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Little did I know at this point, that over the succeeding two months, I would meet some of the most disadvantaged people in the world: the poorest-of-the-poor, victims of trafficking, prostituted women, refugees, and the illiterate. Despite their perilous circumstances, I’m filled with more hope than ever before. Why? The positive, successful change I would come to witness—and the great potential for continued change.
My hopelessness, however, would be relieved. What I saw in Dhaka was probably a piece of history for Bangladesh… Due to current laws, Grameen Bank is restricted from operating in urban areas.
I have hope because of Bangladesh. I wish I could have traveled here 20 years ago to experience the change. From the descriptions of the people I met, the change has been Bangladesh—a model for global turn around; the man sitting next to me on the airplane was convinced that, given ten years and right national leadership, the country could shine like Malaysia. Ibid
How come I have never heard a sermon preached on the elimination of poverty? Christians frequently talk about giving to those in need or feeding the hungry, but I have yet to hear a sermon calling for a solution. Here is one to start with, I would like to call it “Microcredit and the Mustard Seed”:
One evening just before dusk, we were riding a rickshaw down a narrow road in the village of Salanga. Suddenly, our guide stopped the driver, had him turn the rickshaw around, and pull up at a small metal building. Inside, the building was dimly lit with an organic smell and the hum of a large engine. We met with the owner, Shameen, who had financed his small business through a Grameen microloan. Before Grameen, he had nothing—barely enough to feed his family—if that year’s rice harvest was plentiful. After founding and growing his business through Grameen loans, he started generating income on his own, built a better house, and could afford to send his kids to school. And his business? Processing mustard seeds.
Matthew 17:20 [from The New International Version, NIV, which is the English translation of the Christian Bible] tells us that with the faith the size of a mustard seed, we can tell the mountains to move. I took this verse literally with a good dose of skepticism until this day. Here was a mountain right in front of us: More than 1 billion people clenched in the fist of poverty. In Bangladesh and throughout the world, millions of people are putting a lot of faith in tiny loans—Shameen’s faith, ironically, happened to be a mustard seed.
Soon, the entire building was flooded with local people wanting to gaze at the foreigners. Each of these people was a microcredit borrower. None of them in the chains of poverty. This held true for practically everyone in the entire village, followed by millions more throughout Bangladesh. Microcredit was moving the mountain of poverty before my very eyes.
Deuteronomy 15:7-8 says “If there is a poor man among you… do not be … tightfisted. …Rather be openhanded and freely lend him whatever he needs.” Is it coincidence that the word “lend” is used? I believe microcredit is a sermon that every church should hear. I believe that if Christians were to join the Muslims and Hindus of Bangladesh in the mustard seed of microcredit, the mountain would move much faster. Ibid
The man staring at me has no shoes or shirt. This seems like the perfect opportunity to capture the face of the human condition in rural Bangladesh. As I pull out my camera he mirrors me with none other than a camera phone. I’m photographing him photographing me—something seems wrong here.
Earlier in the day, I spontaneously walked out into a rice field to visit the field workers. They were excited to show a foreigner how fast they cut, then give a brief rice cutting lesson. I just about took a Bengali man’s leg off—the sickle blade is sharper than it looks. They cut a few sheaths of rice, then tie the bundle off with one of the stalks. The whole process takes but a few seconds. Rice harvesting has been done this way here for hundreds of year. Occasionally, I would see a billboard for a tractor or modern agricultural convenience, but I never saw any of them in action.
Third world technology transfer is an interesting phenomenon. Is a cell phone really what they need? How about drip irrigation instead? Or maybe a rice harvester?
Grameen created an interesting microenterprise program throughout Bangladesh with village “phone ladies.” A woman in each village is allowed to purchase a cell phone through a Grameen loan. The “phone ladies” then sell use of their cell phone to other villagers. The result is that the “phone ladies” have a very profitable business and villages that previously had no phone line at all now have a modern method of communication. As traveling is difficult for the poor of Bangladesh, the villagers no longer have to leave if they need to communicate with a relative in another village or ask a doctor a question. In other villages, the profitability of “phone ladies” has diminished because a majority of villagers now own a personal cell phone.
It’s surprising how someone may not have running water, but own a nicer cell phone than I do. Ibid
Blog Back 9: Journal
Blog back : Keep a journal of the lessons learned from your own startup time mentor insights.
Go to: (External Link) and post an excerpt of one of your journal entries that is particularly applicable to someone on an entrepreneurial journey.
With the Mentor Insights providing strong spokes; this completes the description and elaboration of the visual model of the Business Eco-system Wheel.
Early-stage entrepreneurs can rejoice when they invest the time and energy to build well thought out Business Eco-systems. These hard-working, strategic-thinking entrepreneurs increase the chances of creating a startup that has a real opportunity of potentially striking gold at the end of the rainbow!
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