The Dilemma of Development in the Rainforest

What happens when you live in the jungle beyond where the road ends, where there is no electricity, and your child gets ill? Chances are you get in a canoe and travel down the river to the nearest large city and figure out some way to pay for the services, possibly with the combination of fish, yucca, and fruit--all of which are plentiful near your home.  That was 10 years ago. 

Fast forward to the present and we now see a road carved through the primary rainforest to your house. Electricity was installed two months ago in your community, and your youngest children have been able to attend school right across the river, as opposed to the 5 hour trek that your older children used to make each week to a boarding school.  It would seem, by external measurements, that your life is improving, that you are taking advantage of the wave of development that is washing over Ecuador.

But let's look closer.  Your production methods on the three acres of farmland that you have always maintained are still the same. You use a machete to cut down weeds, bury new yucca shoots, and cut grapefruits from the shade tree towering over your house. However, selling a sack of robusta coffee beans and criollo cocoa every few months is no longer enough to cover your needs. Sure, you can still eat well from the chickens that run through your fields and the bountiful variety of fruits and vegetables that grow on your 50 acres of rainforest and cleared land, but now you have other expenses.  

When electricity came into the community, you purchased a refrigerator, a flat screen TV, and a computer in the provincial capital.  A savings and loan cooperative in the city loaned you the money at 20% annually, which means you will be paying them back $45 a month for the next 3 and a half years.

Your children also cost more now--they attend a public school for which they need uniforms each year.  Whereas the missionary-run boarding school your eldest children attended provided uniforms, the government's free uniform program does not extend to your community and you must invest $100 every September on uniforms and school supplies for each of your 4 school-age children.

There are other needs, too--those 90-minute trips into town each month on a bus to make your loan payment make you wish you had a motorcycle, and each time you are in town, you usually spend a few dollars on food or clothes or something for the house. Looking at your current situation, you wonder how you could earn more money to purchase those things that would make life easier.

A logging company came by your community last week and offered you $2,500 for all the trees on your land.  Doing the math, that would allow you to buy a few pigs to raise and sell for additional income, plant another acre of cocoa, and ensure your children go to school next month. While you love the forest, where your family has lived for generations, you wonder if this might be the best choice for your children.  Right now you are debating sending only 2 of the children to school next month, and the income from selling yucca, corn, plantains, and pineapple in the market downstream barely covers your monthly loan payment.  With development and new opportunities you have more expensive, and maintaining primary rainforest on your land is not making you any money. 

So therein lies the question--what do you do when development brings new opportunities, but the old production methods do not result in the income you need to fully participate in the new opportunities that have come with development? 

Passion for Making Pizza Leads to Success

CUENCA, Ecuador --- Though he sells pizza in his Spanish-speaking country, Ecuadorian Patricio Hurtado retains a slice of Italy in his restaurant’s name: Pizza Nostra, which translates as “Our Pizza” in Italian. The name fits, because Patricio’s pride and joy belongs not only to him as the owner, but to the community, his growing number of employees, and to the God who led the restaurateur down this entrepreneurial path.

“Ever since I was about 16 or 17 years old, I have been involved in business,” said Patricio, the father of two grown sons. His wife, Emma, is a tradeswoman who sells clothing in an open air market. “As a teenager, I bought shoes in Gualaceo (a town famous for shoes) and sold them elsewhere." Decades later, his creative capacity for business prompted Patricio to pursue a new venture, one that would provide delicious fast food in a neighborhood with a shortage of restaurants (only one other eatery, a rotisserie chicken restaurant, existed). But first Patricio had to overcome fear of failure. “The doors opened and I could see my [pizzeria idea] was really from God,” he said. “Then I had confidence, faith, and peace.”

Linking arms with him on this journey are Carlos Serrano and Boris Ordóñez, both of Cuenca Partners, the local affiliate of Partners Worldwide, based in this city of half a million located in the highlands of Ecuador. Patricio took the Cuenca Partners business training course, and Carlos and Boris mentored him in everything from restaurant management to testing various dough and sauce recipes to achieve pizza perfection. After 6-7 months of planning, Pizza Nostra was born.

“[Opening a restaurant] was always something I found attractive,” Patricio said. “I like to work with my hands, being in the kitchen and cooking at my house. And I knew a pizza place could work well, according to people’s ability to pay. Food is a very practical business, not based on seller financing and credit; people pay immediately.”

Since opening a little over a year ago, Patricio has been able to create jobs for three employees―Juan, Nina, and Edward. Juan, whom Patricio knew from the Bible study group hosted in his home, works evenings, delivering pizzas on his motorcycle. Nina, a student, also works evenings. Edward, on the other hand, was the first employee, working shoulder to shoulder with Patricio from the start. They met by chance after Edward's previous employer closed his business and sold Patricio an industrial cheese shredder. While closing the sale, 
the former boss recommended Edward as an excellent worker. Unemployed at the time, Edward had valuable experience running three pizzerias in Ecuador and Columbia. Investing his passion in his work, Edward beams with joy as he kneads pizza crust, only a year after being unemployed with few prospects. In September, Edward will have saved enough money to open his own pizzeria once more, this time armed with what he’s learned about successful business management through Patricio. Edward’s goal? “To be able to open more businesses that can help other people and me as well.”

Though Patricio will lose a hardworking employee in Edward, it’s gratifying that the worker he’s taken under his wing now plans to open his own business. Patricio believes God is blessing his enterprise in a way that no other business venture of his has been blessed. While he worked in various industries in the past—selling fabric, producing powdered drinks and candy, and promoting good eye care—this is the first time Patricio has had a vision for growth. These prior attempts struggled within a changing Ecuadorian marketplace, but in God’s redemptive economy led to Patricio’s salvation years ago. Now, Pizza Nostra is different. Patricio plans to open a second location of his successful business in the coming year.

“Many people have said, ‘There is something special about the owner of this business,’” Patricio said. “By giving good customer service with a smile, people notice a difference, and in this way we have been able to sow seeds for Christ.”

Read this story on the Partners Worldwide website here. Original story appeared in the Partners Worldwide August eNews.

Well-Nurtured Business Cares for Babies

AZOGUES, Ecuador --- Inspired by the birth of his son Mateo―and the realization that running out of diapers is not an option―Pedro opened a baby supply store three-and-a-half years ago in the town of Azogues. With a vision to serve clients well, Pedro’s business has expanded from his original store to a second store in a close-by community. Like a well fed, well cared-for baby, his business is growing and thriving.

“I’ve learned that my business belongs to God, that everything is his and I am a steward,” Pedro said.  “God is showing me that he is the true owner of everything and I am seeing his blessing.”

Born in a city near the Peruvian border, Pedro moved to Azogues and met his wife, Anita, a school teacher. Though the town of 34,000, located in an Andean valley northeast of Cuenca, has an economy based in agriculture, flour milling, and Panama hat weaving, unemployment is high, and Pedro found it very difficult to find a job. “People didn’t want to hire me because I’m not from here,” he said. “I had many ideas of starting different businesses.  But there was always this fear that the businesses wouldn't go well.  What if the people didn't like my products?”

After Mateo’s birth, Pedro and Anita realized there was a product they could sell that would always be in demand: diapers, not to mention wipes, formula, teething rings, and other baby essentials. Yet Pedro lacked solid training and access to the wider circles of exchange that would allow him to develop his strengths and talents. His business floundered at first, and he contemplated giving up and moving someplace with more jobs.
 
The turning point for Pedro was taking a business training course through Cuenca Partners, the local affiliate of Partners Worldwide in nearby Cuenca. The course “was a huge help for me because I didn't know anything about business,” said Pedro.  “I was taught how to manage the store, take it to the next level, do bookkeeping—all of it. There was an 80% transformation of the business after I took the course.”

One thing he learned was the principle of inventory control. “When we get down to three (items) of a product, we need to start ordering more,” he said. By quickly replenishing dwindling supplies, Pedro runs the kind of store his clients can rely on.

“Pedro has products in stock that at any point his competitors might not have,” said Carlos Serrano, who currently works part-time for Cuenca Partners and part-time for Verbo Church.  “His clients come to him because of that dependability.”

Along with dependability, there’s integrity and the desire “to be faithful to God in everything.” This means resisting the temptation to buy cheaper but stolen goods for his store. “I know it’s not right,” Pedro said. “I only buy things with receipts so that everything goes well.”

Today, the store is bustling; it’s not unusual for Pedro to serve ten customers in ten minutes. The demand is so high that Pedro opened a second location eight blocks away and hired an employee to run it. Both baby stores are flourishing, as Pedro works hard and dreams of building his business, providing for his family and meeting the needs of his community.

“Time will tell what else we can do in the business,” Pedro said. “God has great plans for my life—I am convinced.  Now my goal is to stay faithful to Him.”

Read the story on the Partners Worldwide website here. Original story appeared In Partners Worldwide's August eNews.

Six Months in Cuenca

Tomorrow marks six months in Cuenca, a reality that I find a little difficult to believe.  In some ways it seems like just yesterday that I arrived in the city, uncertain of which roads to take from my house to work at the church and confused by all the regional terms for everything from money to being broke to...well, whatever else they talk about with Kichwa slang thrown in.

"Modern Cuenca," where I work and live

At the same time, it is remarkable everything that has happened in those 180+ days. I've visited downtown Cuenca often enough to almost know the names of every street and the 20-some churches that seem to be on every corner.  I've spent hours hiking in Cajas National Park, a gorgeous high-altitude mountainous landscape dotted by thousands of lakes and lagoons.

Lagoon in Cajas National Park

I'm getting to know new people--my coworkers at the Verbo Church, my neighbors and their extended family that own the entire block around my apartment, friends that recently moved to Cuenca from New York, and others that form part of the large and growing gringo community in the city.  While Cuenca is definitely very distinct from Quito, there are always amazing, interesting people to meet.

Business training graduates with their mentor

In the realm of work, which was the motivation for my move to this city, things have multiplied and are bursting at the seams with more potential. Two weeks after I arrived in Cuenca, we held our first business training course with about 30 participants.  Two months later, we had to turn people away when we closed the course at 44 people and still had an additional 4 people attend. The local partnership, Cuenca Partners, signed an agreement with a local lending partner, and we have over 25 people receiving ongoing mentoring support from members of our team.  Additionally, Lauren from the Partners Worldwide office in the US came for two weeks to help collect stories, photographs and videos that we will use in the future for marketing and publicity, both here in Ecuador and in the United States.

A training graduate learns about Jardin Azuayo, our local lending partner

That's the short update, if I can call it short, and I hope to share more stories and details in the future. These past few months have been quite busy, not allowing much time for updates, so I hope to resume a more regular posting schedule from here on out.

Cuenca Partners in the News

Last Saturday marked the end of a three-week training seminar for Ecuador affiliate Cuenca Partners.  The following story was published in local newspaper El Tiempo on Monday, March 4:

Business Course Dedicated to Local Businesspeople

Gabriela Granda leads part of the seminar taught to businesspeople.

Cuenca Partners is an international movement of businesspeople and professionals who create and give continuing support to sources of employment using the business knowledge and resources of its members on a local and international level.  The 24-hour training organized within the seminar “The Business Plan for PYMES” concluded yesterday.  The course was oriented toward businesspeople who wish to improve the administration of their businesses or entrepreneurs who are beginning a business, helping them to learn to create a holistic business plan.  Ten instructors participated, developing twelve topics such as marketing, SWOT analysis, Business as Mission, Setting goals, pricing, bookkeeping, paying taxes, and other services.

Susana Calle, who hopes to start a business in the food industry, comments that the learning acquired is very clarifying for entrepreneurs, helping them to understand the necessary immediate actions and mid-term actions to make their ideas a reality.  At the end of the training, the participants have the possibility of receiving mentoring to implement the business plan, as indicated by Carissa De Young, Cuenca Partners coordinator.

A Quiet Revolution

The following was a story that my supervisor, Bob Vryhof, shared in a newsletter last month.  It tells a little about our new partnership in Cuenca, Ecuador, the city where I will be moving in just over a week.

Our bi-annual global gathering is called Marketplace Revolution, which refers to the transformative movement we are pursuing. This is not a loud and violent revolution.  It’s a collection of personal commitments from Christian business people to live out their calling to business, dig deeper into God’s desire for how they should do that, and connect with other leaders to figure out how to help other business people do the same. While this ‘revolution’ isn’t normally front page news, it’s most definitely captivating and the impact is  remarkable.
In one of my last letters I highlighted some key puzzle pieces the Lord seemed to be knitting together in Cuenca, Ecuador to promote exactly this type of impact.  Since that time, those pieces have come together, begun to bear fruit, and are driving us on to exciting new possibilities.
Our Ecuador affiliate is now formally partnered with Cuenca Partners – a group of local business people committed to helping small businesses in their Church and community thrive. Not only that, but they are adamant about holding one another accountable to doing business in a way that glorifies God by bearing witness to His love and purpose.
Recently this partnership recruited and trained a group of 52 local business mentors. As business people, all of them are committed  to using who they are and what they have  in service to their community. A result of this offering of service is the planned launch of a second business course in January. Cuenca Partners expects 60 people to attend. Mentors will be paired with  participants that request guidance in implementing course principles. 
Originally, this partnership focused exclusively on small businesses.  However, in the last few weeks via meetings with the local Chamber of Commerce, Cuenca Partners identified the need for high level mentoring and training for medium and large businesses in the community. As a result, we are working to design a strategy to engage and serve those people as well.
Our shared desire through these activities is to raise up a community of business people committed to seeking and living out God’s full callingfor their lives. This begins through training and mentoring, but it reaches further. As this network grows, our prayer is that barriers between large and small, rich and poor, connected and isolated would dissolve and vanish forming a community rooted in Christ-like service. By nature, that will be a community characterized by jobs that truly afford opportunity, growth, and dignity – a community that is increasingly able to meet its own basic needs and help others do the same.
That’s a revolution I’m glad to be part of…..
Please join me in prayer for these business people as they pursue God’s calling for them, their businesses, and their communities.