FOMO

Definition: Fear of Missing Out

Closely Related: POMO (Pain of Missing Out)

Until a few weeks ago, I had no clue what FOMO was. I didn’t really need to use the term. I had my quiet little life in South America with a busy but not harried pace. I knew I missed things like Thanksgiving dinners and relative’s birthday parties back home, but I was content.

Meet the MBA program at Stephen M. Ross School of Business. There are something like 70 clubs, 200 companies recruiting on-campus, and 20 institutes and centers. No one can do it all, not even when “it all” is narrowed down to a specific interest area like marketing, venture capital, or careers with impact. There’s always someone going to a corporate presentation or a club meeting or preparing a presentation for the next day. There’s so much happening that it’s hard to even know what one is missing.

The advice from MBA2s: relax. No one is behind at this point. Two weeks into the semester, an MBA1 can’t have missed the boat already and completely lost an opportunity. As a dual-degree student, I’m learning that it’s even truer for me. I can take a deep breath, evaluate my goals, and explore a little bit.

I might feel that I’m drinking from a fire hose, but the truth is the door of opportunity has been flung wide open. Along with about 900 other MBA students in the full time program, I get access to a wealth of resources that I’ve never had before. Sure, it can be overwhelming. At times, I will have to miss one thing to participate in another. But this atmosphere is exhilarating. Once I’m able to set aside my fear (or pain) of missing one opportunity because I choose another, I can marvel that I have even one of those opportunities in the first place. So forget the fear. I’ll choose to embrace the Joy of Participating.

Silence and Feeling Really Small

During my first week back as a student in the classroom, I realized that it was difficult for me to speak up in class. I second guessed whether to assert my voice. I wondered if I was worth being heard.

Where were those thoughts coming from? All throughout my academic life, I had been outspoken, unafraid of making mistakes. I knew I had something to contribute, and I had no shame in giving the wrong answer or mentioning something that might not be 100% relevant. Yet in the time I spent away from academia, something changed. My life experiences taught me to doubt myself. I received the subliminal message often enough that said, “Your voice doesn’t matter. Your concerns won’t be heard. You’re wasting your time if you speak up.” I guess I internalized it more than I expected, and it has been shaping my actions.

Digging deeper, I must ask myself about the source of that message. What were the circumstances that make me feel so powerless? The two times I’ve gone to the Financial Aid Office on campus, I’ve had physiological reactions—my heartrate increased, I wanted to run away, I struggled to express myself, and I anticipated being shrugged off. Thankfully, the people I spoke with both times were extremely gracious and helpful, but the question remains, “Why was my body reacting with fear when it faced an institution with power over my future opportunities?”

I think the answer reveals itself in a review of my interactions with institutions of power over the past five years. There was the time my parents and I were drugged and robbed in Quito. The police nearby did nothing. They were apathetic to my request for help to stop the thief who ran off with my backpack. Then there was the time I lost my passport on the way to the Ecuadorian immigration office. When I called the US embassy, they were too busy commemorating September 11 to help me. They basically said, “Figure it out from our website, and call us later.” Another time, I went to the embassy to drop off my overseas voter’s ballot. I was turned away. The guard refused me, a US citizen, entry to my country’s embassy for several hours. I thought that US citizens can never be refused access to a US consulate or embassy, but I must have been wrong. Maybe that only works for Jason Bourne.

Then there was the visa process and the ever-changing list of requirements. In five years, I had five different Ecuadorian visas. At one point, I almost had to travel to Peru and hope I could get a tourist visa. My sponsoring organization didn’t have its paperwork in the required format, and I was within days of my current visa expiring. For my most recent visa, I needed to be fingerprinted for a US police report. I went to the Ecuadorian criminal investigation service with the printed form so they could ink my prints onto the paper. However, the young detective insisted that I first be entered into the Ecuadorian system. He took my mug shot as if I was a criminal. Then he took extra time to digitally fingerprint me, making passes at me the whole time. Finally, he sent me over to his older coworker to fill out the form that had brought me there in the first place. I felt completely humiliated by the time I left.

I could go on. When I was hit by a car, people asked me if I wanted them to call an ambulance (wasn’t it a given?) The hospital refused me service until I presented proof of the ability to pay (what if I had been bleeding internally?) When I went to ensure the police filed their paperwork with the prosecutor’s office, I found out that they had written down the wrong license plate number. My case never went to court.

I almost missed my flight once because Ecuadorian immigration messed up my passport number on my previous entry into the country. I have yet to get through US immigration without a big X over my face, indicating that they think I’m suspicious.

Of all these events, can I point to one and say, “That’s the reason why I don’t speak up—why I shrink back from advocating for myself when I interact with large institutions?” No, it’s the cumulative effect of time and again feeling powerless. I spoke up at first. I challenged the US embassy on the way that guard treated me. Then the next elections came around and I experienced the same treatment. Should I shout louder? Should I rage against the injustices? It would just be noise. I’ve never seen anything happen because of my complaints.  I learned that it was easier to keep my head down and move forward, working harder and hoping that I could overcome the barriers in my way.

Now I’m living in the United States again. It’s not a system that rewards those who keep their heads down. I need to defend myself, and the people I speak to actually have some agency—they can challenge the system and make things happen. They make special exceptions for those who know how to advocate for themselves.

I’m trying to unlearn my silence. I’m trying to rebuild my confidence. My self-talk these days is, “Your voice matters. You won’t be punished for trying.” It’s hard, but I’m back in a society with a low power distance. I don’t sit at the bottom of a massive hierarchy in which everyone follows a prescribed process. I can approach those who make decisions, and it’s refreshing to have them listen to me. I know that I can’t instantaneously overcome my physiological reaction to certain situations, but I’m working on my mindset. Hopefully someday I will feel at ease once again in this country where I’m learning how to belong.

Returning and Belonging

From the moment when I publicly acknowledged that I would be moving from Ecuador to the United States, my sense of belonging shifted. The words "returning" and "coming back" suddenly entered my conversations with increased frequency. On the flip side, "leaving," "moving," and occasionally "abandoning us" also reached a new level of familiarity. Conversations with my family and friends in the United States received an injection of excitement and eager expectation. At the same time, my days filled up with an increasing number of goodbye parties and conversations about how great the past few years had been. My future was no longer in Ecuador, so even my continuing presence in the country was lived in an odd twilight zone of being but not belonging.

I always had known that my life in Ecuador was not permanent. However, that knowledge did not limit my assimilation over the course of five years. I was always the foreigner, but I became a foreigner who understood, who belonged, who added diversity to the conversations. I was applauded for learning the language, including the slang and Kichwa words randomly inserted in everyday conversation. I received the love and affection of my new friends who became like family. As I shared my life with them, I simultaneously absorbed a deep understanding of Ecuadorian culture. I needed to understand the country and the people to survive. I wanted to think like an Ecuadorian and view the world through their eyes to thrive. Did I achieve that? Not completely, but it was enough to build a life in which I belonged in Ecuador.

Now I have left. Or maybe I have returned. Regardless, I am no longer in Ecuador. Here no one cares if I know the bus times from Cruz Chicta. No one will as me "imanalla?" I no longer buy tree tomatoes, uvilla, and papaya at the market to make juice. I can't open a fresh cocoa pod with a machete and enjoy the juicy white baba that surrounds the beans. Darting between cars to cross a 6-lane road and wearing a backpack in front of me on a crowded bus are no longer useful skills. All that knowledge has no practical application for my new life.

I have to set aside all the ingrained tendencies, knowledge, and skills to make room for the news. I need to learn to yield to pedestrians even if they are not yet in the crosswalk. I need to get used to paying ten times more for produce at the store or farmer's market. I have to write well-organized essays instead of explaining business concepts in simple Spanish language. I need to speak up and advocate for myself instead of waiting my turn in line. These things would have been my norm if I had never left Michigan. July would have been a normal summer month instead of marking the end of my time in Ecuador and the beginning of my return to Michigan.

These are my experiences of returning. Some say that I am back where I belong, where I was raised. However, belonging implies a level of comfort and familiarity. I don't have that. The Michigan I left five years ago is not the one I encounter today. Just as I changed, Michigan has moved forward. 

Now I am trying to redefine myself. I am still in that twilight zone, but now it is in Michigan. I am present, but I don't yet belong. This is not the excitement of exploring a new country. It is the complexity and hard work of bringing back what I learned in a different country and combining it with the reality of a place I used to know. I have returned, but when will I belong?

A Christmas Blessing

During this Christmas season, my prayer, and the pray of all those at Partners Worldwide, is voiced in this Benedictine Blessing:

May God bless you with a restless discomfort
about easy answers, half-truths and superficial relationships,
so that you may seek truth boldly and love deep within your heart.

May God bless you with holy anger at injustice, oppression,
and exploitation of people, so that you may tirelessly work for
justice, freedom, and peace among all people.

May God bless you with the gift of tears to shed with those who suffer
from pain, rejection, starvation, or the loss of all that they cherish, so that you may
reach out your hand to comfort them and transform their pain into joy.

May God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that
you really CAN make a difference in this world, so that you are able,
with God’s grace, to do what others claim cannot be done.

And the blessing of God the Supreme Majesty and our Creator,
Jesus Christ the Incarnate Word who is our brother and Saviour,
and the Holy Spirit, our Advocate and Guide, be with you
and remain with you, this day and forevermore.

AMEN.

Sister Ruth Fox, OSB

Strategic Planning

Cuenca Partners spent time this past Saturday working on a strategic growth plan for the next four years. During a retreat in Yunguilla, ten members of the leadership team reviewed the ministry's vision and mission before delving into a debate of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunites and threats for Cuenca Partners. Over the next 3 months, they hope to complete the plan and begin putting it into action.

In the meantime, the weekend retreat resulted in an immediate commitment to more frequent team meetings and a renewed focus on mentoring for training graduates.

César Borja leads a discussion of Cuenca Partners' organizational strengths

A Conference in Cuenca

What would happen if business and church leaders met together to delve deeper into the issues of poverty in their community? What would happen if they went beyond that to consider how to work together on long-term solutions to poverty?

That is the premise of a conference being planned for April by Cuenca Partners in conjunction with Partners Worldwide and PovertyCure.

During the October Marketplace Revolution Conference, Boris Ordonez and Felix Hernandez, the respective leaders of the Ecuadorian and North American sides of the Partners Worldwide partnership in Cuenca, caught the vision of engaging not only their church in their city, but the entire ecumenical Church in Ecuador in this question.

Boris is a leader in the Verbo Church of Cuenca, with two thousand members, several ministries, and different organizations from an orphanage to a medical clinic to a radio that meet various needs in the community. However, he says that, "I think our ministry here lacks an understanding of why and how [we can] help people overcome poverty. We do a lot of charity but nothing with the vision of Business as Mission." His hope is to invite leaders from over 30 Verbo churches in Ecuador, as well as leaders from the Catholic church, other evangelical churches, government ministries, and business people to engage with PovertyCure and Partners Worldwide in a 2-day conference.

Over that time, PovertyCure would help Christians develop an awareness of the church's responsibility in addressing poverty. Through Partners Worldwide, they would take the next step and consider how churches and businesses can develop sustainable programs to create jobs and increase the ability of entrepreneurs to successfully go from poverty to having an income and even being able to employ others.

We still have four months and a lot of planning to make this a reality, but the enthusiasm for this event is tangible!

MR14 Workshop on the "Call to Business and the end of Poverty"
Cuenca Partners was inspired by this workshop to plan a similar
conference for April of 2015

Marketplace Revolution 2014

Today marked the end of an amazing experience with 10 Ecuadorian visitors. While many of them have hosted me at times over the past 4 years while I visited their city and worked with them in the cities of Cuenca, El Guabo, and Guamote, this week was my chance to play host.

During the last two days, over 500 attendees descended on Grand Rapids, Michigan for the biannual Marketplace Revolution Conference hosted by Partners Worldwide. Some highlights of that time have been:

• Dinner together with 22 members of our 3 Ecuadorian partnerships on Thursday night
• Connecting leaders from our Latin American agricultural partnerships with Justin, a Zambian expert on bringing farmers from subsistence to sustainable production to reaching the level of agribusiness.
• Three Ecuadorians presented on our church-based model, mentoring program, and agricultural work in breakout sessions.
• Cesar Luzuriaga, one of our Cuenca Partners leaders, participated in the closing ceremony and delivered part of the commissioning.

Tomorrow I will head to Hudsonville and New Era, Michigan with attendees from Guamote, Michigan to meet with donors and visit a dairy processing facility.

Things Come Together

From June 25 to July 9, the dates when I arrived back from the US and when my visa was set to expire, it was crunch time to get my paperwork in order and ensure Ecuador’s immigration office would let me remain in the country, at least until I could finish the required steps to get residency.

Originally, I thought everything was set. I had my documents, and the church said they had everything else for me to get a renewal on my missionary visa. And then I went to get the visa, and was told that one document was expired. Come to find out, that document had been a back-and-forth issue for the church for the past year, and even when a government ministry in Quito mailed a new document that week, it was missing one single line of information—the exact thing that I needed for the visa.

One week before my current visa was to expire, I felt lost. I was doubtful of whether I still should be in Ecuador. And this creeping uncertain had me playing the worst-case scenarios in my head. Thoughts of getting stuck at the Peruvian border and unable to return to Ecuador had me worried. I finally had to step back and realize that everything was out of my hands. No amount of anxiety would bring that simple sheet of paper that I needed. The one thing I could do was pray.

Not only could I pray, but I could also invite others into the journey. I could explain my situation and ask friends, family, and coworkers to pray that everything would come together. On Friday I asked for prayers. That evening, in the course of a conversation, I felt clarity that I needed to leave things over the weekend and then on Monday go back to the immigration office with the documentation for a 6 month “commercial activities” visa.

When Monday morning rolled around, it was surprisingly easy to assemble the necessary documents. I already had all but two, and by late morning I stepped into the immigration office. The young woman who helped me not only reviewed the document, but started telling me “Sign here. Let’s paste your passport picture onto this document.” In the course of a few minutes, she was looking at her computer screen to schedule an appointment for Wednesday to officially make the switch to my new visa, which was all but stamped in my passport at that point.

All I could think as I walked out of the immigration office was, “God answers prayers.” I had only asked that by Wednesday I could work something out to not have to go to Peru and hope for a 90-day tourist visa when I returned to Ecuador. This was Monday, and I already had confirmation that I could get a visa. Moreover, I had an appointment, which meant I did not need to show up Wednesday morning at 7:30am to get in line.

When Wednesday arrived, things went smoothly, and by 1:30pm that day, I had a 6-month visa. God provided, and things came together.

Newsworthy

Our local partnership is making an impact in the city of Cuenca and is receiving increasing attention for its work. Through the coordination of one of our local team leaders, Gabriela Granda, and her publicity firm KreActiva, we've been able to share the story of Cuenca Partners in both of the major local newspapers. Here is a sample of the stories that were run back in April. (Yes, I'm a little behind on posting stories!)

Practice your Spanish by reading the print screen copies of the articles or scroll down for links to the English translation!

Cuenca Partners ayuda a iniciar emprendimientos from diario El Mercurio.
Read this article in English.

Se desarrolla seminario para microempresarios from diario El Tiempo.
Read this article in English.

Training Public Servants in Leadership

One of the amazing things I have witnessed in the past year is the way projects and plans have grown beyond any one person's power. When I first arrived in Cuenca, I was consulted whenever anything new started. That meant I had a lot of input, but it also meant a heavy responsibility to ensure everything came together. The leadership team of Cuenca Partners, our Partners Worldwide affiliate, has since taken the lead and given the impetus to start new projects and bring in the people necessary to make sure everything runs smoothly. I get to take a back seat and watch with a smile as responsibility is delegated into the hands of volunteers and new people step up into leadership. The training with ETAPA, detailed below, was one of those situations in which we saw that no single person could cover everything. However, through teamwork we were able to have a broad impact, and now the municipal government is asking us to bring the same training to their work force.

Since December 2013, Cuenca Partners has been collaborating with the public enterprise for telecommunication, water works, and sewers in its city, ETAPA EP, to offer training in leadership and topics of family unity to the public servants who work in the company. Although ETAPA can give employment and a dignified salary to over a thousand people who work in the various divisions of the company, it is the responsibility of each employee to use wisely the money they bring home each month. For that reason, the training seeks to motivate the employees to be responsible leaders in their daily work and also wise leaders in their homes.

Translated Report from ETAPA EP News:

The Family, Fundamental Pillar in Job Performance

ETAPA EP in coordination with the Submanagement of Human Resources is hosting a series of lectures focused on seeking the wellbeing of our coworkers and generating a stronger sense of ownership in the Company. For this reason, the Department of Social Wellness, Industrial Safety, and Occupational Health is executing motivational workshops for the personnel of the company as well as their families.

In topics relating to the company and its workers, the workshops seek to integrate the workers so that they value the importance of team work and meting one of the primary strategic objectives of ETAPA EP, “Improve Customer Satisfaction.”

[Photo: Boris Ordóñez of “Cuenca Partners” during a leadership seminar in the SIAPA building]

A New Partnership, A New Province

Boris Ordonez, who brought PW to Cuenca, shares with leaders in El Guabo 

Our partnership with the Verbo Christian Church in Cuenca began with a God-appointed meeting and conversation. In a similar way, the movement of that partnership to plant the seeds for a new group in a new region began with a divine appointment.

The Verbo Church in Cuenca started a church years ago in the town of El Guabo, just outside of Machala, a city of 250,000. When that church broke ground to build their own physical structure for worship, they invited one of the Verbo Cuenca leaders to share in the celebration, and that leader—Carlos Serrano—just happened to be a leader of the PW affiliate Cuenca Partners.

One thing led to the next, and over the course of several meetings in El Guabo and Cuenca, the vision for a business ministry was planted, and a leadership team was formed. This partnership is unique because it draws on business and church leaders from not one church but four. The Verbo Churches of the province of El Oro minister to four cities in the region as a team. 

Fittingly, they have taken a team approach to bringing business training, mentoring, and a vision of business as ministry to their congregations, their cities, and with God’s help, their entire province.

A Cuenca Partners leader teaches mentoring skills to future leaders in El Oro

Courageous business leaders from these churches are taking steps toward something new and unknown in their province as they form Camino de Emprendedores, loosely translated “Entrepreneurs’ Way”—the name they selected for this ministry. However, they’re not alone in the process. Leaders from Cuenca Partners have committed to travel the three hours from Cuenca to El Guabo to use what they have learned in the past two years to support their brothers and sisters in the ministry. And Partners Worldwide is actively connecting with Christian North American businesspeople who are interested in partnering with this local ministry.

That is what partnership for business as ministry is—planting the vision, walking together with other Christian businesspeople in diverse geographic regions, and stepping out in faith to pursue God’s calling to impact the businesses, families, and communities in a specific place through the marketplace.

I'm Back

After almost a year hiatus from posting in this blog, I'm back.

Teaching a Business Training Course in a rainforest community

"Why?" you might ask. Why did I stop posting? It wasn't that I left Ecuador or that there was nothing to talk about. Quite the contrary. By the end of August 2013, I found myself traveling at least once a week, diving into a new business training program in the rainforest, visiting Nicaragua for a regional team meeting, guiding North American groups literally across most of the country of Ecuador, and almost reaching the point of total exhaustion at several key times.  There was so much to tell, but so little time to clearly express it.

However, the next logical "Why?" is Why am I starting to post again?  Life hasn't necessarily slowed down, but I realize the importance of communicating what we are doing to a broader audience. There are people around the world supporting this work through their prayers, finances, and expertise, and as one of the few bilingual people involved in this work in a Spanish-speaking country, I have the opportunity to either keep these experiences to myself or express them as best I can, inviting friends and family, acquaintances and strangers to gain a glimpse of this vision of what business can do to transform communities.

So there's the short answer. Expect more posts. Expect stories and pictures and newspaper articles and links to other stories of what is happening in the rainforest, mountains, and coast of Ecuador. We're at an exciting moment when growth is mushrooming and new opportunities are springing up constantly. Come along and join in the adventure of both the work of Partners Worldwide in Ecuador and my side trips and adventures when I'm catching my breath on the weekends.

Enjoying nature on the weekend - hiking with Corrie (and her husband Matt) in Cajas National Park

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.

Pizza Nostra

After years working in a nonprofit organization, Patricio took a step of faith toward his dream of running his own business.  With constant guidance and mentoring from Carlos, a leader in the Cuenca affiliate of Partners Worldwide, Patricio learned business skills, evaluated the market for pizzerias, tried countless sauces, dough recipes, and ingredients, and finally open the doors of a pizzeria in a residential area that lacked restaurant options.  He had invested over five months of planning, and his business was already growing when we visited Pizza Nostra a mere two months after the restaurant's grand opening.

When we arrived, Carlos went back behind the counter to help Patricio, his wife, and their two workers finishing up appetizers of veggies and buffalo wings.  Pizza and lasagna soon followed, the latter being a new option Patricio is adding to the menu.  While the restaurant is still in its initial stages, Patricio has large plans for its growth.  Eventually he would like to make Pizza Nostra a franchise with locations all over Cuenca and beyond.  He is already training a nephew who hopes to eventually run a restaurant, and Patricio is taking steps to differentiate his product, such as offering a seafood pizza with shrimp, crab, and fish.  From talking with customers, Patricio knows that there are small improvements to make, but he is on the right track.  He already has many repeat customers, and with Carlos' continued mentoring he looks forward to implementing daily improvements in the business.