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Margaret Thatcher on Business as Mission

Dec 20th, 2011 by

Business as Mission is a relatively new term. But the concept is not, nor is the practice. But we can witness a renewed understanding of Biblical concepts of work and business. I have worked across the globe with these issues for about 17 years. The momentum is growing, especially in the non-Western world.

Please read the following few paragraphs which give helpful insights regarding work, wealth creation and serving others. It is from a speech held in 1988, i.e. 23 years ago. Some may be surprised when they realize that these are words from the British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

“The Old Testament lays down in Exodus the Ten Commandments as given to Moses, the injunction in Leviticus to love our neighbor as ourselves and generally the importance of observing a strict code of law. The New Testament is a record of the Incarnation, the teachings of Christ and the establishment of the Kingdom of God. Again we have the emphasis on loving our neighbor as ourselves and to “Do-as-you-would-be-done-by”.

I believe that by taking together these key elements from the Old and New Testaments, we gain: a view of the universe, a proper attitude to work, and principles to shape economic and social life.

We are told we must work and use our talents to create wealth. “If a man will not work he shall not eat” wrote St. Paul to the Thessalonians. Indeed, abundance rather than poverty has a legitimacy which derives from the very nature of Creation.

Nevertheless, the Tenth Commandment—Thou shalt not covet—recognizes that making money and owning things could become selfish activities. But it is not the creation of wealth that is wrong but love of money for its own sake. The spiritual dimension comes in deciding what one does with the wealth. How could we respond to the many calls for help, or invest for the future, or support the wonderful artists and craftsmen whose work also glorifies God, unless we had first worked hard and used our talents to create the necessary wealth?”

Excerpts from Margaret Thatcher’s Sermon on the Mound, delivered at the Assembly Hall of the Church of Scotland, The Mound, Edinburgh, United Kingdom – May 21, 1988.

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Africa: From the Hopeless Continent to Lion Economies

Dec 16th, 2011 by

A decade ago The Economist labeled Africa “the hopeless continent”. Now in a recent issue the same magazine describe the continent’s impressive change and growth. A few quotes:

“Africa’s economies are consistently growing faster than those of almost any other region of the world. … Ethiopia will grow by 7.5% this year, without a drop of oil to export. Once a byword for famine, it is now the world’s tenth-largest producer of livestock. … Over the past decade six of the world’s ten fastest-growing countries were African. In eight of the past ten years, Africa has grown faster than East Asia, including Japan.”

Africa now has a fast-growing middle class; today around 60 million Africans are part of the middle class and by the year 2015 about 100 million will be. These numbers represents people lifted out of poverty.

The World Bank states: “Africa could be on the brink of an economic take-off, much like China was 30 years ago and India 20 years ago.”

We know that aid has not lifted Africa out of poverty, as the international economist Dambisa Moyo has clearly demonstrated in her book Dead Aid. But what are some of the drivers and factors behind this positive change? In short, it is trade not aid.

One driver is the application of technology, especially mobile phones. Africa has 600 million mobile phone users, more than Europe or America. A study from 2009 showed that adding an extra ten mobile phones per 100 people in a typical developing country boosts growth in GDP per person by 0.8 percentage points. These phones are, for example, used for banking and for business with crops and fish.

Other factors are increased investments and trade. In 2010 total foreign direct investment was more than $55 billion—five times what it was a decade earlier, and much more than Africa receives in aid. Trade barriers have been reduced, intra-African trade has increased and privatization has contributed to growth.

Another big non-commodity driver of the economic development is political stability. For many decades in the post-colonial era the cold war superpowers fought proxy wars on the African continent, and there were few democratic and peaceful changes of government. But in the past 20 years it has been different and governments have changed through the ballot box more than 30 times. (That is far more often than in the Arab world)

36 out of 46 African governments made things easier for business in the past year.

Africa still has many challenges and is far from becoming a new China or Singapore in the near future. But we can rejoice in the encouraging developments and also learn from them.

The Economist ends its lead editorial with a helpful reminder: “Autocracy, corruption and strife will not disappear overnight. But at a dark time for the world economy, Africa’s progress is a reminder of the transformative promise of growth.”

PS. This blog entry is also available in Korean, click here –> Africa: From the Hopeless Continent to Lion Economies

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On the road again…

Nov 27th, 2011 by

Last blog entry was about my visit to Rwanda. I have had many encouraging and interesting responses from all over the world, and God has used it in wonderful ways. Earlier this week I came back from almost three weeks in the USA, and I leave again for the USA tomorrow morning.

One of the highlights of the US trip was the five days my wife and I spent in Hollywood, Florida; yes, there is a Hollywood in Florida – in between Miami and Fort Lauderdale. I was walking down memory lane. 30 years earlier I studied theology in Hollywood. The College was in a building which was originally a hotel, built in 1926. (Al Capone was a guest.)  In the 60’s it became a College and now it is a hotel again –a beach property, where we booked a room. We had the same view over Atlantic Ocean that I had as a poor student 1981. It was a time of reminiscing, and also realizing yet again that God is good and faithful.

Those were the days, memorizing at least 5 – 10 Bible verses every week – from King James version. And we had a test later in the term when we had to know them all. I had very little money and I tried to manage on a dollar a day. I got two perfect jobs at the school: in the kitchen – free lunch, and in the library – could do homework and write papers and receive a small salary at the same time.

A friend and I drove around the US during the summer. It was an old car, with no air condition. We often drove through the nights to save time and money on lodging.

The College had a very conservative theology, to say the least. But I balanced that by studying liberal theology at university in Sweden later. So I landed in some kind of middle of the road. But I have also learnt through the years of international travel that the church is much bigger than we often think.

A few other highlights from the earlier US trip:

I spoke at a Korean American Business as Mission Consultation in New York. The first part gathered church leaders, including all the senior pastors of Korean American churches in New York and New Jersey, even from the mega churches. The 2nd part of the Consultation was focused on young urban professionals. And I also managed to watch the New York Marathon. Personally, I run away from exercise. 🙂

My wife was doing some work in D.C. at the same time but we met up in Birmingham, Alabama where we had several very constructive meetings with business leaders. Then we drove to Atlanta for a meeting with a large Christian foundation, which has given way 3 billion dollars to charitable causes. We had a great conversation on Business as Mission and the world.

Anyway, tomorrow – the Lord willing – I will fly Stockholm – Chicago – Los Angeles. I will speak at a business congress, and also meet some friends and colleagues and work on issues and initiatives with regards to the global Business as Mission movement.

There will be a few more international trips before Christmas. And also a few more blog entries.

 

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Rwanda: The Death and Resurrection of a Nation

Nov 1st, 2011 by

Unfortunately Africa is often associated with words with negative connotations: corruption, aids, donor fatigue, genocide, bad governance, colonialism, malaria, slavery, famine, poverty, civil wars, blood diamonds, et cetera.

A trillion dollar of aid has not raised the continent out of poverty. A corrupt leader like Mugabe has changed a country from a breadbasket of a region to a basket case. Rwanda experienced a horrific genocide in 1994 where up to one million people were killed in about 100 days. The negative examples above do not fully or fairly reflect Africa as a whole. Many African countries are now experiencing economic growth, peace and reconciliation, and there are increasing foreign investments, and so forth.

But sub-Saharan Africa is still lagging behind in many ways, especially when one compares with Asian countries. Singapore was transformed from a poor swampland to one of the most prosperous countries in the world in about 50 years. Can such a thing happen in Africa?

I visited Rwanda last week and I venture to say that Rwanda is growing to become a beacon of hope for Africa and the world. Today Rwanda is one of the safest, least corrupt and most progressive nations in Africa. Only 17 years ago the country was devastated through the genocide.**

Let me share a few brief observations on what I believe are some essential contributing factors to the transformation of Rwanda. For the Western mindset let me give you a few bullet points first and then a few glimpses to illustrate those:

  1. God is at work
  2. Visionary leadership serving with integrity and professionalism
  3. Unity and reconciliation process rebuilding the social fabric
  4. The development of a 21st century infrastructure
  5. The creation of an environment conducive for business development in a globalised world

The genocide was evil beyond human comprehension. One cannot even try to explain it without recognizing the evil forces which are beyond our secular horizons. Likewise we cannot fully appreciate the transformation of the nation, the unity and reconciliation processes, unless we acknowledge God at work.

But we also need to recognize the importance of good leadership; people with vision, integrity and professionalism. No one is perfect but President Kagame has served the nation well.

I met with so many unusually gifted leaders – African and others – who are serving the people of Rwanda. Bishop John Rucyahana was one of them. One may liken him to Desmund Tutu of South Africa. A must read is the book “The Bishop of Rwanda”. I also met his successor Bishop Mbanda who also is a “larger-than-life-kind-of-person”.

Bishop John, some American friends and I talked about how to rebuild the social fabric in a society so devastated by mass killings. Bishop John has led the work of unity and reconciliation, which is a key to the resurrection of the nation. We need to be mindful of the lack of such processes between peoples in other countries and regions, like in the Balkans, where hatred has been passed on from generation to generation for over 600 years.

The leadership of Rwanda is also aware of that you can only build a nation for the future if you set the parameters for a functional market place and link it to today’s global world. I had mobile phone coverage all over the country. Wireless internet is widely available. The government is working on broadband infrastructure to all corners of the nation. Mobile phones help rich and poor alike to improve their lives and further economic activities.

Rwanda is also proactively working on property rights which are essential for business development. One can register a business online one the same day. Business development is more encouraged than aid and NGOs. We also visited a growing bank based on Christian values. Please click here to learn more about our visit, the bank and some other entrepreneurial people involved for Rwanda.

Our hosts in Rwanda were Dale Dawson and Tom Allen of Bridge2Rwanda. Please check their website Bridge2Rwanda. I warmly recommend this very informative and challenging video clip, about 9 minutes long.

** I wrote about the genocide and the complicity of the church in a previous blog: From church planting success to genocide

 

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What is ‘real’ business and can a business be self-sustainable?

Oct 19th, 2011 by

“East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet”, wrote Rudyard Kipling in the poem “The Ballad of East and West”.

Non-profit is non-profit, and for profit is for profit, and never the twain shall meet – or should they? Maybe they already do!

There is an on-going discussion in the Business as Mission movement about “real business”, “fake business”, “propped up business”, “sustainable business”. This conversation is important. But sometimes it becomes heavy with ideological purists who see no connection between non-profit and for profit. Mission is mission and business is business. Some even state that there mustn’t be any connection: “Business is business and businesses carry their own costs”. But do they? Is that really what the business world in general looks like?

Let’s first acknowledge that there are differences between NGOs, mission organizations, churches and other non-profits on the one hand, and businesses on the other.

They operate with different paradigms, they are different legal entities, they have different modus operandi, and they demand some different skill-sets.

But from a Biblical perspective church and business are also very close. The purpose of the church is to glorify God, serve people, and meet various needs. The church is a non-profit entity. Business from a Biblical perspective should also glorify God, serve people, and meet various needs. But businesses exist to make a profit – but not exclusively.

Are they mutually exclusive? Should a real business never receive free money, free advice, or pro-bono workers? This begs the question as to what “real” business is. The assumption that real businesses are self-sustaining does not give a full picture of the eco-system in which businesses operate. The Economist, which also uses the term eco-system, has a very enlightening article dealing with this in the Oct 8 issue: “A helping hand for start-ups”.

They write about one major initiative – originating from the corporate world – which gives FREE support services to business people, worth USD 730 million. Is that wrong? Is that skewing businesses? No, these kinds of pro-bono work and subsidies happen all the time in “real” businesses, in the market place.

Why should we in the BAM world be afraid of setting up systems of people volunteering their time which can help BAM companies to start and grow?

We have, in the Western world, “real businesses” which receive tax breaks, bail-outs, investment incentives, SME economy building subsidies, etc… How many family businesses, in both the rich and the poor world, do not have family members pitching in for free?

Is it wrong to help BAM businesses for free – to a certain degree – in various ways in the Arab world and Asia?

No business is self-sustaining. Nothing is – not even the church. The only self sustaining entity is God. The creation and every human being derives from God, is created by him. What we have and what we are comes as a gift – it is free.

People in business use free gifts – donations – to start and grow businesses. Gifts like an entrepreneurial eye and a business acumen. Businesses use other gifts from God like iron ore and water. All God-given subsidies as it were.

This does not mean that we should confuse non-profit and for profit, or that we should be sloppy business people hoping for bail-outs. No, the business of business is business, and that includes making a profit, and having a good social, environmental and spiritual impact.

But we shouldn’t be judgmental if somebody mentors a company for free. Why should we criticize a business owner who doesn’t draw a full salary from the company because he or she has other income streams?

In the business eco-system there are subsidies, tax-breaks and pro-bono work. These incentives from government, from the corporate world and from NGOs, can help build healthy growing business. It would be wrong to discard a business – including BAM businesses – just because it draws on free advice or uses tax breaks.

Non-profit is non-profit, and for profit is for profit, and never the twain shall meet? Wrong, they do meet and these meetings can be profitable – in the wider sense – for people, businesses, communities and nations.

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