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