Meet Gene Koning – he has spent his career making eye glasses affordable across the world. He’s 84 years old and still going! Gene has found that the most sustainable way to accomplish this end is to create eye-glass manufacturing ‘micro-franchises.’ Gene has identified suppliers across the world that allow total costs to be less than $.50. These are not cheap eyeglasses bought from a warehouse, these are locally manufactured, job-creating glasses.

Here’s how it works. There are 2 products for sale – the ‘microfranchise toolkit’ to manufacture the glasses, and the glasses themselves. The toolkit sells for less than $50, and the glasses sell for around $.50. These reading glasses are part of a larger global distribution business titled First2Products. (www.first2products.com) – a grouping of socially oriented, market-driven products sold through ‘relational brokers’. These brokers are businesspeople that connect the distributors to the entrepreneurs, who then sell the products to the end-user.

These glasses aren’t trendy, but they are functional. India is said to have 600,000 villages, and so there is a large opportunity to meet a ‘functional’ need when the market has overlooked these consumers, as people largely unwilling to pay for ‘trendy’ glasses. Other business development organizations provide reading glasses for $4, so we have identified an opportunity to truly meet the needs of the ‘Bottom of the Pyramid.’

Today – we trained 12 individuals on eyeglasses manufacturing. The entire training is 2 days. One pair of glasses can be made in about 10 minutes. If someone purchases a ‘toolkit’, makes 30 glasses in a day, sells half of them, then they could easily make $6 per day. This may not sound significant, but we’re targeting rural, unemployed, emerging entrepreneurs.

Please write gregm@partnersworldwide.org if you are interested in learning more about this ‘microfranchise toolkit,’ or comment on www.first2products.com. We are currently active in Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.

The Genesis and Growth of Haitian Partners for Christian Development
by Doug Seebeck

In 1999 Partners Worldwide held its third annual conference, titled “Business ’99: An Outstanding Christian Calling.” Bill Pollard, CEO of ServiceMaster, gave a powerful keynote address about becoming a values-driven business. It was a memorable talk, but for Ralph Edmond there were two very different things that made a profound impact on him: the time he spent in Dave Smies’s home, and those five simple words from Milt Kuyers: “How can I help you?”

At the end of the conference, Milt introduced me to Ralph Edmond, Ernso Jean-Louis, and Sylvie Theard. The trio expressed their desire to start an organization called Haitian Partners for Christian Development (HPCD). At the time our name was “Partners for Christian Development,” and this was the first time an international business affiliate wanted to adopt our name in their country.

I told the three that they had our blessing as long as they were in agreement with some foundational commitments “Taking our name means that you buy into our vision for business as ministry for a world without poverty, you believe our core values, and you will commit to measuring the number of businesses you are growing and how many jobs you create and sustain each year. If you are okay with that, we’ll do whatever we can to help you grow the movement in Haiti.”

They made a promise in return. “Give us three months. We will register a legal entity with a constitution and bylaws and will have written plans for formally launching this in January 2000. We’ll also show you the businesses we have helped.” They were true to their word, and at their invitation, exactly three months later I was on a plane to Haiti to see what they have accomplished. I was astonished by their progress. They had met or surpassed all their goals and had experienced one major success with a micro-entrepreneur named Hugo Philemy.

Hugo is creative, innovative, tireless, and can do a lot with limited resources. His family raised bees that produced a significant amount of honey, so Hugo decided to start a honey business with a micro-loan from PWOFOD—the same organization the Partners team had helped in their first venture.

Because Hugo couldn’t afford to buy bottles for packaging, he came up with an innovative solution. He found empty Heinz catsup bottles in one of the many dumps in Port-au-Prince. He cleaned the bottles; created his own black-and-white label; filled the bottles with home-grown Haitian honey, and sealed them with tin foil. The dark, beautiful honey was delicious, but the makeshift packaging prevented Hugo from selling his product commercially, so he sold it in small quantities on the streets.

Ernso Jean-Louis and Ralph Edmond knew Hugo because they were donors of PWOFOD. Together they came up with a plan. On the shelves of Ernso’s chain of Red Star supermarkets were bottles of honey imported from the United States. Hugo’s honey was better, and it was local. So Ralph arranged for the company that packaged all his liquid pharmaceuticals to bottle Hugo’s honey as well. Randy Vander Ploeg of ShipPac in Kalamazoo, Michigan, offered marketing assistance and encouraged Hugo to provide nutritional information on the label.

I vividly recall the excitement when these founders of HPCD showed me what they had done. Hugo’s product was transformed. It was in a presentable plastic bottle, was heat-sealed, and sported a colorful picture on the front and a nutritional label on the back. It looked just as good as the imported honey, but its price was significantly lower than that of the U.S. brand, with better taste, quality, and provenance. Ralph calculated that he had invested 30 hours and $1,500 over 60 days. Hugo’s business grew so fast he went from being self-employed to an employer of eight. But, like so many Haitians before him, his success increased his personal risk, and he decided to take his business skills to the more hospitable business climate of Canada.

Haitian Partners in Christian Development was officially launched in January 2000. Sylvie and her husband, Stanley, provided space in their facility for HPCD to operate. Today, the organization includes about 50 Christian business and professional people in Port-au-Prince who are committed to supporting each other and developing Christian business groups in cities all over Haiti. HPCD has also established a business incubator in Port-au-Prince where small businesses can grow while they share the costs of electricity, water, security and office equipment.

Another entrepreneur in the HPCD network who has been significantly helped by Partners Worldwide is Marie Michelle Lefèvre Africo (“Madame Lefèvre”). She taught French in secondary schools, but her Catholic beliefs prodded her to do something concrete to help the poor in her community. So about ten years ago she began a small popsicle business. She began with one freezer and sold out of her house. Today, as a result of a series of loans from PWOFOD and mentoring help from the Partners Worldwide network, she operates a business with 22 freezers, 40 employees in the factory, and 500 independent business operators. Her rainbow-colored ices are sold throughout Port-au-Prince. Madame Lefèvre is an incredible success story.

And fortunately for Haiti, she has no intention of going anywhere more comfortable. She wants to be the leading popsicle business in Haiti. “God is the provider, and I will not rest until I supply jobs to all families in Haiti,” she says.

In addition to her strong faith, Madame is motivated by the success of her employees and distributors. They earn, on average, double what their peers earn in the marketplace. Those earnings have been invested in building new homes, in quality education for their children (in come cases at the university level), in improved health care, and in these employees venturing out to start their own enterprises as a result of the training, encouragement, and mentoring she so willingly provides.

Hugo and Madame Lefèvre are perfect examples of the economic challenges faced by the developing world’s entrepreneurs, and why successful people like Ernso, Ralph, and Sylvie are absolutely vital to Haiti’s future. It’s also a testimony to the need for organizations like PWOFOD and HPCD.

As you have seen, Ernso, Ralph, and Sylvie contributed to significantly growing Partners Worldwide’s work in Haiti. Ted Boers, from our hometown of Grand Rapids, also helped shape our organization in significant ways.

Ted founded Datacomp which specializes in appraising manufactured housing. Ted was entering his early 50s when he read Half Time by Bob Buford. The book brought him up short. It prompted him to ask God: “What is it that you want me to do with the second half of my life?”

For no particular reason that Ted can identify, he became interested in Haiti. As the small country began to loom large in Ted’s thoughts, his college age daughter Kristen was getting ready to spend a month there. Ted asked her to look around for something a “business guy like me” could do in a country like that. She came back with contact information for Partners Worldwide. After his first trip in 2002, his initial feelings were only confirmed. “I was totally affirmed. I felt like I was home,” he says.

During his report in our monthly teleconference call with our U.S. partners, where we share best practices, Ted issued a challenge. “I really don’t know how much good I did,” he admitted. “If I am going to be a mentor, spending my time and my dollars going to Haiti, then I probably need a few more tools in my toolbox from Partners Worldwide. That way I won’t feel like I’m shooting in the dark.”

Those words inspired our Million Mentors Initiative, a four-year program that we implemented in Haiti, Nicaragua, and Kenya in conjunction with USAID’s Global Development Alliance. Its purpose was to help streamline our business model, perfect the partnership process, develop a training program for mentors, and provide better resources for the entrepreneurs in their partnerships. Our end goal was to evaluate the effectiveness of these business-to-business partnerships to test whether our model was indeed worthy of a larger scale.

A team of outside economists, led by Dr. Roland Hoksbergen of Calvin College, did an extensive evaluation of our efforts in 2007. Their findings were encouraging. The goals for the initiative were exceeded: 84 business associations/cooperatives and 4,516 business members had created and sustained 5,063 jobs. Based on 365 quantitative, independent surveys of participating business owners, the evaluators found that:
• 65% had higher profits.
• 71% had higher incomes.
• 76% reported the value of their businesses had increased.
• 87% attributed their success to their participation in the business affiliate.

The success wasn’t limited to the business owners. Over 200 employees participated in the study completed by the independent survey teams, and these results were also encouraging:
• 70% of the employees’ families improved their economic well-being.
• 76% developed marketable skills through their jobs.
• 85% like their job.
• 89% said they were treated well or very well at work.
• 90% said their job was important or very important to their family’s well-being.

The survey also showed that people’s lives were being transformed:
• 68% were mentoring others for the first time, because of their affiliation with Partners Worldwide.
• 71% had increased their charitable giving.
• 72% had increased the amount of time they are volunteering in their community.
• 77% reported applying more ethical business practices.
• 84% were more satisfied in being a business owner, largely because of their new understanding of business as a calling.
• 81% said mentoring was the significant factor influencing these changes.

The evaluators’ final report said, “Over and over again we heard about the importance of the overall vision that emphasized business as calling, business as mission and values such as responsible stewardship and community service.”

The Haitian partners are praying for nothing less than a transformed nation, and that is what Ted and Jan are devoting the rest of their lives to. Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, if you have the faith of a mustard seed, you can tell that mountain to move into the sea, and it will.” Mountains of corruption, unjust structures, dysfunctional relationships, and greed: all these mountains will go. In Haiti, they are already beginning to crumble.

Ralph Edmond: Community Builder
by Timothy Stoner

In the heart of Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti, is a rarity: a successful and growing manufacturing company. Farmatrix employs 82 people and last year grossed over two million dollars. In a country whose per capita income is about two dollars per day, this is a high-flying business.

I am in the office of Ralph Edmond, Farmatrix’s CEO. He has a boyish face, but an intensity sparks from him. My first thought is “politics.” He has the handsome face, the intelligence, the charisma, and an internal engine that seems to run most comfortably in fifth gear.

Ralph looks like he would fit in on Wall Street or in London, The Hague, Madrid, or any other metropolitan center that runs on and churns out money. But that is not where he lives, nor where he grew up. Ralph’s boyhood town was the capital of one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere. And here he remains—by choice, I will find out, and at a real cost. His story is not one of rags to riches, but temporary riches to lasting treasure.

Doing What Should Be Done
Ralph was born in 1961 into privilege. He studied at St. Louis de Gonzague, an elite parochial school. His father was an accountant; his mother, Mme Solange Vieux Edmond, was an anesthesiologist. It would seem the business drive came from her side. During Ralph’s childhood years, Mme Edmond began importing pharmaceutical products and opened several drug stores. After high school, Ralph chose to walk through the doors she had opened and attended pharmacy school in Haiti. After graduation he then traveled to the U.S. to further his studies with an emphasis in business, majoring in marketing and finance, at Baruch College in New York. He graduated magna cum laude.

In 1989, Ralph and his best friend, Alain Vincent, whose dad owned pharmacies in Haiti, decided to start Farmatrix. Their plan was to manufacture pharmaceuticals rather than importing them. These would be products with a “Haitian flair.”

When they started, Ralph and Alain had had the equivalent of $2,000 in funds and three employees. Every step in the manufacturing process was done by hand. Their company had a simple and very limited product line: a soothing ointment similar to Ben-Gay, a douche, and an antiseptic for hospitals. They diversified quickly into syrups, antacids, and multivitamins. They are now entering a new niche market of herbal energy drinks. Their marketing byline is “Men fos la” — “Here is your strength!” Their newest venture is perfume with a unique and distinctly Haitian provenance and their market is the huge Haitian “diaspora”— those expats (many quite successful) who fled Haiti for the more hospitable shores of North America and Europe. From three products, Farmatrix has now upwards of 45.

Ralph and Alain looked carefully at the business environment of their country and took special note of things that didn’t work. What they concluded was that being underhanded and deceptive, paying bribes, and breaking the law was not working all that well. They decided that they were going to try something else: “doing what should be done,” as Ralph says. So, at the top of their list for a new way of doing business in Haiti was respecting the laws of the land. They made an inflexible commitment to “be responsible to the government and to our brothers.” Specifically, this meant that, unlike most companies in Haiti, they would pay all taxes owed, plus they would commit to be involved in their community.

Ralph smiles broadly. “The mindset of the business elite is like that of Robin Hood. They justify robbing the government of taxes by arguing that the money is going to help entrepreneurs create jobs, increase national wealth, and become fiscally responsible.” Of course it does no harm to Robin Hood’s bottom line either. “They would always ask us, ‘Why should I pay taxes to a government of thieves?” Ralph would answer back, “But who is stealing first, the government who misuses the money, or the business owner who keeps the money?” Apparently there was no counter-argument, but I get the impression Ralph failed to convince very many of his peers.

A Platform to Connect
In late 1999, Ralph, Ernso Jean-Louis, and Sylvie Theard established Haiti Partners for Christian Development, a branch of Partners Worldwide. What attracted Ralph was the commitment to bridging the gap between the rich and poor. “In Haiti, these groups never meet,” he says. “HPCD created a platform for rich and poor to connect by placing all of us on the same level. We were all primarily entrepreneurs, whether rich or poor.”

“HPCD created a platform for rich and poor to connect by placing all of us on the same level. We were all primarily entrepreneurs, whether rich or poor.”

But Ralph had not always been so favorably disposed to this North American NGO. Mark VanderWees, director of community development with CRWRC, had been inviting Ralph to come to the United States for one of their international conferences. Ralph kept politely declining. He was, frankly, suspicious. As a Catholic he had a healthy skepticism of the motive behind this Protestant man’s invitations. He was pretty certain that evangelicals were using business conferences primarily as a ploy to convert non-Protestants. Finally, in June 1999, he gave in. He traveled with two business friends, Ernso and Sylvie, to Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where the meetings were held.

After the first few sessions, Milt Kuyers came up to the three Haitians, who were sitting at a round table having refreshments, and asked them a question. By American standards it was not earth-shattering, but it almost floored Ralph. The look on his face tells me that it still amazes him. After introducing himself, Milt bent down to look directly at the three business owners and asked, “How can I help you?” Ralph looked over at Ernso, his eyebrows raised with the unspoken question: “Okay, what’s up with the white guy? What’s the catch?”

Ralph turns toward me, a very serious look on his face now. “Tim, nobody had ever asked me that question in Haiti. I was immediately very skeptical. I am used to a culture where if you want to do something for me there must be something you want to get from me in return.” Milt sat down with the three friends and began asking if there were other business owners in Haiti that were like them. “He wanted to know if we knew of others whom we could invite to start a chapter of Partners Worldwide in Haiti. That got us thinking about what we could do in our country.”

Later, when Ralph was in the home of another board member, Dave Smies, who had been to Haiti just nine months earlier, something made an even more profound impact on him. Over coffee one evening, Ralph and Dave were discussing stewardship. Somewhat offhandedly, Dave mentioned that he and his wife, Deb, had decided to give 50% of their earnings to God. Ralph was almost speechless. “Could you please repeat that?” he asked, after regaining his composure.

Dave repeated the statement. Ralph’s follow-up question was obvious: “Why?”

“Because everything I have belongs to God,” was the startling reply. Ralph’s worldview was undergoing a Copernican revolution. “I was shocked!” he tells me, understating his astonishment. He could not comprehend this mentality; his first thought was, “This is really weird!”

“When you build something in Haiti, it can be at the cost of your life. You put your own and your family’s life at risk.” He spreads out his hands, just telling me the facts. “In my country, business [making money] is a dangerous vocation.”

“When you build something in Haiti, it can be at the cost of your life. In my country, business is a dangerous vocation.”

Ralph is not exaggerating; death has come very close. “We have been victimized on several occasions. Going to work once, while stopped at a busy intersection, a guy with a 9-mm gun ran toward my car and began firing. I was driving, four bullets went into the car, one almost hit me in my spine and my chauffeur who happened to be sitting on the passenger side was shot and almost killed.” Several of his peers and family members have been kidnapped and released only after paying a hefty ransom.

“So when we build a successful business, we automatically conclude, ‘This money belongs to me! I risked my life for it, and if you want it, you will have to take it from me by force!’” Ralph clenches his fists but grins at me behind his silver and black frames as he illustrates this very logical possessiveness.

Another impediment to generosity in Haiti is that there is little incentive for charitable giving. North Americans are guaranteed a tax deduction to sweeten the pill, but in Haiti this is not the case. Many charitable organizations run on an informal basis. As a result, a tax deduction may or may not be forthcoming depending upon several discretionary factors, such as whether the treasury department concludes your financial records are in order and you have been “faithful” in paying taxes.

Though Ralph admits he initially thought Dave and Deb’s commitment to stewardship was “weird,” their conversation made him reevaluate his nominal Christianity. Not long after returning to Haiti, he decided to take his faith seriously and became a committed follower of Jesus.

Ralph tells me that before he attended the Partners Worldwide conference, his relationship to God was such that “God was not present in my everyday life. Life was very compartmentalized. God was in church on Sunday, and he was only present in church. He was not in my business.” He shakes his head at how his understanding has changed. “Before the Partners conference, my understanding was that God and my daily life were separated. God had nothing to do with my business.”

Milt’s straightforward question had also struck home. It had so impacted Ralph, Ernso, and Sylvie that they returned to Port-au-Prince with one burning question: What can we do to help the poor in Haiti? That question provided the impetus to form Haiti Partners for Christian Development (HPCD).

“It was our way of asking Haiti, ‘How can I help you?’” They began asking other Haitians in business the same question Milt had asked them. At the heart was the revolutionary realization that their vocation as businesspeople was from God and that God wanted them to use their skills, their time, and their wealth to bless others as they themselves had been blessed.

Service to Others
Ralph is a born mentor, I soon discover. Despite surface appearances, what drives him as much as the success of his company is the opportunity to help others learn how to become successful in business and in life. Besides mentoring entrepreneurs and small business owners, Ralph has been led to expand his service to others.

Two years ago he felt God directing him to invest a significant amount of time in St. Martin, a community that lies adjacent to his pharmaceutical plant and is one of the most violent areas of Port-au-Prince. Working along with Concern, an Irish NGO with long and painful experience in conflict resolution, he promotes dialogue between gang members, businesspeople, and political leaders in the community. “All sectors of St. Martin are beginning to talk to each other. The first year all I did was spend time building relationships. I was just developing trust. We are now in the development stage where we have formed a committee representing all segments of society to discuss how we can build into the community, not against it.”

What Ralph found compelling was the opportunity to work alongside businesspeople whose goal was to improve the community by helping others. He was convinced that this would help alleviate some of the social tensions that he believes “are the basis for much of the violence in my country.” HPCD gave him a platform to fulfill his deepest passion.

As we talk, Ralph is getting more animated and his face is lighting up. “Through our organization we can share our knowledge with the smaller guys and then share our own lives.” This successful CEO is letting me in on what makes him tick. It is not the subtle power of speaking down to people, or the quiet glory of dazzling the less gifted or educated with a superior skill set or knowledge base. Ralph defines mentoring as “two people sharing their lives.” What he most enjoys is personal engagement, investing his life in the lives of others, not just dispensing information or taking his company to the next level.

Ralph defines mentoring as “two people sharing their lives.”

On average, he spends six hours a week in this social development work. “It is not something separate from my business. It is all part of what God has called me to do.” He stops to underline the seriousness of his conviction. “It is my work.” I don’t think I’ve ever heard a CEO in North America explain his service to others in those terms. One simple question born out of genuine interest and compassion nine years earlier has taken Ralph farther than most of his peers.

The St. Martin committee is planning a major project to manufacture charcoal from waste. Ralph is also involved with the Haitian Tennis Federation overseeing their junior program. It is the latter that Ralph believes will be the most effective for giving those below the age of 18 (50% of Haiti’s population) a reason not to get involved with gangs.

Letting God Be Involved
What has transformed the thinking of this progressive and driven CEO is the realization that “you can do business by letting God be involved.” I ask him how this has impacted his life. He answers immediately, but his answer is unexpected: “It has changed how I worship God.” He now meets once a week with a core group of “business guys” who hold each other accountable. Ralph has learned not only to do his work for God and to depend upon him, but to depend on his brothers as well. “We ask each other the hard questions.” It’s obvious that this group is very important in Ralph’s life. Though he speaks with a smile, there is a steely glint in his eyes as he expands: “We pursue those who are not going the right way.” I gather that, for this group of men, accountability is not just a nice Christian slogan. “They had to pursue me last year,” he admits. “I was going the wrong way.” He does not elaborate and I do not press him. Whatever the problem was, it’s clear Ralph’s peers helped him climb back on the narrow road.

“Letting God be involved” has also changed how Ralph runs his business. Beyond providing a fair wage to his employees, he has chosen something even more unusual for a country steeped in mystery, shadow, and under-the-table payments. He has embraced a philosophy of transparency. There are no secrets. Those with a genuine need to know can get all the financial information they request, and it will be complete and accurate.

Besides being treated fairly, Ralph’s employees receive a benefit few enjoy on the island: health insurance. They also receive on-the-job professional development opportunities. “We get them involved in managing the business. We are working on decentralization; delegating responsibility. We are teaching them responsibility and accountability,” says Ralph. Farmatrix is clearly a corporation that is setting the national standard for how to run your business right.

Part of the Solution
Our conversation turns to the broader social climate in Haiti. “It is very hard to keep hope alive here,” Ralph says. “It is so much easier to leave and work in the United States.” He illustrates the point. “Two years ago, my sister and sister in law were kidnapped in separate incidents. After their families paid the ransom, both families decided to leave for Miami.” I find out later that Ralph left part of the story out. Ted and Jan Boers who are investing heavily in Haiti’s economic development, give me the rest of the story.

Ralph’s sister was abducted, that is true. What he failed to explain was that as soon as he found this out he went directly to his mother’s house and pulled out all the phones. Mme Solange Vieux Edmond was struggling with severe depression and Ralph believed that the emotional pressure of dealing with the kidnappers could harm her irreparably. Being attuned to high-level negotiations, he also feared that if the kidnappers sensed weakness on the other end of the line they might keep his sister indefinitely as they ratcheted up their demands. So Ralph forced the kidnappers to negotiate personally with him. Eventually the ransom was paid and his sister was released.

“So what keeps you going? What keeps you here?” I ask him. He looks around at his spartan conference room and at the product displays on the wall. “I am building things. I am building a company. I have hope.” He did almost decide to bail out on Haiti, he admits. The kidnapping of his sister and the shooting incident a month later that almost killed his driver were the last straw. He decided in 2006 to send his family to live in Texas. “But after a few months my wife, Chantal, (who used to be the administrative officer of the Peace Corps in Haiti) said we all had to leave or we all were going to stay. Separation was not an option. ‘We are going to be together,’ she said, ‘but if we stay we have to stay differently. We have to stay for a reason bigger than just because of business.’”

Ralph explains why he chose not to remove his corporation to safer, more hospitable environs. “I don’t want to run from the problem—I want to be part of resolving it. Even though I may have only ten businesspeople who will stand with me, we will stand together as part of the solution for Haiti.” He is not trying to impress me with boastful talk. I am hearing a brave man explain honestly what is motivating his conduct. Then he gives me another glimpse into the spiritual dimension behind his choice not to turn his back on Haiti. “The solution to the problems in Haiti will be through fiscally and socially responsible people who understand the work of God in their lives.”

“Even though I may have only ten businesspeople who will stand with me, we will stand together as part of the solution for Haiti.”

He used to be driven by a need to change the nation, he tells me. Now he does not give it as much thought. “I’m not worried about whether Haiti is going to be changed. Now what I realize is that if what I am doing changes others, I will be changed. Whether Haiti is changed is God’s issue.”

At the moment there are at least three others on his side. They are the members of his core group. Daniel Rouzier owns car dealerships: Honda, Hyundai, and GM. Louis Mars, a former business owner, is now involved full time in dialogue for national reconciliation. Kenneth Michel imports rice and sugar. “The four of us are staying in Haiti for a reason: to do it differently. We may have to leave, but we don’t worry about it. We are committed to building relationships.” Their work, in St. Martin particularly, has evidently produced dividends. “When gang members invite you to come to an event in the middle of gang-warfare land, you know you are doing something right.”

Building a Community
Although Ralph assures me that he has placed Haiti’s future in God’s hands, he has not shut his eyes to her desperate plight. He is running his business as a model for others to emulate. He is investing his life in individual and community transformation, and he wants God to keep changing him. But the fate of his nation still weighs heavily on him.

“We must see ourselves as one country. We have no choice but to live together.” He has thought this all through very carefully, and he is about to say something that is a variation of a theme I have heard on several continents. It runs counter to the philosophy that has driven decades of compassionate giving. “We can’t depend on something coming from abroad. All the outside help has not improved the country.”

But Ralph is about to branch off into new territory I have not heard before. “Haiti is a community of people. The base of that community is families. We have to start at the family level. If we build strong families we can build a strong nation. The care you put into building your family is what you will do to build your country.” As he talks I can’t help but think that I may be hearing the foundational planks of a national campaign. As an aside Ralph explains how many national leaders have mistresses. It’s an accepted way of life. “I tell them, ‘Forget your political plans and go back to your wife and children. Then come back and lead the country. Look after your family and then take care of the community.’” Is this guy electable? I wonder again.

“If we build strong families we can build a strong nation. The care you put into building your family is what you will do to build your country.”

Of course I need to know how he builds a solid family in this hostile environment. Before arriving at Farmatrix, Lesly Jules, Partners Worldwide’s in-country partnership manager, gave me a clue. “I never call him on Saturday,” he tells me. “Saturday is family day.” Good for him, I say. I’m glad to hear that this type-A guy is keeping his eye on the right ball. Ralph, being who he is, has learned to multitask, though. His boys are a part of the junior tennis program he oversees for the National Sports Federation. So when he is supporting the federation at competitions, he is supporting his sons at the same time.

I ask him about political aspirations. His answer is impressive. “Business is my politics. I want to be part of a new model for community transformation. I think that in St. Martin I am having a greater impact than I would have were I to become a politician. If I build my family and one community, who knows what broader impact that might have?”

He returns to his love for mentoring. “At HPCD we choose young entrepreneurs, and it is through them that we are engaged in community building.” Through this organization scores have been helped. The question Milt asked Ralph several years earlier is now being asked of hundreds of Haitians, and it is producing a harvest of blessing. What Ralph has recognized is that by asking “How can I help you?” he is offering not finances or strategies, but his own life. “My interest is the time we spend sharing our lives, so that we can build a community together. Then if that community becomes a healthy and strong country, that is up to God.”

May it be so.

Haiti: The Context
By Doug Seebeck

I first met Mark Vanderwees in 1994, the year of the genocide in Rwanda. Mark and his wife, Nancy, were community development advisors in Haiti with the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC). When Haiti went through another one of its cycles of turmoil and political unrest, they and their young children were evacuated to Canada for three months. The timing was fortuitous, since we were looking for someone to do a rapid needs-assessment for the massive rehabilitation and reconciliation effort that was required in Rwanda after the massacre of nearly one million of its citizens.

Mark and I worked together in Rwanda for one month. We were able to put together a $1 million resettlement program in the Kitavu region near beautiful Lake Kivu. According to USAID, this program turned out to be one of their finest rehabilitation efforts. Lou Haveman, a friend in real estate (now a Partners Worldwide member) left his business for six months to come out and lead the entire volunteer effort. In the process, he developed a prototype for how our business partners could help change countries on a national scale.

When Haiti calmed down, Mark returned with his family. Neither of us knew at the time that those intense weeks in Rwanda would pave the way for an even more meaningful partnership in Haiti.

Four years later Mark attended Partners Worldwide’s 1998 “Business as a Calling” conference in Chicago. He was deeply interested in helping some of his NGO partners in Haiti gain an income stream to pay for operational costs so they could focus their funding efforts on community projects. At the conference he had one question for a group of businesspeople who were interested in Haiti: “Would you come to personally evaluate the strategy we are deploying in Haiti, like that first team did in Kenya, and see how you can help?”

Milt Kuyers, Denny Hoekstra, and David Smies agreed to go. When the team arrived, they visited the office facilities of PWOFOD (Program for Training Diaconal Organizations), a Haitian NGO with whom the CRWRC was collaborating. PWOFOD had managed to acquire land and a building, but it wanted to add a second story so they could rent it out to create a substantial revenue stream for their operations. The total cost of the project was approximately $40,000.

The entrepreneurs listened carefully and responded fairly quickly. “Partners Worldwide is in the business of creating jobs,” they said, “and we’re here to meet entrepreneurs who share that passion. But you have an interesting opportunity and a compelling vision, so we’ll make you an offer. For every dollar you raise in Haiti within the next three months, we will provide you a four-dollar match.”

This was a completely novel proposal, and it wasn’t met with great enthusiasm. No one in the NGO world had ever asked Haitians to put up anything—Haitians were perceived as recipients of charitable donations, not contributors. The leaders of PWOFOD left a bit deflated.

Nevertheless, they put the word out about this unusual matching offer, and within several months they had raised $8,000. Mark was stunned. The American partners had to scramble a little to put their $32,000 together. But it helped considerably when they told their friends that the Haitians had “skin in the game.”

With the $40,000, the leaders of PWOFOD added a second floor to their facility. Then something unexpected happened again. When the Japanese embassy saw what PWOFOD had accomplished, they provided the resources needed to add a third floor. Today PWOFOD has filled both floors with tenants, and is close to achieving its goal of organizational sustainability.

Much was learned through this entrepreneurial venture. The CRWRC now provides matching grants to all its partners, the Haitian NGO discovered it had some healthy donors right in its own back yard, and the entrepreneurs in Haiti were excited by the ability to leverage their money.

Partners Worldwide also gained a great deal from this venture. Through the project Mark met three Haitian businesspeople who had contributed to PWOFOD’s capital campaign: Ernso Jean-Louis, Ralph Edmond, and Sylvie Theard.

In 1999 I encouraged Mark to invite a team of Haitian businesspeople to Partners Worldwide’s international conference. I asked him to bring at least half a dozen people if he could. Mark told me he knew of only three Christian businesspeople in the entire country: Ernso, Ralph, and Sylvie.

Those three friends did indeed come to the conference, and it proved to be a life-changing event for us all.

ERNSO JEAN-LOUIS: BEARING MUCH FRUIT
by Timothy Stoner

Ernso Jean-Louis is a rarity. He’s a Haitian businessman who became successful as an “expat” and chose to return to help improve conditions in his desperately poor homeland.

Estimates indicate that around two million Haitians have fled the island to make a life in North America and Europe. There are no statistics tracking those like Ernso’s family who have made the return trip home. Very few have had the courage or conviction to risk their comfort and safety for a possibility of helping others.

The first time I meet Ernso, it’s February 2008 and he is speaking at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, at a conference on faith and international development. He is both a businessman and a pastor, an explosive combination I have met in various parts of the world.

He begins by telling the story from John 15 in which Jesus, in his final strategic teaching before the crucifixion, is preparing his disciples for his death. They are walking together to the garden of Gethsemane and Jesus is talking to them about plants, gardeners, and fruit bearing. It’s a rural conversation among rural men who have grown up knowing the cycles of planting and harvesting. Jesus tells his friends, “I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener” (John 15:1). Jesus tells them that they are the “branches” that grow out of the main grapevine, and if they want to be productive they must remain connected to him because he is their source of nourishment and life.

So far Ernso hasn’t said anything his audience hasn’t heard before. But then he tells us that he’s not there to speak about the gospel, but about sustainable business. He has my attention immediately—as well as the attention of several hundred college students in the room.

Ernso describes the abyss of poverty in his home country: 54% of the population live on one dollar a day, child mortality is three times higher than the worldwide average, and there are no accurate numbers to gauge the heartbreak of widespread unemployment. The barriers to growing a business in Haiti are almost impassible: lack of basic utilities and transportation, political and social instability, pervasive corruption on all levels, and rampant crime.

Ernso tells us that he believes his call and the call of others like him is to change Haiti not only with the gospel, but with business. He observes that missionaries have done a marvelous job of personal conversion (over 60% of the population claim to be Christian) but have had virtually no impact on society. Haiti, the country with the largest numbers of converts in the Western Hemisphere, is also one of the poorest countries.

Ernso tells us that he believes his call and the call of others like him is to change Haiti not only with the gospel, but with business.

If the story you tell the unemployed leaves them still starving and unemployed, you have not brought them very good news.

They were content, successful, and were making good money. But their comfort was assaulted every time they heard news reports about Haitian boat people.

He was electrified with the vision of business as a vocation every bit as significant in God’s eyes as that of a missionary or a pastor.

THE INCUBATOR
God also used a brief discussion with Milt Kuyers about the opportunities for partnering in Haiti to plant an idea that would be the impetus for the three friends to form Haiti Partners for Christian Development (HPCD). The purpose of this “incubator” would be to mentor small businesses. Its long-term goal was to help eradicate poverty through job creation. Partners Worldwide helped by providing the model, giving advice, and making matching funds and business mentors available. Ernso wrote the bylaws, and HPCD was inaugurated in 2000.

HPCD gathered entrepreneurs into a large warehouse provided by Sylvie, where they would be provided utilities and security services at no cost. Partners Worldwide would provide mentors from the United States and matching funds to help small entrepreneurs. The goal was to “incubate” ten businesses in five years with a minimum of five employees per business.

ENERSA, now a stable, medium-sized business, is an illustration of HPCD’s effectiveness. Dependable electricity is a desperate need in Haiti. Blackouts are frequent, and in some places electricity is available only two or three hours per day. There are times where there is no power for weeks. Through Ernso and Ralph’s mentoring help, ENERSA has become the first Haitian company to build solar-powered equipment. They manufacture solar street lights and traffic lights. Now, as Ernso puts it, “Where darkness once reigned, light shines. Where there was chaos, order has come.” Even at the gates of the Cité Soleil, one of the most notorious crime-infested shanty towns in the world, physical light has begun to break through the darkness. “Because of the location of the business incubator,” he tells me, “most of ENERSA’s employees are young men from Cité Soleil.”

Despite these successes, in its first few years, HPCD experienced a string of failures. The entrepreneurs in the incubator had good ideas, but no experience. Rather than stimulating growth and initiative, the incubator worked in reverse by creating dependency. After five years, no business had “graduated” to self-sufficiency. The one great success was ENERSA, the company Ernso referred to in his speech at Calvin College, which grew from two to 14 employees and went off on its own.

These experiences led to a drastic change in HPCD’s policies. Now an entrepreneur is required to attend a business program for six months before entering the incubator. The maximum length of stay is twelve months, and the business must grow to three employees during that time. If it succeeds, the business receives an incentive check as start-up capital to launch out on its own.

Attending Partners Worldwide’s conference inspired Ernso to mentor others, but it also provided him with a mentor of his own. Partners connected him with Ron Kunnen, retired owner of Family Fare grocery stores, headquartered in Grand Rapids.

Though Ernso speaks of Ron with great respect and appreciation, their relationship had its challenges. Ernso explains that Ron sincerely wanted to help, but “it was very difficult for him since he could not understand Haitian culture.” Ron found the culture shock and poverty overwhelming, so he and Ernso agreed to meet every four months in Miami instead. They were both committed to making their relationship work, and Ernso realized that a once-in-a life-time opportunity had been handed to him: “I was given a chance to work with a highly successful grocer with tremendous experience. I realized that if this did not work, I would be the loser.”

Ron helped Ernso attend three grocers’ conventions in Chicago. He also pushed Ernso to project into the future. Ernso’s goal was to have at least four stores and a centralized warehouse. Ron lent Ernso half of the funds for its construction, and in 2002 the warehouse was completed. Ernso named it Kunnen Plaza in honor of his mentor. Their two-year formal mentoring relationship is now over, but it has mellowed and deepened into a rich friendship. And, although it was “hard work to overcome our cultural differences,” Ernso says, “Ron has become like a father to me more than a mentor.”

THE WAREHOUSE CHURCH
After Ernso’s warehouse was built, grocery prices fell dramatically and the cost of imports became exorbitant. Ernso could not fill the large warehouse, and could not rent it out due to the political turmoil surrounding Aristide’s election. Out of desperation, Gina, Ernso, and their two children began going to the warehouse after church in the afternoon to pray. Friends started coming over to pray with them. Soon, others joined the group.

During this economic downturn, Ernso had also been studying theology. He graduated in 2003 from Jacksonville Seminary in Port-au-Prince. When the prayer group at the warehouse had grown to 150 people, Ernso said, “It looks like God has given me a church to pastor.” Partners Worldwide’s impact is evident from the name he has given it: Independent Assembly of Christian Partners.

Five years later the church has several hundred members. What makes Ernso most happy, besides the fact that more than 100 people have been converted, is that several have started their own businesses. Ernso has helped 10 of his most gifted young people find sponsors to study in the United States. The pastor/businessman looks at me and makes a request. It is something that concerns him greatly: “Pray that they will come back.” Before leaving for college they all agreed to return after two years. I’m sure he told them the same thing he and Gina decided years earlier: “You are needed much more in Haiti than in North America.”

On Sunday morning I attend an unforgettable church service at Ernso’s warehouse. It begins with a call to worship sung in Creole by a male quartet. Two of the singers look like they are still in high school. The song is unfamiliar, but it doesn’t really matter. A mixed choir then takes their places, and strong music of praise and adoration cascades over me. When the choir launches into a full-throated chorus I feel like the joyful melody is bearing me away.

I have been in worship services on five continents, but I don’t think any of them have matched the service at Ernso’s church. I was stunned by the beauty, passion, and giftedness of the singers. They were so young, but they sang with such power and spiritual intensity.

After the service, Ernso tells me the story of the male quartet. They have named themselves “Sel”—the French word for “salt.” They have had no formal training and they write their own songs. Their home is in Cité Soleil, where 300,000 people live in one of Haiti’s poorest and most dangerous areas. It is a filthy, degrading, disease- and crime-infested shanty town, considered one of the biggest slums in the Northern Hemisphere. There are few police, no sewers, no stores, no electricity. Armed gangs roam about spreading terror and death.

Pastor Ernso has encouraged the members of Sel to pray and sing for sick people in the hospital. They have gone into the poorest areas of the city and into the homes of the very wealthy to perform private concerts and to pray. Ernso is providing school fees as well as paying the costs of producing their first CD. “Where they come from they see so many people die,” he tells me. “The boys have to walk over dead bodies to get to school.”

“Where they come from they see so many people die,” he tells me. “The boys have to walk over dead bodies to get to school.”