I was also struck by the strategic importance of promoting businesses in Haiti.  As in every country and people-group, there are entrepreneurs in Haiti who have the vision and determination to start new businesses.  ‘Teaching a man to fish’ is not what’s called for, much less giving a man a fish – helping a man run a fishing business is.

Dr. David Befus, serving as a consultant for the BPN, has worked with a group of Haitian Christians who have all the required qualities of an entrepreneur.  Many participated in a business plan contest announced in March 2011.  Dr. Befus provided training in all aspects of managing a small business; loan officers assisted contestants in the preparation of their plans.  On June 25, the

winners were announced at a special meeting and training session in Port-au-Prince.

Those who submitted the most viable business plans are (below, in the front row, right to left):

• Pierre Roosvelt –  First Prize – Fish (Tilapia) Farm
• Gabnel Kesnel – Second Prize – Chocolate Production
• Che’ry Renise –  Third  Prize – Ice Cream Production and Sales

Mr. Roosvelt has been trained by Valentin Abe,  a  TIME 100 Honoree for  building farms to produce “the fish that could feed Haiti”.  The chocolate company Mr. Kesnel worked for was ruined in the quake, so he is now starting his own business, using cacao beans which grow abundantly in Haiti.  Mrs. Renise has made and sold ice cream previously, but now she has taken training on new packaging for ice cream products from Partners Worldwide, another BAM project working in Haiti.  This will allow her to produce a more attractive product with better margins.   These three businesses alone have the potential of creating 12-15 new jobs.

Essential to a successful business development program is the local infrastructure that can provide training and mentoring for the entrepreneurs, as well as accountability for the funding.  Behind the winners are the three directors of the program: (left to right) Dr. David Befus, former president of Latin America Mission and advisor to BPN for programs in Latin America and the Caribbean; Ms. Guerlyne Sanon, the loan officer who works with each of these entrepreneurs; and Mr. Jean W. Plymouth, the program director, who now trains and supervises 9 loan officers.

Each of the winners is a believer in Christ and belongs to a local church.  Gabnel Kesnel’s pastor invited us to their church the day after the awards ceremony, where Gabnel was honored for his prize.  This also gave the pastor an opport-unity to affirm the Biblical importance of work and taking financial responsibility for one’s family.  Jean Plymouth and his team have been invited to give seminars in the church on starting and growing a business.  This is the need of the hour in Haiti for the indigenous church and for the country.

Business people at Riverwest Church in Lake Oswego, OR, provided the funds for these three awards.  They can continue to be involved in the project by sending business people to train both the loan officers and the entrepreneurs.  Additional business plan contests would be welcomed, with more funding at similar levels.  Conferences can also be arranged for the benefit of established businesses, as the BPN has done in other countries.  There are, of course, many opportunities to augment business development with other forms of mission, including medical work, reconstruction, counseling, child sponsorship, and church planting.  For-profit opportunities also exist for foreign direct investment which will also produce Kingdom benefits.

YOU DO NOT NEED TO SEND SPONSORSHIP SUPPORT for the girl pictured here.  She is the daughter of Gabnel Kesnel, a winner in the business plan contest.  He will be providing for  his daughter from the earnings in his own business.  An answer to his prayers!

Dan Brose of Bend, OR spoke on the missionary role of business in Africa, where he has represented World Relief as an emissary at large, following his assignment as country director in Rwanda.

Peter Greer, president of Hope, Int’l, (L) and John Warton, president of the Business Professional Network, at the 2011 meeting of Mission Connexion Northwest held at Sunset Presbyterian Church January 21-22, 2011.  Peter is the author of The Poor will be Glad.  His workshop outlined the power of micro-finance to restore the poor and communicate the Gospel.

Dr. Brian Fikkert, author of When Helping Hurts, addressed a workshop in the Business as Mission track at Mission Connexion Northwest 2011.  By enlisting actors from the participants, he demonstrated the dangers that loan sharks pose in poor communities and the advantage that self-financed lending offers the poor.  Dr. Fikkert was the opening plenary speaker at this year’s MCNW.  Dr. George Verwer, founder of OM, concluded the weekend.

Chisinau, Moldova

In one of the greatest displays of unity ever seen in Moldova, 170 anti-trafficking practitioners from 26 countries came together at the end of September to address the epidemic of human trafficking and how Christians must deal with it.  Between plenary sessions, workshops, and networking, it quickly became clear that the only way to effectively combat trafficking is an unprecedented convergence of efforts by like-minded ministries, churches, and organizations.  With up to 27 million people currently enslaved and exploited, the traffickers’ networks are both devious and global, and so must be those organizations coming against this horrific crime.

Kingdom Business is one of the critical components only beginning to take shape in the fight against trafficking.  Although there are numeous sociological, cultural, and geographical reasons for people to sell themselves or others, the root cause is fundamentally economic.  With no hope of finding reasonable work, and the resulting desperation that ensues, many people from otherwise healthy environments end up getting trafficked.  Men are typically sent into forced labor while women are forced to be prostitutes.  There are also rising numbers of cases involving children and trafficking for organ harvesting.  From any angle, whether someone is naively looking for a better life, selling their child, or operating as a criminal trafficker, the system preys upon poverty and lack of economic opportunity.

There is tremendous potential to make a difference through business, by creating jobs which intentionally target hard hit areas and people groups, by offering job training to at-risk groups and those in rehab, and by assisting anti-trafficking organizations to sell goods and services produced by victims trying to work their way back into society.  Demonstrating Christian principles and compassion in the partnership with social organizations, businesses are greatly needed, to bring glory to God in every part of life and to expand the Kingdom.

But Jacob also had a vision for setting up a business that could support the orphanage. Devoting 2 years himself to launching the business before returning to the States, Jacob established a small company that repairs stone and tile surfaces in high-end restaurants, hotels, and shopping malls.

Now profitable, it is ready to expand to Cartagena, and possibly other cities in Latin America. This business and others he may startcan become places of employment for the girls as they come of age. But for now, they’re a happy and safe bunch of girls, going to school and learning about the love of God first hand.

Almost everyone had stories of underhanded deals, government coercion, corruption, and the shortcuts they are faced with every day, just to get by. Few have any tools or materials to know how to deal with it, whether in their own life or in counseling others.

In February 2010, the Christian Agency for Micro Enterprise Development (CAMED), an arm of the Baptist Union in the Eastern European country of Moldova, convened a conference on business ethics. 80-100 participants were expected, 370 Facing up to Corruption in Moldova – 2010 came. This attendance was encouraging because 20% of Moldova’s population has already emigrated from the country in recent years, including many capable business leaders, in part due to the pervasive corruption. These people seem determined to find ways to stick it out.

CAMED, and its affiliated lending agency, Invest-Credit LLC, are committed to creating jobs within Moldova, especially among Christians, and providing training to help the businesses they fund succeed and honor God in every way. Valeriu Ghiletchi, past president of the Baptist Union and a member of the Moldovan Parliament, attributes the increase in giving in their churchesdirectly to the role of Invest-Credit.

Valeriu Ghiletchi

This year the Business Professional Network and Finishers Project (FP) are
working collaboratively to identify and direct second career business people into positions with mission agencies, marketplace ministries, and business development organizations that facilitate BAM workers. This research, discovery, and beta test are intended to find the best marketing means to attract Christian business people into the Business as Mission, a Second Career missions movement. For more than 10 years Finishers has been matchmaking second-career adults, mostly boomers, into the 100+ agencies that have used Finishers to assist in their recruiting. Over the same period, the BPN has been engaging Western Christians in a wide range of business development activities that create jobs, generate financial
capacity locally, train business, and church leaders, and establish a Christian witness within local communities. The demand for opportunities to serve God through business eclipses the means currently available to place second career people with organizations adapting their
operations to include BAM.