Last Tuesday we began our second Loan Cycle and corresponding business training and discipleship courses. This is the first group of entrepreneurs who have applied for a second round of loans with our program–so it’s particularly exciting! We’ve known some of these entrepreneurs for nearly a full year, and they’ve really welcomed us into their lives.

During the Pursuit of Purpose Course (the discipleship portion of the evening) the entrepreneurs were asked to share with one another one of the greatest moments of their life. We suggested examples such as your wedding day, when your first child was born and the day you begun your business. Through asking this question, we wanted to help our entrepreneurs understand that oftentimes who we share these special moments with is equally as important as the moment itself. Life wasn’t meant to be experienced alone–and neither is God. We can experience God through relationships, through family and through our communities. 

One of our entrepreneurs was asked to share with the group what one of her greatest moments was and at first she was reluctant. She can sometimes be a little shy, so it’s not at all uncommon for her to avoid speaking in front of the group. But without further provocation, she proudly proclaimed:

“Graduating from Paradigm Shift and getting my business training and discipleship certificates was one of the greatest moments of my life. I finished my coursework for my matric (high school graduation) but never got my diploma and didn’t have a celebration. Graduating from Paradigm Shift has taught me that the sky is the limit. You are never too old to do what you want to do and to accomplish your dreams.”

As I sat in the back of the room, my jaw dropped to the floor. I could hardly believe my ears. In some way, in some small way, my being here in South Africa and working with Paradigm Shift has contributed to one of the greatest moments of someone else’s life. One of the greatest moments in someone else’s life! Not something they enjoyed. Not something they thought was useful or beneficial. One of the greatest moments in someone else’s life! Wow.

By earning her certificates, this entrepreneur proved to herself that she IS smart and that she CAN do anything she puts her mind to it. At the core, our program is about empowering individuals to lift themselves and their families out of poverty. I have never felt this concept so deeply as I did last Tuesday night.

One of the most frequent questions I encounter when I tell someone about the work that we do, is, “What types of businesses do your entrepreneurs run?” Consequently, I compiled a fairly comprehensive list of the types of businesses we have worked with over the past year : ) There is certainly no shortage of creativity amongst our entrepreneurs…!

Selling/renting out children’s costumes

Selling custom promotional clothing

Exporting clothes to Zimbabwe

Running an internet café

Sewing handbags and tablecloths

Tailoring clothes

Designing clothes

Making curtains

Selling handbags/knick-knacks on the side of the road

Designing and creating greeting cards (and other products) from recycled paper

Selling perfume and make-up

Selling airtime for a public phone

Baking scones

Catering

Making jewelry

Selling second-hand clothes

Selling pap (traditional African food)

Selling chickens

Exporting clothes to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

Designing computer graphics

Crafting bead-work souvenirs

Styling hair

Doing construction projects

Owning a tuck shop/spaza shop*

Owning a crèche (providing childcare services)

Providing administrative services (typing, printing etc.)

Providing skills training services

Exporting batteries to Zimbabwe

Welding metal services

Landscaping

*A tuck shop or spaza shop is somewhat similar to a community convenience store. A shop owner will sell items like food (bread, soup etc.) in addition to personal items (such as hair products, deodorant etc.). The physical appearance of the shop depends on the community they’re serving. A shop can be as simple as a table outside one’s house, selling random candy and parafin wax, such as our entrepreneur Joseph in Zandspruit. Or it can be as sophisticated an entire room in one’s house fully stocked with everyday essentials and a window that acts as a sort of “drive through” (or rather “walk through”), such as Rose in Cosmo City. This is a very common type of business in townships and informal settlements, where the nearest traditional store may be several kilometers away.

As the Johannesburg Training Manager for Paradigm Shift, a large part of my job is helping to train local volunteers to serve as Business Trainers within our program. Business Trainers facilitate all of our business training materials for our entrepreneurs, including: the Business Experience Course, the Business Growth Course, and the Business Advancement Course. Our Business Trainers are all business professionals with a wide range of business experience and an incredible heart to serve the poor entrepreneurs of Johannesburg. It has been such a blessing to work with them and to play a part in this ministry.

Starting this month, I am sending out a monthly publication called, Business Trainer Times. The purpose of this newsletter is to help the trainers feel connected to one another, to suggest facilitation tips and to serve as a reminder of why we do what we do.

Below you will find the first issue of the Business Trainer Times : ) Click on the image to read the newletter!

Check out this 3 minute slideshow to get a glimpse of my life (and work) in South Africa!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the economic situation in Zimbabwe…it’s bad. Over the past three decades, Zim has gone from one of the most promising countries on the continent, to one of the most pitied in the world. Here’s what I mean:

According to the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development)…In the 1980s, Zim experienced 5.0% GDP growth per year. In the 1990s, they experienced 4.3% GDP growth per year. In 2003, they experienced a -18% GDP growth, meaning their GDP significantly declined compared to the previous year.

In 1998, Zim experienced a rate of inflation of 32% (nearly 20 times the U.S. rate of inflation for the same year). In December 2007, the Cato Institute estimated Zim’s rate of inflation was 215,000%. In July 2008 it was at a staggering 250,000,000%. Unfortunately, that’s not a typo. Their rate of inflation was 250 MILLION percent. In real terms, this means that prices of goods (in Zimbabwean dollars) DOUBLED nearly every day. To compensate, a new 100 BILLION dollar note was introduced. Apparently that wasn’t enough, so they introduced a 100 TRILLION dollar note. As of January 2009 they removed 12 zeroes from their currency, meaning what was once worth Z$1,000,000,000,000 is now worth Z$1.

But I’m getting a little carried away… The reason this is relevant is because we have several entrepreneurs who are originally from Zim. The economic and political situations are so bad that millions of Zimbabweans decided to leave everything they had in order to immigrate to other countries in Southern Africa. On the “up-side,” the problems in Zim created an interesting business opportunity. For keen entrepreneurs, the turbulent currency in Zim, combined with a shortage of almost every type of desirable good, meant that exporting South African products to Zim could make for good business. 

One of our entrepreneurs recently seized this opportunity by buying solar-powered batteries here in South Africa and then taking a bus into Zimbabwe to sell his batteries. When I asked the entrepreneur how much he was able to sell the batteries for, he replied that one battery was worth one goat. With such an unreliable currency, many people have reverted back to trading solely in goods (so they don’t have to worry about depreciation). In my naivety, I asked approximately how much one goat was worth. He responded, “…well, it depends on how big the goat is.”

Very valid point.

In case you’re wondering, a goat can range in value from R150-R250 ($20-$32 USD).

An additional consequence of the troubles of the Zimbabwean dollar is that many people choose to use different, more reliable currencies. The most popular are: U.S. Dollar, South African Rand, and the Euro. Interestingly enough, at the Zim border $1 USD can be traded for 10 ZAR (South African Rand). The current market value of $1 USD is actually only approximately 7.5 ZAR. Consequently, it appears our entrepreneur may (unknowingly) be dabbling in a little currency arbitrage : )

In late July, President Obama announced 16 recipients of the 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom. Included on the list was the father of present-day microcredit initiatives, Dr. Muhammad Yunus.

The Medal of Freedom is awarded to “…individuals who make an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.” Per the White House press release, all of the individuals chosen for the 2009 award are “agents of change.” Of the awardees, President Obama went on to say, “each saw an imperfect world and set about improving it, often overcoming great obstacles along the way. Their relentless devotion to breaking down barriers and lifting up their fellow citizens sets a standard to which we should all strive.”

Dr. Yunus is the founder of the Grameen Bank, and 2006 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He has been an inspiration to me since my sophomore year of college when I was first introduced to the concept of microcredit. Also, he’s a fellow Vanderbilt alum (he received his Ph.D. in economics from Vanderbilt’s Graduate Program in Economic Development in 1971) so I definitely have to support my alma mater : ) Yay Vandy!

If you’re interested to see who the other 15 recipients are, check out the full White House press release. (Special note: President Obama gave a little love to South Africa…Archbishop Desmond Tutu was also a recipient!)

To learn more about Dr. Yunus, please see his official biography on the Grameen Web site.