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

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.

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.

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.

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.

Moving to Cuenca

Over the past six months, I have spent an increasing amount of time traveling to one specific location--Cuenca Ecuador.  Located about 265 miles south of Quito in the same mountain chain, Cuenca is the third largest city in Ecuador and the home to colonial architecture, artisan crafts, the production of Panama hats, and countless ornate Catholic churches.

At the same time, the Verbo Christian Church of Cuenca has been at work, following the Spirit's leading to grow from one small congregation in the 1980s to three vibrant churches that today support a radio, English language school, hospital, dental clinic, orphanage, K-12 school, ministry institute and much more.  One of their newer ministries is growing out of a connection with Partners Worldwide and the strong desire to affirm businesspeople in their calling and help them to see their work as their mission field.

To better support the Verbo Church and our joint ministry--Cuenca Partners, I will be moving to Cuenca at end of January to be involved in the ministry full time.  This is very much a new development, so I look forward to the challenges, joys, and adventures of spending the next three months getting to know the city, exploring apartment options, and figuring out how to move my "stuff" over an 8-hour drive through winding mountain roads.  God has truly been leading and preparing me up to this point for this move, so I trust in him and his providence as I begin developing new connections and putting down roots in this city to which I have been called.

A New Partnership

Introducing the newest Partners Worldwide partnership--Cuenca Partners.

Last Tuesday, during the visit from North American members of the Partners Worldwide team, we signed a partnership agreement to begin actively working together with Cuenca Partners to bring business development under the vision of Business as Mission to the city of Cuenca.

As a volunteer-led group of businesspeople from the Verbo Christian Church of Cuenca, this local partner seeks to engage Christian businesspeople in service while supporting small businesspeople and entrepreneurs through business training, mentoring, and access to capital.  While there is still much work to be done, we hope to host a mentor's training day on October 20 in order to prepare mentors to connect with small business owners who need that extra support of a knowledgeable business profession with expertise in a certain area such as marketing or bookkeeping.  We will be offering a 3-day business training course in January to officially launch this ministry.

Partners Worldwide Visit Begins

Tomorrow I will be joined by four other members of the US-based Partners Worldwide team to travel to 3 cities and 5 provinces in the course of the following five days.  All four team members fly in tomorrow evening so that we can get an early start on Monday with a flight out to Cuenca.  There we will spend 2 full days meeting with church leaders, visiting businesses, and getting to know the city.  On Wednesday, we plan to return to Quito for two meetings before catching another flight, this time to the jungle city of Coca.  We will spend two days there in order to visit communities along the Napo River and below the Sumaco Volcano before returning to Quito for one last meeting before team members catch their flights on Friday evening and early Saturday morning.

Sound like a whirlwind?  Maybe, but it's full of anticipation for great things.  We are looking forward to signing a partnership agreement to begin formally working together with the Cuenca Partners group based at the Verbo Church there, and the trip to the jungle will be the start of a potential connection with Kaya Foundation, which works in rainforest conservation through business innovation with jungle farming communities.  I look forward to giving updates on the highlights from this trip.

Visitors Coming!

A group of North American businesspeople who support us in the work of Partners Worldwide in Ecuador confirmed today that they will be coming to visit at the end of August.  It has been just over a year since the last visit, so we are excited to welcome them again to meet with business people, help develop new connections, and see the beauty of God's creation in Ecuador.  I will be traveling with those who come to Cuenca to meet with local leaders.  From there we will also make our first visit to communities in the Amazon jungle  in order to consider how we can support them as they develop sustainable agricultural businesses and simultaneously work to conserve the rainforest.  We pray for the God's blessing in this visit and that he will open doors for service and to walk alongside even more Ecuadorian businesspeople.

Connections in Cuenca

Two years ago during the visit of the Global Business Affiliate to Ecuador, a team member from New Jersey took the opportunity to connect with his wife’s cousin, Boris Ordoñez.  Through the experience, Boris accompanied the local Quito leaders and the North American team members to visit a bakery owner and strawberry growers, all the while learning more about Partners Worldwide’s vision of working through business as ministry to alleviate poverty in communities. 

As a leader of his church in Cuenca, Boris was already involved in a number of ministries in addition to being the successful owner of four businesses.  Over the years, Verbo Church of Cuenca had established orphanages, a hospital, a radio station, a school, a language institute and many other ministries.  However, a ministry that could connect Christian business leaders and empower them to have an impact in their community for Christ was missing.  Boris saw the potential to develop a ministry for businesspeople and began conversing about the possibility with Partners Worldwide.

Through subsequent visits and conversations, the Verbo Church led a business training course for 40 people, developed a group of businesspeople in the church willing to serve as consultants, and formed a team dedicated to launching the ministry.  At the beginning of April, I met with the Verbo leadership team to formalize plans for a partnership in the city of Cuenca.  By formalizing this partnership, the group in Cuenca plans to offer more frequent business training, establish a mentoring program, and eventually provide access to small loans through an independent lender.  While there is still much work to do, this is a concrete step toward providing Christian business development support for businesses in Cuenca, Ecuador.

Partners Visit

For those who don't know much about Partners Worldwide (PW), let me preface this post by explaining a little about the structure of PW.  Instead of going to a country and setting up an office and staff and following a set model for international development, PW works internationally by connecting Christian businesspeople from the US (or another more developed country) with Christian businesspeople already living and serving in a given country (like Ecuador).  Really we're all about relationships.  We want to build a strong international partnership between those 2 groups of businesspeople.  We foster relationships with the businesspeople we serve.  This year we're also putting a special emphasis on mentoring relationships, both locally and with international mentors.  All that said, face-to-face contact in a weeklong visit from the North American partners is an important part of strengthening the partnering relationship.

Thus, the end of June/beginning of July was a time of lots of meetings, visits to businesses, and dinners with the various people with whom I work.

The day after everyone arrived, the North American and Ecuadorian leaders talked over plans for the year and had an evening dinner with trainers who help out with the business course.


About 2/3 of our binational team

A special musical surprise during dinner

The second day, we split into two groups to visit businesses in North Quito, South Quito, and the two valleys.  A few of the businesses we visited...

 That evening, the two groups met up in the Old Town colonial area for dinner, and we had a view of the city from the 5th floor Vista Hermosa Restaurant.

Dinner entertainment--halfway thru dinner an elderly man took over the piano at the back of the restaurant.

Looking south--Independence square with Panecillo in the background.

Looking north--La Basilica on the horizon with Toma de Asis in the foreground.

After two days in Quito, I headed to Las Mercedes on the coast with 3 members of the North American team and Edwin, who had led a training course there at the start of this year.  Since Las Mercedes is an agricultural community, we saw lots of cows, pigs, and chickens and ate food that was picked that same day.

Eating fresh cheese at the production site

At the Las Mercedes rice mill

Motorcycle repair--in the past 10 years motorcycles have replaced horses as the main form of transportation within the community.

Lester chopped open a few coconuts so we could finish the day with coconut milk

Scooping out the fleshy coconut meat

 After a quick flight back to Quito and some time together in the airport, most of the team left to spend the 4th of July with family.  A few of us had one last meal together until next time.

 

Commodities Trader Invests his Talents in Ecuador

I have the immense blessing of working with 9 dedicated North American business people and farmers in addition to the 5 board members here in Ecuador.  Their commitment to service has been an inspiration to me. Here is the story of one of our North American team members, as it appears in the Partners Worldwide June Newsletter:  

Story by Jacqueline Klamer

 For Felix Hernandez, trading commodities in the New York Stock Exchange has always been an exhilarating career.  When he became a Christian, he decided he needed to build on those talents and serve others in his Christian walk.

Investing and expanding businesses comes naturally, says Felix--one company he launched grew from three employees to 300 within the eight years he managed it.  Yet, within his church in New Jersey, he had trouble finding any opportunity to use his strongest gifts to serve.  For years, he and his wife Sandy volunteered through a Samaritan's Purse program, helping out at local food shelters, and even building houses in Mexico.  "I started thinking that I'm not using my God-given abilities in business," he says.  "And, frankly I'm pretty bad at building houses."

In 2008, Felix searched online for ways to use his business knowledge to serve when he learned about the need for small and medium business loans in developing countries.  He heard about Partners Worldwide, attended a conferece, and soon got connected with business members of Partners for Christian Development - Ecuador (PCD-E).

(Continue Story Here)

Training in Las Mercedes (Take 3)

Las Mercedes Training Class - ready for the next step

The thing about working with businesses is that if you do your job well, you're never finished.  The whole line about "working yourself out of a job" never applies.  I could write a great story about how the last of 3 training visits to Las Mercedes was completed (finished) two weeks ago, but the truth is that I'm thinking more about the 8 business plans that those training participants already sent, the visit another participant is going to make to Quito next week to work with us directly on his plan, and the 7 or more other people who are calling Edwin at least once a week with questions about details of what they learned in the business training class.  So I can tell a little about the training, but the important thing is what comes next.

Working on conference planning a couple years back, I ran in the question of what follow up means.  For a conference, the responsibility is next to nothing.  Each participant decides herself what to do with her learnings.  However, as an organization that focuses on business development, we make it our business to follow up with participants to help them put what they learned into practice.  As a caveat, we still have much to learn ourselves and in practice, follow up is difficult.  However, that is exactly what we are doing with the training group in Las Mercedes.

Working on activities in groups

During the last training session, the participants divided up into groups according to the sector they work in--pig farming, dairy farming, mechanics, and commerce--and they have been working together to write down their plans for their businesses.  Since Las Mercedes is so far from where we are based in Quito (a 45 minute flight and then a 3 hour drive), the ability of participants to reinforce the ideas of the training for each other is essential.

At the same time, the wonders of email allow them to send their business plans, and in the next trip to Las Mercedes in April, Edwin and a board member will be able to visit their businesses and talk through their plans to help them form realistic goals and continue improving their businesses and farms.

And after that, there will definitely be more follow up work.  More questions, more decisions to consult on.  The truth is that unless a business fails, there are always new challenges and opportunities to consider, and as long as a business owner wants to consult with us in making decisions, we have a job to do.  And that's a good thing.

Business Training Class Graduation

On the first Saturday in December, Partners for Christian Development-Ecuador (PCD-E) held the final class of its third business training course in Quito, Ecuador.  Twelve weeks earlier, the PCD-E training team eagerly awaited the arrival of the first businesspeople at the doors of the classroom.  This Saturday also involved a high level of energy and excitement as the participants completed the last step in this business course and began the first steps in the next part of their story.  For some that might be the start of a new business, and for others the implementation of new ideas to stimulate further growth in an existing business.

After the board president, an Ecuadorian lawyer, gave the final lesson on legal requirements for businesses, the class participants received a call from two members of the Global Business Affiliate (the Ecuador GBA is composed of about 10 US businesspeople).  Along with giving personal congratulations to each of the five businesspeople who were to graduate that day, the GBA members emphasized the importance of pursuing one's plans goals and trusting that with God we can achieve great things.  Everyone was grateful to be able to share time together that transcended the distance between GBA members in the US and the training classes in Ecuador.

After receiving their course certificates, the five graduates and one non-graduating participant were joined by three PCD-E board members for a celebratory lunch prepared by Monica (a successful new restaurant owner already featured in this blog).  Monica shared a part of her story, telling how she was able to grow and learn from hard experiences to become the businesswoman she is today.

As the culmination of 12 weeks of working, learning, and building relationships together, the graduation brought high hopes for future opportunities.  Just as the graduates will take advantage of the opportunities available to them in their businesses, the PCD-E board is looking forward to implementing ideas to improve the fourth business training class.  The team looks forward to starting an even better business training course in March.  Before then, trainings will also begin in the city of Cuenca and the farming community of Las Mercedes (see Las Mercedes story from July!)

More Trainings Please

The plan was always to hold two business courses a year, each comprised of twelve classes on topics such as marketing, production, and accounting.  That was the plan, until Juan Carlos showed up at the very first class.  A street vendor who had not completed high school, Juan Carlos was motivated to take the lessons he learned each Saturday and apply them to his business during the rest of the week.  Instead of persisting as a street vendor, weathering storms, avoiding the authorities, and pushing his cart through crowded sidewalks, Juan Carlos took steps to formalize his business.  His typical location had been on a street corner across from a school, but half a block down the road there was an empty storefront.  Using his own savings instead of taking on a loan, Juan Carlos rented the space and purchased tables, benches, and an awning that announces "The Authentic Cevichochos."  From this space, he now sells cevichochos, a healthy Ecuadorian snack comprised of white chocho beans, ceviche shrimp, toasted corn kernels, plantain chips, and an onion-tomato sauce.

While he was improving his own business, Juan Carlos had a desire to help his fellow cevichocho vendors.  Together with 45 peers he formed an association complete with a uniform and plans to petition the government to allow cevichocho vendors to sell on the streets.  Knowing that his business training had helped him set goals and improve his work, Juan Carlos also began teaching the lessons he received through classes at Partners for Christian Development (PCD) to the rest of the association.  After three classes, he asked the PCD administrative assistant, Edwin, to help him lead the classes.  In this way, the impact of business training is being multiplied, and once-isolated cevichocho vendors are now united, seeking to improve their services, legalize their informal businesses, and save enough to also establish their own storefront restaurants.

On a Wednesday afternoon, Edwin and I stopped in to check on Juan Carlos, plan the last class of the business course, and enjoy some authentic cevichochos.  Just inside the doorway stands the street cart that used to be the entirety of Juan Carlos' business.  Now the cart is accompanied by a stove where his assistant prepares typical fried pork and a display case filled with beverages and tuna, which can turn a roadside snack of cevichochos into a sit-down meal.  As we conversed with Juan Carlos, he shared that the association had started a savings fund and already was giving out its first loan to improve another cevichocho business.  Not only has he improved his own business, but Juan Carlos is also inspiring others to do the same.  Furthermore, he is not finished receiving training.  Juan Carlos recently enrolled in night classes so that he can finally achieve his high school diploma.