The Politics of No

I hate to say no.  As such, I don’t know how I survived 30 plus years in corporate America.  It took years in the marketplace before I learned that no was often the best feedback, not just for the business, but for the individual receiving the negative response as well.  It is cliché-ish, but it does build character… over time.  It does when you are five.  It does when you are fifty.  In fact, I often muse about how the power of no when one is young contributes to the reduction of its use when one is fifty.  Think about it. 

No is no less integral to progress in the corporate world than yes, but when you are saying no to someone you highly regard, even like, it is generally painful.  At least, for me it still is today.  I am a humanist at heart.  I like people. I especially like kids.  But, today I am fairly certain that many of us think that a little more no when kids are, well, kids, would be a positive thing.  I say no much less today to my kids than I ever did when the world was their oyster.  So, when I moved into my new role with the Greater Impact Foundation, the concept of no reared its two-headed self once again.

The for-profit social impact space is filled by young people with big hearts, great ideas and the drive to make a positive impact on our world.  Personal gain is no less important than social gain, but their double bottom line attitude towards success is breathtakingly fresh.  So, when I am faced with a situation that does not meet the GIF mission criteria, I have to say no.  It is painful, but necessary.  GIF has a specific objective and if the organization soliciting support does not fit the criteria, even if what it is trying to do is worthwhile, I have to decline support.  It is a little easier to turn down such organizations.  I am certain they will find the perfect partner because their business model makes sense and it has all of the positive indicators that makes one believe they can succeed.  Conversely, it is when I have to say no to those organizations that do meet our mission criteria, but perhaps exhibit a flawed business model when no is easier to say.

For me, I love saying yes to organizations that meet the GIF criteria.  It is personally rewarding.  And, it is so much easier with an organization that is just a little premature, but aligns with our mission to offer the qualifier, “You are a perfect fit for GIF, but, no, not just yet.  Our risk tolerance is moderate.  When you can demonstrate quantifiable market traction, please call.  I really want to revel in the word YES.” 

Why Don't You Return My Calls?

Recently, I asked all of our social enterprise partners to send me new material; photos, videos, stories so that we could update our website and continue to promote their causes. That simply request demonstrated just how different it is working with people in the social enterprise space versus a typical structured business environment. 

For most of my career I have worked in corporate America where certain etiquette is expected, particularly when the boss calls. Frankly it should be inviolate when anybody calls.  Return the call!  Promptly!

I do recall when phone etiquette (today, general communications etiquette) meant something.  The obsessive among us went out of their way to promptly respond.  Pagers and beepers existed for a reason.  Some wore them proudly.  The less obsessive tossed them in the pool went they went off.  Oops!

I do not mean unsolicited calls.  I mean calls to someone with whom you are trying to conduct business, someone who has indicated they want to do business with you.  If not, would anyone argue that the punctuality with which calls are or are not returned is a leading indicator of business behavior, bad and good.  Shouldn’t everyone reciprocate in a timely manner?  Maybe not.  It depends.

Here is a picture of where one of the enterprises we support, Raising the Village, works. 

Uganda to the left. Rwanda dead ahead. The Congo to the right.

Imagine an 11-hour drive southwest of Kampala near where Rwanda, Uganda and The Congo share permeable borders.  Do you see any cell towers?  If you are lucky you might encounter a sliver backed gorilla, the majestic primate made famous by Dian Fossey.  If you are unlucky it might be another sort of guerrilla, one with an AK-47 slung over his shoulder.   Shawn is the meticulous leader at RTV.  When I did not hear back from him the last thing I thought was that he was ignoring me, or he had bumped into the wrong kind of primate.

Here is another in Northern India.  Cowbells, but no cell or internet.

Patna, Northern India

Another.  Nada. Zip. 

Words are not necessary.

And, finally in Northern Ghana, dust invading the air from the Sahara.  Hard to find anything here.

The circumstances of place and time in the social enterprise space are frequently not correlative to the developed world.  Getting from point A to point B is often less an issue of distance than it is time.  This follows with communications as well.

The good work undertaken by social enterprises is enormously challenging.  Limited or no infrastructure is common.  Limited resources to undertake the myriad of jobs necessary to make headway are an ever present reality.  In these places, one must constantly remind oneself that western rules of business do not apply, especially when it comes to returning calls.  Yes, emergencies create challenges.  Transportation is required.  One just must hope the roads are clear, the vehicles are in good shape, rainy season has not yet arrived or your route not blocked.

So when I do not hear back from one of the social entrepreneurs I am reaching out to I know it is not necessarily because of lax communications etiquette.  There are far greater issues to contend with when you find yourself off the grid.

Providing Livelihoods in Rural India

Visiting artisans in their village outside Mizrapur

Often, after returning from a lengthy due diligence trip I feel overwhelmed.  Returning to my own culture, re-acclimating and reckoning with what I just experienced is a challenge.  Assimilating the good, understanding the unexplainable and just trying to figure out what that experience does to me as an individual is never an easy process.  This is even more challenging when the primary purpose of the trip is to evaluate the potential fit with the organization I am there to visit.  It takes time to get level set and then complete the assessment with a more clinical mindset.  Yet, eventually, everything comes into focus.  The unique nature of the experience never completely dissipates, but it does fade into the background with time and allows me to focus more acutely on the business match with GIF.  RangSutra is a perfect example.

Rangsutra is a community owned company of artisans from remote villages of India.   Its goal is to ensure sustainable livelihoods for rural artisans, based on ethical practices and a celebration of India’s rich cultural heritage.  

The beauty of the scene belies the backbreaking labor under the unrelenting sun required to harvest rice. 

Socially, artisans come from some of the most disadvantaged communities, with very little opportunities for self-development and growth. The fact that artisans and craftspeople still retain their skills is a miracle, given the competition from machine made products and fast changing trends in the urban market, which is today the main market of many a rural artisan. 

Rangsutra acts a bridge between rural Indian artisans and global customers.  Concurrently, it has the unique ability to balance tradition and contemporary cultural realities, essentially providing continuity amidst a world constantly changing.

Rangsutra’s core guiding principle is respect for both the producer and customer, ensuring a fair price to the artisan producer as well as quality products to the customer. Profits earned from sales go back to artisans ensuring a better life for the communities.

The social enterprise origins are in Bikaner, Western Rajasthan.  Gradually they have increased their support to artisans in and around Varanasi in Eastern Uttar Pradesh, and Manipur in North East India.  Over the last nine years they have gained the trust of IKEA and Fabindia two of the world’s largest retailers and are profitable which ensures regular and sustainable work to the artisans. Today they provide regular work to 3,000 artisans across India.

Artisans at work share their stories about the empowerment their work engenders.

Perhaps, most important, besides providing well-earned incomes to highly marginalized women in incredibly poor rural villages where they often are viewed as second class citizens, is the sense of empowerment that is easy to see when you spend time with these women at work and in their homes.  That empowerment is being transferred slowly but surely to the next generation and overtime it will change the village forever for the better.  GIF is proud to have the opportunity to help.  

To Blog or Not to Blog

Recently, a close friend asked me, “Ken, what if a tree falls in the forest and nobody reads your blog?”  His pithy use of the age old question was to remind me that the GIF blog audience is rather small.  It struck a chord.

I already know our readership is small, paltry compared with blogging universe standards.  So using another age old phrase I pithily responded, “Quality trumps quantity.” Another age old saying, one clearly pertinent during this U.S. election year.  Yes, our blog audience is small, but pandering aside, it is a very high quality audience. 

We use Constant Contact and other social media to get the story out about our mission and the social impact enterprises we support.  As a result, we also receive unrequested missives from those entities about how we could boost our readership by spending more money to draw a bigger audience.  I guess if we had an e-commerce site or sold advertising at rates determined by our readership that might be wise.  Yet, again, while more readers would be wonderful, the quality of that readership remains a priority.

Certainly, we would love to have a larger audience, not because it would soothe my ego, but because it would mean that readers are focusing on more meaningful subject matter, something truly relevant to improving the quality of life, while at the same time shining a light on the worthy organizations that are focused on that effort.  That is a good thing.

We try to provide stories from a slightly different perspective, one which captures a little more of what goes on as we seek out the best organizations to support.   We try to connect the business due diligence with the human stories because we believe it helps to contextualize what a non-profit like GIF experiences as it endeavors to fulfill its mission to engage for-profit sustainable social enterprises that can demonstrate their capabilities to empower the poor. 

It is understandable that cute dog videos and the like draw big audiences.  It is understandable that social media mavens see the web as a digital soapbox to climb atop to share their passion, vent their spleens and just have fun.  Would we love for more people to share the good news about what some very talented and committed entrepreneurs are trying to do to improve the quality of life for those in need?  Sure, but we do not mind doing it one person at a time because sooner or later more people than less will learn that amidst the chaos that is commonplace around the world there are some really good things going on and spreading the good news is important for everyone’s sanity.  So, unabashedly I encourage our readers to check out Eco-Fuels Africa or Sistema Biobolsa on You Tube.  Take a look at what Food for the Poor is doing with the American Nicaragua Foundation.  Read about the fantastic work of Raising the Village in Uganda.  It is uplifting.  These sites may never get the readership that dog videos receive, but their compelling stories make up for it.

Always Something New

Moringa farmers from Ejore, Ghana share their stories

Each time I return from conducting on-the-ground due diligence with potential new social impact enterprises I learn something new.  Or, at a minimum, I reinforce what I already know to be true.  It may be something specific to add to, amend or reinforce the GIF mission criteria.  It may be something about myself.  It may be something so unexpected that you can only scratch you head as there seems to be no way to explain it, though it remains true.  Here are a few examples:

GIF: When we consider a new social enterprise, we always seek out those that demonstrate market connectivity.  Without it, the difficulty of generating revenue and pinpointing a pathway to sustainability is daunting.  Who are the customers?  What is their revenue and margin contribution?  Have they reordered?  This is especially true when an enterprise is dependent upon retail.  It is equally daunting for those enterprises that rely almost entirely on their distribution model.

Now, this is not a revelation.  Market connectivity is true for any enterprise, social or otherwise, but often we discover that social entrepreneurs struggle to develop that connectivity.  Selling the double bottom line vision of the social enterprise is far easier than convincing retail that they should give you the shelf space and time they need to build a sustainable revenue stream. 

Me: The grace exhibited by the very poor is humbling.  There is no way to avoid it.  It is good for the soul and you never know when it will smack you right in the face.  Of course, I know this too.  However, even though I have done this for a while, I am always amazed that the poor living hand to mouth will always share their food with a stranger.  Equally true is the lack of hyperbole exhibited by the poor.  There is little of the “woe is me” syndrome.  There is virtually no exaggeration.  Politicians everywhere could learn something from those with nothing.

The Unexplainable:  India is a vast nation, extraordinary in so many ways.  Yet, the attitude towards waste in most places is hard to grasp.  Go into an Indian home and depending upon the economic status the home is generally always clean.  Step outside the front door and there is waste everywhere.  Private space… clean.  Public space … filthy.  Except in India, as I have begun to understand, there is no concept of public space.  What we consider public space in the west is considered nobody’s space in India.  That simple twist of logic is the reason why trash is thrown out car windows and public roads are littered with waste.  They are not public roads. They are nobody’s roads.  Wrap your head around that!  Even after this was explained to me by several people I still cannot understand it.

After returning from a long trip abroad I always go through a period of reflection.  Recovering from jet lag always results in late night, early morning reverie where reassessment of my own life seeps from the immediacy of the recent cultural immersion.  People that know me, know that I am generally, eminently prepared for rigorous travel, unanticipated events and the inevitability of change.  Some might even characterize me as an aging prepper forever reliving my youth on my own terms.  This I will not argue with.  Yet, even with all that experience I always return home pondering, questioning whether or not what I am doing, how I am doing it and what I am learning is relevant to my daily life.  I have never viewed myself as a masochist, so I have concluded that indeed it is.

How People Change You

Gene & Mary Long

Sometimes it is breathtaking when you meet certain people who turn your way of looking at the world upside down.  This is exactly what happened to me on my recent due diligence trip to Thailand.

I have been talking with Joe Demin, CEO for Yellow Leaf Hammocks www.yellowleafhammocks.com operated out of Thailand and the U.S. for some time now, well over a year.  When Joe first approached GIF for grant consideration, we opted to take a wait and see attitude.  We wanted to see a tighter P & L.  We wanted to more fully understand the Yellow Leaf customer base, both new ones and those that were reordering.  We wanted to more fully understand the potential impact Yellow Leaf could have on those in greatest need.  We wanted to pin down the enterprises approach to metrics and reporting.  Joe did not disappoint.  Even though we initially said, “Later!”  Joe stayed in touch and diligently kept us abreast of Yellow Leaf’s progress on all fronts.  Joe acted on all of our questions and over the year convinced us that on-the-ground due diligence would be worthwhile.

Now, Joe is a great guy, but this is not unusual.  In fact, we expect the leadership of social impact enterprises seeking support from GIF to all act this way.  Joe took a deliberate, reasoned and patient approach and proved that Yellow Leaf was worth deeper consideration.  What truly was remarkable is what we discovered while conducting due diligence in Thailand.

The Yellow Leaf people, better known as the Mlabri were forever a nomadic, hunter/gathering indigenous tribe living in the hills of Northern Thailand.  They got their name from the yellowing banana leaf shelters often discovered abandoned in the jungle as they moved in continual search of food. 

Over time, civilization encroached on their habitat.  Two examples. Teak harvesting was and still is shrinking their territory.  Combined with slash and burn maize fields from hilltop to valley floor, they were gradually destroying the jungle, further shrinking the Mlabri territory.  Eventually, they were forced to relocate to a permanent settlement.  Life for a nomadic tribal people in Rong Kwang of the Phrae Province was becoming more and more difficult.

In 1978, two missionaries, Gene and Mary Long with their two-year-old son, Allen, arrived.  It took quite some time before they discovered the Mlabri.  Even in their shrinking habitat they were still somewhat elusive.  But they did.  And they quickly learned that as missionaries the notion of leading the Mlabri or Yellow Leaf to the pathway of Christ was highly unlikely.  But, as missionaries they also know that their role was to help as much as possible in whatever way they could.  So they dug in and out of an unforgiving environment they slowly worked in whatever way they could to help the Mlabri.  As they shared with me, they really did not know what they were doing or what was the best way to help.  More so, they didn’t realize that their two-year-old son would grow up alongside the Mlabri, learn their language and eventually become the critical link to the outside world that would create a pathway out of poverty for a gentle, marginalized people who otherwise might never have made it.

This blog is not supposed to be long.  So sharing with you the details of what Gene and Mary, along with Allen and eventually Joe did would consume too much space, but suffice to say that today the Mlabri produce some of the most beautiful hammocks available on the market and each time one is sold the Mlabri woman who wove it earns about $17 USD.  And I am going to share just a few photos that visibly tell the story of just how two faithful missionaries and their toddler son, along with one enterprising social impact pioneer have helped changed the Mlabri’ lives.

How the Mlabri lived when first forced to settle

How some Mlabri live today

Home Again

I have been offline for several weeks.  As noted in my last blog I set out on behalf of the Foundation in mid-January for Thailand, India and Ghana to visit five enterprises, conduct due diligence and assess their fit for funding and ongoing support.   I am back home now trying to gather my thoughts and trying to assess just what happened while gone; recouping from a general weariness resulting from 58 plus hours of flight time, not including layovers, covering almost 28,000 miles, two Indian train rides, one overnight, totaling 33 hours, travel by car, often on unpaved roads, about 60 hours overall, over 25 intense days.  What did I learn?  Too much for one blog that is for sure.

Unquestionably, travel like this always affects me personally.  The intensity of the experience not only has a compounding physical impact, but also demands that one abandon all preconceived mindsets and open oneself up to, well, to whatever is about to happen, and that simple act has a profound impact on the psyche, forcing one to reconcile one’s self in the context of the real world, the one beyond my daily reach, but very real indeed.  The weariness of intense travel condensed over a finite period is physically draining.  That, combined with the onslaught on my senses and sensibility it is exhausting. Exhilarating, but definitely exhausting.  I am a seasoned traveler on and off the grid, but it does not matter.   Every time I set out it changes me, especially when I have the opportunity to meet incredible people ranging from the entrepreneurs working in the social impact space and those people, some unbelievably graceful, struggling in incredibly difficult conditions to find a pathway out of poverty.

Over the next few weeks, as I complete my assessment of those organizations visited, Yellow Leafs Hammock, Essmart, RangSutra, Drishtee and MoringaConnect, it will take me back through the four-week experience in detail.  Not just the places and the people, but also the impromptu things that happened.  Turn left and there is a funeral parade headed your way down the street.  Turn right somewhere else and it is a nighttime Indian wedding parade.  Anyone that thinks they can prepare completely to working on the road, especially in India, is foolhardy.  I believe in preparation, but that always includes being prepared to not be prepared.  India foremost, but likely elsewhere as well.

On the Road Again

The last time I was in Thailand was 1977.  I was 24.  Admittedly, that admission dates me. When it comes to age, 62 is definitely not 24.  Today, when I go on the road, I think long and hard before I do something both physically and mentally draining like travelling to six destinations in three countries in 25 days. Back then if I wanted to go somewhere, I did.  Frequently, I did not know my ultimate destination. 

In 1976, I took a road trip.  I spent two years circumnavigating the globe.  I had no idea that would happen.  All I meant to do was visit some friends in Greece and one day I was on my way to Pakistan overland via Turkey and Iran. There was no grand plan.  That journey as a younger man formed me, and, to a greater amount remains part of me today.   But, back then, hopping on a vessel, whether it was a bus, train or ship without really knowing what to expect when I arrived at my destination was a non-issue.  Today, the idea of going on and off the grid, the idea of not knowing where I will lay my head at night is not optional.  One may say, “Oh, those days when anything was possible are long gone.  Age catches up with you!  You can’t do at 62 what you did as a younger man!”  Obviously, this is true, even if I would prefer to argue against it.  Actually, because the seduction of the experience is so intense, I have convinced myself that as long as I prepare properly everything will go relatively smoothly.  I know that is not true, but that is what I say to myself nevertheless.  Here is the reason why.

Every time, as I did in my twenties and every time as I do today, the same thing happens.  My senses perk up, my energy level skyrockets and my brain goes into overdrive in anticipation of what will happen next.  I cannot really explain it, but for me the cultural immersion, the intensity of “being” on the road, especially when it includes stepping into a cultures so different from my own is exhilarating.  I do not know why it does that to me.  It just does.  When you couple that visceral response to being on the road with the opportunity to represent the Greater Impact Foundation’s interest while on the road it adds up to the perfect storm for someone like me.  Instead of just wandering nomadically like the prodigal son taking in whatever might happen as I did long ago, I have a greater purpose and if all goes well I will have the honor to give back and serve that greater purpose more than I ever thought I might have.

So, I am off to northern Thailand. Then five stops in India.  Then an odd detour to Ghana before coming home.   If all goes well the Foundation will have four or five new enterprises to consider for funding and that means, potentially we could be helping up to 1500 more people find a pathway out of poverty. And that is a beautiful thing.  Take a look at some of the enterprises I will be visiting.  I think you will be surprised.

Yellow Leaf Hammocks                www.yellowleafhammocks.com

Essmart                                       www.essmart-global.com

Rangsutra                                    www.rangsutra.com

Drishtee                                       www.drishtee.com

MoringaConnect                                      www.moringaconnect.com

What Trumps the Holidays

I am exhausted.  Yes, the holidays surely have something to do about it. Why?  I am not quite sure. They are supposed to be a respite, a time to share with friends and family, a time to relax.  They are not.

Uber- like runs to the airport.  Excruciating trips, posing as pre and post-holiday fun-filled frolics to the mall with half the western hemisphere.  Holiday parties with people of all ilk you have never met before. They are holiday pre-requisites, along with too much food, egg nog, and a strange perversion for little colored lights strewn everywhere, as if we all are attempting to collectively say happy holidays to the astronauts laboring away on the International Space Station.  Okay, now that I think about it, I am sure I know why I am exhausted.  Excessive displays of goodwill are draining me.  They shouldn’t.

They shouldn’t have to be mandatory acts of goodwill acted out once each year cramming everything thoughtful into a year-end push to redemption.  Shouldn’t we try to foster goodwill all of the time?  Maybe, that is why I am so happy that my job with the Greater Impact Foundation.  Its mission focuses on seeking out those social impact enterprises like Sistemsa Biobolsa in Mexico, Eco-Fuels Africa in Uganda and Persistent Energy Group in Ghana year round; organizations founded on the concept that goodwill focused properly can not only solve endemic problems, they can also become sustainable profitable enterprises.  Doing that is a full time gig.  So, the end of the year holiday contrition, celebration and goodwill seems less necessary for me, even though I still like the gift giving. 

This  season I bookended the holidays with trips to meet current and potential new GIF partners.  For me, doing this keeps the holidays in perspective.  The one already completely included Mexico, Nicaragua and Guatemala in seven days to meet four enterprises, two new which seem very promising.  Short sojourns like this are chaotic.  In and out of airports dealing with immigration and customs in each, long road trips, often on difficult terrain, meetings that frequently run into the night, constant note taking to capture what is going on before everything blurs and runs together.  But, coming across the potential opportunity to help marginalized indigenous Mayan women was invigorating.  Renewing our relationship with the American Nicaraguan Foundation and Food for the Poor proved that patience works.  I did not need the holiday incentive to love this engagement.

The next trip in about two weeks, which requires extensive prep is Thailand (one stop), India (four stops) and Ghana (one stop) are equally hectic and further complicated by extreme long distance travel.  Unlike Central America, travelling across the dateline twice in a short period takes its toll.  I do not care what the worldwide road warriors claim.  So, there is a lot going on. But my expectations have not changed and the idea that I can carry the well-intentioned holiday goodwill even further, well into the new year, is a blessing.

I am not saying that working for GIF is anything at all like the goodwill and good times of the holiday season regardless of how they exhaust me.  What I am saying is that it is better.

Being There

I am about to head out on two due diligence trips.  Next week I will be in Central America stopping in Mexico, Nicaragua and Guatemala. Then in January I am headed back to Asia (Thailand & India) and Ghana in West Africa.  I am going to check up on both existing partnerships and delve into new ones and, as usual, it is a tight schedule.  When I tell friends I am going, especially those that don’t have the opportunity as I do, I often get asked, “What is it like being there?”  For me, this is a difficult question to answer without sounding flip or dismissive. 

Certainly travelling to different places and cultures on a compressed timetable is exhausting.  At the same time, it is always exhilarating.  I am fascinated by it all, no matter how often I go.   However, the concept of “being there” has always meant something else to me, and, frankly, it has little to do with travel.  For me, “being there” can be defined as the moment when something happens that so completely absorbs one that you become oblivious to all else.   “Being there” means that you are so focused that time slows. Peripheral vision narrows, but focus intensifies.  So do odors and the sense of touch.  Without thinking or trying, senses heighten.  It even seems like you can taste the moment.  Total concentration is not necessary.  It just happens.  Whether it was the first time my future bride told me she loved me, or the birth of my two boys, this is the phenomena I call “being there.”

It could be in the bean fields of northern Nicaragua, or a Mayan farming village outside Mexico City, the remarkable shoreline of the Ganges as it meanders past Varanasi or the bustle of a metropolis like Mumbai, the home of a friend in Patna, or by the Atlantic staring at the infamous Johnstown slave prison (in Accra) that was the embarkation point for the slave ships of the 17th and 18th century headed to the New World.  Or, it could be sitting here at my desk while I am trying to write a coherent thought.  Being there is more about what is going on in my head than it is about place.  Sure, the two are inextricably connected but without the mindset, the place has less meaning.

Achieving that sense of awareness that “being there” evokes is intoxicating.  It alters preconceived ideas.  Energy flows unimpeded. Physical challenges which are numerous while on the road dissipate.  When your head clears and the background noise recedes, when the clock slows and your senses go into overdrive, the rhythms of the world sync.  Then and only then does one begin to feel what it is like be there.

Being there is key to my job and important for my personal psyche.  It opens up pathways to understanding the diversity of culture and the awareness of how work really gets done.  It bridges gaps in understanding and, remarkably, lowers defensive barriers others may raise to make sure I am no threat.  It informs me in both a business and personal way about the social impact enterprises I am there to evaluate and the people with whom I am considering working.  Being there physically and being there mentally is what it is all about.  It does not matter where you are.