (no word on how it got there in the first place). While defending the error as “quite forgivable” and complaining that people who objected were “small minded,” the publisher nonetheless ordered all 7,000 copies of the book destroyed. (Guardian) Mennonite Savings and Credit Union, Kitchener, Ontario, has been selected as one of Canada’s 50 Best Small and Medium Employers by Profit magazine. The magazine says MSCU, which is listed as having 135 employees, “integrates its core values of integrity, compassion and responsible stewardship into employees’ daily work. When recruiting, the credit union provides interview questions in advance, maintains communication with candidates throughout the process and offers constructive feedback. Employees are acknowledged for living their values through the firm’s Values in Action peer-recognition program.” Tardiness seems to be on the decline, possibly due to fear of job loss during the recession. A survey by CareerBuilder. com shows that 16 percent of 5,200 polled employees admitted to arriving late to work at least once a week. That’s a drop from the 20 percent reported in 2009. For those who came late, the top excuse was traffic (32 percent) followed by lack of sleep (24 percent). Among the outrageous excuses given: “I got mugged and was tied to the steering wheel of my car.” “My deodorant was frozen to the window sill.” “I dreamed I was already at work.” — WK
In this issue
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Dr. Business to the rescue
The “business of health” may have been tarnished in recent U.S. debates. But in some of the world’s poorest countries medical experts are writing prescriptions that only business can fill.
Keeping safe on the field
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In Tanzania: Saving lives and saving face. Page 12
Departments 2 4 15 20 22
Roadside stand Soul enterprise Soundbites Reviews News
Most development workers don’t do anything more dangerous than drive on bad highways. Nonetheless, MEDA is taking steps to enhance security awareness in increasingly volatile regions.
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Mama Kikwete and Me
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His father’s footsteps
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Schindler’s youngest survivor
It seemed simple — drive out to a village to see the launch of a new mosquito net program. It ended up with our intern sharing the stage with the country’s first lady. By Dan Albrecht
Death is a reality, but making caskets has been life-giving for woodworker Rick Zerbe Cornelsen, whose products walk lightly on the earth and bring people together. By Evelyn Rempel Petkau
He was only a boy when he began working in Oskar Schindler’s Nazi-era factory. Now, at 80, Leon Leyson tells business ethics students how he made it onto the legendary Schindler’s List.
Volume 40, Issue 3 May June 2010 The Marketplace (ISSN 0199-7130) is published bi-monthly by Mennonite Economic Development Associates at 532 North Oliver Road, Newton, KS 67114. Periodicals postage paid at Newton, KS 67114. Lithographed in U.S.A. Copyright 2010 by MEDA. Editor: Wally Kroeker Design: Ray Dirks
Change of address should be sent to Mennonite Economic Development Associates, 32C E. Roseville Rd., Lancaster, PA 17601-3861. To e-mail an address change, subscription request or anything else relating to delivery of the magazine, please contact subscription@meda.org For editorial matters contact the editor at wkroeker@meda.org or call (204) 956-6436 Subscriptions: $25/year; $45/two years.
Postmaster: Send address changes to The Marketplace 32C E. Roseville Rd. Lancaster, PA 17601-3861
Published by Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA), whose dual thrust is to encourage a Christian witness in business and to operate business-oriented programs of assistance to the poor. For more information about MEDA call 1-800-665-7026. Web site www.meda.org
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The Marketplace May June 2010
Malaria’s swat-meister
Starting at the bottom and cleaning up Derek came home one night to two inches of water from a burst pipe. The company he called at midnight to mop up the sodden mess was ServiceMaster, and he was pleased. When he checked their mission statement, he was intrigued. It said, “to honor God in all we do, to help people develop, to pursue excellence, and to grow profitably.” ServiceMaster cleans up — both literally and monetarily. “We have made a great business out of mundane tasks and services,” says the company’s former CEO, William Pollard, in his book Serving Two Masters? Reflections on God and Profit. “We do things like cleaning floors, carpets, and commodes; and killing weeds and bugs, things people don’t usually enjoy or want to do themselves.” How do they develop people in a business of ground-floor tasks? By elevating lowly jobs to the level of calling. Many of their employees have begun at the bottom (cleaning toilets) and have gone on to own their own franchise. “No matter how mundane the task, a person can achieve dignity and self-worth if the job is done well and if there is recognition for what has been accomplished,” says Pollard. Every ServiceMaster executive, no matter how high up the corporate ladder, is required to spend at least one day a year performing front-line service work with mop and bucket. Pollard says, “Our work should be an investment in a greater cause — the cause of developing people. This is the grand experiment of ServiceMaster. As a firm, we seek not only to excel in serving our customers and growing our profits, but also to be a moral community for the development of the human soul.” This means, among other things, helping people to understand themselves and their strengths, as well as their weaknesses and what is beyond their capabilities. In the end, the goal is “a community that works at shaping character and providing an environment where people can grow and develop into all that God wants them to be.” The Marketplace May June 2010
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On a desk in an office at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) there’s a sign that says, “If only Noah had swatted those two mosquitoes.” The clear religious reference may seem out of place in a secular agency, but it’s righton for the man who sits behind that desk. Tim Ziemer, a former navy pilot and church executive, knows malaria well. Too well. He caught the sickness as a child when his parents were missionaries in Asia. He’ll never forget the blinding fever, the burning lips, the deathly shakes. Today he is America’s malaria czar, head of the President’s Malaria Initiative, a $1.2 billion program started under George W. Bush and continued by Barack Obama. (Being a Bush appointee reappointed by President Obama makes him a bit of a rarity in Washington.) He came to the post following a stint as executive director of World Relief, an arm of the National Association of Evangelicals. The program he heads aims to halve malaria deaths in Africa by next year, using preventions such as insecticide-treated mosquito nets. Ziemer believes the target will be met, and hopes to have the program extended. In an interview with World magazine, Ziemer commented on the role of mixing faith and work in the high reaches of government. “Those of us who are working in the secular community, when it comes to administering programs we have to be neutral, open, and objective,” he said. “The faithbased NGOs must not abandon that spiritual component to what they do. Their big challenge is to make sure the world doesn’t see their engagement as a means to an end. They don’t exist to proselytize, they exist to show the whole reason for their faith — that is to reach out, just like Christ did, to love the poor and suffering, and be Christ to them in body, soul, and mind.”
Some people just don’t know when to quit. Like Delmar Rempel of Saskatoon, Sask. After nearly three decades as a professional photographer, you might think it would be time to hang up the camera. But Rempel keeps on, using his photographic and artistic skills to help others. He and his wife, Betty Brown, just returned from two weeks in Uganda. They were there to work on a documentary for a church agency on young girls who have been rescued from the streets. They brought back 8,000 images and 30 hours of video, working at a pace that would test younger people in better health. As they told a reporter recently, they don’t endure the rigors of travel, jetlag and sickness just for the fun of it. For years they have poured their hearts and skills into helping the poor in developing countries. MEDA can take a bit of credit. When Rempel was on the MEDA board a staffer in Haiti told him of a need to help struggling artists. As a former owner of a framing gallery, Rempel knew a thing or two about papermaking. He saw possibilities of making boutique paper from banana fibres and ended up building a papermaking machine and returning to Haiti to teach the locals and establish Haiti Papermakers International. The products from that enterprise ended up providing food, clothing and education for 2,600 children. On another MEDA trip, this time to Egypt in 2007, they were moved by a community of 2,000 women who scrounged garbage to stay alive. This led to a project of doing needlework on scraps of fabric. Seniors or not, Rempel and Brown are living proof that retirement doesn’t have to be a time to sit back and take it easy. (Canadian Mennonite)
Photo by Betty Brown
Retirement? You’d never notice
Delmar Rempel, right, teaches papermaking skills to women in Cairo, Egypt.
Making life work in a small town Theologian Barbara Brown Taylor stood impatiently in line at the smalltown post office as the elderly woman in front of her lingered at the counter, engaging the clerk, Elaine, in what seemed to be small talk. “There were six of us behind her, but Elaine never rushed her, never stopped smiling,” says Taylor. “When my turn came I raised my eyebrows as I slid my package across the counter.” Elaine knew what those raised eyebrows meant. “She lost someone close to her a while back,” Elaine explained quietly, adding, “I like hearing the stories. Plus, I learned a long time ago that people aren’t going to stop talking until they have said what they want to say.” Taylor remembered the book by oral historian Studs Terkel – Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do. The book led her to think about all the jobs she had held, and about all the working folk who make daily life work. “I have learned to stand patiently in line as Elaine greets her customers by name,” she says. Faith can be more than religion, Taylor concludes. What may matter more than religion “are the everyday ways we rise to our work, serving one another with gladness and singleness of heart, so that the life we share goes on working, not for any of us alone but for all of us together.” (Christian Century)
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The Marketplace Marketplace May May June June 2010 2010 The
What’s so healthy about business? In some of the world’s poorest countries medical experts are writing prescriptions that only business can fill
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Carl Hiebert photo
tiny village kiosks to large urban dealers — signed on, making the life-saving nets available to mothers everywhere. Being one of the first agencies to use a commercial approach to the distribution of healthcare products has given MEDA a high profile in the African health field. Its success turned heads in a continent whose economies continue to be wracked by endemic diseases (HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis) and high maternal death rates that can be substantially reduced through improved availability of drugs and health services. MEDA showed how private sector innovations can make a difference. Until then, the healthcare industry had not grasped how important a business partner could be in improving access to healthcare solutions. For MEDA, the foray into health provided a new way to address poverty. When a family suffers from malaria, poverty is sure to follow or get worse, as economic productivity falters. It also positioned MEDA for new opportunities as global funding for health rose.
hen it comes to health in Africa, a touch of business may be just what the doctor ordered. Unlike in the U.S., where business has been the villain of feverish healthcare debates, Africa is quite the reverse. There, it’s “business to the rescue” as public officials struggle to extend healthcare to scattered populations. They are finding that MEDA, though not by definition a public health organization, is an important ally in the business of saving lives.
Several years ago
MEDA staff discovered an unexpected health niche for its business expertise. MEDA was contracted by the Tanzania Ministry of Health to ramp up retail distribution of insecticide treated mosquito nets (ITNs) to battle malaria, the country’s number one killer of children. The “business genius” of the concept was to distribute discount vouchers to pregnant women which they could apply toward the purchase of a mosquito net. It turned out to be a winwin transaction — the women acquired a net at a discount, while retailers, many in remote regions, gained an incentive to keep a steady supply of nets on hand. Eventually some 6,900 retailers and 260 wholesalers — from The Marketplace May June 2010
Since the launch of the first mosquito net
voucher program in 1996, MEDA has become a major
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Carl Hiebert photo
as the Malaria Consortium. “Our programs are saving 30,000 lives a year through these activities,” says MEDA staffer Jerry Quigley, the architect of the original mosquito net voucher program.
player in using incentive systems to distribute health commodities. Since 2004 it has been the Tanzania logistics contractor for the only national scale voucher program for ITNs. It developed a similar voucher program in neighboring Zanzibar, and helped a Ugandan firm, Quality Chemicals, to develop commercial links for ITN promotion and distribution. MEDA also played a key role in raising standards for drug dispensaries in Tanzania. The country had thousands of little pharmacies that were unregistered and were not governed by national standards. MEDA was hired to be part of a project that sought to provide training and accreditation for these informal pharmacies. When a pharmacy passed the training it became an Accredited Drug Dispensing Outlet (ADDO). At that point MEDA stepped in with business training and microfinance loans to increase their inventory.
When a family gets sick, more poverty always follows as wage-earners are idled and productivity falters.
MEDA’s current pipeline of work includes longterm and short-term assignments worth $45 million for clients ranging from USAID to Johns Hopkins University. A new contract focused on two regions in Tanzania will help to expand maternal health services using insurance. The strategy is to give pregnant women a health card that allows them access to a menu of services that can include anything from an uncomplicated delivery at a clinic to a cesarean, to be managed by the country’s national health insurance fund and paid for by the German government. In a country with high birth mortality, the plan aims to increase the number of women using formal health services rather than unskilled village practitioners. “The health cards may use the technology and systems that MEDA learned through the voucher scheme, but for a different service,” says Quigley. “They want MEDA’s expertise on how we distributed and redeemed the vouchers and how we tracked and stored the information.” Beyond specific skills, the mere presence of a business mindset is helpful. “The business focus is unique in a room full of doctors and scientists,” he says. “They often need the reality check of a practical component.” He notes that the importance of healthcare in development is evidenced by numerous new global initiatives focused on Sub Saharan Africa. Three out of eight Millen-
MEDA has also
gained a global reputation for adapting microfinance programs to communities affected by HIV/AIDS, such as in Mozambique and Zambia. For the past four years it has been co-facilitator of the HIV/AIDS and microenterprise development working group for SEEP, the global microfinance industry association. It has carried out numerous consultancies in Ghana, Nigeria and Uganda for clients such 7
The Marketplace May June 2010
Carl Hiebert photos
nium Development Goals are related to health, so there’s plenty of ongoing developmental attention to this field. “The private sector will play a significant role in the provision of healthcare in developing countries,” he says. “There are huge opportunities for MEDA to increase its presence in the sector. Within five years, business solutions to health problems could represent $20 million per year in business activity for MEDA, spanning across a diversified portfolio of products and with funding from a variety of donors.”
As it ramps up its Business of Health activity, MEDA will focus on two areas: distribution of healthcare products (such as mosquito nets and pharmaceuticals to battle malaria and HIV/AIDS) and healthrelated financial services. Distribution is a growing field that could become a $2 billion investment opportunity over the next 10 years. Current distribution channels are highly frag-
Giveaway programs, while well-intentioned, remove the incentive for a retail store to stock mosquito nets. What then, does a mother do when her free net wears out.
Meanwhile, the “give-
away mentality” found in much of the development community continues to plague programs like MEDA’s. While well-intentioned, programs to hand out free mosquito nets, for example, have serious longterm limitations. Without a commercial component, there’s no incentive for a small store in a remote village to stock nets, and what does a mother do when her free net wears out? “It’s not going to go away,” says Quigley. “It’s pervasive.” An added obstacle is that most people in public health come from a social medicine background, with little grasp of the need to integrate commercial solutions. “People may readily understand that agriculture, for example, needs markets,” says Quigley. “But when you cross over into healthcare, that’s always been the domain of public systems where enormous amounts of money and power are tied up in bureaucracies whose very existence depends on getting the money and controlling the money. They are very resistant to giving up any of that money or power to a commercial option. “And that’s really no different than in North America.” ◆
A business focus always stands out in a room full of medical practitioners. They need the reality check that business offers. mented and could be a strong market for MEDA to develop improved supply chains and brands associated with product quality. “We have some good market niches,” says Quigley. “We can use our experience and expertise to apply our value-add to a variety of health problems, such as HIV/ AIDS and distribution of medications through retail kiosks or other market mechanisms.” There is also a clear demand for credit and savings products for microentrepreneurs dealing with healthrelated challenges such as HIV. Many microfinance institutions (MFIs) working in health-impacted communities are unable to offer formal savings products. This presents a significant opportunity for MEDA to work with MFIs to better serve this market. The Marketplace May June 2010
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Keeping safe As it increasingly works in volatile regions, MEDA takes steps to enhance security awareness
Ray Dirks photos
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uckle up. Stay healthy. Keep a low profile. Those are the safest things you can do when working in a conflict zone, MEDA staff were told by a seasoned security analyst recently. For much of its 57 years, MEDA has had little need for security policies. When it began working in areas of higher tension (Afghanistan, Pakistan), it decided to formulate a set of security procedures and guidelines, which have been in place since 2005. “The industry has evolved since then,” security expert Charlie Watt told MEDA staff in March. Watt, an independent security and intelligence professional from New Zealand, has more than 20 years experience in security design, risk analysis and audit compliance. He has seen combat in Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Georgia and Pakistan and has led hostage-rescue operations in Chechnya. He also has hands-on experience with several development organizations and understands the cultural and spiritual outlook of individual agencies and the flexibility they require.
For most development workers, the most dangerous thing they’ll do is drive on the highway
In working to update and formalize MEDA’s security procedures, Watt stressed that danger is not confined to conflict areas. Safety was not only a military issue but also reached into seemingly mundane issues like personal health and accidents. “It’s not just bombs and bullets,” he said.
What kind of emergencies were staff likely to
face? The most common were vehicle mishaps, a lost or stolen wallet/passport, or getting sick in transit. For most development workers, the most dangerous thing they’ll do is drive a vehicle, Watt said. Accidents are
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The Marketplace May June 2010
the main cause of injury and fatality among people who work for non-government organizations (NGOs). In developing countries, roads are often in poor shape. Traffic laws are nonexistent or unenforced. Police are limited in rural areas. MEDA has never experienced a terrorist threat, though staff have occasionally been mugged or threatened in other ways. But other development agencies have, Watt said, and the more MEDA takes the risk of working in failed states, the more important it is to have guidelines in place, even including the highly unlikely contingency of requiring staff extraction from danger zones. Watt’s workshop, and the introduction of a new staff security and safety manual, was intended as a safeguard rather than a response to any direct or immediate threats. Yet it was sobering for staff to hear of “incidents” involving other benign agencies that, like MEDA, work in countries that are “spiraling into chaos.” Much of his counsel was basic nuts-and-bolts advice, like providing travel itineraries to head office 48 hours before departing on a trip. Every staff member was issued a laminated card with a 24-hour hotline number to call in case of emergency. Following is a sample of advice from the 31-page safety manual:
the neighborhood wonder, “What is going on there that they need this extra security.” Establish several routes to work and vary them, as well as the time you depart for work and return home. Most incidents take place as the individual either leaves or returns home. It’s impossible to always know where you are going, but at least behave as if you know where you’re going. There’s nothing worse than being lost — and showing it. Rehearse what actions you would take if you were confronted. There is no right or wrong way to respond to an attack. Each situation will be different. Generally, your options are: talk your way out of it; give in to the demands made of you; shout for help; flee. Your life is more important than material possessions, MEDA’s property or your project. Is someone breaking in? Let them. Your life is worth more than a photocopier or a laptop.
Personal conduct
Personal security Keep a low profile. The lower your profile, the less benefit is gained by an organization that might do you harm. Some agencies use armored vehicles and armed guards. “My advice — don’t go there,” said Watt. “Once you’ve stepped up to that level, you can’t come back.” He said barbed wire, big walls and armed guards make people in
“Don’t bribe
Treat police and military with respect — their orders may seem stupid, but that doesn’t mean they are. Never “take sides” or express solidarity with any faction or political view. Respect local culture and mores; follow the advice of local staff. Fatigue is a primary enemy. Get adequate sleep and proper nutrition. Maintain a realistic work schedule. Staff who are over-tired become over-stressed, and are then of little use. Do not bribe officials or offer gratuities to officials for carrying out their work. One bribe leads to another and advertises that money is available. Reduce the likelihood of theft by being aware of the substantially increased value of money and materials in impoverished societies or communities impacted by war and drought. Dress inconspicuously — neat and clean without jewelry, expensive watch or fancy or immodest clothing.
officials. One
bribe leads to another and advertises that money is available.”
The Marketplace May June 2010
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Travel Wear your seatbelt and insist that others do, too. This is essential. Far more expatriates fall victim to routine traffic accidents than to security incidents. Consider carrying a dummy wallet, with some money in it, to give away in a robbery. If you attend a conference, remove your name tag as soon as possible to avoid being identified. Avoid staying on the ground floor or in a room facing an outside corridor. If possible, book a room between the second and seventh floors
Armored vehicles and armed above ground level to prevent easy entrance guards? “Don’t from outside and low enough for fire equipment to reach in an go there. Once emergency. Be especially alert you’ve stepped up when you are at a red light or a stop sign. to that level, you Develop the habit of adjusting driving speed to can’t come back.” avoid stopping at traffic lights. Be prepared to drive away, sounding the horn, if you are threatened. Observe what’s known as the “Bosnia rule” — if any person in the vehicle, local or international/expatriate, is unhappy about the journey on security grounds, then abort the trip. “If you are going from Kabul to Parwan and really feel it’s not safe, tell the driver to turn around,” Watt said. “In MEDA, you have that right.” Discussing this policy is a good way to make sure your drivers and translators feel part of the team and trip. Never, ever drive through a road block/checkpoint — there have been too many incidents of vehicles being shot from behind after passing through. Make sure your driver knows this policy — always stop.
and suspicious “wrong number” phone calls.
If you are abducted
Being taken hostage is probably the most devastating experience a staff member can undergo. The first 15 to 45 minutes of a hostage situation are the most dangerous. Follow instructions. Your job is to survive. Do not be a hero; do not talk back or act tough. Avoid appearing to study your abductors. If hostagetakers are attempting to conceal their identity, give no indication that you recognize them (but make mental notes if you can do so unobtrusively). Be cooperative without appearing servile or antagonistic. Try to keep cool by focusing your mind on pleasant scenes or memories or prayers. Try to recall the plots of movies or books. This will keep you mentally active. Positive thinking will lessen anxiety. At every opportunity, emphasize that as a MEDA staff member you are neutral and not involved in politics. These latter scenarios were highly unlikely and
were not intended to fuel paranoia or prompt fear, said Watt. Most development workers, even in conflict zones, were most vulnerable to the same safety threats they’d face at home. Nonetheless, he felt obliged to at least mention extreme possibilities. The best way to be safe was to avoid trouble in the first place, he said. His message was to develop a strong sense of security awareness and adjust behavior to take into account the environment and the possible risks related to it. ◆
Watch for signs of surveillance While surveillance was not often an issue, it was good to be prepared, said Watt. Some tip-offs to be alert for: seeing the same stranger in several places; being followed, either on foot or by vehicles; office inquiries by strangers; 11
The Marketplace May June 2010
Mama Kikwete and Me The ups and downs of serving as a MEDA intern by Dan Albrecht
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in the battle against malaria by expanding the availability and use of life-saving mosquito bednets. The setting for this story is a trip to the southern highlands to witness the latest chapter in this campaign — Tanzania’s Under 5 Catch‑Up Campaign (U5CC), which is a one‑time, free distribution of Long Lasting Insecticide‑treated Nets (LLINs) to all children under the age of five. I was eager to see how the theory and policies I was working with on a daily basis in the headquarters office were really playing out in the field. I was excited to learn that the first lady of Tanzania, Mama Kikwete, would be on hand to officially launch the U5CC program and hand out the first nets. On launch day my colleague and I headed out in our
Photos by Dan Albrecht
his is the story of how I met the first lady of Tanzania while on my MEDA internship* in Tanzania ... and then what happened next. Malaria is the leading cause of death in Tanzania. It’s also a major contributor to the continuing cycle of poverty and stifled economic performance. That makes it not only a critical health issue but also an important developmental issue. Since 2004 MEDA has been a leader * MEDA has run an active intern program since 1997 and has posted interns on MEDA assignments around the world. Learn more about the MEDA Internship program and view currently posted positions at http:// meda.org/WhoWeAre/Internships.html
The Marketplace May June 2010
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Kikwete nobly asked that the event be moved outside for benefit of the crowd, and everyone promptly filed out. Everyone, that is, but yours truly, who was fiddling with his camera and, having not understood the Kiswahili instructions, stayed sitting. By the time I realized that everyone had left, I stood — and ran directly into Mama Kikwete herself who proceeded to give me a big smile and handshake and (in English) said “Hello, how are you? Welcome!” Now, I wish I had at least tried out some of my Kiswahili and greeted her with “Shikamoo Mama” (a proper greeting to a female elder) or at least said something fun that would have made a better story like “Poa kachizi kama ndizi” (rhyming street slang roughly translated meaning “Crazy fresh like a banana”). Instead, I ended up with a rather proper “Very good, thank you,” and she was on her way. (Curse this proper manners reflex!) I filed out and found myself right on the outside stage directly behind Mama Kikwete, facing a crowd of several hundred people. Clearly I was not
white Toyota truck to the village of Madaba which would host the event. Upon arrival, we found out just how unoriginal we really were as the tiny village was absolutely invaded by an army of white SUVs and trucks for the launch event! The organizers had planned for Mama Kikwete to give a speech and issue the first nets of the campaign inside a tiny room in the health clinic which could fit only the invited guests but left out the crowd which had gathered outside. After we all entered the clinic room and were seated, Mama
When the country’s first lady (right) shows up for an event, it’s a big deal for local officials, villages, and even MEDA intern Dan Albrecht (left center). 13
The Marketplace May June 2010
supposed to be up on stage with the first lady and other important politicians but there was no easy way out so I just decided to stay put and try to look like I belonged. (Good luck.) The ceremony began with speeches in Kiswahili, and as usual I tried to pay attention and follow but I quickly began to lose focus. By the time Mama Kikwete took the stage I had completely lost my ability to concentrate and had slipped farther to the back of the stage to take photos. As I fiddled with the camera I looked up — and there was Mama Kikwete, turned around at the podium, looking directly at The program’s launch brought out local dancers and an army of white SUVs — the me. (Oh crap.) The people in front trademark vehicle of the development community. of me parted to make a path to the village clinic. Apparently, since I was standing there on the podium and someone beside me said, “It’s your turn, stage and had white skin, the people beside me assumed Mama Kikwete asked for you.” (This cannot turn out I was that NGO’s representative and hence the whole big well.) I told them it was a mistake but they started pushmisunderstanding. All I know is that I am thankful the real ing me toward the podium. representative stepped in when he did! By now I was dreading an embarrassing disaster but a As we made the drive back through the rolling hills, tiny piece of me found this pretty hilarious and thought, across bright red soil and through the scrubby forests that well, at least it might make an entertaining story someday. blanket the southern highlands of Tanzania, our MEDA I continued to resist, protesting that I didn’t speak truck was running five minutes behind the first lady’s conKiswahili, but they insisted — everyone was waiting and I voy. School children lined the road to greet her motorcade should go up and greet the crowd. and they waved freshly cut tree branches and colorful Now we were at the point where any further delay flags. When yet another white truck appeared on the would make things really awkward. Resigned to my fate, road they began to jump, wave and cheer loudly and we I started toward the podium and desperately groped honked our horn and waved back, to their delight. for something to say. The best I came up with (time and The sun was setting around us in that most wonderlanguage being major constraints) was “Mambo vipi ful East African manner that lights up the whole sky in Madaba? Malaria Haikubaliki! Asanteni sana!” Roughly bright pastels of pink, purple and orange and it gave me translated: “What’s up Madaba? Malaria is not accepta surreal feeling to end yet another surreal day here in able!” (Campaign slogan) “Thank you all very much!” Tanzania. I just soaked it all in with a smile on my face and (Exit stage left) found myself wondering how I manage to get into these Just in the nick of time another person pushed crazy situations. But then I realized that this just seems to through the crowd and took the microphone. I managed happen more over here. to slip back to my original place, having barely avoided a And that the ordinary has just become extraordinary very public spectacle of responding to a question I didn’t on a more regular basis. ◆ know and in a language I am just learning. (Phew, close call!) Dan Albrecht, New Hamburg, Ontario, has been working as a business Later, I found out that Mama Kikwete had made a development and communications intern with MEDA Tanzania since request directly to another American NGO in attendance September. You can read more about his experiences on his blog — “Another dusty foot philosopher” — at http://danalbrecht.com as to whether they could provide solar power units for The Marketplace May June 2010
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Soundbites
Is peacemaking ever bad for business? My memories of friends stiff with shrapnel, and former parks filled with tombstones, push me toward pacifism. During times of saber-rattling, I fly a peace flag from my office building. A neighbor once asked if I knew how much business I’ve lost by flying that flag. Because of what I’ve learned about the human costs of war in places such as Bosnia-Herzegovina, El Salvador, and Iran, it hadn’t occurred to me to measure the economic costs to my business of speaking out for peace. In fact, it’s hard for me to understand how someone could support a war they didn’t believe in because it was good for their business. — Travel entrepreneur Rick Steves in Travel As A Political Act
Bench strength One of the greatest untapped strengths of The Church is the entrepreneurs sitting in the pews every Sunday morning. They have unlimited business ideas that come from years of experience. These gifted entrepreneurs don’t need a structured system to tell them HOW to use their skills ... They just need someone or something to tell them that work can be worship. — Business as Mission Network
Philanthropreneurs A new generation of “philanthropreneurs” are less content with “chequebook charity” or simply engraving their names on a plaque at a building’s entrance. Instead, they’re taking a businesslike or investor-like approach to giving, insisting on accountability, setting up quantifiable goals to measure
the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome leading the agribusiness and finance group
Drivers of growth Today, more girls worldwide are in school. More women hold jobs and serve in public office.... But our progress is far from complete. Women are still the majority of the world’s poor, uneducated, unhealthy and unfed. They are the majority of the world’s farmers but are often forbidden from owning the land they cultivate or accessing credit to make those farms profitable. Women care for the world’s sick, but women and girls are less likely to get treatment when they themselves are sick. They rarely cause armed conflicts, but they always suffer their consequences and are often excluded from peace negotiations.... When women are free to develop their
the success of their donor efforts, and trimming the fat when it comes to charitable administration. — Investment executive Thane Stenner in The Globe & Mail
Why hunger? Breaking and sharing of bread is a symbol of love and communion, as well as food. In today’s world we can talk and send messages to any part of the world with a few clicks, so why is there a problem of hunger? On the wall in the India room in the FAO is a picture of Gandhi with a quote, “For he who lacks two meals a day, food appears as God.” The role of the UN, the role of MEDA and the role of many other development agencies is to build a world without poverty and hunger. Some do it with giving food, others with helping produce more food, and others with building businesses and infrastructure needed to process and distribute food and other necessities. Each play a vital role [but] more is needed, since the food supply must increase by 70 percent by 2050. — Former MEDA staffer Calvin Miller, now senior officer in 15
talents and contribute fully to their societies, everyone benefits.... When women are free to earn a living and start small businesses, they become drivers of economic growth. When women are afforded the opportunity of education and access to health care, their families and communities prosper. — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in The Globe & Mail
Working faith It is the daily tasks, daily acts of love and worship that serve to remind us that religion is not strictly an intellectual pursuit.... Christian faith is a way of life, not an impregnable fortress made up of ideas; not a philosophy; not a grocery list of beliefs. — Kathleen Norris in The Quotidian Mysteries
Sole business I like my work, even if the thing that interests me is trodden upon by you. — Shoe manufacturer and early MEDA founder Orie O. Miller, in a letter to former classmates in 1916
The Marketplace May June 2010
In his father’s footsteps Carpenter Rick Zerbe Cornelsen finds coffin‑making a rewarding career change Photo by Evelyn Rempel Petkau
by Evelyn Rempel Petkau
I
t’s an unassuming workplace. An expanded garage behind Rick Zerbe Cornelsen’s house is the workshop of The Village Casketmaker. For the past six years, Cornelsen has been building caskets between renovation and construction jobs. Today, he has left almost all the construction jobs behind to devote more time and energy to making coffins. Cornelsen, a member of Hope Mennonite Church, Winnipeg, where he serves on the steering committee, comes from a family of woodworkers. His father was a furniture maker in Germany, who came to Canada in the mid‑1950s and eventually became a pastor. Rick Zerbe Cornelsen of Winnipeg demonstrates how to put together his simple “But he never left woodTimberwise casket. “Extreme fanciness when people haven’t lived that kind of life in working entirely,” says Corthe first place seems incongruent” at their death, he says of his Anabaptist and Mennelsen. “It became a hobby nonite customer base. and then in his retirement it re‑emerged as a passion. When In 2001, when Cornelsen’s mother died and the famhe retired, he built a casket for himself and one for Mom ily buried her in the homemade casket, “the experience out of reclaimed materials and stored them in the garevived thoughts of offering something similar to the rage.” wider public,” he says. Cornelsen left his work as coordinator for the MennoThrough a funeral director friend, the family nite Central Committee Aboriginal Neighbours program in “became aware of the exorbitant mark‑up on caskets,” 2004 and began to build caskets in his backyard, supplehe says. “Being a practical‑minded and woodworking menting it with construction and renovation work. family, we often talked that someone should set up a small shop in their backyard where they could make casHe enjoys the pastoral aspect of this work. kets and sell them directly to families, offering something “There is a service element to this,” Cornelsen says. “In a simple, not too expensive and locally made. We talked very, very small way I can offer people something that is about it off and on for years, but it was my dad who redemptive because it brings the community back togethfinally did something about it.” The Marketplace May June 2010
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er a little bit. We need to face these events together as communities, as families and support each other.” Cornelsen comes into contact with people at a point when they are confronted with death. “Being in this business helps me to face the fact that death is a reality, inevitable, but my faith proclaims it is not final,” he explains. “It is not something to be denied or run away from. This work has been quite life‑giving for me, actually.” For Anabaptists or Mennonites who come from a tradition of simplicity and frugality, Cornelsen’s work offers them an alternative. “I don’t do this work because I want people to have a cheaper option, but a simpler option that is sensible in terms of our desire to walk lightly on the earth,” he says, adding, “Extreme fanciness when people haven’t lived that kind of life in the first place seems incongruent.”
Cornelsen also believes that part of people’s
God‑given work is to use their creative gifts for a good purpose. His caskets speak to an elegant efficiency. Finely crafted, the caskets he sells locally are beautiful yet simple. In addition to wanting to give people a simpler and locally produced alternative, Cornelsen feels a strong sense of environmental responsibility. He has designed a casket that uses sustainable resources and is very suitable for natural burials. The Timberwise casket is made from a soft wood that is fast-growing and readily available in Canada, uses no glue or metal, and biodegrades quickly. Weighing less than 85 pounds, his caskets can be shipped and easily re‑assembled. Cornelsen sees an emerging interest in alternative ways of doing funerals. “What I am doing is not radical,” he says. “It just means that people need to step outside the mainstream for this piece of the puzzle.”
While his business is still small, the volume of work has grown by word of mouth over the years. Cornelsen plans to develop a website (timberwise.ca) to market his Timberwise caskets across the country and even abroad. “Because I have a small workshop, relatively simple tools and little capital investment, I can make the caskets and sell them relatively inexpensively and still make a reasonable wage, thanks in part to the fact that the industry marks up caskets so much,” he says, admitting, though, that “it will get tougher as Costco and places like that start selling caskets from China. I’m hoping people will also make choices based on the integrity of the whole process. If that’s too idealistic, I guess I’ll be doing some other kind of work.” Originally published in the March 22, ◆ 2010, issue of Canadian Mennonite. Reprinted by permission. 17
The Marketplace May June 2010
On Schindler’s List The youngest survivor describes working in the factory of Oskar Schindler
“I
’m here to tell you my horrible story.” Leon Leyson, now 80, spoke gently despite his strong words. Students from two Winnipeg Mennonite high schools listened raptly. Many of the 600 young people had seen the 1993 movie, Schindler’s List, starring Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes and Ben Kingsley, and directed by Steven Spielberg. It won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture. The movie depicts real-life Oskar Schindler as a Nazi Party
lages and murder them. It chills my bones to think that a nation of philosophers, a nation of scientists and composers, would have a battalion of soldiers who would follow the invading army and ferret out Jews. A month after the invasion they came to my home town. Everyone who was related to me in Poland was murdered. My oldest brother who had escaped to the Soviet side was murdered there. Shooting people with bullets one at a time wasn’t fast
member and war-profiteer who used his business influence to save 1,200 Polish Jewish refugees by employing them in his factories and keeping them out of death camps. Leyson, the youngest worker on that famous list, attributed his escape to Schindler’s personal intervention. Leyson addressed the Mennonite students as part of a larger speaking tour that included an MBA class on Executive Responsibility at the University of Manitoba. Here is a paraphrase of the story he told.
enough. They devised ways of murdering people en masse. So they built death camps, and began to transport people from the ghetto to the death camps.
All that stood between
our family and the death camps was Oskar Schindler. Schindler had come to Poland as a war profiteer. He had been a counter-intelligence officer of considerable Leon Leyson rank and part of his “reward” was a factory that made kitchen goods. He turned it into a moneymaker, supplying enamelware to the army, and later added other war-related lines. He needed craftsmen, and heard about my father. My father was the first Jew he hired, and then he hired other Jews. As a youngster I, too, worked in one of Schindler’s enterprises. I first worked in a brush factory, making pushbrooms. My job was to nail the wooden covers on the base after the bristles were threaded. One day a Nazi officer stopped at my work station and said, “If you put the nail in crooked you’ll be shot in the head.” Later I operated a lathe, working 12-hour shifts. I was too small to reach the controls so I stood on a box. Schindler did a lot of entertaining in his office; there were parties every night. Afterward he would walk through the factory and visit with employees — as if they were human beings. He would stop and talk to me, even though I didn’t have much in common with him. One day when I went to get my food I found that he had left orders to double my ration. I don’t think he ever had a course in business management, but he did what a good manager does — talk to his employees. He was running a business, yet he would stop to talk to this boy on a box. He just wanted to make human contact with this kid of 13.
Until I was nine we lived in a small town in northeastern
Poland My father, a craftsman, was moved to Krakow to work in a factory, and eventually brought us all there. In the fall of 1939 Germany invaded Poland and everything changed. I went from a curious boy who looked forward to every day, to an enemy of the state. Step by step we Jews were marginalized. People lost their jobs because they were Jewish. Because I was a Jew I couldn’t go to school. At first I thought that was pretty good. But after a few days it wore off. We were not allowed in Krakow’s lovely parks. Jews had to provide free labor, and wear armbands with the Star of David. Then we were no longer allowed to live together with the resident population; we had to move to a ghetto with high brick walls. I don’t remember a time in the ghetto when I wasn’t hungry. Before the war Poland had been an exporter of food, but the Nazis restricted the food supply and now there was a shortage. Food became scarce. We didn’t have enough. My father had a job, and could leave the ghetto to go to work. On his way home he would smuggle food home — a few potatoes, some bread. In 1941 the Nazis broke their agreement with the Soviet Union and invaded the rest of Eastern Europe. They sent special troops, behind the regular troops, to seek out Jews in the vil-
He did what a
good manager does — talk to
his employees.
The Marketplace May June 2010
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Photos by Reg Litz
back.” That’s beyond the call of duty of a manager. He bribed to make sure all the women who were being sent to die were saved. One of those was my mother, who was taken out of a group that was going to be gassed. This was 1944. He spent most of the fortune he came to make to save 1,200 people from the death camps.
After the war my parents and I were sent to a dis-
placed persons camp in Germany for three years. Word finally reached relatives in the U.S. that we were still alive, and we moved to Los Angeles to start a new life. I got further training in the same line of work I had done in Schindler’s factory and began a career teaching high school industrial arts. For years afterward, everything I touched reminded me of the factory.
People often ask, How accurate was the movie,
Schindler’s List. If anything, it understated the reality. The movie can’t show you enough. My reaction? It was chilling. The worst part for me was the time the Jews were forced to go into the ghetto. The walls were so realistic. It could have been a picture of my family going to the ghetto. When I came to that part of the movie I almost wanted to jump up and shout at the screen — “Don’t go!” Schindler was a much better person in real life than he was shown in the movie. The indecision and wavering you see in the movie never happened. He was given credit for saving 1,200 human beings. But he did a lot more than that. That was only the beginning. Someone has said, “If you save one life, you save the world.” For every life he saved, there were all those people who were still to be born. There’s no telling how many people are still to come.
Leon Leyson, originally shown as Leib Lejzon on Schindler’s List, speaks to an MBA class on Executive Responsibility. Schindler would call me to his office and give me a piece of bread, which I would take back and share with my father and brother. He left orders that I should no longer be assigned to the night shift. One day when things looked especially bleak Schindler came to where my father was working, put his hand on his shoulder and said, “Don’t worry. Everything is going to be okay.” He was the kind of person who did the right thing, even if it meant taking a risk. It was very dangerous and treacherous to treat a Jew as a human being.
An unlikely role
model, Schindler was a better person than
Schindler was the unlikeliest of all role models —
shown in the
Nazi member, war profiteer, womanizer. But he had a spark of humanity, and he put it to use to save Jews. He hired many Jewish workers, and used his clout to protect them. When offered other employees to replace them, he argued that he couldn’t do without their expertise. When the authorities wanted to close the ghetto and send its occupants to a concentration camp, Schindler persuaded them to let him build a sub-camp adjacent to his factory, arguing that it was inefficient and bad business for them to be escorted back and forth from the concentration camp. He spent his own money to do that; you couldn’t do that without bribes. Schindler couldn’t save all his employees. In the brush factory where I worked, one after the other were taken. But Schindler did manage to save many. When his accountant was taken, Schindler went personally to the station to pull him off the train. My father and brother, and later my mother, were scheduled to be sent to the death camp, but Schindler intervened at great personal risk.
movie. He never wavered in his
After the war Shindler’s prospects faded. He went to Frankfurt, which had been bombed flat, and tried to start a cement factory, which would have been a pretty good business, but no one would do business with him. I met Schindler again, in 1965. He had been invited to Los Angeles by a Jewish group and I went to meet him. I stood in line, and when my turn came I was about to introduce myself, but Schindler stopped me. “I know you,” he said. “You’re Leyson.” He remembered me — 20 years later. We had a nice visit. I told him I taught industrial arts. He liked that. “It’s good,” he said. He felt he had something to do with that, which of course he did. Schindler died in 1974 in Argentina. He never enjoyed success again. He died a poor man. He paid a big price, personally. He spent his whole fortune saving Jews, simply because he thought it was the right thing to do. You don’t see business ethics like that nowadays. ◆
resolve.
One day my father, brother and I were put on a list to go “somewhere.” When Schindler found out about it, he ordered us on the spot to move to the group that was staying. The ones who left all perished. Not only that, but Schindler went to my mother and told her “not to worry — your husband and two children are coming 19
The Marketplace May June 2010
Management as if values mattered
W
hen it comes to teaching business students about management, Bruno Dyck thinks something has been missing. Values, for example. As a professor of business administration, Dyck looked in vain for textbooks that would say enough about things like corporate social responsibility and sustainable development. So he decided to write one. It’s titled Management: Current Practices and New Directions,* coauthored by Dyck, who teaches at the University of Manitoba’s Asper School of Business, and Mitchell Neubert of Baylor University. The title may sound dry to non-academics, but between It’s not the covers there’s plenty to warm the heart of anyone who believes the purpose of a business is more than simply to that values maximize profit.
(numerous Mennonites among them) who were known for “marching to the beat of a different drum.” “One of the things that kept bothering me while I was doing those interviews,” Dyck said, “was the recurring comment that several of the interviewees made about needing to unlearn the way of thinking they had been taught in business schools.” While the schools could teach how to boost productivity and profits, they didn’t offer much help in how to lead a well-balanced life.
have
Dyck and Neubert see their ap-
proach as unique because each chapter been absent from presents two parallel approaches to manWhile corporate social responsiagement to help readers consider how bility (CSR) has become a trendy phrase management is linked with future career management in recent years, Dyck found that there’s choices, such as ecological sustainability, often less there than meets the eye. globalization and corporate social respontexts, but often In an interview with Asper colleague sibility. Reg Litz, Dyck noted that “surprisingly One of those approaches is what they they are a mere little research” was being produced on call Mainstream management, which they best practices in CSR. He pointed to a see as the materialist-individualist view afterthought. recent review of some 30,000 scholarly that management is all about maximizing articles published by leading journals the traditional bottom-line of profit first. over the past quarter century, noting that Here they are In this they intend to cover all the bases only nine mentioned pressing issues like found in traditional books of this type. global warming, to cite one example. But there’s more, what they call Mulfully integrated. Even articles purportedly dealing with tistream management, which aims to find corporate social responsibility had more to do with prova balance among multiple forms of well-being (including ing CSR could be profitable rather than engaging issues of social, spiritual and ecological factors) for multiple stakeimproved behavior. holders (owners, employees, customers, competitors, In his interview with Litz, Dyck credited a series of neighbors and future generations). Here they pay homage to all those considerations that go into a multiple bottom interviews he conducted with Manitoba businesspeople line (described by some, for example, as Profit/People/ Planet). * Houghton Mifflin Harcourt/Cengage Publishing Company, 2010, 624 pp. Not that values have been absent from management The Marketplace May June 2010
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tunities to gouge the consumer.” But, they quickly add, even proponents of competitiveness would admit that “competition can go awry” and can “bring out the worst in people.” The book is richly enhanced with sprightly sidebars, case studies, cartoons and questions that highlight moral issues with a fresh slant, a new face of the prism. Students are These make it easy and interesting for students asked: For to decide, for example, if they want to become a whom would manager like Jack Welch or a servant leader like you rather work Robert Greenleaf. “For whom would you prefer to work?” the authors ask. — hard-nosed “Which person would you like to be your role model? Jack Welch, Which person would you like to be at the helm of or servant a firm in which you’ve invested?”
Bruno Dyck, center, confers with PhD students whose interest in values-based management encouraged him to co-write his new textbook.
texts, but often they are a mere afterthought. Here they are fully integrated. Each chapter treats its topic first from the mainstream perspective, then looks at the same issue from a multistream approach. By so doing, they intend to encourage students to think about management from more than one point of view and see how their own moral commitments to social justice and ecological sustainability can be expressed in their management careers. “By juxtaposing the Mainstream and Multistream approaches to management, we prompt readers to recognize that no approach to management is value-neutral,” the authors say.
leader Robert
Along with the academic treatments, readers get a virtual “who’s who” of socially responsible business. If you’ve kept abreast of this magazine, you’ll recognize many names. A few of those who have also appeared in The Marketplace and/or at the podium of MEDA conventions are: Charles Loewen, Arthur DeFehr, Ken Blanchard, Dennis Bakke, John Beckett, Tom Chappel, David Miller, Laura Nash, William Pollard and Ralph and Cheryl Broetje. There’s even a painting by Marketplace designer Ray Dirks. Dyck says that in addition to the regular “Instructors Resource Package,” the publisher has created a second “special issues” version for use in Christian schools. It features topics such as the place of management in the Bible, stewardship, and what it means to be a Christian manager. Anyone wanting a comprehensive management textbook that pays heed to managing from a values perspective need look no further. This is as good as it gets. — Wally Kroeker
Greenleaf?
One example of their approach is a feature
on philanthropy, which asks whether corporate giving is ethical (because it helps charitable endeavors) or unethical (because it spends money that belongs to shareholders). The chapter on setting goals covers territory ranging from small-scale Manitoba vegetable grower Dan Wiens to Wal-Mart, the world’s largest food retailer. You won’t find many books with so long a reach. How about competition? The authors acknowledge the widely-held view that “competitiveness is good for society because it motivates people and organizations to do their best” and “encourages organizations to continuously improve, promotes efficiency, and reduces oppor21
The Marketplace May June 2010
News
Haiti update: MasterCard grant backstops recovery partnership A $4.5 million grant from The MasterCard Foundation will form the base of a partnership with MEDA and its longtime ally, Fonkoze, to spur economic recovery in Haiti. The new effort will restore Fonkoze’s destroyed headquarters and enable its poorest clients to build new livelihoods, benefitting 70,000 clients. Fonkoze is Haiti’s largest microfinance organization with a mission to build the country’s economic foundation for democracy. Its more than 40 branches serve some 225,000 borrowers and savers, most of whom are impoverished women in rural areas. These clients depend on Fonkoze for financial services ranging from
the exodus of refugees from Port‑au‑Prince. “The MasterCard Foundation’s timely contribution will help Fonkoze emerge from this tragedy as a stronger organization,” says Anne Hastings, CEO of Fonkoze. “We now have the flexibility to provide clients with needed services, which will empower them to sustain their livelihoods well into the future.” The program will provide enterprise training, a livelihood asset (such as a goat or a chicken), a small short‑term stipend and one‑on‑one mentoring to 1,000 extremely poor women. Another 4,000 women will qualify for the small loans and associated counseling needed to create or rebuild small businesses. Commercial and agricultural endeavors such as these are the backbone of Haiti’s supply chain, delivering food and goods between rural areas and cities. Restoring the businesses of women traders is, therefore, critical to the country’s
small business loans to savings accounts, and for complementary educational and health services. Following the earthquake, Fonkoze lost five employees. A third of its employees were left homeless and more than half of its branches were damaged or destroyed, including the institution’s headquarters. Nearly 8,000 clients lost their homes, businesses or both. The support from The MasterCard Foundation will strengthen Fonkoze’s core operations. It will also expand two existing programs that will help 5,000 women create new livelihoods in two areas that have been greatly stressed by economic and social pressures due to
long‑term recovery. “Fonkoze has a proven track record of serving Haiti’s rural poor,” says Reeta Roy, president and CEO of The MasterCard Foundation. “We are investing in an institution that is vital to rebuilding Haiti from the ground up.” To supplement this work, Fonkoze is testing a “catastrophic microinsurance” product, which will provide clients indemnity for basic needs, loan repayment and new, interest‑bearing loans to restart their businesses. This product reflects Fonkoze’s belief that clients must be educated and prepared to protect themselves against future disasters and economic shocks. MEDA, which has worked with Fonkoze both as an investor and as part of its governance, will manage the funding from The MasterCard Foundation and provide ongoing progress reports and select advisory services. Fonkoze will concurrently track the quantitative and qualitative suc-
☞
Experts weigh in on nixing the niceties Is “terminal niceness” a raging problem in your company? Winds are blowing in the business press about the pitfalls of being too nice. The new chief executive of Xerox, Ursula Burns, was recently quoted in The New York Times as saying she hopes to eradicate the affliction of being too nice. What she really seems to mean is lack of candor, which is only arguably a feature of “being nice.” She prefers The Marketplace May June 2010
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employees who are bold and frank, which does not necessarily mean they’re “not nice.” Others in the field have since been, well, emboldened to take on the problem of passive-aggressive behavior and the Trappist vows of silence that can sometimes be incorrectly interpreted as niceness. “While no one likes to work with a tyrant,” says The Globe & Mail, “management experts agree that being too nice
☞
Haiti update
continued from 22
Want a thriving business? Take a look at the Amish
cess of its clients by measuring their ability to acquire new skills and assets, and improvements to their health, sanitation and food security. The MasterCard Foundation is an independent, private foundation based in Toronto, with assets totaling $3 billion. It was established through the generosity of MasterCard Worldwide at the time of the company’s initial public offering in 2006. Believing that every person has the potential to transform their lives, and to improve the lives of their families and their communities, the Foundation has worked to increase access to microfinance and youth education for people in developing countries so they can realize their potential and lift themselves out of poverty. It is the major contributor to MEDA’s YouthInvest program in Morocco and Egypt. ◆
According to oft-quoted statistics, two-thirds of small businesses in North America die before the age of seven. That means only one third succeed. That figure might raise eyebrows among the Amish, who enjoy a business success rate closer to 95 percent. “Englisch” business owners who want to boost their batting average might check Erik Wesner’s new book, Success Made Simple: An Inside Look at Why Amish Businesses Thrive (Jossey-Bass). They may be surprised to see how the resounding business success of the Amish flies in the face of much conventional practice. For example, you won’t find a lot of MBAs among the Amish, who typically don’t go beyond the eighth grade. Nor will you find the abundance of electronic business toys that so many
executives can’t do without. Wesner interviewed 60 Amish CEOs in regions like Pennsylvania and Ohio to find out how they choose and manage employees, acquire skills and know‑how, get and keep customers, and lead their organizations to lasting success. Like many family business owners, these executives shared goals such as family preservation and passing on something of value to the next generation. Spiritual values and personal integrity ranked high. Of strategic importance, says Wesner, is a shared sense that “business is a vehicle for something more important” and “it takes strong relation-
ships – forged with employees, customers, other companies, and other members of the community – to achieve success.” The book’s foreword is written by Donald B. Kraybill, an acknowledged authority on the Amish and co-author of an earlier book titled Amish Enterprise: From Plows to Profits. He notes that the Amish, “without worldly accoutrements or credentials have applied an uncanny savvy, a dose of common sense, an ethic of hard work, and a bushel of enduring values to the world of business, in turn sprouting profitable enterprises.” (Elizabethtown Sunday News)
“terminal niceness” continued from 22
or others’ perception of them is an act of friendship. Do the act of friendship. Let them know.” Apparently there’s even room, now and then, for a dash of impatience. While impatience can produce “rash and poor decisions,” says a leading business professor, “impatient people can often get those people who are very slow or feel less urgency to move a little faster. If it comes down to doing nothing – many people are comfortable with the status quo – versus trying to make some changes and taking some risks, I can see impatience having some positive benefit.”
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can cripple a company.” This is especially true if conflict avoidance is perceived as being nice. People smile in the staff meeting because they don’t want to be seen as a whiner, but they may churn inside and then bellyache incessantly around the coffee pot. Says one management specialist, “What companies need now are people who are willing to speak up about things that aren’t working well, haven’t worked well, and processes that are crazy, that don’t serve the customer in the end.” Another says, “Telling a person that what they’re doing is affecting their performance
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The Marketplace May June 2010
The Marketplace May June 2010
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