Satire on the One-for-One Model

Wish I could have shown this video during my panel discussion at Columbia University on the one-for-one model.

Protection at Social Enterprises

It was a normal day at Joma Bakery Café when I received a call from Hagar’s Career Counselor.

“It’s happening on Wednesday,” she said.

One of my employees had been fearing this day ever since rumours started circulating that her husband would be released from prison.  She had received numerous threats against her and her children from her abusive ex-husband while he was serving his sentence.

I called my management team together and relayed the news. At Joma Bakery Café, our team doesn’t care where someone comes from. They’re part of the Joma family.  We decided to switch our colleague’s shift so she didn’t need to return home in the evening. We requested an extra guard on duty from the security company and notified all of our staff at the café where she works to be on the lookout for the man.

My whole team was anxious over the next few days, but nothing happened and thankfully his threats went unrealized. It made me realize something important though: protection for Hagar clients doesn’t stop with the transition to employment. It is a long journey that our social enterprise investments, like Joma Bakery Cafe, play a critical role in.

This post originally appear on Hagar International’s blog on May 1, 2013.  The photo at the top of the post is artwork by a client from Hagar Vietnam’s creative arts-based therapy program.

Apartment for Rent in DC Starting in Late-May

My wife received her first Foreign Service posting in Kigali, Rwanda and we have to depart our apartment a bit earlier than expected. We’re trying to find someone to sign a new 12-month lease.

Adams Towers has fantastic views of Meridian Hill – our apartment units sits atop the hill and overlooks the westside of the park (pictured below). It is a very safe area and well-lit at night (my wife has classes at night and walks home consistently from Dupont Circle late at night).

The building has secure entry, a Gym, Roofdeck with views of the Monument, Capitol and Meridian Hill Park.  Hardwood floors line the apartments, with tile in the kitchen and bath.  The kitchens have been fully updated with new cabinet accents and granite counters, and the unique large closet.

Our unit is a studio (about 500 square feet) and is pet friendly ($30/month). There is a bike room in the basement and we live along a number of bike lanes. We can zip down to Rock Creek Park in about 10 minutes or Dupont in 7.

We live walking distance to:
-Yes! Organic and Harris Teeter (5 min)
-Target (10 min)
-Adams Morgan & 18th street restaurants and bars (5 min)
-Columbia Heights Metro and restaurants (10 min)
-U Street Corridor (5 min) and U Street Metro (8 min)
-Dupont Circle & Metro (15 min)

We love the neighborhood(s) – lots of great restaurants nearby: Salvadoran, Ethiopian, Southern, Mexican.

Base rent is around $1,550/month and under DC rent control. Please contact me if you’d like to take a look – happy to send some pics or invite you to the rooftop for a drink!

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Here. Now.

I sip my morning tea and nibble on fried bread at a place around the corner from my new guesthouse (hotels are at full-capacity around Yangon, so I have been forced to relocate a few times during my three-week stint here).  Thoughts about today’s meetings with entrepreneurs and unfinished financial models cloud my consciousness.  Back in DC, I would be grinding beans and preparing a french press of coffee for my wife and I – but the same stream of thoughts would likely emerge.

I am back in the present and silently recite a line from my favorite poem:  All that you are experiencing now / Will become moods of future joys.

A young monk with a freshly shaven head strolls to my table, takes a gander, and continues on his way.  A rickety old bus stops abruptly at the adjacent corner; the attendant screams “Sule Paya! Sule Paya!” and passengers rush to hop on as the bus begins to idle.  A young man attaches today’s newspaper to the end of a rope hanging from an apartment balcony high above.

To an English Friend in Africa
by Ben Okri (from An African Elegy)

Be grateful for freedom
To see other dreams.
Bless your loneliness as much as you drank
Of your former companionships.
All that you are experiencing now
Will become moods of future joys
So bless it all.
Do not think your ways superior
To another’s.
Do not venture to judge.
But see things with fresh and open eyes.
Do not condemn,
But praise what you can,
And when you can’t, be silent.

Time is now a gift for you,
A gift of freedom
To think and remember and understand
The ever perplexing past,
And to re-create yourself anew
In order to transform time.

Live while you are alive.
Learn the ways of silence and wisdom
Learn to act, learn a new speech.
Learn to be what you are in the seed of your spirit.
Learn to free yourself
From all things that have molded you
And which limit your secret and undiscovered road.
Remember that all things which happen
To you are raw materials,
Endlessly fertile,
Endlessly yielding of thoughts that could change
Your life and go on doing forever.

Never forget to pray and be thankful
For all the things good or bad on the rich road;
For everything is changeable
So long as you live while you are alive.

Fear not, but be full of light and love.
Fear not, but be alert and receptive.
Fear not, but act decisively when you should.
Fear not, but know when to stop.
Fear not, for you are loved by me.
Fear not, for death is not the real terror,
But life—magically—is.

Be joyful in your silence,
Be strong in your patience,
Do not try to wrestle with the universe,
But be sometimes like water or air,
Sometimes like fire,
And constant like the earth.

Live slowly, think slowly, for time is a mystery.
Never forget that love
Requires that you be
The greatest person you are capable of being,
Self-regenerating and strong and gentle
Your own hero and star.

Love demands the best in us,
To always and in time overcome the worst
And lowest in our souls.
Love the world wisely.
It is love alone that is the greatest weapon
And the deepest and hardest secret.

So fear not, my friend.
The darkness is gentler than you think.
Be grateful for the manifold
Dreams of creation
And the many ways of unnumbered peoples.

Be grateful for life as you live it.
And may a wonderful light
Always guide you on the unfolding road.

Corruption and the New Year

Anyone who has done business in Cambodia and Vietnam knows the lunar New Year holiday tradition: a trusted staff member assembles a list of officials that have quietly (or not so quietly) asked for or demanded money. It can be extortion (“Pay me $150 per month next year and I won’t repeal your license.”), an outright bribe (“We have so many work visa applications that it can take months to process yours. But if we have a relationship, maybe we can get it done more quickly for you.”), or preventative (“The police say we can’t park motorbikes in front of the cafe, even though every other business does it.  If we give them money, they won’t drive by our street.”).  Much management time is spent balancing culturally appropriateness, international corruption laws, and the possibility that a nefarious official might illegally shut down your business.

The bottom line is that these countries have too much ambiguity with regulations and enforcement.  This comes to a front during the New Year holiday, since there is a tradition of exchanging gifts.  However, some companies are quick to hand out lofty bribes, driving increased demand and expectations from local authorities.

My take is that change will only come from within, but international businesses can set the tone within their organizations by encouraging transparency, accountability and integrity.

Jim Anderson’s article in the Thanh Nien Newspaper and the latest World Bank Corruption Report on Vietnam provides an in-depth look at this practice from the perspective of international businesses and Vietnamese citizens.

Takeaways from the Social Enterprises Series 2013 @ Columbia University

I had the pleasure of participating on the panel of Retail for Good @ Columbia University on Saturday.  My fellow panelists were Sarika Bansal (Independent Journalist), Genny Cortinovis (Founder of Dipped and Dyed), and Joellen Nicholson (Founder of basik 855).  Below are a few of my takeaways from our discussion:

• The Buy 1, Get 1 model has many flaws, but at least it has ushered in a wave of individuals that are thinking more critically about their spending habits and, via the backlash against TOMS, the complexity of international development
  
• Social enterprise is on the fringe of a wider private sector shift toward stakeholder engagement, sustainability and social impact
• The difference between social enterprises and socially-focused (or responsible) businesses is that the former have a clear social mission (theory of change) and have honed every aspect of their business model around it
• Retailers must balance customer needs/preferences with the desire to showcase cultural designs from producing countries; Genny and Joellen often collaborated with their producers by sending basic designs and allowing producers to recommend alterations
• Concisely pitching the social impact of a good is challenging; people have a short attention span and little desire to explore complex social impact propositions
• Each panelist had a different take on how they market their social story vs. the key qualities of their product; all agreed, however, that the social story cannot be the only value proposition
• Social impact is usually initially constrained by the need to reach break-even and prove the retail concept; Genny and Joellen indicated a desire to do more, but were still in the process of strengthening their business
• Retailers sourcing products from developing countries often overlook the potential of local markets; Saskia de Knegt of WOO, an audience member, noted that many of her initiative’s strongest sales prospects were with the emerging middle class in countries/regions where she sources her production

A big thanks to Beatrice Di Francesco and the whole SEADS team for organizing these events!

Cycling in Northern Vietnam: Mu Cang Chai to Nghia Lo

The “J” of my Myers-Briggs Type Indicator profile is strong – I love the act and art of planning.  I’ve learned over time as a cyclist and guide, however, that an excess of planning often takes the excitement out of adventures.  Spontaneous events, serendipitous encounters, and unmapped trails will linger in your memory far longer than your cadence from point A to B.

Inspired by Alastair Humphreys‘ philosophy of microadventures, I set aside one of my final weekends in Hanoi for a bicycle trip in Vietnam’s Northwest.  My research went like this:

Thursday
Me: Mai Lan, where should I go cycling this weekend?
ML: How about Lao Cai? I’ll book you a bus.
Me: Sounds good.

Friday Afternoon
ML: I booked you a ticket with your bicycle to Mu Cang Chai.
Me: What about Lao Cai?
ML: Mu Cang Chai will be better.  You’ll arrive at 3AM and can cycle through the mountains to Nghia Lo. My friend said it is mostly downhill.  It might take you a day, maybe two.  Bring a tent just in case.

And with that I am on the redeye bus to Mu Cang Chai, a beautiful mountain hamlet along Route 32 eight-odd hours north of Hanoi.

I arrive in Mu Cang Chai as scheduled at 3AM – if only the bus had been a few hours behind schedule, I could simply get on the road.  Using my headlamp, I reassemble my bike and wander around the dark, breezy town.  I find my way to a guesthouse, wake the security guard and, to his amazement, book a room for “three-hours only.”

A few short hours later, I am back on the saddle and rolling through beautiful village of Mu Cang Chai.  The crisp mountain air rejuvenates my city lungs, while the sounds of cascading steams and distant rivers guide me from my half-slumber.  I shed layers as the sunrises and warms the world.  Cool mornings on my bike like this linger as spring for well-being.