Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Hitting the Ground Running


A successful (unremarkable) trip to Entebbe, and then an early arrival in Arua (thanks Eagle Air) got us off to a bright start, even though I calculated that I had slept for a total of only 7 hours in my 27 hour long night! We are successfully based in our “home away from home” – Slumberland. We are always greeted so warmly here and I have my usual room – 102. I’m taking the opportunity to write this blog in the period between ordering dinner and having it served. We are always told 25 minutes, but the real delivery time usually varies from between 45 and 90 minutes.

Our team comprises George Veth (Boston-based founder of Mango Fund), Ted Pantone (Kings Alum and the E Africa Area Manager for Mango Fund, based in Kampala) and Blasio Leeti (Arua field manager for Mango Fund and long time friend in these parts) and me (Andy Mills, Boston-based retired businessman trying to be as little nuisance to the rest of the team as possible!).

Our first couple of days have been spent working with some of our leading business partners here with whom we have the longest relationships. As in life, we see mixed results. Some of our businesses partners have thrived, others are working on plans to obtain funding from us and others are struggling.

Samson, our rice miller, has now branched into maize milling. He has used our loans to build his volumes over the past two years, and now has acquired the new maize equipment which is installed but not yet fully operational. We have been discussing a new loan to allow him to acquire even more rice and the first maize for processing. Samson is a quiet man, but honest, hardworking and very teachable. Of all of our entrepreneurs, he has grown the most. His business allows Aruan farmers to find a ready cash market for their crops and provides the Arua school system with all of its rice, meaning it no longer has to spend money in Kampala. This is a win/win for the local economy and Samson makes a profit too!

Ronald , our expert radiologist and clinic entrepreneur, continues to see his business expand and thrive. He has now added a dental unit with funds we have lent to him, but today we discussed the need for a larger generator to power all of his operations (Arua has essentially been without power for two months!). I think we will be able to turn a loan around in a few days to allow him to be fully operational. The extra power will also allow him to move to his next project – buying a refrigerator and stocking and providing vaccines for hepatitis and rabies. These are currently not available in Arua. Patients would have to travel to Kampala to be treated. We love this continued addition to the health care provision in Arua.

Emmanuel has built a factory for juicing, and soon will acquire the equipment from the Uganda Industrial research Institute (UIRI). However to get the business running, he needs funds for purchasing some final pieces of equipment, hiring some people to train before the production starts and the initial purchase of mangoes to get the flow started. We are evaluating how much more we can do to help. We have advised him on his business for the past three years and I expect we will be the investor or one of the investors in this new round of financing.
Peter is growing his meat processing business – particularly into beef sausages and needs some capital items to expand production and move product into the market. We have worked with Peter for years, and now it looks like we can help him with a small loan too!

Jimmy has built a butchery business, but his venture in dealing and fattening cattle has failed. As a result he is having difficulty paying his interest and will not be able to make the principal payment on the loan we provided for him to try this new business. We worked together to find the best ways for him to pay off interest and loan, and came up with a number of options. These are not ideal for him, or us, but I don’t mind as much when someone tries a new thing that doesn’t work. These losses are easier to take than the people who use the money for other purposes than the loan was give for, or who really don’t work as hard as they should to make their businesses successful (both of which we have experienced).

Tomorrow will be another day of meetings and new ideas. As I look at the schedule I see we will be delving into the worlds of coffee, peanut butter and high fashion – Uganda style. Looks like an interesting day.

Thanks for all of your good wishes and prayers. Please continue to pray for the meetings, for wisdom and for all of our friends here in Arua. Please hold Jimmy in your prayers in particular.

See you tomorrow!
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The Genesis of the 5810 Project

Vision

When Jesus was asked what was the most important command he answered: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your heart and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments”

As a follower of Jesus, it is challenging to obey these commands, particularly with regard to my neighbors.
How can I love my neighbors? How can I love my neighbors in a global context? How can I love my neighbors who are struggling to thrive in developing countries?

The classic response of western Christians has been to “send”. Whether we send those that have been called to vocational ministry, or send money and resources to “give to the poor”, or occasionally send ourselves on short-term missions trips. Each of these has value, but is this enough? Is it effective? Is it all that God calls us to?

The questions become more complex when you consider that no matter how much money we have spent on the “war on poverty” over decades, the problem remains as acute as ever. We are not winning the war, even here in the US. Are there other approaches?

As I struggled with these ideas, I was led to consider Isaiah Chapter 58. Here God tells us what true fasting is – to loose the chains of injustice; to set the oppressed free; to share food with the hungry; and to provide the poor with shelter. Then verse 10 says “…if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed then your light will rise in the darkness and your night will become like the noonday.”

“If you spend yourselves in behalf of others …….”

While we should send, we need to spend too.

What does it look like to spend ourselves?
For me I have been led to spend myself as follows:
• To go to a developing country, and to go repeatedly.
• To develop personal relationships with innovative leaders
• To use my own specific gifting and experience in business
• To find ways to move people out of the poverty cycle on a sustainable basis
• To invest money in parallel with my activities
• To share the love of Christ with my neighbor and to spend myself on their behalf.

5810 Project

The 5810 Project is predicated on the belief that while “teaching a man to fish” will provide him with a fish diet for a lifetime, it will not lead him out of poverty. To escape poverty people need to develop sustainable business activities. The 5810 Project’s vision is to provide an opportunity for business people from developed countries to share the love of Christ with their neighbor by “spending” themselves on behalf of others who are trying to build businesses and break the poverty cycle.

The 5810 Project is currently focused on two principal activities in Uganda.

Arua
Arua is a significant market town in the NW of Uganda, with Sudan to the north and Congo to the West. It is an agricultural market town that has grown because of government and NGO activity primarily in S. Sudan, but now increasingly in E. Congo. While the town has prospered and grown, the native Aruans have not enjoyed this economic boon.

Our efforts in Arua are centered on helping the church and Christian business people develop sustainable businesses.
We work with businesspeople to analyze the market situation in Arua, to offer training sessions, to encourage and mentor entrpreneurs and to invest in their businesses.

Kampala
Jesus Commissioned Ministries (“JCM”) is a church founded in 2000 serving three poor communities on the outskirts of Kampala. The leadership of JCM has a heart to reach the many underprivileged children in the communities it serves. Without education, there is little hope for these children to thrive. While education is available, the costs are prohibitive for most families. JCM has established Mercy Junior School (elementary) for these children. In addition to education, the children receive uniforms, food and school materials. The school currently has over 50 pupils in two Pre-K classes and Primary 1 (P1)and Primary 2 (p2) and is building classrooms for P3,4 & 5 for completion in the spring of 2011.

The 5810 Project has helped Mercy Junior School develop its rudimentary facilities and to buy a neighboring plot of land for expansion. We also advise the administrators of the school on business and education practices and have steered them through a process of becoming a fee-baseda significant drive to parent involvement and elevated educational standards and outcomes.

Opportunity
We believe that the 5810 Project offers a significant opportunity for the body of Christ:
• Grass roots opportunity to create sustainable businesses and deliver families and communities out of the oppression of poverty.
• Many business opportunities are apparent with relatively small investment levels necessary.
• Opportunities for talented business people to connect personally with emerging entrepreneurs and spend themselves on them.
• Opportunity for the body of Christ in the developed world to share the love of Christ with our neighbors in developing countries.
• Transformational impact on the “spender” and recipient alike!

If you would like to discuss this further, please contact me Andy Mills at amills@tkc.edu