Faith & Prosperity Nexus Blog
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Making Business Work for The Poor
DIFID, The UK Government aid organization launched a new program to promote entrepreneurs. The Business Innovation Facility, which will initially be rolled out across Nigeria, India, Bangladesh, Zambia, and Malawi, will help companies to develop or adapt commercial business models that benefit the poor. This is definitely a step in the right direction. Large companies are encouraged to work with smaller ones to establish their distribution network. An example they cite is Coca Cola. The press release states that, “they were finding it hard to access certain markets in Africa due to poor and narrow roads. In order to get around this problem the Manual Distribution Centres decided to provide bicycles and pushcarts for local deliverers to be able to sell the beverage to retailers in these areas. To date, more than 2,600 small distribution businesses have been formed as a result, creating direct employment for more than 12,000 people, and generating more than $500 million in revenues throughout East Africa.” DFID is known to be one of the better aid organizations with regards to enterprise solutions to poverty. Check out their website to learn more about their programs. A particularly interesting piece on their website is the Private Sector… Read more
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Three Word Start-up Advice
Dharmesh Shah’s blog, OnStartups, is well worth following. He often has a good perspective on things, and a way of asking challenging questions. For example, back in January, he put up a post with the question: What is your best start-up advice in no more than three words? He calls them “triplets”. Check out what he came up with on his site. He even received some help from no less than Guy Kawasaki. Having to boil down advice to that level brings across the essence of the advice. Here are some of my favorites: Hire generalists early. Invest in culture. Sell something today. Say “NO” often. Live your vision. And one from the comments section: Prosper from mistakes. I would add “Invest In Values” which could be said to be under the theme of “Invest In Culture,” which he already listed, so another one would be “Don’t Forget God” What’s your start-up “triplet” advice? There’s a little book called “100 Tips To Get Your Business Going,” by G.L. Hoffman, a serial entrepreneur – it’s not in three words, but the tips are pretty good.
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A journey in fellowship with God’s heart
Reconxile.org has a spiritual vision: To begin a journey in fellowship with God’s heart which will touch and transform many others. This vision is translated into a financial and an operational goal. Financial Goal: Our financial vision is to generate £10Bn equivalent in aid, in one year, through training people in basic business skills, and to grow this figure year on year. This may seem outrageous and impractical but it is not, and with one team of three people, in just three weeks we generated £2M equivalent in aid to prove it. Operational Goal: Five thousand small teams going to different parts of the developing World to train people in basic business skills. Five thousand teams could create £10Bn, and at the time of writing, that is roughly equivalent the total Annual Aid provided by the entire G8. In essence, Reconxile provides materials and inspiration to anyone wiling to go and get involved in enterprise solutions. They are true enablers – a rare species, unfortunately. And consequently, they won’t be aware of everything they effect, though I have a feeling their effect is substantial. “Most of the work that takes place through our model, we will never even hear about.… Read more
