Cheetah Blog

Developing Healthcare

2011-07-24T02:56:00.001-05:00

As I write this I'm on top of a rock overlooking the Ruaha River. I've been assured there are no crocs in this water but in Tanzania one can never be sure. We just left a very helpful meeting at Ilula Hospital discussing applications of the project within local culture and medical regulations. For the past couple days we were up in the mountains in tea country. We met with 4 farmers groups and two big tea companies, including Unilever. All are enthusiastically supporting and looking to engage. We expect to start development work in a month!
Peace! Sent from my BlackBerry

Went to a garden party. We had goat. Here she is.

2010-11-13T12:33:00.001-06:00

Goat is delicious. I really like it. Especially grilled. Swriously. Here it is on the grill. As it was explained to me: the head is grilled. The heat makes it possible to rub away the hair. Then it is boiled and becomes soup. Also the intestines, organs and blood were saved and were already boiling for soup. Can't waste anything.
Peace! Sent from my BlackBerry® phone.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

I have these gorgeous lizards around my house in Iringa. This guy (gal?) Is about a foot long.

2010-10-30T03:19:00.001-05:00

Anyone know their name? They are territorial or maybe eat the other smaller lizards. I've seen them chasing them. Saturday morning relaxing on my veranda. -Ray

Peace! Sent from my BlackBerry® phone.

Lion at Breakfast

2010-10-20T02:05:00.001-05:00

Sitting having breakfast at Mikumi. Watched a young male lion kill a cape buffalo calf for its breakfast. (Sorry about the quality of the camera on my phone.) Ah, back to work now. Peace! Sent from my BlackBerry® phone.

I took apart my computer with this home made screwdriver.

2010-10-01T11:12:00.001-05:00

My computer has been running a fever lately - really hot. Maybe it was bit by a mosquito and has Dengue fever or malaria. Then it started fainting - total lockup and sometimes a little delerium like restoring fully deleted files to my desk top.

Today won't run for more than a few minutes - the screen goes haywire. So I took it apart with the homemade screwdriver in the picture. About 30 itsty bitsy phillips screws. Very odd end on this driver but it works. But my computer doesn't. 3 years round the world with spiky power wore it out. Hey! Anyone want donate one? Peace! Sent from my BlackBerry® phone.

We met these girls - 50 - crossing this one lane bridge.

2010-09-26T08:09:00.001-05:00

In local fashion they didn't want their picture taken. As children, they really did. Suddenly they started screaming and laughing and ran past as fast as they could. "Ally ally come and free!" (or what was it we yelled as kids?)

Peace! Sent from my BlackBerry® phone.

Actual chain used to march people out of Africa in slave trade. See how it is worn on the ends?

2010-09-26T05:35:00.001-05:00

Up to 1000 miles forced march in chains carrying 50 pounds is what wore out the metal. Men were castrated to prevent reproduction and protect the slave business. Then they were tied to a tree and whipped with metal tipped flogs at auction to test if they were strong. If they were strong and showed no tears or weakness then they would be sold; otherwise...

The slave trade in East Africa lasted until 1911!

Peace! Sent from my BlackBerry® phone.

It takes an electrician to wire a village...

2010-09-26T04:48:00.001-05:00

But in Stone Town Zanzibar there is electricity so what's to say?

Peace! Sent from my BlackBerry® phone.

Watched a man spear fishing in Nungwi, Zanzibar. Off the coast the Princess of Qatar has her ship anchored.

2010-09-26T01:07:00.001-05:00

Peace! Sent from my BlackBerry® phone.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Jamned in a RAV4 tooling north on the coast of Zanzibar.

2010-09-24T11:13:00.001-05:00

The last hints of sunset. Warm Indian Ocean breezes. 50s and 60s love songs playing loud in the car - songs my dad crooned. Bikes. Buses made from flatbed trucks. Women carrying bundles on their heads. Palm trees rising out of the headlights. Playing chicken on bridges for one. Men wearing the Baragashia caps and some in white robes like spirits. Somehow surreal and supra-real. The spice islands. Wish you were here. Peace! Sent from my BlackBerry® phone.

Bomalang'ombe is beautiful at sundown.

2010-09-18T13:35:00.001-05:00

This evening Boma is beautiful. Cool temps in the 50's. The sound of people ringing through the mountains from the monthly market day. A festival atmosphere. But life here can be hard. 80% of the people test + for HIV. That's one reason Cheetah links economic development to human development. They come together and produce a virtuous cycle. Peace! Sent from my BlackBerry® phone.

No it's not a birdnest, it's a head cushion.

2010-09-18T10:00:00.001-05:00

We came to a place this afternoon where there were many of these discarded. Workers had been carrying supplies through the mountains to a building project - of course, on their heads. Here's Tom wearing a leftover head cushion. Peace! Sent from my BlackBerry® phone.

Just driving through saw zebras giraffes baboons wildebeast warthogs elephants impala vultures cape-buffalo wierd-ducks white-people (lion-bait)

2010-09-15T09:58:00.001-05:00

Here are pictures taken with a camera phone where at 50 yards things are tiny dots. Most of these animals were within ten yards. Does anyone remember the names of the warthogs in the "Lion King"?

Ray

Peace! Sent from my BlackBerry® phone.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Passing Chalinze, Tanzania, on road from Dar es Salaam. Dar's 5 million connected to country only by this small road.

2010-09-15T00:09:00.001-05:00

Also only road to countries of Zambia, Rwanda, Burundi, Congo, and Malawi where Dar is a key port.
Peace! Sent from my BlackBerry® phone.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Check out this picture for a new definition of a bus stop

2010-09-14T04:17:00.001-05:00

Peace! Sent from my BlackBerry® phone.

Peaceful nights - the building crescendo of frogs in suburg of Dar es Salaam.

2010-09-13T14:34:00.001-05:00

10 pm phase one: frogs.

Midnight phase two: dogs

3:30 am phase three: roosters

4:30 am: competing Muslim calls to worship on mosque speakers

Ready to wake up? Wait, was I sleeping?

Can make you long for the peaceful bliss of traffic sounds…

“Rainy days and Mondays” (that was this morning - yes! – the rain makes everything better).

Download now or listen on posterous

frogs.mp3 (1489 KB)

My wife Lonnie came to Tanzania with instructions to keep me well! Today we're working on health of local neighbors.

2010-09-10T12:58:00.001-05:00

People die young here in Tanzania. 10% at childbirth, another 20% by age five. One village where we are working, 80% test positive for HIV! About 12% of women die giving birth in their lifetime. Etc. Not statistics, these are real people. Our neighbors. But it can be different. We are working on sustainable village healthcare and group health insurance for poor villagers. The first effort of its kind that we are aware of. Truly integrated development. Economic development connects to human development. Just like the vines growing on this hostel where we stayed last night, we're bringing life. Peace,
Ray
Peace! Sent from my BlackBerry® phone.

MUST SEE Cheetah in the news: http://bit.ly/minnpost

2010-08-31T14:20:00.001-05:00

Minnesota non-profit working to bring profitable outcome in Africa

MinnPost Photo by Steve Date

Peace,

Correction: My brother doesn't WANT a keeper he WANTS a brother.

2010-08-30T19:51:00.001-05:00

Sent via BlackBerry

From S Africa: My brother doesn't need a keeper, he needs a brother.

2010-08-30T19:49:00.001-05:00

Sent via BlackBerry

Pity may represent little more than the impersonal concern which prompts the mailing of a check, but true sympathy is the personal concern which demands the giving of one's soul.

2010-08-26T16:11:00.001-05:00

From Martin Luther King, Jr., remember his “I Have a Dream” speech given on this day in history.

Everyone can help!

2010-08-26T13:03:00.001-05:00

There are a lot of people giving of themselves to help the poor through Cheetah. Right now I'm with the social media team - really smart people - who made this message possible. Now you can track my adventures in Africa; I leave again Sept. 6. -Ray
Sent via BlackBerry

Our bike prototype was finished this week! Carries 1000 pounds. I'd like to show you a picture but there are companies trying to steal the design - it's that good.

2010-08-26T12:44:00.001-05:00

Peace,

I think this twitter thing is really cool

2010-08-24T10:13:00.001-05:00

Does it work? Let me know if you get this? The 50^th person that emails back gets $5.00.

Catherine Stine

VP, Partnership Development

Cheetah Development

catherine.stine@cheetahdevelopment.org

906 East First Street

Hastings, MN 55033 USA

Mobile: +1-651-707-3536

This wk college student gave $200, retired consultant pledged 10% of gross income and elderly widow pledged $20/mo.

2010-08-24T10:07:00.001-05:00

This is so humbling! Thanks so much – not from me but from the people of Tanzania…

Peace,

This week a college student gave over $200, a retired consultant pledged 10% of his gross income and an elderly widow pledged $20/month!

2010-08-24T09:47:00.001-05:00

Wow, is that humbling! Thanks from Ray – actually from the people of Tanzania.

test -can I reach the world?

2010-08-24T09:44:00.003-05:00

Catherine Stine

VP, Partnership Development

Cheetah Development

catherine.stine@cheetahdevelopment.org

906 East First Street

Hastings, MN 55033 USA

Mobile: +1-651-707-3536

test 123

2010-08-24T09:44:00.001-05:00

Catherine Stine

VP, Partnership Development

Cheetah Development

catherine.stine@cheetahdevelopment.org

906 East First Street

Hastings, MN 55033 USA

Mobile: +1-651-707-3536

Untitled

2010-08-24T09:43:00.001-05:00

111111111111111111

Meeting Chilwa Kiliaki

2010-04-29T19:43:00.001-05:00

Catherine’s is a volunteer with Cheetah Development since January, 2010

Preamble: Hit it out of the ballpark! That is the email salutation, I sent to Pam Saylor last evening regarding her introduction of the Bike Design Team. My note to Pam Saylor, National Sales Manager, Kurt Manufacturing said:

“Your personal touch -- showing each of your teams unique attributes-- really showed your leadership. Oh, and you are so more than 'in sales’. Thank you for this presentation and all that you do to help Tanzanian's have a better life.”

The Geography Chasm: I meet our presenter Chilwa Kiliaki only hours before her visit with a group that she wanted to meet and that wanted to meet her. She glows. Really. All five feet – and- something of her. And she wore heels. Her African dress was sky blue with a wide gold trim around the neckline; her hair, short and cared for. Lovely. I gave her a hug bending just about in-half to reach her. But the embrace was long and caring; she held my hand afterwards for a bit. Her karma is calm, serene, inviting. She is the first Tanzanian I have met; an impression I will carry in my heart for a life-time.

We traveled quickly to the Doubletree Hotel where Cheetah Board member Danita Bye hosted a welcoming event. Danita was early, asked how she could help, and even brought name tags. Don’t you just love it when important people are motivated to do whatever it takes to create success for others?

Twenty- three people attended the first ever Cheetah gathering to welcome Chilwa Kiliaki. She told her story-born in a poor village in Tanzania and working her way to become a leader of economic policies for the country of Tanzania. Today, she works in the central bank in Tanzania. Comparatively, if they had a Federal Reserve Bank in Tanzania, Mrs. Kiliaki would be one of its leaders. Clearly, a dynamic, brilliant, African leader.

Of course she had prepared remarks, written down in long-hand. Personal, potent, clear.

She captivated us.

The result? She bridged the gap in the attendee’s understanding of why Tanzania, why Cheetah for her and why Cheetah for all of us. Three of her comments stuck out for me:

“Bottom-up is the only way to get buy-in from the villages; this will reduce or eliminate corruption.”

“Cheetah went to the people and asked them what they wanted to do. This is very unique from what I have seen. Others decide what they want to do and then bring it to the people. “

“Getting buy-in first on their ideas will help to ensure long term viability,”

The Take Away: Power words were shared that day by a Powerful Person with Powerful People all motivated to change the world by helping people learn to fish.

Three Cakes

2009-12-16T23:00:00.000-06:00

Today's blog contributed by Russell Myers, VP of Development for Cheetah

The village of Ilambilole in Tanzania Africa was waiting for the arrival of the visitors. The singers and children were in their places ready to greet them and lead them to the first of three meeting places.

The visitors arrived a couple of hours late but that does not matter to the villagers. They will wait until you come. I later find out that it is not unusual to wait for someone to show up but my DNA says do not be late for an appointment. We could not have arrived earlier because of the travel delays. I was hoping that the village would not be disappointed with our tardiness and depart. And no, they did not leave. They were waiting patiently for the arrival.

The vehicles turn onto the main road of the village and the people start the dancing and singing and as the vehicles get closer you can hear the welcoming song. The vehicles stop and the people step out in front and lead them to the first meeting place. Slowly we proceed behind the group singing and dancing down the street.

We arrive at the location a few minutes later as the crowd surrounds the vehicles singing and dancing. The visitors get out of the vehicles and some of us are overcome to the point of tears by the welcome and the feeling of being unworthy of such a welcome. We had just come to attend some meetings and see the village – not anything special in our own eyes. We did not know the culture or the importance of the moment for the village.

The visitors enter into the home of the local pastor and wait for the arrival of some of the village leaders. The singing continues outside for around a half-hour they started resting for what was next to come. A few of the leaders find their way to the home and we are off to the town center meeting.

The walk to the town center is about two of our city blocks in length but before we start the adults and children line up in two rows single file in front of the visitors and leaders. The villagers start the procession singing and walking in a slow rhythm to the city center. I asked myself why are they doing this? – not knowing the importance of this occasion. I am going along and very impressed but still have no idea the importance but I am soon to find out.

When we arrive at the town center it looks like the whole village has arrived. Several hundred people are there waiting to hear from the leader of the visitors group – a man that has been in the village many times and is the reason this is such an important meeting time today. Almost all of the villagers are singing and many are dancing as we prepare for the meeting. Chairs are lined up for the leaders of the village and the seats of honor are for the visitors. The singing and dancing slowly subsides as the meeting is about to start.

The community leader, the pastor, starts the introductions. All of the leaders of the village and surrounding area are introduced and then the visitors have their opportunity to introduce themselves. Our leader, Ray Menard, stands to introduce the visitors. There are two doctors, an elder from a church in the USA and me a business man. Each of us has an opportunity to share and express our gratitude for the warm welcome of the village. The meeting continues for a couple of hours and then it is time to separate from the villagers and meet with just the leaders at the church.

The village meeting has ended and we are headed to the church for the leaders meeting. The singing starts again and the children run to the visitors to escort them to the church. There is a child on each hand and other holding their hand stretching across the road all singing along the way. We arrive at the church and the children instantly fill half of the room. The children gather for the next meeting. But they are not the leaders so they will have to go. But before they go they perform a song for us all and then they are escorted out. The singing outside the church continues as we start the meeting. There is not much day time left and this village has no electricity. So it is going to be a short meeting so everyone can get home before dark, I thought. That was a bad assumption because there was a small fluorescent light on a battery that hung over the table at the center of the room where Ray, an interpreter and the pastor sat. The remaining the visitors were in seats of honor up front. The meeting went on for a couple of hours and it is dark inside and out except for the small light that is shining on the center table of the three men.

The meeting ends and we go to the home of the pastor which has been built with some extra rooms for visitors to come and stay. We arrive at the home for our dinner and bed after all of the hand-shaking and visiting but there is more to come unbeknown to us.

The ladies had been cooking for several hours to prepare the meal and it was delicious. A couple of the visitors thought it was time to go to bed but there was another event that was about to take place. The ceremony of the Three Cakes. The living room area was cleared of dishes after the meal and people gathered around the room. The room is about 12 x 15 with some big furniture and a coffee table. There are about 20 villagers attending this ceremony. This Mzungu (White Man) did not know what was about to take place.

Cake is not a regular item on the menu in fact it is only made on very special occasions. This was one of those occasions designated by the village. The Three Cakes were made to demonstrate the unity between the village and a person or group on a very special occasion. The leader of the visitors, Ray, the heart of our organization is the person being honored with the ceremony because of the respect and love that the villagers have developed for him.

Each cake is about a 10” round yellow wheat flour cake. Wheat flour is one ingredient that is not readily available. The ceremony starts as the ladies’ leader comes into the room carrying all three cakes. She slowly makes her way to the coffee table as she moves to the singing of the villagers. She slowly bends at the knees and sets the platter of cakes on the table and the singing gets softer and softer until it stops. The three cakes are now on the end of the coffee table in front of Ray. The lady explains about the procedures for the three cake ceremony. Cake number one is for Ray to break into pieces and give every villager that is attending a piece. This is to show the willingness to join with the village in all endeavors. The second cake is taken by the pastor and divided among the visitors to show the unity between the village and the visitors. Ray and the pastor take the third cake together each breaking off a piece and feed it to the other person, similar to our wedding ceremony; this demonstrates the unity in thought between the leaders of both groups. The ceremony ends with singing, laughing, and lots of hugging and tears of joy.

The whole day was quite an experience and one that will not be forgotten and as we say in America “that takes the cake.”

Bomalang'ombe an Anomaly

2009-12-14T13:01:00.000-06:00

Today’s Blog Contributed by Russ Myers, VP of Development for Cheetah

There are about nine thousand villages throughout Tanzania. The village of Bomalangonbe (Boma) sits in the mountains in the south central part of the country. There are about 13,000 people that reside in this area and all but one is a farmer.

They farm potatoes on the sides of the mountains where many seemed to be too steep to walk down but there are terraced rows of crops that are being worked. There is a road, if you want to call it that, connecting Boma to the town of Iringa. Iringa is a city of about 120,000 people, the largest in this area of the country.

The road between Boma and Iringa is a difficult road to drive. It passes through some beautiful country and a variety of climates as you try to maintain your sanity over the bumps of the road. There are some 38 separate climates in the world and there are 34 different climates represented in Tanzania. You pass through several on the way to Boma. There are eucalyptus trees that are a hundred feet tall and then there are pine trees and when you turn back you are in desert conditions and have cactus next to the road.

On this day there are eight of us traveling to Boma from Iringa: the driver, five visitors, the district pastor and a pastor for interpreting. The five visitors include Ray Menard, Russ Myers, Dr. Mark Ereth, Dr. Chris Marrs and Randy Haglund. We are traveling in an eight passenger Toyota Land-Cruiser which is really for five people comfortably. They claim a back seat for three but don’t believe a word of it. Today I am riding in the back seat with two other men. Your feet are at your bottom and your knees are against the seat in front of you. You feel every rock in the road for a while until your rear end is numb. You hold on to the hand rail to keep yourself from hitting the roof of the vehicle on every bump. Soon the small bumps don’t matter and you stop complaining because you know the trip is only two and one half hours long.

When you arrive you realize it was worth the trip. The first thing you notice is street lights. That’s right street lights in a village. For that matter there are few street lights in the largest city of Dar es Salaam. There is electricity to run the lights and electricity for the village. There is a cell phone tower next to the church. Cell phone coverage in within Tanzania is incredible with the latest technology of bandwidth available. The calls coming into the country are something else all together but in country you have better coverage than Verizon claims. Sorry, back to the electricity: so why does Boma have this electricity when other villages and towns struggle without it?

There is this six kilometer road off of the main road that I described earlier. This road takes meaning of rough to a new level. Once you get to the end of the road that winds around mountains and then takes many hair-pen switchbacks you arrive at the anomaly. There is a hydro-electric plant on a dammed up mountain stream. This small lake sits several hundred feet above the generating plant. The views of the lake are incredibly beautiful. The stream of water that is flowing out of the overflow of the lake as it comes down past the plant is breath-taking. The stream runs down where two mountains meet so the vistas of both make one realize that only God can make things this beautiful.

The Boma village is an anomaly sitting on top of the mountains in south central Tanzania with street lights and electricity enough for all of the residents.

Oh yes, the trip back was three and one-half hours with the side trip to the hydro-electric plant. I am okay and the blood has returned to circulating in my bottom.

(Pictured: Russ looking happy as he gets out of a bumpy airplane ride...everything seems to be a bit bumpy!)

Wow---You Gotta Go to Tanzania!

2009-12-12T01:17:00.002-06:00

(Today's blog by Dr. Mark Ereth of the Mayo Clinic, a Board Member and friend of Cheetah Development.)

Nine days, 9 time zones, 90 degrees Fahrenheit, and 9,000 miles…

That's the distance between where I am today, and where I was a short time ago. Those are the degrees of separation between Minnesota and the villages of Ilambilole, Bomalang'ombe, and the city of Iringa, all in South Central Tanzania. It’s the distance between a malaria free zone, and an endemic malaria zone. It’s the distance between excessive caloric intake and malnourishment. It’s the distance between so much and so little….

Crossing these distances was one of the most rewarding trips I ever experienced. What I experienced were some of the most joyous, welcoming, and Christian people I’ve ever met….some of the most ingenious and hardworking…some of the most deserving.

Each day the economic disparity between these worlds is increasing. Disparity in investment, in small business, and in mentored entrepreneurs. Disparity in the value chain from production to consumption. Disparity in transportation, markets, and the businesses of agriculture, manufacturing, and trade.

Cheetah Development is working to bridge these economic development disparities.

Bridging this gap is Ray Menard, the visionary, the founder, the mover, the shaker (you should see him dance with the villagers)…

Bridging the gap is Russ Meyers.....our volunteer Director of Development…who has enthusiastically joined Ray for three weeks…gathering the data and stories to share with our benefactors and investors.

Bridging this gap is Randy Haglund...our volunteer Director of Photography who captured the digital images of so very much to share with all of us…of these villages that do so very much…with so very little…

Bridging the gap is Dr. Chris Marrs…who has worked in the third world for much of the past decade…who is bringing his skill, compassion, energy, and incredible dedication to join with us at Cheetah…in these villages for two months in early 2010 to help build up anti-malarial and anti-HIV-AIDS efforts.

Check out Dr. Chris at www.vitalconsultants.us http://www.vitalconsultants.us>

Cheetah Development is delivering a new model of support, not handouts, but we are investing time and money in people who can grow their own small businesses…who can employ others…who can create markets… and empower whole villages.

In a very short time Cheetah has done an incredible job, crossing cultures, building trust, and delivering on every front. As such, I encourage you to lend extraordinary support to this extraordinary mission. Please schedule a trip, grab your checkbook, and get your family and friends to do the same. It’s all about leverage…a little here delivers a big impact there.

Choosing a Second Village – Part 2

2009-12-11T12:42:00.002-06:00

After the survey work was complete and we met with the leaders of each village and we heard their passionate speeches – then we had to make a decision. It was harder than I expected. First, we wanted to help them all. Second, they were all deserving. Third, how do you say, 'no'?

We shared this decision with leaders from the University of Tumaini. We need them to work with us. We couldn't commit for them. Rev. Dr. Lubawa (the Deputy Provost and one of the people I respect most in this world) and the Dean of the Business School and other leaders joined to decide. It took a week of discussion.

One of the four villages has a reputation as hard workers but they are known as laborers, not farmers. Their agricultural output is limited mostly to their own use. Therefore it's hard to invest in a for profit business when there is nothing being sold. A second specialized in tomatoes and that has more complexity and more competition so we considered it risky. That left Ihemi and Bomalang'ombe. They both made the bulk of their profits on potatoes and so that took us away from the cash crops of Ilambilole. Although we were looking for a different climate, we weren't necessarily looking for diversity in crops at this stage. But this was an interesting revelation. Areas with more rainfall took advantage of that to produce higher value products than corn. Consider, bags of potatoes are selling for twice as much or more than corn and they are growing up to 10 times the amount per acre. That's 20X the profit or more. So, the decision to move to a new climate naturally meant different crops.

I didn't want to go back to Boma' because the terrible road left me in pain. Now Ihemi, that's right on a tarred road. Seemed obvious right?

University leadership said, 'but wait'. It will be more difficult to control corruption (farmers that bypass their coop agreement and sell direct) because they are right on the paved road. Also, Ihemi is climactically and geographically closer to Ilambilole so there is a higher risk of simultaneous drought. Not only that, there is another organization working to support potato farming in the Boma' area. If we worked with Ihemi, we would be their market competitor. If we chose Boma' we could partner and strengthen the overall results.

Boma' became the choice. Ouch!

But it is so beautiful!

Choosing a Second Village

2009-12-09T12:46:00.003-06:00

The work we are beginning in villages is incredibly exciting. Modest investments show the potential to change thousands of lives. And we are addressing the problems of hunger and poverty at its root. We are interested in value chain development and agricultural investment. But what makes our program really unique is that we ask people what they want to do. We don't tell them. Most of my time on this trip has been related to this effort.

We have already chosen the village of Ilambilole to work with. This was where our church had been engaging for more than a decade. After a review with local people, there was strong agreement that it was a great place to start. It was hard working, highly productive, and has a pastor that has stood up to corruption.

(Pictured, corn fields near Ilambilole)

There is a risk in starting with only one village. For example, a drought could delay or cause a failure in the project. Local leaders argued that we should start with three villages to assure the ability to demonstrate success. But there is risk in being too aggressive, as well. The first time you do anything is the hardest. We have things to learn. So we compromised on two.

We needed to choose a second village.

It would be handy if it was near the first one, but then it could suffer drought at the same time. So it needed to be geographically at some distance. As we talked about it, we thought we should find a different climactic area altogether.

(Pictured, a typical meeting with village leaders)

Tanzania is quite remarkable this way. There are numerous micro-climates. At times you find yourself in a new climate every 20 miles. (Because of the poor roads you might be going only 20 miles an hour, too.) We decided to go to a really different climate. Ilambilole is flat and tends to be very dry half of the year. We decided to find a wet region that was also in the same district. We consulted with local and American agricultural experts. Then we talked to local people that could talk about the 'character' of villages. There were about 75 to choose from. Finally, we narrowed it down to four.

Then we spent a half day in each village meeting with leaders and surveying the local outputs. It was a wonderful experience. We posted the results at our website, including the original survey of Ilambilole. They are really interesting:

http://www.cheetahdevelopment.org/cheetah/docs/iringa_district_village_survey.pdf

Here are some highlights and impressions:

Ilambilole is a stand-out and was a great first choice.
There is a strong distinction between villages that are truly subsistence (they eat all they grow) and those that have begun to sell some of their crops. The latter are thinking about markets, profit, and quality.
The terrain is amazing and beautiful.
The people were all passionate and hard working. Every meeting ended with speeches by local people. They carefully made their case for why they were the best village to work with.
I was amazed to see that farmer cooperatives are nearly inevitable. If you ask people how they will solve their problems, they already know that they need to work together. Please realize that in Tanzania farmer cooperatives have been models for stealing from the poor for about 40 years so this is not an answer that I expected.
People don't want handouts, they want opportunity. They are looking for a way to succeed with dignity.
I wanted to choose every village I was in.

Well, except for Bomalang'ombe. The road was so bad. The springs on the truck were cracked and so there was no rear suspension (a later failure was coming). Three hours later I literally arrived in pain. I thought to myself, 'I never want to come back here again.'

I felt the Spirit move in my heart as I thought this…'You might be surprised.'

(Pictured: the fields around Bomalang'ombe - CLICK ON THIS ONE!)

Tanzania 2009 #20

2009-12-06T22:26:00.001-06:00

I've landed in London & checked into hotel. Looking forward to a little dinner, hot shower, and sleep.
This has been an amazing trip for all the reasons listed in previous entries and more.
I spent a lot of the flight today sorting images and trying to begin to organize them; lots to do. The flight seemed pretty surreal as it did last year. As I look out the window today I saw places again that I've read about and/or seen in photos; the Sahara Desert, north coast of Africa, Sicily, the boot of Italy, the Alps, the English Channel.
Pause:
It is currently 4:00AM local time here in London and 7:00AM local time in Tanzania. I can tell I am going to be struggling w/ major jetlag this time. My mind is already gearing up for all that awaits me upon my return. I passed out about 8:30 London time and slept soundly til about 1:45. I just finally got up and will try to get some work done before breakfast. Besides, I just discovered a coffee pot and some Walker's Butter Shortbread in the closet. That's all the excuse I need for some coffee, even decaf.
Pray for me that I would not lose the impact from this trip to the busyness of my routine as I return. Each time I have returned the idea of "Spiritual Tourism" bothers me more and more. I want, I need it to be more than that or it would be a waste of resources for me. There has to be an impact in my life and those I have opportunity to influence. If not it would be better to stay home and invest the money in the areas directly.
I can't wait to get home and begin to share my experiences. I do need to be careful though to pace all of us, especially myself, so I don't lose sight of keeping balance for me and my family.
Thank you all again for sharing this with me in this way.
I look forward to continuing to share images and specifics stories/needs in the weeks to come.
Blessings on you all.
Because of Him,
Randy

(Sent from my Verizon Wireless CrackBerry)

Tanzania 2009 #19

2009-12-05T23:14:00.001-06:00

As I got up this morning I felt inclined to share reading from a devotional I read. It is from "My Utmost For His Highest." July 28.
After Obedience -- What?
"And straightway He constrained His disciples to get into the ship, and go to the other side..." Mark 6:45
We are apt to imagine that if Jesus Christ constrains us, and we obey Him, He will lead us to great success. We must never put our dreams of success as God's purpose for us. His purpose may be exactly the opposite. We have an idea that God is leading us to a particular end, a desired goal; He is not. The question of getting to a particular end is a mere incident.
What is my dream of God's purpose? His purpose is that I depend on Him and on His power now. If I can stay in the middle of the turmoil calm & unperplexed, that is the end of the purpose of God. God is not working toward a particular finish; His end is the process--that I see Him walking on the waves, no shore in sight, no success, no goal, just the absolute certainty that all is right because I see Him walking on the sea. It is the process, not the end, which is glorifying to God.
God's training is for now, not presently. His purpose is for this minute, not for something in the future. We have nothing to do with the afterwards of obedience; we get wrong when we think of the afterwards. What men call training and preparation, God calls the end.
God's end is to enable me to see that He can walk on the chaos of my life just now. If we have a further end in view, we do not pay sufficient attention to the immediate present: if we realize that obedience is the end, then each moment as it comes is Precious.

My new brother, Ray, from Cheetah asked me to post this on the Blog. It has been a reminder to me again this trip that I need to be more open to what God wants to so in me than what I think He wants me to do For Him.
Blessings on you all.

Because of Him,
Randy

(Sent from my Verizon Wireless CrackBerry)

Tanzania 2009 #18

2009-12-05T07:43:00.001-06:00

As my last day in country winds down I want to humbly thank those of you that have followed these rambling thoughts and shared this experience with me. Your prayers have been huge and more meaningful than you will ever know.
The hostel we have stayed in the last two nights has wi-fi so I have been able to download Picasa on the netbook and begin to edit my photos.
Ray and Russ, two of my traveling companions; two new brothers, are taking a nap and I put on my headphones and turned on the I-pod. The song that came on has become the theme song for me for this trip. Hillsong's "One Desire" expresses my heart's desire as I have traveled this incredible country these last 18 days. To be where He is and where He wants me is the desire of my heart, wherever that is each and every day, from Monroe to Mwanza, from Iringa to Ilambilole and Bomalang'ombe.
As I think of beginning my journey home in the morning I am undone at God's blessing on me and my family as we begin this new adventure in His Mansion. I don't begin to understand why I have been given so much and some have so little. Sometimes it all seems relative but it will continue to be a question that will follow me all the days of my life in more intense ways than I will ever begin to understand after this trip.
One thing about being out of one's comfort zone is that we tend to be more in tune with our own inadequacy and finiteness, if you will. I have been way out of mine these last two plus weeks, farther then I had imagined. I did not place a lot of expectations on this trip because of much of my last experience here last year. But, just like God, more and different than I could have ever thought. For those of you that have read through these entries I hope you have seen that.
My desire for you as you have shared this adventure with me is that you would see that no matter what you have been given in this world there are so many with so much less. The over arching desire for Shirley and I at PepperCorn and now at the Mansion has been to always remember that God owns it all and that we are just the mangers. As we strive to be good stewards of what He provides it comes with a responsibility to manage it well. Whether it is money or relationships, we have so many more blessings than most people in the world will ever have. Appreciate what you have, appreciate those that are around you, and tell them. Think beyond the moment to what and who is really important.
I will be posting photos when I get home with image specific info so please keep coming back over the next weeks & months to come. You will also begin to see info related to our teams next trip next summer. Because of Him,
Randy
Because of Him,
Randy

(Sent from my Verizon Wireless CrackBerry)

Tanzania 2009 #17

2009-12-04T07:02:00.001-06:00

One correction from last Blog. The freezer at the clinic used propane not Liquid Oxygen.

Last couple days have been very busy. Yesterday we drove the 6-7 hours from Iringa to Dar es Salaam. (250 miles) When we arrived we hit the market for a while to collect a few souvenirs. Then it was off to the CEFA hostel to quickly freshen up as well as we could and it was off to a dinner meeting with the group that will be running the bicycle factory. These are an amazing group of men.
Up early this morning to have a meeting with a young man converting vegetable oil into Bio-Diesel. Then it was off to the airport to pick a bag that was lost and then it was found. Then we visited a textile mill which was a step into the past.
After a busy morning we were entertained at lunch by Dr. Mariam Nchimbi, Director of the University of Dar es Salaam Entrepreneur Centre and Dr. M.D. Baisi, Associate Dean of Postgraduate Studies.
Then it was a cultural tour of the local Shoprite where we found a few local treats. Then it was back to the hostel to relax a little before dinner.

Because of Him,
Randy

(Sent from my Verizon Wireless CrackBerry)

Economic Develoment and Health Care

2009-12-02T01:36:00.002-06:00

Ray asked me to blog for him today...
Because of Him,
Randy

Yesterday we drove over 2 hours into the mountains to a village where Cheetah will be involved on project #2. The Village of Bomalang'ombe is a very remote village of about 5000 people. Cheetah will be working again with food value chain issues but with different products and in slightly different ways than in Ilambilole where Project #1 will be taking place. Both are highly productive villages as a whole, as well as very proud villages. This was very evident in the way they took care of themselves, their homes, shops, & village.
There are two Doctors on our team. One is an Anesthesiologist at Mayo Clinic. The other worked with the first for 10 years at Mayo and now operates a consulting business. He also operates a clinic in the remote mountains of SW Kenya west of Nairobi. I have visited two dispensaries in these two villages with the doctors to photograph and record their visit. As we have visited these remote mini-clinic the Doctors have discussed HIV-AIDS education, they have looked at everything from the number if instruments to patient protocol to try and discover how they best assist the clinics. We were amazed at the quality of the first which even had a liquid oxygen cooled freezer that had a very good supply of vaccines.
We were also amazed at the second clinic, but for very different reasons. Being so very remote and difficult to get to makes for its own sets of challenges.
Yesterday as we spoke with the nurse in Bomalang'ombe one doctor asked her how many of the mothers that deliver babies each month are infected with HIV-AIDS. She said of he 15-20 she sees deliver each month, 70-80%! She shared with us that they have discovered that often times the middlemen that come to town to buy products pay for sex and are to cause for much of the spreading of this disease. I later discovered from Ray as we discussed the day that the going rate is in the village is about 500TSH. (Tanzanian Schillings) that works out to about $.35! Yes, that is 35 CENTS. The decimal point is correct. It was very interesting discussion that developed as we began to work through the issues of economic development when the workforce could possibly not be viable within a short period of time.
This expanded into confirmation of why our church is supporting Cheetah in the first place. It is. Not about all the "Benjamins". It is a holistic approach to adding value with what is ready in place from the perspective of the village. It must be a perceived value on the part of the people generated by the ideas of the villagers themselves.
I am being reminded of the intertwined complexity of the issues. Please pray for wisdom for all involved.
This fact alone spoke volumes to me of the fact that this is
Because of Him,
Randy

(Sent from my Verizon Wireless CrackBerry)

The Rich Returns of Investing

2009-11-29T23:36:00.003-06:00

The following is an email exchange between three people: a supporter of
Cheetah named Mark, a friend of his named Larry (name changed since I am
printing without permission) and myself, Ray. I thought the questions that
Larry raised were important and valid and so I wanted to make sure that
everyone had a chance to think about them.

Ray - Larry is good friend - very bright fellow. You'd enjoy meeting him
when you're back in MN.
All the best to you for a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday [a day late but
hope the glow flows over].
Mark
(Larry writes:)
Hi Mark,
Thanks for the introduction to Cheetah! These ideas look creative and valid.
Of course, when we consider investing, rewards must be commensurate with
risks. Being completely clueless as to the risks of doing business in
Tanzania, I did some quick research.
Source: "Doing Business 2009, Comparing Regulation in 181 Economies" The
World Bank
Tanzania
Ease of doing business rank: 127/181 countries (2008 rank was 124/181)
Category rankings:
Starting a business - 109/181
Dealing with construction permits - 172
Employing workers - 140
Registering property - 142
Getting credit - 84
Protecting investors - 88
Paying taxes - 109
Trading across borders - 103
Enforcing contracts - 33
Closing a business - 111
No reforms (positive or negative) in 2007/2008.
Property issues and employment look to be the worst problems. I hope Ray is
prepared to deal with frequent setbacks.
I signed up for the Cheetah newsletter. I'll bet it would be fun to meet Ray
at some point.
Enjoy the weekend!
Larry

(Ray writes:)
Mark and Larry,
Thanks for thinking of us! I will look forward to meeting you in January
when I am in the states.
Today I drove deep into the southern highlands of Tanzania working on our
project with poor tea farmers. I 'suffered the setbacks' of a flat tire and
then broke the leaf springs on the pickup. We found someone to start repair,
trusting them with adequate cash for spare parts and the keys to the truck.
We then hitched a ride another half hour deeper into the countryside with no
return ride arranged.
This is one of the most beautiful places on earth and I literally felt
almost a spiritual ecstasy at times. The emerald green mountains covered
with tea and eucalyptus forests can take your breath away. The people are
likewise beautiful. The area is so fertile that the trees reach 75 or more
feet in 5 only years. They grow so fast that they often lack bark and the
trunks look like giant bamboo.
I met with the tea processor and found a way to securitize our loan for
trucks to the tea cooperative farmers. Mkonge Tea Block Farmers is a coop of
523 families making about $1 per day, among the poorest people on earth.
Net, net, we expect to quadruple their income.
I'm familiar with the indexes you sent and they don't show how hard these
people work - it would take a small book to describe it. The way to change
these indexes will come more from engaging with people than from condemning
their failures.
You're right of course. Reward must be commensurate with risk. And we
provide the opportunity to dramatically change the lives of thousands with a
small investment. That's a high reward to risk ratio, indeed. Even better,
we have a reasonable and justified expectation that we will be repaid.
We give our investors the ability to diversify their portfolio so that part
of it is working to change the lives of the poorest of the poor. The type of
returns we offer are materially modest only to the investor. The net impact
is, well, how do you measure the value of changed lives?
By the way, I returned safely to my room, quite late but in good spirits
with a healthy appetite. If you appreciate tea, I will bring you some when
we meet in January. It's some of the very finest in the world.
Peace,
Ray
Postscript: (Please see the other blog on tea farmers - you can find it by
keyword 'tea' on the left.) Since we last met these farmers, there need has
actually grown more acute. They have worked hard to grow more tea, creating
their own nursery, expanding their fields, weeding carefully, etc. These
people work so hard! But the trucks are so far behind. Now they have been
restricted to having their tea collected only three days a week - so their
production is cut in half. We were there on a day when they were allowed to
pick. Yet we saw that at every collection center, they were waiting for
trucks to arrive. This degrades the quality of the tea and reduces their
income further. We must act to help these people who are working so hard!
And the investment we make is securitized by the tea factory. How could we
not do this?

Kibaigwa Market

2009-11-22T10:14:00.001-06:00

Hi everyone,

Although some of these pictures may be less than interesting to you, there is a team of guys working on engineering problems around grain handling. I'm trying to get a couple of them to write a blog, as well. They are great guys. Hey Matt and Bob, how is it going?

If you would want to join the team please send your interest to info@cheetahdevelopment.org

At the bottom is an explanation of what you are seeing here...

A scale for filling bags. See the weights on the right?

The cleaning line that cleans maize, removing dirt, cobs, dust and rocks.

Filling the cleaning machine from the top.

The French maker of the cleaning machine.

A closer view of the cleaning machine. It cleans the corn and then drops into the trough. From the trough it is lifted and dropped into the bag scale on the right. The long pipe going left to right carries the debris out of the building.

An actual page from the day's maize sales.

Lot's of debris in the corn! See all the pieces of cobs? That because the remove the kernels by beating the cobs with a stick.

The equipment distributor. - The other side of Africa!

If the corn is not dry enough, it is spread out here in the sun.

The inside of the market with the really heavy bags (200-250 pounds).

The chalkboard with the previous day's prices.

The maker of the scales.

The loading dock for buyers. Notice these are not bulk trucks!

On November 15th I visited the Kibaigwa market. It's famous across the country for setting up a real commodities market. It serves maize (and a few other grains) farmers in a region near Dodoma, the capital of Tanzania.

When farmers and buyers enter they see a blackboard with the previous day's prices. Then there is a small negotiation room where farmers and buyers can meet. Buyers look at the product and bid prices. There is security for the money exchange - all cash. Then farmers unload, optionally it is cleaned (only 30% opt to clean thinking they are somehow paid for debris but buyers pay less for uncleaned maize), then it is bagged and loaded on trucks. There is a weigh bridge to track inputs and outputs. Current price for maize is
for 377 shillings per kg. (1330 shillings per US$) A typical farmer in Tanzania may only sell a few bags as income for the whole year. By coming to this market they get about twice the going rate because there is no
middleman. On this day it was about 45,000 shillings per day. But that's less than US $35. Some of the better small village farmers might have 15 bags to sell. That's still less than $1 per day income.

Notice that grain is not handled in bulk. Everything is bagged. The bags are so heavy - over 200 pounds - that it takes three really muscular guys to lift one and then one guy carries it on his neck! I wanted to take a picture but that often offends people here.

This is great to see developing in Tanzania because it is connecting farmers to markets.

Catching Up

2009-11-22T00:56:00.001-06:00

Hello Everyone!

My apologies for not posting blogs for a while... We have been incredibly busy. So much is happening and Cheetah Development is no longer a newborn kitten.

Here’s a quick update catching you up until the current trip to Tanzania. In one page we will cover three months…

First of all our agricultural strategies are developing sophistication. This is the heart of our work in Tanzania and it needs to be: over 70% of people are subsistence farmers. Perhaps close to 80% of the country is involved in agriculture in one way or another. President Kikwete has introduced a development plan called “Kilimo Kwanza” or Agriculture First. This approach has been well supported by the Prime Minister Pinda, as well. Cheetah’s work is aligned with the national development approach and therefore we are not swimming upstream. Better, it appears we will have some local help, including: red tape reduction, supportive policies, incentives, and some financing.

In previous blogs we have written at some length about farming and food management. That writing was continued and is posted in a single document on our website at the following link: (will post soon!) Please take a look at it. We would appreciate any comments you have.

There is a much shorter read that in two pages describes the essence or our strategy. That is at this link: www.cheetahdevelopment.org/cheetah/docs/agricultural_investment_strategy.pdf You won’t get any of the local Tanzanian color but it summarizes our approach.

Second, we selected the projects we will support first and they are really exciting. (Check them out here: www.cheetahdevelopment.org/cheetah/docs/projects/project_cutsheets.pdf ) Our estimate of their impact is that a $25 FEEDS A CHILD FOR LIFE! Want to know how? Read our description here: www.cheetahdevelopment.org/cheetah/docs/white_paper_the_orphanage_dilemma.pdf In the coming weeks we will provide more information about each of these projects through our newsletter. Don’t subscribe? Sign up here: http://www.cheetahdevelopment.org/

Third, we have been in the USA for a few months. We have been focused on raising support, finding technical help, and getting our investment papers developed. It’s amazing: you can diversify your investments or saving to put part of it into helping the poorest of the poor! Some of your money can work for you and some can work to help others. This is a great opportunity; don’t miss it. Please go to our investor section here: www.cheetahdevelopment.org/cheetah/pages/invest.shtml

Now we are back in Tanzania working. Already many lives have been changed. We are teaching symposiums on business to hundreds of students, consulting with dozens of small businesses and helping them to find ways forward, and meeting with villages and showing them the opportunity in their midst. Much of poverty begins in the mind. As one local pastor said, “You are unlocking minds.” We will write of our time here in coming blogs.

Our deep gratitude to the many people who are faithfully supporting this work!

Peace,

Ray

Guiding the Flock: Pastoring through Chickens

2009-07-13T14:39:00.000-05:00

(Summary: the link between work, faith and community is explored.)

Today my friend Steve Snider introduced me to a chicken operation in northern Mozambique near the city of Nampula. The entrepreneur, Andrew Cunningham, was a pastor in Zambia. He had a long illness that left him weak for a few years and gave him a lot of time to think a pray. Strangely, he felt that God was calling him to go to Northern Mozambique and farm chickens. This is at the very least a strange call on a pastor’s life. Andrew knew nothing about chicken farming. He couldn’t speak the language and he didn’t know the place.

At the same time, God was working. My friend Steve was assigned a project to grow the chicken industry in Mozambique and so his job was to find farmers he could help. You’ll never guess but they ended up together. Strange, huh?

Meanwhile, a wealthy chicken farmer from Iowa was visiting Mozambique looking for ways to make a difference. He found a couple of worthy causes to donate to but nothing really captured his imagination and heart. He stopped in South Africa on the way back to the US for a little relaxation. By chance he ran into Andrew’s wife and daughter at a hotel and after a little conversation invited them to dinner. They never talked about chickens and everyone went home.

A little while later, Steve is wandering the USA looking for someone who knows something about chickens. He gets connected to the guy from Iowa. They are sitting talking and Steve tells him about this farmer in Mozambique named Andrew Cunningham. “Wait, did you say his last name is Cunningham?” Sure enough it’s the same family he met in South Africa.

A few weeks later Iowa meets Mozambique and the Pastor now Chicken farmer has an investor. Strange, huh?

But why would God call a pastor to go and raise chickens in a foreign land?

(A picture of Andrew Cunningham and his wonderful family.)

Andrew said to me, “What’s amazing to me is that the impact I am having as a chicken farmer is greater than anything I was able to achieve as a pastor in my own country. These people never had jobs in their life nor has anyone in their family. They are the first generation to work. We have to teach them everything related to successfully holding a job. While we are at it we teach about a good family life, raising kids, and of course living a Christian life. We are building a real community here. The message of Christ really resonates because it spoken in the midst of a loving community that cares for their body, mind and soul.”

We were walking from Andrew’s office to his home just down the hill. It was the end of the work day and there was a cluster of young men sitting on their motorcycles in the shade of a tree. Andrew stopped to talk to them and then returned to us.

“See that young man there? Frankly, he didn’t like getting up and having to report to work every day. The work experience was all new to him. His assignment was to go into the villages and help local farmers that are raising chickens for us. He is to provide technical assistance and training, answer questions, and be our representative. He did his work but without any enthusiasm. It was hard to get him out of his office into the field.

“All of a sudden, he got ‘turned on’. He saw the impact that his work was having on people’s lives. Their income was rising, their families getting healthy, wells being dug. Now he rushes to work and he is hardly ever in the office.

“God has always worked. That’s how creation began. We become fulfilled when we work. As Jesus said, ‘My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working.’ When we work we experience God in a new way. It is vital to Christian life. Getting turned on to work and turned on to Jesus is somehow linked.”

Here is the vision and mission statements of Andrew’s chicken operation:

NEW HORIZONS MOZAMBIQUE
VISION: We are God’s raving fans as we do business and farming His way
MISSION: We link with rural farmers in our community to produce THE lowest cost chicken in the world.
VALUES: We do everything:
· With Excellence
· On Time
· Without Waste
· With Joy

These are not idle statements. While I was there I met a farmer who raised 1.5 kilogram chickens in 28 days with a 1.97 food to meat conversion ratio. This is world class production.

Now that’s tending the flock!

Moving On: Mozambique

2009-07-12T14:34:00.000-05:00

(Pictured above: view from the hotel room in Nampula.)

Today I left Tanzania and my many good friends and headed to Mozambique. My friend Kamala sent me a text message saying that he ‘had lost a leg’ to express the loss of my departure. It is a feeling I felt towards many. It was hard to say goodbye and move on.

Steve Snider joined me in Tanzania and off we went to Mozambique, directly to the south.

(Pictured below: panorama of the countryside near Nampula, Mozambique.)

Friday Find: Miami Bar

2009-07-10T14:28:00.000-05:00

(Summary: story of eating out one night in Tanzania.)

Kamala is my favorite driver and a very good friend.

One night in Iringa we were in meetings until late. Then Kamala and I went to dinner. Since it was late, none of the regular restaurants were open so we walked from the hostel to the Miami Bar. Spoken in Kiswahili you wouldn’t recognize it as named for the glamorous city of Miami Vice. Sorry that I don’t have any pictures of the place, I didn’t think to bring my camera.

Although Miami Bar is the hopping place in Iringa you won’t find any South Florida art deco or shiny chrome here. There were four rooms and the center one was a kitchen with billowing smoke filling the room from a charcoal fire. Typically, you manage the food and the drinks separately in local restaurants so you need to meet with the cooks. The food gets much discussion. I understood only a little of Kamala’s negotiation with the chefs. We ordered the house specialty – a pile of goat meat char broiled.

He showed us a partially cooked leg and we chose how much to cut off and finish cooking. We watched the bone be hacked apart, the meat get carved, treated with lemon juice and salt and tossed back over the fire. Satisfied, we went to find a seat.

The place was pretty full so the waitress woke a sleeping patron to throw him out and make space for us. He resisted. A second waitress joined the battle and both voiced loudly their displeasure with much shouting. With the commotion a small man appeared, presumably security, and the sleeper suddenly became more alert and found the door without a word. Kamala, my driver explained that in bars it is fully acceptable to go to sleep and leave in the morning as long as there is room. Triumphant, I was given the pleasure of the once restful, now warmed chair cushions. I didn’t want even want to lean back.

The place was about 95% men; a lot of them were wearing business suits. The room we were in was arranged with cushioned chairs around low tables. There were a couple of TVs showing sporting events, and some music in the background. I noticed as the meal progressed that a couple of the women who were sitting with men would get up and leave with one. And then come back and give the index finger “come hither” and another man would get up and go to her and they would leave for a while. You draw your own conclusion. I drank my ‘Ndovu moto’ (warm Elephant Bull brand beer).

After the first beer was finished, the meat arrived by chef special delivery. Another man came with the requisite pot of water to wash our hands. Then we ate the goat meat with a second beer. Goat meat is actually really good. I’d recommend it to anyone. We had a sauce of pili pili (hot peppers) on the side prepared by the chefs with lemon juice, salt and finely sliced peppers. It is a fire hot, burn your lips, tongue, throat and sinuses sauce. Don’t touch your face – especially anywhere near your eyes – after you’ve dipped your meat in this sauce. Actually, this is true until about the third or fourth washing of your hands with soap. I know from experience.

Kamala said that it was a nice place. I like Kamala a lot.

Here's a picture of Kamala (the mechanic) trying to help a boy fix his bicycle. Unfortunately the only tool we could find was a rock:

Food Part 10: Traders

2009-07-09T14:14:00.000-05:00

(Note: this is a continuation of a series. To start at the beginning go here: http://cheetahdevelopment.blogspot.com/2009/06/food-part-1-farmers-markets.html

(Summary: the value chain break in the maize food process is identified as being connected to negative incentives for traders.)

We’re on a mission to solve an important puzzle: unlocking the mysteries of hunger in Africa. There’s not a shortage of food but people are hungry. To understand, we’re drilling into one part of the value chain of maize in one region of Tanzania.

So we’ve looked briefly at the maize farmers, traders, and mills. We see that nobody
trusts anybody. That’s very counterproductive to making a value chain work and clearly part of the problem. We also see that the farmers can’t sell their product and the mill can’t buy enough.

(Pictured: the shelling of maize by beating it with a stick on a table of open branches.)

There is enough dysfunction that everyone has some blame in the problem. But notice that the farmers are growing enough and would like to sell more. Also notice that the factories are big enough to buy more and have excess demand. So the farmers and the factories are doing their job at least beyond the capacity of the current system. Therefore, at least for the moment the heaviest part of the blame needs to be placed at the feet of the traders. So let’s take a more careful look at traders.

Traders fill valuable links in value chains in nearly every industry. It’s kind of neat that as a factory you can open your doors and not worry about sourcing your inputs or distributing your products. Hundreds of traders will show up with baskets, bicycles and trucks filled with the inputs you need and ready to distribute your product. The factory doesn’t have to lift a finger and invest in these solutions.

There are thousands of traders and they are often operating in the informal sector of the economy as unregistered businesses not paying any taxes. Many people want to be traders because many traders are wealthy.

Without traders, the economy wouldn’t work at all. They are a vital part of how things get done.

On the other hand, we see that trader model doesn’t work to meet the needs of the value chain, at least in the case of this maize value chain in the Iringa area.

It isn’t that the traders aren’t doing their job, even though I implied that. Actually, they are doing their job very well. They are responding to the incentives that are at work in the system.

It turns out that the trader is maximizing their profit. As good capitalists, they want to buy at the lowest price and sell at the highest possible. Here’s some of their strategy:

#1: Buying Low

The trader can buy at the lowest price if the farmer is also a borrower. As we have discussed elsewhere in this blog, these money lending schemes are common across the developing world. In this maize example, the trader loans to the farmer either the seeds or the capital to purchase seeds. The terms of the loan require the farmer to sell their crop to the trader – at a very low price. The trader wins three ways: they have a pre-negotiated right-to-purchase, they have a lower price, and they make money on interest on the loan.

And they win a fourth way: they keep the borrower poor enough that they never break the cycle and so they are trapped indefinitely.

Clearly the trader benefits substantially from such an arrangement. Why would a farmer ever agree to such an arrangement?

Easy answer: they don’t have a choice.

Life in the developing world is much more precarious than in the developed world. For example, even a small illness can wipe out one’s life savings to buy medicine. One’s saving includes next year’s seeds. And illness and death are not uncommon.

(Pictured: a maize farm in front of the mountains.)

All a trader need do is find someone who has suffered a setback and requires a loan to continue. As you can imagine, needy people are common in the poorest nations on earth.

(This is one of the reasons why microfinance is so needed in the developing world. Microfinance can help to prevent these endless cycles of poverty.)

There are important things to notice about this situation:
· The trader has an added incentive to buy low – extra low. Farmers that are well off are much less likely to be caught in such a cycle of money lending.
· In more helpful value chains, buyers want their sellers to be productive and healthy. This gives them a supply side that they can count on. This is not true in this value chain.
· It is not surprising that there is strong distrust between traders and farmers. Indeed, many farmers hate traders because they have been caught in a money lending cycle or their neighbors have.
· Since the trader is buying at such a low price, the farmer has added incentive NOT to sell. Of course the negotiations are long. Of course the farmer doesn’t like the buyer – doesn’t even want to sell to them. How can there be a successful negotiation when the parties dislike and distrust each other?

#2: Selling High

How does a trader sell at a high price? Another easy answer: supply and demand. If the factories had all (or close to all) the input they needed then the price would fall. Traders keep the factories desperate for input because that keeps the price at its highest. This explains why factories are operating consistently at 20-40% of capacity. This is the line of desperation where the price will be highest. They are still in business and can buy the product. Any lower and they fail (many do). Any higher and they become more independent, more profitable, and the price falls.

There is no need to have a conspiracy to set prices among traders. The numbers will speak for themselves.

Why are maize mills unable to source their maize from the nearby farmers? Puzzle solved!

This is an example of a broken value chain. It isn’t a lack of food that is causing hunger; it is broken value chains.

Next: The Invisible Hand

To continue this series go here: http://cheetahdevelopment.blogspot.com/2009/07/food-part-11-the-invisible-%20hand.html

Agreement with University of Tumaini

2009-07-08T14:08:00.000-05:00

I am delighted to report that today we signed with Tumaini University! This is truly a big deal. Tumaini, which means ‘hope’, is one of the leading universities of Tanzania.

The "micro" part of Cheetah's micro venture captital model depends upon university assistance to help hold costs down and allow for micro sized investments. Because of the high cost of investment management, venture capitalists typically invest $2 million or more. Therefore, Cheetah's model of making $5000 to $500,000 investments is a real breakthrough. It takes strong support from universities to make this happen, including business plan competitions, student interns, and professorial assistance.

When I visited with officials from Tumaini in Iringa a couple of weeks ago, the declined to sign the agreement I presented. They said that they wanted to make their commitments broader and firmer in writing. They are so convinced of the value of the Cheetah programs, the impact they can have, and the link to the University’s mission that they wanted to make their commitments very clear.

Therefore, they assigned a committee to work on the agreement. When it was ready they made the eight hour trek to Dar es Salaam. Here is a picture of the Assistant Provost Rev. Dr. Richard Lubawa (center), and Mr. Thomas Mwanayongo the Dean of the Faculty of Law (left) and myself, Raymond Menard shortly after our signing.

This is really a big deal for Cheetah! Thanks, Tumaini University!

Food Part 9: The Hunger Puzzle

2009-07-07T13:59:00.000-05:00

July 7, Tuesday
Food Part 9: The Hunger Puzzle
(Food, Agri-business)

Pictures, Agriculture, 6/18 –Maize mill 2

(Note: this is a continuation of a series. To start at the beginning go here: http://cheetahdevelopment.blogspot.com/2009/06/food-part-1-farmers-markets.html

(Summary: a review of the maize value chain including farmers, traders, and maize mills raises the question of why doesn’t the food value chain work.)

So in our last installment we were talking about broken value chains and how solving them is not only a good business opportunity, it’s also the way to change thousands of lives. We were taking a look at the food value chain in particular because it is the source of many of the problems of hunger and poverty in Africa. The core problem isn’t a lack of food because 40% of the food goes to waste. The core problem is that the value chain doesn’t work.

As an example, we were drilling into one part of the value chain that is broken. Maize is a key staple in many parts of Africa. In the Iringa area, which is one of the largest maize producing areas of Tanzania, the maize mills producing flour struggle to get enough maize to run their operations. This seems strange because Iringa is surrounded by fields of maize in every direction.

Understanding this puzzle helps to unlock part of the mystery of why there is a problem with hunger when there is plenty of production.

(Pictured: maize farms in the village.)

The Maize Value Chain
Each of the maize mills tries to source their maize in the surrounding villages. They either buy from traders or act as their own trader to purchase the maize. A ‘trader’ is a type business person that is common in everywhere in the developing world. The traders are middlemen that buy and sell throughout value chains in nearly every type of industry. Indeed, they are often the only links between many parts of the value chain.

Drilling into this small segment of the maize value chain provides an example of the roles that traders fill. I took the time to meet with traders, too. In Iringa, the maize traders (often trading in a variety of agricultural products) go into the villages and negotiate with villagers to purchase their farm goods. This can be a frustrating experience for a trader. In time honored African tradition, the trader has to go through a negotiation that may last a half hour and result in no purchase. They do this from shamba (farm) to shamba, slowly acquiring the goods they are seeking to trade. I’ve been told that may take a whole week to fill one truck. The traders say that this is a frustrating process and you can’t trust the farmers. Makes you feel bad for the traders, right?

Why does it take so long for traders to fill their truck? Remember that in just one village, Ilambilole, there is 2000 tons of maize production.

So let’s take a look at the farmers. In the negotiation the farmer is likewise frustrated. They find that the trader is trying to buy their crop at about or below cost. If they are selling a crop that might have a little shelf life like maize or rice, the farmer knows that the lowest price is right at harvest when there is abundance and as time passes the price will rise. The farmer has the crop, thus is eating, they are selling their excess and therefore can afford to wait. Why sell your crop if you’re not going to make much on it?

Over the course of the year, the farmer can see an increase in maize prices of about 30%. The food factory will see an increase of about 100%. The trader enjoys the spread. The farmer still loses because without proper storage the maize crop will deteriorate about 30% - or about as fast as the price goes up.

By the way, the farmers say the same thing about the traders: “You can’t trust them.” For some the hatred of traders is intense. We’ll take a look at this in a bit.

(Pictured: a maize mill store front.)

So let’s take a look at the mill owners. They say their number one problem is getting enough input. Clearly, the traders are not delivering enough. The mill owners have a few choices. I have seen all of the following tactics used:
1. The mills can buy from the traders. Some larger mills are dealing with hundreds of traders.
2. The mills can become their own trader and go direct to the farmers. This is a huge project but some undertake it. It doesn’t provide big dividends because they become just one more trader wandering through villages. Anna Temu of Power Foods (featured elsewhere in these blogs) is considered an expert on farmer relations because she is dealing with thousands of them. Even when she tries to create enduring, helpful relationships with farmers, traders may step in take the crops out from under her. Proof that it’s not working: she could double her sales instantly if she could get more input.
3. The mills can go elsewhere and buy from a source that has a large supply. This is why one small mill in Iringa is going 600 killometers to Sangea to get maize.
4. The mills can go overseas for supply. I am told that the large grain elevators in the port city of Dar es Salaam are filled with grain from the USA, Canada and elsewhere. The need to find an aggregated source explains this importation of grain in a country that has an excess.

(There does seem to be inadequate production of soybeans, millet, and wheat. Actually, this failure in the value chain explains that, as well. Farmers that grow these ‘exotic’ crops are even more frustrated, often selling nothing.)

By the way, the mill owners generally don’t trust the farmers or the traders, either. How could they when they can’t keep their factories running?

This value chain puzzle remains unsolved.

I guess you’ll just have to read another installment of this series to find out why the value chain is broken.

To continue this series go here: http://cheetahdevelopment.blogspot.com/2009/07/food-part-10-traders.html

Food Part 8: Resources without Resuls

2009-07-06T13:49:00.000-05:00

(Note: this is a continuation of a series. To start at the beginning go here: http://cheetahdevelopment.blogspot.com/2009/06/food-part-1-farmers-markets.html

(SUMMARY: Tanzania and much of Africa is blessed with significant resources. The potential of this opportunity is often unrealized. We drill into the value chains and find an example: food grown in a village is not available to be used only 25 Km away even though both buyer and seller want to link up.)

In our last installment we laid out our basic business strategies to address the broken food value chain in Africa. There are three basic concepts: Unite Farmers, Preserve Food, Add Value.

These three are built upon a common strategy: find places in the value chain that are broken. This is where the opportunity lies.

One of the questions I most often hear from locals is, “What do you think of Tanzania?” They want to know what a westerner sees – what is our point of view. As a business person, what I notice first is business. I can’t help it; it’s what my eyes are trained to see. In the case of Tanzania, what I have noticed most is the lack of businesses. Things we take for granted are missing from the landscape.

For example, although there is instant coffee it is very difficult to find a cup of fresh brewed; this in a country that grows some of the best coffee in the world. If you are a Starbucks or Caribou addict you would notice this immediately. (I’m not because I’m sensitive to caffeine.) Missing businesses may mean there is opportunity. To continue the example, a carefully located coffee shop might do very well.

More accurately, need usually equals opportunity. (This is the basic reason why there is a link between business and helping people.)

When Tanzanians ask me what I think of their country, I tell them that there is opportunity everywhere.
This is not a polite way to say a hard thing. It’s the truth. Tanzania is blessed with substantial resources:
· Perhaps 6% of the fresh water on earth, including large amounts of hydroelectric power, and lakes to rival the US Great Lakes.
· Enormous mineral reserves.
· Coal was recently discovered.
· It is rumored that oil was just discovered.
· Some of the most beautiful areas on earth including the Serengeti, Mt. Kilimanjaro, Goro Goro Crater, wildlife in abundance, etc.
· Huge tracts of arable land and eco-diversity that can support the raising of nearly any agricultural crop.
· A peaceful, hardworking people that have lived in a stable democracy since 1961.

Tanzania is not alone. Africa is blessed with abundant resources across the continent. The problem is that the value chains across nearly every industry are broken. Three notable exceptions: soda pop like Coke and Pepsi, beer, and cellular phones. These three are available everywhere – even remote villages. Soda, beer, and cell phones are not exactly life’s key staples. It’s ironic that sometimes the only clean drinking water you can get is a bottle of pop. However, it’s proof that given a focused effort, things really can work. You can get a bottle of orange Fanta® even in a remote village!

As a business person, what I see is business; in this case, broken value chains. Opportunity is created when you can serve a need. That’s why “necessity is the mother of invention.” The most important needs are in the middle of value chains because they serve so many people by connecting products from source to user. Therefore, when you follow the value chain and see where it doesn’t work it’s like following the rainbow to a pot of gold. These are the real key business opportunities. And this is where you can really change a lot of lives.

(Picture: meeting with a maize mill owner in Iringa.)

When I went to Tanzania, I started by speaking to a number of factories, including food factories in the first few weeks. The food factories I visited were running at about 20-30% of capacity. (Actually, this was common in factories of every type.) Without exception, food producers said that there number one problem is getting enough input. Everything that they make they sell that day. I sat with the CEO of a leading food producer while she took call after call from people wondering why they aren’t receiving the orders they have placed. The problem isn’t lack of market; its lack of input. Management often puts a majority of their effort into sourcing their raw food stuffs.

As I explored the country, this problem replayed itself over and over for every type of food. The caterer at Tumaini University in Iringa is struggling to feed students and staff because she can’t source enough chicken, eggs, vegetables, etc. She is now opening her own truck farm to grow her own vegetables. Chickens were such a problem that she wanted me to invest in a chicken farm for her. In fact, the 2nd largest chicken farm in the country is owned by a caterer in Dar es Salaam. Sourcing food is incredibly difficult and one of the value chains that is most broken.

Because hunger is such a terrible problem, I kept digging.

The Iringa area is one of the four largest maize growing regions in Tanzania. Iringa town is surrounded by hundreds of villages where fields of maize are ubiquitous. I have been in many, many of these villages and literally met with hundreds of farmers. The farmer’s number one problem: they can’t sell what they produce. In the village of Ilambilole, we spent time quantifying the maize production. This village of 1000 families probably produces about 2000 tons of maize per year.

Back in Iringa town I met with four simple operations whose primary business was to purchase maize and mill it into flour. Each of these businesses had the same number one problem: they couldn’t get enough maize!

And they are in the heart of maize country! 25 kilometers away, one village could supply much of their needs. One of these mills was sending trucks 600 kilometers to get their supply!

I like cross word and other puzzles. Getting my head wrapped around this problem was one of the most compelling challenges of my life. Not because it is so tricky but because it is so important. We are talking about the heart of the hunger problem in Africa. Remember, there is no shortage of food production and 40% of what is produced rots. Although not that complex, it took me about a week to see what was happening.

Getting to the ‘aha’, ‘eureka!’ moment is really satisfying. I think it will be for you, too.

To continue this series go here: http://cheetahdevelopment.blogspot.com/2009/07/food-part-9-the-hunger-puzzle.html

Expat

2009-07-04T08:34:00.000-05:00

When the calendar hit July 1st, I suddenly realized I wasn’t going to be home for the 4th of July. What really surprised me was that I was going to miss it.

Anyway, I worked at my computer all day – from 7am to 5pm – because it was a Saturday and I had no appointments. In the evening Chilwa returned from some family obligations and I was sharing with her my own family’s traditions of the 4th. One of these is barbequing (choma). She showed me a Chinese made fake Weber grill hiding in one corner and we decided to do some outdoor cooking. After a bit of discussion she sent the kids to the market. They returned with three freshly plucked chickens, potatoes, green peppers, bananas, a pineapple, onions and locally made charcoal.

I cut the chickens into pieces. They were still warm with their recent life and the internal organs were mostly still attached. As a westerner accustomed to chilled meat from the supermarket, this was a new experience. We oiled and salted all the vegetables, put everything on the grill in stages and slow cooked it over 2 ½ hours. While we ate I put the pineapples out and grilled them. They are best when they are lightly burnt. I served them drizzled with wild honey. Delicious.

Happy 4th of July!

Friday Find: A Good Driver

2009-07-03T08:25:00.000-05:00

When you are in a new place with both a language and a cultural gap, a good driver can be a lifesaver. A good driver, not only knows where to go, he (in this culture it is rarely ‘she’) is your culture guide, your handy translator, your camera man, your Zagat rating agency with best local finds, your warning sign and safety net, and yes, your new friend. The truth is that with the local traffic you put your life in their hands. But also, they can become your trusted advisor in so many other ways.

On this trip I have had three drivers. The first, Chicha is a great guy. He speaks wonderful English and is a trusted taxi driver in Dar es Salaam. His father had a taxi (teksi) and Chicha paid him the car ‘rental’ according to the local customs. He didn’t know this was his in his father’s mind, but when he had paid his father enough money to buy his own teksi, his father gave him the money to do so. You can see that Chicha comes from good stock and it is part of him today. He told me his name is pronounced like ‘teacha’ so I call him ‘professor’.

The second driver I have had is Roger Lajab. Roger is a young man who speaks very little English. The first day when I was done with my appointments, I told him in English, “Go home.” He didn’t know what I meant. So I said, “Chilwa’s nyumba” (or Chilwa’s house.) No connection, after trying for 10 minutes to explain where to go next, I finally called a friend who translated over the phone.

Because Roger speaks so little English, we have very little to talk about in terms of ordinary conversation. This is really a problem because it can take 2-3 hours in traffic to get anywhere in Dar es Salaam. So Roger has taken it upon himself to be my Swahili tutor. This is true immersion training since he speaks hardly a word of English. Sometimes when I am fully confused I try to look up the word in my little English-Swahili book. One evening I was exhausted after a series of really long days. I put my seat back and went to sleep. Roger nudged me awake so that we could continue our lessons. Little by little (kidogo kidogo) we are learning to communicate.

In local customs I should address him as ‘Lajab.’ But he has asked me to call him ‘Roger’ in line with western customs.

Kato Kamala has accompanied me on trips away from Dar es Salaam. He is a brilliant mechanic, completely trustworthy and speaks eight languages including English. When he is with me he is also the official photographer. When we are traveling away from Dar es Salaam, he receives several calls a day from customers seeking to have their car fixed. I was quite worried about all the business he was losing because he had left town with me for two weeks. Not to worry, he is such a trusted mechanic that his customers all waited for his return.

Kamala comes from a family of really smart people. One is a local medical doctor, who after I was covered by mosquito bites prescribed a medication to make sure I didn’t get malaria. Another one is a famous comedian who looks a bit like a black John Belushi and is on the local equivalent of “Saturday Night Live”. He’s really famous locally. Every time Kamala gets a text message it screams out a comedy bit from this show. Kamala himself is really funny. We were often driving in the Iringa area with student interns, an accompanying teacher and perhaps another person or two. Kamala could keep a series of one liners going non-stop for 45 minutes. Although he speaks English, he told them in Swahili. The car would burst in laughter, which after 20 minutes or so was pained, gasping laughter. Hardly able to speak, someone would translate for me. I would laugh. Then Kamala would immediately toss out another. I wish you could have heard the sound of this laughter, it was one of the most joyful I’ve ever heard.

I have lots of great stories with Kamala. I’ll tell more in a future blog. He is one of my best friends here in Tanzania and someone I really would trust with my life.

‘Kato’ means ‘twin’ because that’s what Kamala is but I know him as Kamala, rafiki (friend), kaka (brother).

Food Part 7: From Subsistence to Substance

2009-06-29T05:38:00.000-05:00

(Note: this is a continuation of a series. To start at the beginning go here: http://cheetahdevelopment.blogspot.com/2009/06/food-part-1-farmers-markets.html

In the last installment of this series, we talked about how complex the problem of hunger is – and that source of hunger is not the lack of production. The source is a broken value chain. In this installment we will present straightforward concrete steps that can address many of these problems. Is it easy to accomplish? No, and it’s definitely harder than just giving away food. But it can make a lasting change.

(Pictured: a village farm.)

Cheetah uses an innovative model of micro-venture capital. This model combines micro-finance and venture capitalism by way of university partnership. As a result, the cost of investing is lowered and we are able to provide investments in small businesses in the developing world. (To learn more about this approach and its many benefits, please visit our website at http://www.cheetahdevelopment.com/ )

We are now working on applying this model to the food value chain.

As we have previously said, business is the only successful model for economic development in the history of the world. The vast majority of the problems of hunger in Africa do not stem from lack of production, they stem from lack of an effective food value chain: purchasing, transportation, storage, processing, preservation, etc. These are all businesses! The solutions do not lie in giving away food. They lie in creating businesses. How do you do that? You invest and mentor and you do it strategically. You invest in agribusiness.

What does strategic investment look like?

Well let me first say what it doesn’t look like because I think there are some myths that have been created by western perceptions:

It’s not bringing western farming methods with big tractors, plows, etc. Remember, the core problem is not production; it’s value chain. African countries are 70-90% subsistence farmers; they cannot proceed in one fell swoop to the western model of 3%. No one would have a job and dependency would be worse than ever.
It’s not rushing to build gigantic western style food factories. The local value chain is too fractured for that. Neither enough commodity inputs nor the effective distribution to receive and sell all of the production is currently unavailable. No, the economy must grow from the ground up just like economies always have. And just like Brazil, Russia, India and China, it can happen quickly. But that means economic investment not drowning in donations.

(Pictured: rice waiting to be milled.)

I think a desire for western style production has caused too much emphasis on exportable commodities like coffee, tea, sugar, chocolate, and vanilla. How much coffee, tea and sugar can the world really use? (Though in my opinion, it can always use more chocolate – ha!) And notice two other things: with this approach local people are not fed and local value chains are not fixed. One good thing: some local people have a successful business and income though they are very interlocked with western economic swings.
Finally, to the disappointment of many locals, it does not involve investing in any individual farmers. That’s picking winners and losers and the value chain is still broken. Rather it is finding businesses that can benefit many, many farmers and many, many consumers and demonstrating that the value chain can work.

On the positive side of the coin, what is Cheetah’s agribusiness investment strategy? It’s deceptively simple. It’s finding agribusinesses to invest in that primarily fall in the following three categories:

1. Unite Farmers: Bring farm production from many farmers together to increase value and provide reliable, consistent food processing inputs

2. Preserve Food: including in large volumes and not just flavoring sauces and jams, which are common.

3. Add Value: move from food commodities to products through improved quality, unique characteristics, processing, etc.

Stop.

Don’t jump over this list. It is the heart of our discussion. This is how Cheetah will work to address hunger through small businesses.

(Pictured: brooms made from maize stalks and sunflower oil.)

In the previous blog on this subject, I listed at least 14 ways the food value chain is broken in Africa. It is a complex and interwoven subject.

However, the three investment strategies laid out directly address all of these problems but a few: drought, government disincentives like inappropriate taxes, and corruption. But even these three are partly solved by our strategies and our micro-venture capital model of investment:

1. Drought: widespread drought and famine are one type of problem and relatively rare. The more common problem is localized droughts. Here the solution is to have a working food value chain so one region’s production can serve another. However at this time, production in the rural area is not even effectively reaching the nearby town.

2. Government disincentives: governments in Africa are becoming far more open to being supportive of investments and are commonly creating agreements to protect and support investors and even expedited processes to do so. Governments are slowly waking up to the fact that aid tends to kill their economy and investment builds it. We are working to structure our investments with these protections.

3. Corruption: the micro venture capital model from Cheetah involves strong university involvement. This assistance helps to shield the businesses from government corruption on the outside and root out business corruption on the inside.

(Pictured: food coming to market.)

So, three straightforward BUSINESS investment strategies: unite farmers, preserve food, and add value.

I emphasize ‘business’ because without this approach it will fail. For example, a farmer’s cooperative for its own sake is a club. A cooperative for business will be a holistic solution that makes sure that production is hooked successfully to the market.

In this context ‘business’ can mean sustainable, transparent, and results oriented: the way to change people’s lives. People really can move from subsistence to substance.

There is a way to end hunger.

We will start by making a dent:
Though small, it will be sustainable.
Though small, it will bring lasting change to the people involved.
Though small, it will be replicable.
Though small, it is designed to grow.

We will emulate the mustard seed and spread like a weed.

This is an innovative but difficult project. We need the help of thousands to succeed. Won’t you join us? Go here to learn how: http://www.cheetahdevelopment.org/How_to_help.htm

Next: the Model Village Project. To continue this series, go here: (Not yet posted).

Cultural Observations from Tanzania: Going to Church

2009-06-28T05:24:00.000-05:00

I can’t wait for my Swahili to get better so that I can talk more directly to people – and know what they are talking about in church. A two to three hour service is long enough without knowing what’s going on. But

(In this first picture they have stopped the service to arrange for a picture with me. Many were taken.)

I have observed common parts to a worship service:

Leaders go by procession in and out. In the village I’m expected to be in the procession.

(Picture: Special music from the younger youth choir. There is often special music from 3-5 choirs.)

Sermons start slow. They build in energy. Just when you think they have reached a final climax, they start again. Every preacher I have heard has managed to get his audience to laugh frequently. 20 minutes is short and means that he didn’t have much worth talking about. So get comfortable.

There is always a lengthy treasurer’s report and announcements.

(Pictured: Processing into church.)

They often take multiple offerings. Three is not uncommon so be prepared. It doesn’t end there, after the service as you exit a circle is formed outside and after a final prayer there will be an auction of some donated item to raise further money. These auctions take two forms. In the village, every bid counts and is paid afterword and the last bidder gets the item no matter what they bid. Bids do not proceed from high to low. In the city, bids increase in size and only the last bidder pays.

It can end with a friendly contest for the item.

(A view of the local village church and the happy decorations.)

There is usually special music from a variety of participants. Traditional Lutheran hymns sung in Swahili I can do without. My favorite is when they sing African style songs with choreographed dance. For me it’s best part of the worship overall. In the villages it is common for a person to rise from the congregation, begin a spontaneous song expressing something for the moment, and then be joined by all. I love it.

(This band runs their big speakers on car batteries because there is no local power except solar. There are four guitarists.)

(Below: the auction was canceled so that we could take a picture of the entire congregation instead.)

Cultural Observations from Tanzania: Relationships

2009-06-27T05:18:00.000-05:00

People are called by their last names except in their home and home village, although in their home village only their nickname may be known. One other exception: they know westerners are confused by this and so they tell us their first name. Actually, this creates some confusion for me since everyone else knows them by a different name. It’s kind of like reading Tolstoy’s “War and Peace”.

There is no word for cousin, nephew, niece, aunt, uncle. Your cousin is called ‘sister - dada’ or ‘brother – kaka’. Your nephew or niece is your son or daughter. Your aunt or uncle is addressed as your mother or father (mama or baba). The words ‘uncle’ and ‘anty’ are used widely, including to summon a service person in a restaurant but do not indicate closeness and would be rude to address your actual uncle or aunt.

It is rude to call your actual brother or sister by their names, you call them ‘dada’ or ‘kaka’. A young lady proposed an insoluble problem to me: there is a famous soccer player from Brazil whose surname is ‘Kaka’; what if he were your brother? How then would you address him without offense?

Your good friend (rafiki) is also your kaka or dada.

Your respected elder is your mama or your baba.

Mzee, the word for ‘elderly’ is laden with much respect.

This closeness of extended families carries a burden of responsibility. All of these people have a claim on all your resources. This is part of why a person with a good job in East Africa often cares for 10-15 families. If you have access to resources – even if they are not yours, like the money in a cashier-till where you work, then you are expected to deliver it up to family when necessary. This is one of the sources of corruption and the ones that practice it will usually admit their action and why when they are caught.
There are other complications of family life that aren’t always positive. For example, in some traditions, women and children have very few rights. For example, if the man dies, the man’s family might seize all the property and put the women and children out on the street.

Tribal origins are kept track of and are thought to provide generalized information about personality and outlook. As I recall there are about 120 people groups in Tanzania, with their own languages, traditions and dress. People love to speak in their tribal language when they are with others from that tribe. Swahili is the language of trade that holds it all together.

Patronage is necessary in a society where your life and well being may depend on favors. Complex structures of patronage exist and deliver a form of stability. “Nepotism” is the Latin word for nephew and a clue that this was widespread in our own society. Patronage itself is from the word for XXX

Yes, there is a tangled web of relationships in Africa; far more complex than that in American societies.

Below is my ‘dada’ Chilwa and some of her ‘children’.

Friday Find: Shoe Shine

2009-06-26T05:10:00.000-05:00

The first time I came to Tanzania, I dressed as if I was going camping. I wore very casual clothes and chose things that were easy to wash and dry. I put hiking boots on my feet.

This was very practical. Things are usually very dusty – or muddy – and if you wash your own clothes it is in the sink.

But it was a mistake. Most of the people I met were dressed very elegantly. They often put on their best clothes to meet me. As a result, I always felt out of place – and that my apparel was somehow insulting to them. This time, I came better prepared. I look the way they expect me to look – as a western business person. You may have noticed this in many pictures from this blog. I actually fit in better this way. A few times for very casual weekend get-togethers, I have donned my Indiana Jones cowboy hat, an African style tunic shirt, and blue jeans for fun. People always laugh and they admire the cowboy hat and love to try it on. On these few occasions I wish I had my orange colored ostrich cowboy boots.

It’s ironic. I usually dress in business casual in the USA. But not here; I wear a coat and tie to nearly every meeting. But I brought permanent press shirts and micro-fiber wash and wear pants.

And dress shoes.

After a couple of days, the shoes are always in terrible condition, especially when I have been in a village tramping around in a field or visiting a pig farm. I think you get the picture.

Not to worry. There are plenty of shoe shine stands. Why? Most people are wearing their dress shoes and need to get their shoes shined, too.

You can drop your shoes off and come back in a half hour. Better, you can take a break and have them done while you wait. Many of these people specialize in only women’s or men’s shoes. Not only that, they will do some basic cobbler work at the same time.

In the pictures below, you can see that there are two men that have placed their operations close to each other. The one in the foreground does men’s shoes and the one the background, women’s. They have a piece of linoleum to keep your feet clean while you wait and they will also offer a pair of tongs, if you like. You can see the bare feet of some other patrons in the picture. My driver had a sole reattached to his shoe while we were there and that is what the man in the front is working on at the moment. Although it’s difficult to make out, the man in the background is using a hacksaw to turn an old piece of tire rubber into a shoe sole.

A shoe shine goes for thirty to forty cents and it’s a nice break in the day. I recommend it!

Food Part 6: Chained by Broken Chains

2009-06-25T11:13:00.000-05:00

(Note: this is a continuation of a series. To start at the beginning go here: http://cheetahdevelopment.blogspot.com/2009/06/food-part-1-farmers-markets.html

Many people care about the fact that so many are hungry in the developing world. We are shown pictures on TV of emaciated people and are asked to take action by donating. But what we know about the root causes of hunger is usually very limited. In this blog, I will not show any pictures. For right now, I want you to think hard.

If you care about the problem of hunger, I ask you to be patient and walk with me in the muck and mire where this problem is stuck. If there were easy answers, it would have been solved long ago, because many people genuinely care and much money has been spent.

In Tanzania and most of Africa, the problem is not lack of production. Tanzania produces more food than it needs and 40% of it rots every year. I saw a study that claimed that Uganda could by itself feed much of Africa.

(IMPORTANT!) Therefore, when you talk about hunger, you’re talking not about growing more. You’re talking about better delivery of what is there: what is often called the ‘value chain’.

The problems in the food value chain are many and varied in Tanzania and are shared in various forms across much of Africa. The example of this that I have been providing in the previous blogs might be viewed as overly generalized and simplified. However, there are some common threads to these stories and hundreds more that I have seen. Here are some of the aspects we frequently see:

The incentives for production efficiency are often missing or negative. For example, farmers don’t see any point in growing more because almost half of the food they grow rots. Middlemen benefit from keeping farmers poor (more dependency by farmers) and supplies to factories low (higher prices when delivered). Animal feed companies are few in number or hiding because of a high and inappropriate VAT tax.
Food production tends to come to market all at once and receive low prices.
There is very little food preservation. Even simple technologies like hot-water-bath canning, smoked meats, drying are rarely known or used.
Most of the sourcing and transportation of food is done by very large numbers of middlemen. Their incentives are counterproductive (see above) and there is no reliable source or movement of food in any consistent fashion. They often make a significant portion of their income through money-lending schemes that keep farmers as bond-servants.
The price of trucking is often based on the value of what is moved not weight/volume/distance. This takes advantage of the producers and is a tax on the high value products.
The process of sourcing food usually involves negotiating with very large numbers of individually small farmers (thousands). A negotiation may end without a purchase.
There is very little trust by members of the value chain for each other. This is exacerbated by the middlemen (currently the key value chain link) who are the least trusted of all.
In the past, farmer cooperatives have failed numerous times and were sources of corruption that stole from the poorest of the poor. They are not trusted today.
Erratic weather patterns create local droughts and unreliable production.
Because of the challenges of sourcing local food (and because of national selfishness) famine relief is purchased within the donor nation (say, in the USA) rather than within nearby countries. This practice keeps local farmers poor by flooding local markets with free food.
Famine relief and aid organizations often keep giving when the problem has ended. Ethiopia used to be a food exporting nation. In the west we don’t know that it is a green, verdant and beautiful place because we see pictures on our TV from the deserts in one corner. After a famine more than a decade ago, aid organizations continued to ship ‘relief’ food from the west because for a variety of reasons, none of them very good. After a few years of unneeded aid, most of the local farmers were put out of business. Now Ethiopia really does need the aid and so that’s why they are still on our TVs.
The approaches to change are usually not holistic. Many aid and government organizations are focused on ‘dollars of giving’ as the key measure of success rather than ‘income change (profit)’. Development usually fails to address a sufficiently wide part of the value chain to bring change.
Big business development tends to fail because it is not prepared to deal with the highly fractured nature of local producers or local markets. It also usually leaves most of the most needy out of the value chain.
Because these problems are so complex, it’s easier to just give donations than to make lasting change.

These are just some of the problems. I want to make it clear that our view of this situation is not simplistic.

But remember where we began: when you talk about the problem of hunger, you’re talking not about growing more. You’re talking about better delivery of what is there: what we call the ‘value chain’.

I will not show you pictures of starving people like you see on TV.

It is degrading. It misses the point. I have even heard it called ‘poverty pornography’. We feel guilty and send $10 and then feel better. But nothing really changes.

In your mind’s eye I want you to see that these people are like you.

They are hopeful. They work hard. They have families. They are smart and resourceful – creating something from seemingly nothing. But they bury too many of their children and too often fail to see their children grow up. No matter how hard they work, fathers too often can’t take care of their families. I think that this is why many abandon their families: out of despair and a sense of failure.

And they are often hungry.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Truly.

Well, OK, here’s one picture.

Next: making a lasting difference. To continue this series go here: http://cheetahdevelopment.blogspot.com/2009/06/food-part-7-from-subsistence-to.html

Food Part 5: A Full Pot of Honey

2009-06-24T04:42:00.000-05:00

(Note: this is a continuation of a series. To start at the beginning go here: http://cheetahdevelopment.blogspot.com/2009/06/food-part-1-farmers-markets.html

In our last installment on food, I made the case that it is better to invest than to donate. Here’s a story from the other side of that fence.

I made trip to a village called Kiwere. It is a small village south of Iringa kind of out in the bush. There are 13 producers of honey in this village and another 10 in outlying areas. Oddly, I kept bees for a few years myself when I was in university so I know a fair bit about the craft.

(Pictured: meeting in the beekeeper's house.)

An NGO (non-governmental organization) had come to their village and taught them how to keep safe bees, produce honey and beeswax, and donated the basic equipment to do this. The man who took me to visit Kiwere did so to show me the amazing value of honey because he wanted me to invest in his own creation of a beekeeping operation. A pastor who accompanied me said, ‘It is a treasure hiding among us that we just never even noticed.’

I was noticing something completely different.

The largest producer of the village hosted us, showing his operation from top to bottom. He had enormous volumes of honey, including four each 55 gallon drums full and a couple of 30 gallon drums. By African standards, the sanitary conditions were less than ideal.

(Pictured: a local hive of 'safe' bees.)

When I asked to purchase 20 liters (so I could share with students from Tumaini and the hostel I was staying at) we waited more than an hour for them to prepare it. It turns out that they were searching for a container to put the honey in. When we finally learned of this, we took a water bottle from the car, broke the seal, poured out our drinking water. I purchased a liter and a half. It was the only container we had.

The organization that donated the equipment and provided the training was well meaning but gets nearly a failing grade for results. They might give themselves an A+ because there is honey in production. But the point is that they missed the point.

(Pictured: some of the high quality stainless equipment provided.)

They were thinking like a typical aid organization that gives things away. This is the model that they follow.

…Warning: I’m stepping on a soapbox: It is easier to give away $100 million than to start a dozen successful small businesses. Chosen carefully, these small businesses can have an even wider impact than the $100 million and keep delivering that impact in increasing measure year after year. For a lot less money. And the money is paid back so it can be invested again. To take $100 million and invest it wisely is really hard to do. If you were given that much money in the US or Europe, you would be held to a very high standard.

(Pictured: drums full of honey that remains unsold.)

As was described to me, if you go to a conference of aid organizations, you are likely to hear the keynote speakers’ accomplishments in terms of how much they gave away and how fast. Not end results. Not sustainability.

I’ve been cautioned by people in the aid industry that to say or write this will probably get me in trouble with a lot of NGO aid organizations. And I do want to say, there is a lot of good being done by many organizations. But also a lot of dependency is being created and there is a lot of waste.

(Pictured: a solar powered separator that melts the honey comb wax and filters it.)

Back to the honey.

The NGO that did beekeeping work thought about honey but didn’t think holistically. In a business structure, you are forced to think holistically – the value chain from end-to-end or you fail. And when you failed, it would be clear because there is no profit. That is the built in discipline of business.

If the NGO had been helping to start a business, they would have been forced to deal with a much wider set of issues. Where will the honey be sold? How will it be packaged? What standards for processing will the buyer have?

(Pictured: the recovered bars of beeswax.)

Instead, poor farmers were moved from one crop that they were unable to sell like maize to another, slightly more glamorous one, honey. The poverty persists.

I have told the man that wants me to invest in a new beekeeping operation that he is missing the boat. Instead, of competing with beekeepers, he should find a way to organize the hundreds that dot the landscape. He could solve the core issues: food standards, packaging and marketing. That’s where the money is. And that’s how he could help hundreds of families.

(Pictured: the beekeeper is a leader in his village. You can tell because he flies a flag over his house, albeit tattered.)

But at Cheetah we are left with an understanding gap. When many well-meaning people hear that Cheetah Development is doing business development in the 3rd world, they often react as if we’re polluted by money. That somehow the drive for profit is a sign of an inferior model.

In this case profit equals sustainable.

It is widely agreed that the most important need in impoverished nations is for economic development. The lack of development is at the root of every problem (the reverse of ‘money is the root of all evil’ – which by the way is not in the bible.) Check some more facts: there has only been one successful model for economic development in the history of the world: business.

(Pictured: the local market we visited while they searched for a container to fill with honey.)

Business is a model that provides:

discipline for success,
built-in results-measurement and accountability,
sustainability,
and a sense of achievement for participants rather than emptiness.

People really don’t want to be given what they need.

At Cheetah, we use business as the model to help people. They respond joyfully. Energetically. They want to engage.

In the developed world we say to each other that ‘it is better to teach someone to fish than to give them fish.’ But we still feel somehow more self-righteous when we are giving the fish. Let’s stop this. And let’s go one better: let’s teach them to sell fish so that they can eat steak if they want – and afford to send their kids to school! Let’s help people get beyond subsistence. Together we can go beyond hunger, beyond barely enough food, to agribusiness. It really can be done.

(Pictured: women filling their buckets at the local well.)

Next: Cheetah’s agribusiness strategy. To continue this series on food, go here: http://cheetahdevelopment.blogspot.com/2009/06/food-part-6-chained-by-broken-chains.html

Food Part 4: Working Together Works

2009-06-23T03:36:00.001-05:00

(Note: this is a continuation of a series. To start at the beginning go here: http://cheetahdevelopment.blogspot.com/2009/06/food-part-1-farmers-markets.html

How can a tea truck save the lives of babies? Let’s continue our trip to the tea farm in Tanzania.

The tea that the farmers pick must be transported from the farm to the factory. Its value deteriorates quickly with time – in a matter of hours. The tea must be retrieved from 28 collection points spread over 30 kilometers and then taken another 30 kilometers to the factory. The roads are very rough, winding and narrow. The peak season is when it is raining so they are filled with mud and slippery besides.

The delivery is provided by a contractor hired by MTC that operates around two trucks to their benefit. The contractor is paid by MTC 20 shillings per kilogram or almost 15% of the value of the tea. The contractor does not have an incentive to deliver the tea quickly because their payment is nearly assured. As a result, the tea is often delivered in poor condition affecting the ability of Mkonge to negotiate a good price for their tea. At peak tea production time, the contractor has their attention diverted by high demand of other farms and may fail to even pick up tea in time for delivery.

What the Mkonge family farmers need are a couple of trucks to deliver the tea themselves. We calculate that the trucks will be paid for in about 18 months and then incomes will rise almost 10% per family just to receive the difference in shipping. But this improvement should afford Mkonge farmers the ability to negotiate a better price for their tea, as well. Here’s a picture of the type of truck that they need (it has a 7 metric ton capacity):

You may see this as a truck. It is so much more.

It is documented that a 10% rise in income = a 6% decrease in infant mortality. This is the index of human health that describes the relative health of the entire community. There is a direct relationship between income and health among the world’s poor. Consider that in Tanzania about 11% of babies fail to make it to age 1. Or that a woman’s chance of dying in child birth makes every child born a risk to the entire family.

Do not get lost in the numbers and statistics. I spoke today to a young man at Tumaini University who has become my friend over the last year, Hosea Mpogole. He just lost his six month old baby. These are real people with real losses. There are many who have lost multiple children.

Infant mortality is the index to all human health. Babies don’t survive when human health conditions are poor. For example, yesterday, I met a woman suffering with malaria and still trying to keep her job at an office. When you ask people if they have ever had it, most have survived it multiple times. But it is a constant threat to life. One woman said, ‘It is the prayer of the day.’

And it isn’t just health that is affected. Increased income is directly correlated to a variety of factors. Consider that increased incomes…
= lower birthrates
= higher education rates
= less child oppression
= less domestic violence & more stable families
= more rights for women

OK, back to Mkonge: It is tempting to think that maybe we should donate a couple of trucks. This is the wrong approach for a variety of reasons:

1. It has been demonstrated that economic growth saves more lives than income redistribution. This is economist-speak for saying that investment is better than donations. Here is why:

2. The biggest opportunity for Mkonge is not the trucks. These trucks will have a limited life and need to be replaced. The biggest opportunity is to teach this association how to save and invest. Then they will be able to replace their trucks as needed and invest in a variety of other things that will continue to raise their income. To this end, Tumaini University will be engaging with us and assisting in teaching these skills and monitoring the maintenance and usage of the trucks.

3. Donating the trucks is not sustainable. They will need to be replaced. Who is prepared to make this kind of indefinite commitment? No one.

4. Donating the trucks fails to teach Mkonge how to profit on their investments. By requiring repayment, discipline is built in that teaches this important skill that will reap benefits for many generations. Again, Tumaini University will engage with us to assist in this.

5. If Mkonge demonstrates success in purchasing and paying for trucks the model can be replicated among many other tea associations in the area, across Tanzania and perhaps elsewhere. Based on Mkonge’s history of joint commitment and the fact that MTC is willing to pay Cheetah directly for the contractor’s value, repayment seems very secure. Literally, thousands of lives might be saved and the quality of life could rise for tens of thousands. Mkonge represents around 3000 people just in their association.

Mkonge is a living example of how bringing farmers together can change lives. It also shows how investments in the food value chain can raise incomes and do so more effectively than by donation. This is why Cheetah is looking for agri-business investments that achieve these kinds of objectives.

Next time you have a cup of hot tea or a glass of ice tea, think of the people of Mkonge and their babies. And perhaps to appreciate what a blessing you have – just look at the fact you have ice in the glass and that you don’t have to worry about the water or ice making you sick.

As we made the journey back to Iringa town, the sunset was spectacular as it sank among the mountains in the region.

To continue this series go here: http://cheetahdevelopment.blogspot.com/2009/06/food-part-5-full-pot-of-honey.html

Food Part 3: What's in a Cup of Tea?

2009-06-22T03:16:00.001-05:00

(Note: this is a continuation of a series. To start at the beginning go here: http://cheetahdevelopment.blogspot.com/2009/06/food-part-1-farmers-markets.html

How can a tea truck save the lives of babies? Come with me on a trip within Tanzania.

I left the relatively dry mesas around Iringa town and headed south into the highlands of Mfinga. It was about a one hour drive on a tarred road and we stopped and viewed some pottery on the way. One potter in particular really caught my eye as having some very beautiful work. I purchased two of his pieces.

When we left the tarred road we continued the ascent slowly by dirt lanes into the cool and moist hills. In another hour we were in the heart of tea country. The emerald green tea bushes were brilliant and seemed to sparkle even on the cloudy day.

The tea value chain has three main components. The tea is raised and picked primarily by small farmers who are organized into cooperative associations. It is bought from them by a processer, in this area a company called Mfindi Tea Company (MTC). MTC processes the green leaf and sells it to packers: in Tanzania, this includes the locally famous Chai Bora and in the rest of the world, Lipton, Tetley, Twinings and many other brand names. 95% of the tea grown in Tanzania goes for export. This is one of the relative successes of the local economy.

Lets start with the processor, MTC. In the picture below you can see the tea go from rough chop to fine chop to fermented brown. Although the line is moving very fast, there are containers that hold the tea for a while so that the tea moves down the line in a few hours.

Grades of tea are automatically sorted by machines and are picture here. The best is top left and the poorest is top right:

Heating requirements for the factory is supplied by wood, mostly eucalyptus trees, that are forested in the same area and is a renewable resource. One kilogram of tea requires 2.5 kilograms of wood:

Referred by the African Development Foundation, I met with Mkonge Tea Block Association. This is a group of 523 small farm families that together are one of the major suppliers to MTC.

Jointly they have accomplished much including establishing their own micro-finance cooperative, their own pharmacy, their own kindergarten, and their own tea nursery where we saw 1,200,000 tea plants growing! They are preparing to expand the area that they are cultivating and their joint effort has achieved this. Below you can see a picture from inside one of the nurseries. It is covered loosely with dried ferns to create a semi-shaded area. The high altitude makes for a cool climate so the business student from Tumaini is wearing my jacket.

Not only that, the members negotiate as a group to get a higher price from MTC. You can see the results of their efforts in the history of growing production and market value in the chart from their office bulletin board pictured below (notice the trends in the bottom two rows with both the negotiated price and production more in a dozen years):

Let’s put this success into clear perspective. They negotiate prices as a group from MTC. Starting July first, they will receive 145 shillings per kilogram (about $0.05 per pound!). This year they should exceed 2 million kilograms, at their highest price ever. This bumper income will equal about $425 per family per year. This just takes them from among the poorest of the world’s poor earning less than $1 per day to the next level earning less than $2 per day. The average family will make about $1.16 per day.

But this is more impressive when you take into account that this is the income before other commitments are paid like building the microfinance bank, planting the tea nursery or paying for fertilizer. This group’s ability to marshal its resources to benefit its future is amazing when you consider how small their income is to begin with.

To achieve this they work back-breaking hard bent over 18 inch bushes for long hours in their tea farms. At its peak season, they are often hand picking leaves until after midnight. The average family will pick almost 4.5 (American) tons of leaves per year. This is picking just the tips of each branch (as shown below). It takes a lot of leaves to make a pound, much less a ton. The leaves with an extended branch (as shown below) are of poor quality and too many of these can cause a load to be rejected. That’s Mr. Nyanzali (manager of Mkonge) on the left, a manager from the tea factory in the center, and a student from Tumaini University on the right. Behind them are tea leaves spread out for the first quick drying.

We still haven’t shown you how a tea truck can save the lives of babies. For that you’ll have to keep on reading. In our next installment we’ll also show you how a small investment can save babies, change the lives of 3000 people, and be sustainable.

To continue this series go here: http://cheetahdevelopment.blogspot.com/2009/06/food-part-4-working-together-works.html

Blowing in the Wind: The Life of a Mustard Seed

2009-06-21T03:07:00.000-05:00

(This Lord’s Day I will share a little bit about my spiritual journey.)

A year ago when I was here I shared a couple of morning devotions with the evangelists in a village. These evangelists are the church representatives in surrounding sub-villages. They rise daily to make the two hour walk in the dark for the 5:30 am prayer time. I got up 20 minutes earlier, splashed water on my face and walked over to the church. They were always there already, in unaccompanied song as the faint light of morning was just visible on the horizon. It was beautiful.

One of these devotions I shared was about the mustard seed. It was a good thought then but it has come back to me again with more meaning than ever. In his very brief parable Jesus said,

(The kingdom of heaven) is like a mustard seed, which a man took and threw into his own garden; and it grew and became a tree, and THE BIRDS OF THE AIR NESTED IN ITS BRANCHES.

In this above quote from Luke (13:19), the whole parable is complete in one sentence. Appropriate, since Jesus is talking about this tiny seed.

When we read this, we usually think that it is about the fact of the small becoming big. This is true, but not the way we expect. To understand requires a little ancient Jewish culture. The mustard plant was actually subject to certain Jewish planting regulations. It could not be put in your regular garden because it was ‘unclean’ to mix it with other garden plants. In Luke’s version, the man actually throws it in the garden. In the other gospel versions they are bit more cautious, the seed is just planted – perhaps according to the separation regulations. Luke, who is great at telling parables, doesn’t want us to miss the point.

If you knew much about mustard, you would immediately see why. Mustard is a pernicious weed. It spreads like crazy. You don’t want it in your garden or anywhere near because it will take over.

In the parable, Jesus calls it a tree. This is an example of his humor (much like his carpenter humor about ‘If you have a log in your eye how can you take the sawdust out of your neighbor’s eye?’) The mustard plant is not a tree; it’s not even a respectable bush. But it is a large garden plant, big enough to support the birds. Oh, and that part about the birds. Notice it is capitalized above. That’s because my bible references it as a quote from the Old Testament. In Ezekiel, Israel is compared to the Cedars of Lebanon, stately and magnificent and a symbol of the country to this day. These are the cedars where birds can nest. Jesus is emphasizing his point: the kingdom of heaven is not about being stately; it’s more like a weed. You can’t control its spread as it invades gardens everywhere.

So, it is about the small becoming big, but as I said, not the way you might expect.

(The weeds – and the children – are the only things left growing in this field of maize. The rains failed this year and food shortages and famine are expected to be widespread as the limited harvest becomes consumed.)

That’s what I found last year. This year I am seeing more.

Because I am identifying with the mustard seed.

I am feeling very small: traveling alone in a large country, distant from home, distant from familiar things, on a project where it seems that I must be arrogant or crazy to even attempt. Yes, there are many days I feel very small.

Smallness is the mustard seed’s advantage. It’s how it is blown around. It’s why it’s an uncontrollable weed.

Important people in Tanzania are often called ‘big potatoes’ (kiazi kubwa). That’s a kind of seed, too. And it is a tough seed to move naturally. When I am holding on to my own way, wanting my familiar places and ways of doing things, and puffed with my own importance, then I am being a big potato and it is difficult for God to move me. It is when I become small that I am moveable. Then I become most usable by God.

I love gospel paradoxes. Smallness is the way to bigness.

(The failed crops in a poor family’s field.)

And I feel blown by the wind into strange gardens where in many ways I don’t belong. I’m being planted in ways that some might find both figuratively and literally ‘unclean’. At the same time I feel a new purity in my life that is exhilarating. I used to see purity as some kind of inner piousness. Now I see purity as something that is bigger than me that I can dwell in. It’s a place where my will is aligned with God’s purpose.

It’s a garden where weeds like me can thrive.

(Growing weeds highlight this picture of Iringa town…And for everyone a “time to every purpose under heaven.”)

From John’s gospel there is another brief parable of Jesus that pairs well with the mustard seed:

“The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit."

Here in the church hostel in Iringa town I have lain in the dark many nights, listening to the blowing wind. I often awake in the morning, yet again surprised by where I find myself.

Cultural Observations from Tanzania: Greetings

2009-06-20T02:26:00.000-05:00

(See also (Cultural Observations from Tanzania – Hands”)

When expressing closeness and hugging, you always start on the left and go to the right in a double hug. This is the opposite of western habits to hug on the right and so when I forget I almost bonk heads. A woman I know that is used to westerners has adapted.

When a younger person greets an older person, they say shikamu. It is an untranslatable greeting that means, “hello, respect, blessings”. In return, the older responds in kind with “marahaba”. One of the most poignant moments in my life was being spontaneously surrounded by dozens of kindergartners who laid hands on me and shikamu-ed me in a blessing.

A stranger on the street may randomly greet you and genuinely invite you into a conversation to share your news. I experience this with an elderly woman recently, with my driver saving me with a “no news” statement. Often I am in conversation with someone and a few others will choose to come and listen, shake my hand and enter the conversation. To a westerner, this is at first a little uncomfortable. But with a little experience you learn that many people have genuine interest and maybe a little curiosity about the mzungu (white person) among them.

Especially in villages, people are honored to have someone from a distant place among them. My driver explained, ‘They want to hear your voice, see you, and ask questions.’ When I attend Sunday services, I am always afforded a place of honor and asked to speak at some point during the service. I am learning to be prepared for these events and not to feel uncomfortable in a position of honor that to me seems much undeserved.

Children take a special interest in wazungu (white people). They often call out “Mzungu! Mzungu!” as I pass. They love to shake my hand – even when I am jogging. If I stop and crouch down by them some of the less shy children want to touch my hair and my skin. Again my driver explained to me, the pink appearance looks like an animal that has been skinned – the muscle is bare! Sometimes they are torn between terror and curiosity. One young boy followed me everywhere in a village slowly getting closer. If I would turn and look at him he would scream and run away crying – only to return soon.

“Karibu” (pr. caribou) meaning ‘you are welcome’, and its counterpart, ”asante” (pr. a-saun-tay) – ‘thank you’, are said constantly. Either can come first. “Karibu” can also mean you are welcome to begin something, enter, sit down, etc. For example, a person inviting you to enter their home or business will say, “karibu”.

Asante!

Friday Find: Don Bosco

2009-06-19T08:25:00.000-05:00

Don Bosco is a remarkable organization that provides education to disadvantaged students all over the world, including the USA. You can learn more about them at by searching on-line.

I recently visited a local vocational institute in Dar es Salaam. This school not only trains students, it defrays most of its expenses by selling the goods that the students make. We are looking into how we might be able to use this production to assist the bicycle factory.

Here’s what makes this a Friday find: you don’t expect to find the most sophisticated machines in a country hidden in a vocational school but that is exactly what I found.

Pictured below is the machine shop, which also has a high-end CNC machine and an automated motor winding machine.

If you are continuing the bicycle factory story, go here (not posted yet).

Food Part 2: Filling Shelves

2009-06-18T08:04:00.000-05:00

(If you haven’t read previous installments of this series, please start here http://cheetahdevelopment.blogspot.com/2009/06/food-part-1-farmers-markets.html.)

We're tracing food production in Tanzania.

So let’s jump from the small rural farmer to the food producer. I have now met many of these people in different regions of Tanzania, sized from very small to modestly large (by local standards). They were in a variety of food production areas including, peanut butter, snack foods, cereals, flour, dried flavorings, garlic paste, sauces, jams, sunflower oil, soy milk, catering, fish distribution, ice making, and others. Their stories are almost always inspirational! So far, I have only really told the story of Anna Temu and there are many others like Anna Temu in Tanzania (see related blogs). The odds they have overcome, the courage they have applied, and work that they are doing are all remarkable. About half of these people are women.

(Pictured below are products of a small Indian owned canning factory.)

Without exception, every continuously producing operation I met had the same #1 problem:

they can’t get enough farm input
to keep the factory running
to keep up with demand
to fill store shelves.

(Pictured below is the sales room of a maize flower milling company.)

Thus, factories are typically running at 20-33% of capacity. Everything they make they sell and ship that day. Every manufacturer says that market demand far outstrips their ability to produce. And I have seen the shipping rooms – the food is moving out.

But if you back up to the previous story, you will see that this doesn’t make sense. Farmers are having difficulty finding markets. 40% of the food they produce just rots.

How could farmers be over producing and literally 30 kilometers away a factory can’t keep its machines humming? When you come to grips with this, you see just how broken the value chain is in food production.

(Pictured below is a sunflower seed press that produces sunflower oil.)

There is a lack of large food processing because there is a lack of sources of large quantities of food inputs – not to mention that are of quality and reliable. On the other side of the coin, part of the reason that the large sources of food inputs don’t exist is because there are few large buyers.
(Pictured below: a peanut butter and snack foods operation.)

It is a chicken and egg problem (appropriate in a company where the majority of people keep at least a few chickens.) But even with chickens this problem exists. The caterer at Tumaini University struggles to find the 40 chickens she needs every day. Meanwhile, chickens (kuku – what a great name) are walking around the houses of every home surrounding the university. One chicken producer explained that she could supply part of the contract to supply the 3 store Dar es Salaam portion of the chain of Shoprite grocery stores if she could supply 5 tons of chicken per week. She can’t. (There is a long list of reasons because the food value chain is broken in so many ways. For example, there are problems with getting chicks, animal feed, and then packing the final product. She hasn’t managed to fill her own capacity even to 50% of the space she has for 4,000 chickens.) Therefore, Shoprite continues to import chickens, probably from Brazil, which is a long way to go for chicken. Moreover, there is strong demand for the locally grown variety of chicken, which has a completely different taste. Shoprite naturally wants them.

In this case, the chicken and egg dilemma resolves itself. It is clear where to start the solution…with farmers. They are input. By aggregating farm output from many farmers a reliable source of food can begin to be assembled to sustain factories. And the farmers benefit in return – they are provided with a reliable market, higher value for their crops and an opportunity/reason to increase output. In a future installment we’ll talk about a planned effort we have to make this happen within an actual village.

Next installment in this series: a successful example of farmers aggregating their production. To continue, go here: http://cheetahdevelopment.blogspot.com/2009/06/food-part-3-whats-in-cup-of-tea.html

(Pictured below: a small scale cereal factory.)

Food Part 1: Farmer's Markets

2009-06-17T07:46:00.000-05:00

(Note: I share in this blog a variety of topics ranging from stories of human struggle, spiritual thoughts, and business topics. If you care about hunger in the developing world, I think you’ll like this series on Food. Although we will have to wander into some areas of economics, we’ll keep it very practical. Won’t you join me?)

For the next several days, I’m going to focus mostly on food production in Tanzania, from the perspective of small business. There is some complexity to this issue but we will try to break it down into manageable pieces. This first one is a bit longer than our typical writing but you’ll have a little appreciation of what it means to be a subsistence farmer when you get to the end.

Food production is important for a variety of reasons:

70-90% of the African population is subsistence farmers – for most nation’s this is their economic base.
Weather is irregular with localized frequent droughts but also many good years.
Hunger is a common problem although outright famines seem to be in decline across Africa over the past decades. They are not gone – for example there is currently a terrible drought in Kenya.
The success of local farmers would allow them to stay in rural areas rather than migrating to cities in search of opportunity. What they often find in cities is worse, with slums where shelter is poor, disease is widespread, infant mortality is high, and personal danger is a frequent problem. In essence, rural poverty is at the root of much urban poverty. This is how men are often separated from their families and drives the spread of AIDS.

To try to explain the situation, we will work our way from the grower to the table.

In the west, “Farmer’s Markets” are an appreciated luxury, where one can meet directly with the grower to obtain high quality produce. Although this has many benefits, I think that it is overly romanticized as a food solution. (Maybe taking this controversial position will get more comments on my blog!)

In Tanzania, by definition the delivery model is predominantly a farmer’s market. To start with, 70-80% of country is subsistence farmers: they grow first for their own needs and second for that of their village. What is their incentive to work harder and grow more? To sell the excess food to create a resource for expenses requiring cash, the most commonly described to me are school fees and medical expenses.

How do you sell your excess? Here are the four basic methods I have seen:

1. You take your food to the side of the road nearest your shamba (farm) and sell it to passing people. What do you find when you bring your onions, tomatoes, fruits, vegetables, or grains to roadside? -A lot of other people selling exactly the same thing. What happens if you fail to sell quickly? –It rots. So what do you do? You sell at any price just so you get something.

2. You sell your food to a middleman who takes it to the city and resells to shops, stores and factories. There are hundreds of these middlemen who aggregate a truck full of food. Are they trustworthy? Rarely. Can you count on them to return next year? Rarely. Will they give you a fair price? Almost never. Your problem is still the same – everyone is selling at once. You must sell low or food rots so you sell. There are also areas along highways where middlemen and local farmers congregate to sell. It’s quite an experience to stop and get some oranges, tomatoes, green peppers, and bananas as I recently did. You are almost tackled by the press of sellers. Only one seller turned down a low offer.

3. Imagine you have a more durable product like a dried grain such as rice, maize or millet. You decide to hold on to it to wait for the harvest volume to subside. For some of these crops, market values in the city rise by a factor of 6 over the course of the year. So the middle man comes and you refuse to sell. (If you ask the middlemen, they say that you can’t trust the farmers to sell when they want to buy, so the distrust is mutual.) But your strategy has weakness. As time passes, moisture, bacteria, rats, and other pests deteriorate the value and quantity of your harvest. If you wait it out, you can get a 30% increase in value but you might have lost 30% of the harvest. Not a fun game of chicken. And the middlemen control the game because you have no transportation. I’ve met with these people, as well.

4. Finally, imagine you have suffered a crop loss or health calamity that forced you to sell (or eat) even next year’s seeds. You are completely broke. In order to plant again, you sign an agreement with the middlemen that if they provide the seeds, then you will guarantee them the crops. The price you are given for your crops will keep you locked in this cycle indefinitely because they will take all the profit. This money lending process is widespread in the developing world and creates a type of indentured servant. I have met these poor and I wish you could, too. Many of them are young widows. (You can also find this in the story of Edgar Nkunda: http://cheetahdevelopment.blogspot.com/2009/06/edgar-nkunda-chapter-one-lacking-bus.html)

If you are a farmer, you are left bewildered by food production. You hear the government talk about the need to increase food production. NGOs (Non-Government Organizations, usually donation supported) from the west come to your village to teach you how to raise more crops and use modern farming methods. These generally require more work and more expense, like fertilizer.

But what do you see? You see that crops you raised last year lacked a market. You watched as your hard work literally rotted in harvested mounds or in the field. Why would you work harder or spend more to grow more? So you try to assure that your staple such as maize or rice is in good supply for your own family and you don’t worry too much about growing more. (I have met with some of these NGOs and they report that even with demonstration plots, farmers are slow to adopt these more productive methods.)

But notice, maize and rice, even when supplanted with legumes, provide nominal nutrition at best. But these are the crops that naturally dry on the stalk.

Yes, there are farmer’s markets everywhere. But the food value chain is completely broken.

40% of the food in Tanzania is never is eaten because it rots. And this while hunger problems and malnutrition persist and are widespread. Farmer’s markets may sound great in theory, but when it is all you have, it doesn’t connect people to the food they need.

Although there is plenty of production, beyond that the value chain is broken. The businesses that would fill this chain are almost non-existent. However, this problem can be viewed as an opportunity. By creating small businesses, the value chain can be fixed, people can find jobs, incomes can rise, and hunger can be abated. And because the solution is business-based, profitability can drive sustainability and end the cycle of dependency.

In upcoming installments: the missing links in the value chain.

Continue here: http://cheetahdevelopment.blogspot.com/2009/06/food-part-2-filling-shelves.html

Bicycle Factory Chapter 3: On the Trail of Welders

2009-06-16T07:35:00.000-05:00

(This is part of a multipart story. To start at the beginning, please go here: http://cheetahdevelopment.blogspot.com/2009/06/bicycle-factory-chapter-1.html)

Well, I had stopped at Wonder Welders, was impressed with their art and their work, but not their welding. In fact, I had looked at welding all over Tanzania and it was often very poorly done, including on the few locally made bicycles. I asked Elly Kay, the director at Wonder Welders if she had further ideas about where I might find good welders. She said sure, right down the street, just go and ask for “fundi Peter”. ‘Fundi’ is the universal Swahili term for ‘technician’. It can apply from everything from a traffic cop, to a cell phone seller, to a welder.

So I went looking for fundi Peter. This street specialized in a variety of construction related trades. The one that broke my heart were men, many women and a few children breaking stones down into gravel. Piece by piece. Some with hammers. Some with bigger stones. They sat in the gravel and pounded the rocks between their legs without masks or gloves. I wasn’t able to get a good picture because taking pictures of people needs to be done with permission. But you can get the idea in the picture below.

I found fundi Peter. His carpentry and welding shop provides a variety of goods from bed frames to cabinets to metal trusses. (See a picture of his shop below)

The welding was great. It turns out that Peter has a ten year history of teaching welding at a vocational school called Don Bosco, right around the corner.

Not only had I found a welder, I found one that could keep a factory stocked with quality welders who knew what they were doing.

I talked to Peter and another partner that was there. Since then I’ve had two meetings with them; there are four partners in all, with Peter as the chairman. Our discussions have been very interesting.

When Cheetah invests in an entrepreneur, we need their all. Starting small businesses is very difficult work. Even in the USA, according to the SBA, about 80% don’t survive the 10 years, with 25% failing in the first year. So we need our entrepreneurial partners to be fully interested in making a success. To make sure of this we apply several methods but the two most important is to make sure they are focused on the business and that they provide part of the investment.

Providing part of the investment is not so much about how much money they are contributing, but that they are putting themselves meaningfully at risk. Cheetah won’t take a risk if they won’t. This keeps incentives aligned for success. Sometimes the risk is less about money than other things, like leaving a good job, committing resources, or pledging other assets.

One of the problems with this group of entrepreneurs is that they wanted to keep their existing business going along with joining the bicycle factory. They have a reasonable perspective: they want something to come back to in the event of failure and they want to make more money on the side. But it probably dooms the bicycle factory. The core work force cannot have another major project going on the side.

So I told them the story of the Spanish explorer, Hernando Cortez seeking to conquer Mexico. His problem: his men thought maybe they should return to the comfortable home in Cuba instead. When he landed in the Americas he told his troops to burn the boats. There was no going back. They were going to find a way forward.

“Burn the boats!” This has become part of every conversation with this group of entrepreneurs. They got it. So have I. Now we need the help of hundreds people like you to find the way forward.

Since Don Bosco was right around the corner, I left fundi Peter and his partners and went straight there for a reference. I got a very good reference from the headmaster. I think we’ve found the start for a bicycle factory operations department!

To continue the story of the bicycle factory go here: http://cheetahdevelopment.blogspot.com/2009/06/friday-find-don-bosco.html

Here’s a picture of Peter (left) and one of his partners, Geofrey.

Edgar Nkunda, Chapter Two: Dreams and Visions

2009-06-15T07:16:00.000-05:00

If you haven’t read Chapter 1, please back up and do that here: http://cheetahdevelopment.blogspot.com/2009/06/edgar-nkunda-chapter-one-lacking-bus.html)

I have received many emails asking that the next part of the story of Edgar Nkunda continue. Many are interested in hearing what are the dreams and visions of this remarkable young man.

Edgar has been put in bondage to money lenders and has little direct control of his own future. Even so, he wants to leverage the little he can control to raise the hopes of many people. His dream is to make many dreams come true. He is not very worried about making money himself.

Edgar is a man with a high-school diploma who thinks deeply and dreams big.

His plan is multi-layered and very achievable. With it, he can change the lives of hundreds and probably many thousands of families across Tanzania, to bring them a hope and a future.

First, Edgar wants to start using Tanzanian grown cotton. It is of very high quality and little of it is being used within Tanzania. In fact, having personally spoken to cotton farmers, finding a market has been difficult. By using local cotton, poor farmers can have their income raised. According to Edgar, since the local fabric industry is dominated by Indians, they are importing cotton from India and China where they have syndicate arrangements and are bypassing local suppliers. Edgar is unable to use local cotton because he is in bondage to an Indian money lender who provides the only cotton he can get.

Second, Edgar wants a bleaching machine. With this, he can take his ‘gray fabric,’ which is a natural tan color and bleach it for direct sale. The local Indian controlled fabric syndicate that bleaches Edgar’s fabric does not provide fabric to the local traditional dying shops. These shops produce gorgeous hand-made pieces of fabric that are highly valued here and in the world. They Indian syndicates don’t want the competition. Instead, they produce high-volume knock-offs. With these sales, many small businesses will be allowed to succeed across Tanzania.

Third, Edgar wants to continue to buy used fabric looms from around the world, which are available at a very low price. He wants to set up an arrangement where he would lease-to-buy four machines at a time to local entrepreneurs – within his factory, solving all kinds of infrastructure problems for them at the same time. It was his dream to have a textile factory. He has one. Now he wants others to have their dream come true to own their own business. Instead of trying to become a textile mogul (a big potato!) he wants to help lots of people succeed, creating an arrangement where joint capacity benefits many rather than a few. I think you know see why I ask people to tell me of their dreams and visions.

Edgar is a creative man, with big dreams and an even bigger heart.

Learn the lesson of Edgar. For the past several months, in both the USA and Tanzania I have found myself talking to people who feel powerless to change the world around them. No one is powerless. Learn from the man who had no bus fare and bought a factory. Learn from the man who remains in bondage to money lenders and is working to free others rather than himself. Use what you have been blessed with and do not wait. Learn from Edgar.

Emmanuel, God with Us

2009-06-14T07:06:00.000-05:00

In honor of the Lord’s Day, I thought I would like to share a little of the spiritual experience I am having here.

When people are spiritually oriented, those who have less tend to be more grateful for what they have than those who have more. This is one of the great paradoxes of life. Jesus’ words are literally true, “blessed are the poor” because the poor indeed feel more blessed.

As a spiritual person in this culture, I am exposed often to this sense of God’s great blessing, which is often described as miraculous. It has been a great joy to share in this experience with the people around me, many of whom are now praying for me and the success of this adventure to change peoples’ lives.

At times in my life I have experience ‘super-coincidences’; things that seem so improbable that I have attributed them to God. This has been happening frequently here; sometimes a few times a day. Some days the sense of God’s presence is nearly palpable. I feel God before me making a way and behind me watching over me.

Here are only a few of many examples:

Driving in Dar es Salaam is incredibly slow because of terrible traffic. It can take 1-2 hours to get most anywhere. One day my Muslim taxi driver for the day noted that God must be with me because I took a series of unexpected phone calls from people when I was within blocks of their location. Once, we were driving past the driveway of the office when the phone rang.
One day while stopped in this bad traffic I took a picture of a man’s bicycle because I had an idea for the bike factory (featured in other blogs). Hoping to sell me some of his bananas or get money somehow he highly objected and began yelling at me in the car, though he had been a few cars away when I took the picture. A policeman saw this and forced the car off the road to the shoulder. He saw a similar opportunity. He began making the international money symbol: rubbing the thumb and two fingers together. He wanted a bribe for us to continue. Unknown to me and by ‘chance’, two cars behind was Chilwa Kiliaki, a prominent local person, who has provided me a place to stay and a car to drive. Recognizing the car, she sent a man riding with her to intervene. Shortly after this she came herself, terrifying the policeman.

Finding people like Chilwa that you can trust is difficult when they are from your own culture. There has come to be a practice of corruption and of taking money from donors, so this risk is real and great. One day I was given a ride by Gerald Mongella to a dinner meeting – he insisted even though I had other arrangements. Gerald is a trusted friend of many people I know and so I had lunch with him and his wife though there were no prospects for business. Out of kindness he took me to my dinner meeting. I had a great meeting. I liked the person I was meeting and his project. I was ready to begin doing further work leading to an investment. When Gerald returned get me, he warned me to not enter into business with him. Very reluctantly he shared that this business prospect owed many people money and that he was not to be trusted for he constantly lied. This in a city of 4.5 million people – and the man at the dinner meeting was from a city 200 kilometers away and just happened to be in Dar es Salaam when I first met him.
Constantly people tell me that I am an answer to their prayers. They wonder how I could have found them since they never called me. (I am networking with many and walking randomly through their doors.) You might think that everyone is praying for help and so I am help to all – perhaps an answer to prayers but no real coincidence. One evening a Pastor told me no, it was more than this: that I am Jesus in their lives. The next day, three different people told me I was Jesus to them: one in the morning, one at midday and one at evening. I rejected this with all, but all insisted it was true.

You need to know that when you are supporting Cheetah, you are Jesus to the people whose lives we are touching every day. And the reverse is true, if you so much as give a cup of water to the least of these, you do it unto him.

The work of Cheetah is so important to these people; it brings such hope; it is so desperately needed. Some days I return to my room at night afraid that I will fail. That I will fail to receive the resources needed here, that I will fail to choose the right partners here, that I will fail to help these businesses succeed…so people’s lives can be changed.

So many have tried to address poverty and failed, how outrageous and arrogant is it to even try?

One night this burden was very heavy. I slept little and prayed during the night. The next morning after tea I returned to my room to gather my things to depart for the day. I felt God’s direct prodding to open my Bible – that he had a word for me. I let it fall open and my eyes fell here:

And if you give yourself to the hungry
And satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
Then your light will rise in darkness
And your gloom will become like midday.
And the LORD will continually guide you,
And satisfy your desire in scorched places,
And give strength to your bones;
And you will be like a watered garden,
And like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.

Amen and Amen.
(Isaiah 58:10-11)

(Below: the Great Ruaha River in Tanzania)

Dreams and Visions

2009-06-13T07:00:00.000-05:00

When I meet with entrepreneurs, they are often surprised by the conversation. First of all, culturally, they expect successful business or other people to be aloof and brusque. In the local vernacular they are called ‘big potatoes’. After viewing my card, one young man highly doubted that I could be the Executive Director of Cheetah, because I was talking openly to him.

Secondly, they are surprised by the amount of time I am willing to spend. As both a big potato and a mzungu (white man) they expect me to be quick and take little interest. But my meetings usually last more than two hours and have sometimes gone for five. Although most people are very open, it takes this long to get past formalities and to allow for real conversation. At the end of the day, working with the right person is the most important ingredient to a successful business.

Thirdly, they are surprised by the line of questions. I don’t just visit their factories and review their financials. I ask detailed questions about their history, their families and their dreams. These questions are surprising and the candor that they have is very heartening. This is my approach to getting to know someone.

You can learn much about people’s values by asking about their family. The challenge of lifting up the next generation is much more acute here than in the west. Family values tend to be less appreciated by men, keeping children healthy – surviving to age 1 – is very challenging, and education is expensive.

I love to hear the history of their businesses! Not only do you learn about the way that they confront challenges, the story is often quite moving. (See the stories of Anna Temu or Edgar Nkunda, for examples.)

(Above picture by Lonnie Menard, © 2008, taken in Tanzania)

Finally, I want to hear what are their visions and their dreams. First of all, this is Business 101. If you don’t have a direction, you can be sure of arriving nowhere. Too many businesses operate on the principle of ready, fire, aim.

Secondly and more importantly, knowing a person’s dreams and visions is a matter of their heart. As an experienced business person I can often see quickly many of the things that are required to help their business succeed. For some people, what they want is to be a big potato that bosses people around; this is their definition of success. For others, it is to create future opportunities for their children, or a steady income to raise a family, or a desire to make an impact in their world. Their definition of ‘success’ may be completely different than mine.

Whether Christian or not, most people recognize that Jesus had remarkable wisdom. Just as I can quickly evaluate a business, the stories of Jesus show that he did this with the people around him. His insight was very deep and went far beyond the surface. For example, he chose a fisherman to lead the founding of his new movement – not a choice that would appear to wise but look how far it has come. When people came before him, often seeking advice, he did not tell them what to do. Instead, he dealt with their hearts.

Most people here automatically respect me because I am mzungu and a big potato. Their culture has deeply ingrained them to show much respect and seek my advice (especially when I am mzee – their elder). A prior history of socialism has taught them to expect central planning. A history of colonialism has shown them that this is what mzungu will do – insist on their own way. Therefore, they most often want or expect me to tell them what to do.

For me this is the challenge. It’s tempting to play the big potato and show one’s knowledge. It’s better to find their heart. This is where life (and so business) begins.

…I promised to tell the dreams of Edgar Nkunda – and many are writing and wanting to hear them – coming soon!

Friday Find of the Week

2009-06-13T01:23:00.000-05:00

Imagine a facial tissue that blows your nose for you! We need this in the USA. Think of the prevention of germs, and parents no longer have to follow their snotty nosed kids around.

Tumaini Universty

2009-06-12T00:58:00.000-05:00

Today I presented to and met with students, faculty, and entrepreneurs at the University of Tumaini in Iringa, Tanzania. It was an honor to be offered a chance to present in the Blomquist Lecture Hall on campus. Tumaini is a university that was found only 12 years ago, the first private university in Tanzania.

"Tumaini" means "hope" in Swahili, and it is a university founded by the local Lutheran church with help from Lutherans in Minnesota. The 'hope' was to allow many students a chance to get an education that otherwise were unable to get entrance in the very few public university openings available. Today, Tumaini is growing almost 30% per year and has over 3000 students.

You can see the presentation that was discussed here: http://www.cheetahdevelopment.org/Our_Program.htm.

It was a lot of fun as people thought with me about the fact that Tanzania has a stable government, resources, and many educated people. Many of the development problems are rooted in mindsets that are not functional. To be having this conversation in a university setting was so appropriate. After I was finished, most of the audience stayed for a lengthy question and answer session and it was an hour and a half before we broke up.

Bicycle Factory Chapter 3: Wonder Welders

2009-06-11T00:35:00.002-05:00

(To start at the beginning, go to http://cheetahdevelopment.blogspot.com/2009/06/bicycle-factory-chapter-1.html)

I was on the trail of finding welders to work in a possible bicycle factory . It was recommended that I stop by Wonder Welders and see what they have.

But let me back up a little. Tanzania has enlightened laws to protect the employment rights of handicapped people. But with only 15% employment (not UNemployment) a handicapped person, whether by birth or injury has little chance in the world.

There are a few organizations in Tanzania working to help. Wonder Welders is one of these. I met the new Director, Elly Kay in the workshop. Their organization employs exclusively handicapped men and women. They teach craft skills including welding, paper making, specialty soaps, glass bead creation, and more. At first they give some art guidance and then they set them loose to create. On May 29th, 2009, I stopped by and met them.

Using scrap materials, these artists make beautiful works that could be treasured across the world. They pay an above average salary and then give the artists a commission on everything of theirs that is sold. 44 disadvantaged people have a new life of dignity.

Wonder Welders is operating at about break even. It could use some accounting help to organize their finances and calculate the costs of pieces. We are looking to coordinate this with business students from the University of Dar es Salaam. (See related story.) There is more demand for their products than they are able to meet, but exporting has its own complications and requires building up a large enough stock to make it work. That requires cash flow and there is none available.

I didn't find welders for the bicycle factory, I did find artists!

Check out their website at http://www.wonderwelders.org/

Edgar Nkunda, Chapter One: Lacking Bus Fare, He Bought a Factory

2009-06-10T00:23:00.000-05:00

I was introduced today by the University of Dar es Salaam to a man with an amazing story. Actually, I think most everybody in the world has an amazing story if only you can take the time to hear it. But some stories are remarkable in unexpected ways.

Edgar Nkumbe grew up in the fabric weaving business. As a child, his father had four automatic weaving looms. Four is a good number because one person can keep four machines running by them self.

Edgar finished high school in 1992 and became a door-to-door sales person. Then in 2005, he learned of a textile factory that had failed and was selling its machines. He thought that he would go and see if he could afford two machines. After all, machines are often sold merely for scrap steel prices in Tanzania. It seems that he set his sights low. After all, he was going for only half of a full complement of four. And this was more than hopeful for he didn’t even have bus fare to get there and back.

After explaining his interest, the owner asked if the price was low enough, would he buy all sixty machines. Undaunted, Edgar said yes and after the appropriate long negotiation they agreed on a price of 16,000,000 Tanzanian shillings (tsh) or about $13,000. He also had just 16 days to raise the money or the deal was off.

He talked to his father and they decided to ask family and friends for help. After many meetings, there was a strong consensus: there was no interest and they thought he was a bit crazy.

Then Edgar learned of a government organization called SIDO (Small Industry Development Organization), kind of a Tanzanian SBA. SIDO operates industrial parks and gives small loans to businesses. They agreed to give him space in an old factory for about $100 per month and a loan for 16,000,000 tsh. Processing the loan would take some time though. With just hours to spare, he returned to the seller with a permit showing his use of the space and a copy of the loan application. He got the grace time he needed.

When the loan came through, the seller’s patience was thin. He needed to get the machines moved. They are big and heavy and require forklifts and trucks to move. The cost, 3,000,000 tsh. This time SIDO said, ‘no.’ But dad had an idea. Maybe this time family would say, ‘yes’ to a small amount. They asked the moving company if they would take a down-payment to cover fuel, and a loan on the rest. 10% down was acceptable and family decided to help. The machines were moved. This was July, 2005 and 3 months later, Edgar had repaired and powered up two machines.

I was ready to breathe a sigh of relief. –But too soon!

A machine goes through 1,000,000 tsh of yarn per month to keep it in operation. Edgar pleaded and SIDO agreed to fund just a one month supply for one machine. With this, Edgar made some sample weavings that he took to fabric companies and achieved his first order. His problem was still the same: he couldn’t afford the materials to fulfill the order. The company agreed to provide the yarn and pay him the difference when they bought the finished fabric. For three and half years, Edgar has operated in this fashion.

I breathed a sigh of relief. Success at last!

But as I dug further, I learned a disturbing truth.

The buyer has shrewdly refused to supply Edgar with enough yarn to operate all 60 machines, though Edgar has repaired them all and they are in good working condition. By doing so, Edgar’s factory never becomes profitable. Instead, the buyer supplies Edgar with enough yarn to run 24 or 25 machines for just one shift, the threshold to pay his employees and rent but never turn a profit. This is less than ¼ of his capacity. Moreover, the buyer dictates the price he will give for fabric. Worse, all of the books are kept by the buyer. Could it get worse? The buyer never pays for an order in full but instead it is the buyer who supplies the cash to make any other payments such as rent or payroll. Edgar doesn’t have a bank account and literally is at the mercy of this buyer. As long as Edgar cannot afford his own yarn, he has no options. He can’t go elsewhere because nearly all of the fabric buyers are Indian and it is alleged that they commonly practice price collusions and syndicates within Tanzanian industries. This is fully Edgar’s belief.

The problem is not just business collusion. Money lending in this way is a practice common in the third world. Through arrangements like this, informal lenders take all of the profit and allow only enough to the worker to keep them alive and serving the lender. Right now, Edgar is essentially an indentured servant with seemingly no way out. This resourceful man has been caught in a trap. He doesn’t even know what his balance with the lender/buyer is – whether he is ahead or behind. This condition has now persisted for three years.

He is so ensnared that he had difficulty imagining running his business without it.

What he needs is some basic working capital to buy an inventory of yarn. This is a low risk investment with quick returns that will change many people’s lives. And the capital will come with business guidance from Cheetah and the University of Dar to get his business in working condition.

This is the work of Cheetah.

When I parted with Edgar, he gave me one of the first two samples of fabric he had used to start his company. I felt guilty to leave with this keepsake but he insisted. I finally accepted it believing that you, dear reader, will stand with us to buy Edgar his freedom.

(Above, a picture of one of the two original samples that Edgar created to start his company. It is laying on a piece of "gray fabric".)

Next chapter: Edgar Nkumbe’s dream. You won’t want to miss it. It’s as remarkable as his story. Go here to continue:

http://cheetahdevelopment.blogspot.com/2009/06/edgar-nkunda-chapter-two-dreams-and.html

University of Dar es Salaam

2009-06-09T00:08:00.000-05:00

Hurrah!

Today, Cheetah Development signed its first contract in Tanzania. This is an agreement that creates a relationship between Cheetah and the University of Dar es Salaam to jointly conduct business development. UDSM is one of the most respected Universities in Africa and has educated many of the best African leaders across the continent.

This agreement was signed with the University of Dar es Salaam, Entrepreneurship Center, or UDEC for short, currently led by Dr. Olomi. For UDEC, this is their first agreement signed within Tanzania, they also have another agreement with a Dutch based development company.

Pictured below are pictures of Dr. Chagama (left) and Dr. Olomi (right) from UDEC.

Dr. Olomi is a highly respected business development leader across Tanzania, known by both officials and the many entrepreneurs that have experienced the training programs he conducts. Dr. Olomi and his team have provided training, coordinated with non-government organizations from charities to the World Bank, are developing a business incubator for students, conducted Business Plan Competitions to find the most worthy businesses to help, and many other activities.

However, funding to start or help businesses has been in short supply. Even after a ten year effort, not one business has been funded. It is hard to describe how rare the work of Cheetah really is. There are only a handful doing any similar work in the world and currently no investment companies working in Tanzania in the $5,000 to $500,000 range. We are told that there is actually more money available for investments above $500,000 than there are entrepreneurs that can be found to partner with. Where is a new business to get their start-up or growth funding since this is the range required by nearly all such organizations?

After meeting many of the entrepreneurs identified by Dr. Olomi and his team, we are persuaded that opportunity abounds and we can together, change the 10 year drought.

(To learn more about the relationship of universities in the Cheetah program go to http://www.cheetahdevelopment.org/Our_Program.htm)

Cultural Observations from Tanzania - Hands

2009-06-07T23:44:00.001-05:00

I danced with a man one evening. There are fewer social stereotypes. Men can walk and hold hands without it having some sexual implication.

The left hand is reserved for dealing with bodily functions. The right hand is your clean hand: the hand you eat with and shake hands with.

People shake hands frequently on meeting and departures, not just once. There are several ways to shake that show increasing closeness. You never hide your left hand when shaking with your right – that shows coldness. The farther out you grasp with your left hand up your arm and eventually to the other person’s wrist while shaking shows more appreciation. If your hand is dirty or to show respect, you may offer the back of your wrist to the other person or someone may take your wrist to show respect. Women shake hands with men differently: they offer their fingers while holding their elbow with their left hand and very slightly curtseying.

Most men do a triple shake, including one standard shake, one Afro-American-Bro shake, and then another standard shake. If one of the people is young, you may then follow this with another locking of fingers and snapping the thumbs. Hard to explain – but like a ‘secret handshake’.

When someone says something great you shake their hand in an exaggerated swing as kind of a ‘high-five.’

Before meals, washing hands is an important ritual. In formal settings, a woman brings the hot water and pours it over your hands while in a kind of curtsey. Every restaurant has a special hands-washing station.

Rarely are their paper towels or dryers to use after washing your hands. Air drying works fine.

The OK symbol is lewd, thumbs up is good. Don't beckon someone with your index finger, that is also lewd.

My wife and daughters will be delighted to learn that eating with one’s hands is highly appropriate.

Bicycle Factory Chapter 2

2009-06-06T03:16:00.000-05:00

(To start this story at the beginning go to http://cheetahdevelopment.blogspot.com/2009/06/bicycle-factory-chapter-1.html)

I want to tell at least one of the business stories in enough detail that there is a sense of how these things might develop and proceed. Of course, every story is unique but I don’t have the time and chances are neither does the reader, to hear them all.

Anyway, taking up from the last chapter…as my time to travel to Tanzania neared I was introduced to Chilwa Kiliaki. Chilwa is a woman who is a key policy maker in the Tanzanian central banking institution. She is full of energy, exuberance and joy. Her arrival is accompanied by a flurry. We were speaking on the telephone across many time zones and I was describing the Cheetah project to her. She asked what were some of the business ideas in which I was most interested. As I listed some off, she interrupted me with a burst of long laughter and then said, “Now I know you are directed by God because you are talking about bicycles.”

Well, I had not claimed to be directed by God and so this was her own conclusion. She said that she needed to tell me her own story: She was dreaming of starting businesses, especially in rural villages to help people. She wanted to start in the place her father was born and spread from there.

(In the picture above you see a store on wheels, selling rat poison. Stores like this are common. It had a continuous playing announcement. Notice the condition of the chain. The bike is now pushed everywhere it goes but it is still invaluable to its owner.)

Chilwa's thought was to open bicycle shops to sell to farmers because they can have such an impact on their lives. Three weeks prior she had been sent by the Tanzania government to China to study their economic policies to see if any might aid growth in Tanzania. While there, she visited Chinese bike manufacturers and shops to learn as much as possible.

When she returned she commissioned a report on the Tanzanian bicycle market. This is an important subject because bicycles can truly help to fight poverty. She said when I would come to Tanzania I would receive access to this report. For a company entering a market like this, such a report might be a great help. What an amazing ‘coincidence.’

Displayed prominently on her desk is a cell phone holder in the shape of a bicycle.

In her family room:

Eventually, she invited me to stay with her. Here is the light fixture in the room I am staying:

Chilwa said that these were chosen for their colors years ago, and she didn’t even think of them as bicycles until I noticed them.

...almost as if there was a plan ahead of time. (Ephesians 2:10)

(Story continues here: http://cheetahdevelopment.blogspot.com/2009/06/bicycle-factory-chapter-3-wonder.html)

Friday Find of the Week

2009-06-05T03:10:00.001-05:00

Traffic here in Dar es Salaam is quite an experience. This city of four million has no freeways and few four lane roads though due to poverty has far fewer cars than an equally sized western city. However, traffic is constantly heavy, even on a Sunday afternoon. I spend three to four hours per day in a vehicle. There are few stoplights or stop signs. People use common sense to determine who has the right of way. There is a language of honking, signals, and arm waves to communicate, request and deny intentions. There is an incredible mix of cars, busses, bicycles, motorcycles and pedestrians all sharing the same roadway. In this picture below an accident ahead has nearly stopped traffic. I am not parked on the shoulder; instead, the shoulder has become a new lane (the correct lane is on the left, British-style).

One driver told me that to avoid an accident it is not enough to watch what others are doing; you must be in their mind and imagine what they may do next. This flexible pattern has led to a traffic innovation – the three lane road. The middle lane is for left turns or whichever direction has the heaviest traffic load at that moment or whoever has the least fear. Close calls by American standards are continuous. But it does allow for much more traffic in the same space.

Power Foods

2009-06-04T10:35:00.001-05:00

How do you change the world with business? Listen to the story of Anna Temu. It is the story of one of the most focused and tenacious entrepreneurs in the world.

Anna Temu came from a one of the poorest areas in the world in a rural region of Tanzania. Her family was a bit better than the poorest of the poor because they had a business. Since 1950, her father had operated a diesel powered milling machine. They milled many things, but Anna’s favorite was finger millet because it produced a porridge or flour that is both delicious and nutritious. Millet is a very tiny, very hard grain that has the added benefit of being drought resistant. However, much of the millet they milled was bought up by beer producers and did not get back to feed people who needed it. Her life’s dream: to operate this machine to feed the people of her town.

Since she was not from a prominent family and even more disadvantaged as a woman, Anna had to work several times harder in school to get to the next level. Even today in Tanzania, only 7% of the best or most connected students are selected to continue on to high school. Only 2% go to college. Anna traversed these challenges and was admitted to the University of Dar es Salaam to study food production.

Anna studied food production because she wanted to operate the milling machine to its maximum advantage. There were only a handful of women in this area of study, newly offered by the university because of the importance of increasing the food output in the nation. She says that in those days, other students mocked them as taking a glorified cooking or home economics classes. Then while she was at university, hardship struck. Her father died. To make matters worse, because of gender and family traditions, her brother inherited the milling machine. Maybe it was from these difficulties or her disadvantaged background, but someone that knows her from that time told me that Anna struggled in her studies. But she persisted: it took her five years to complete her three year degree and proudly, in 1984 she graduated.

She had a degree, her beginning know-how, but no milling machine and no money. If she is anything, Anna is focused and persistent. So she found employment in a bank and for ten years she saved her money. Then she bought her own machine. This is not the end of the story, but a new beginning. Her dream is to feed people.

That first machine was purchased eight years ago and today Anna is still operating her business successfully. Even in the United States, SBA statistics show that hardly a quarter of businesses survive that long. But Anna has faced down even longer odds – really the story of her whole life. Today she has 30 employees. She freely says, “You know, sometimes I hate my business because of the mistakes I have made. They are so expensive of a way to learn.” She says this with determination in her eyes, passion in her voice, and a little humor, too. I wish you could sit with Anna as I have.

She began to develop recipes based on high nutrition. To do this she uses mixtures of grains and legumes like millet, maize, legumes, and soybeans. She has her food analyzed at the university to keep improving protein and vitamin content. Her dream is to become more sophisticated in adding nutrients and expand her capacity to meet demand and feed people. Her food is truly life changing because it is so much more nutritious than plain ground maize or rice which are typical staples. And I tasted some of the quick cook (precooked) porridge. Even in its dry state, it is delicious. She has developed a complete line of products.

Because infrastructure is so limited, she has had to order the seeds, train the farmers, suffer crop failures, and even after all that have other buyers intervene to take her crop. Today, she is working directly with farmers in seven far flung regions of Tanzania, one of the largest countries in Africa! She has had machines break and because of no money to repair, suffer diminished sales. Every day’s production is sold that day. Even in all these challenges, she has been achieving nearly 50% per year growth until last year when machine failures caused a flat year. She tried a bank loan to grow, but the 25% interest rates nearly killed her. She says she will never do it again.

When she learned of our program to invest in and help small businesses, this fierce woman had her eyes well up with tears.

An answer to years of prayer and wondering how to move her dream forward.

We spent much time looking at her accounting, her blueprints for a new factory, sales materials and her products. Her food goes to schools that have programs to feed children, aid organizations, and grocery stores. She has six “sales girls” that do most of her sales and travel the nation by bus managing the bulk of her sales.

I need to tell you that at about this point in our conversation Anna took a call on her mobile phone. She began to shout animatedly into the phone. When she hung up, she told me that she learned that her younger sister had just died of breast cancer. Her sister was the mother of ten young children including four sets of twins and a husband that had abandoned her.

Ten more orphans in a nation that has hundreds of thousands.

Millions of men without jobs – only 15% of non-farm workers are employed.

Women that struggle to save – much less raise – their children.

But filled with good people that work harder, pray harder, love harder, try harder than any I know.

This is why Cheetah exists.

The answer is not more healthcare: that is not sustainable because it is giving without end. People need to be able to pay for it themselves. The answer is not more orphanages. The children grow up and are returned to the street because there are no jobs. But studies show that people that have jobs have fewer children, less AIDS, more stable families …and hope.

This is why Cheetah exists.

We cried a bit and prayed together.

What does one say? What would you say?

I said I would return in a few days. But she stood, composed herself and insisted that we go and see the factory, some distance away. By the end of my tour, she was distracted. She said it was time to go home and put on her mourning clothes.

I wish that you could have met Anna Temu with me.

NICO, First Among Tanzanian Public Companies

2009-06-03T07:31:00.001-05:00

This past weekend I had the distinctive pleasure of meeting Mr. Felix Mosha, Chairman of the National Investments Company Limited (NICO). (Please see his picture below.) In the background you can see a picture of the highly respected President Jakaya Kikwete, whose picture is featured in most businesses that you enter.

Understanding a little about NICO provides insight into Tanzanian business. NICO is the only Tanzanian owned company in the Tanzanian stock market. There are six companies in the stock market.

NICO has taken on the very ambitious and important work of trying to acquire interest in or developing Tanzanian businesses, especially those that were previously government owned or are connected to national resources. They want the Tanzania people to have a say in how their own natural resources are developed. You can learn more about NICO at http://www.nico.co.tz/.

Thank you Mr. Mosha for taking time with me.

Business Development Prospects Currently Being Studied - June 2, 2009

2009-06-02T08:20:00.001-05:00

Everywhere one looks in Tanzania there is business opportunity. Why aren’t they being developed? It takes money (and knowhow) to make money. To learn more about this aspect of our effort, go to our website at http://www.cheetahdevelopment.com/. Anyway, here is the list of business development ideas that are currently being considered:

1. Print Shops in Rural Cities
2. Electric Motor Rewinding
3. Bicycle Factory
4. Sunflower Seed Oil Operation
5. Canning Factory
6. Chicken Operation
7. Meat Processing
8. Agribusiness Processing Grains to Healthy Foods
9. Roofing Tile Business (see picture at left)

It ought to be interesting to see how this list changes over the coming days and weeks.

We are particularily interested in agri-business because it not only creates jobs, it feeds people, and it affects the income of the 80% of people who are subsistence farmers.

Elephants may have great memories but I'm taking copious notes. By the way, many of the best animal and scenic pictures you see were taken by Lonnie Menard when she was in Tanzania. Thanks, Lon.

Bicycle Factory Chapter 1

2009-06-01T04:17:00.000-05:00

This is the first installment in what hopefully will be a long enduring story.

In my first visit to Tanzania a year ago, I thought about possible businesses that could be started. One of my first ideas was a bicycle factory. Bicycles are very common here – but not nearly common enough. It is the transportation mode that most people aspire to have. Bicycles are not just for personal transport. They are trucks, taxis, and often key to a person’s livelihood. You can see them on many highways where even 10 miles from the nearest town there are many people riding – but also many people walking.

I lodged this in the back of my mind for many months.

Now fast forward with me to early in 2009. I had been introduced by Scott Hillstrom to a Jake Chaya. Scott had not given either of us a reason to meet but Jake said that he had known Scott for 20 years. Jake conveyed that Scott had perhaps even a spiritual gift for making introductions that were important. I believe this can be true because I have seen how Cheetah’s very existence has depended time and again on being introduced to the right person at the right time.

As Jake and I share our respective stories, I found that Jake had many projects going both in the USA and in the developing world. One of these was particularly interesting to me. Jake is involved in an organization that is working in Rwanda (adjacent to Tanzania on the west). This group (http://www.projectrwanda.org/) is working on delivering three wheel cargo bikes to poor farmers. They have created a solution that involves setting up bike shops with trained technicians, tools, inventory and parts – almost a franchise model. Then they have partnered with a microfinance organization that finances the bikes. (If you don’t know about microfinance, go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microfinance.) They are now selling many bikes; if I have my numbers straight, more than one per working day per store.

But according to Jake, Project Rwanda has a problem. The bikes are imported from China and are of very poor quality. China produces varying degrees of quality: one for the west, which is the highest standard, another for their own consumption and a third for the third world, which is very poor. As has been described to me, they look beautiful and shiny but the paint rubs right off and the frames fall apart. I have verified this with people in Tanzania.

Jake assures me that Project Rwanda is looking for a new source and they would prefer to by African, especially locally. Besides the poor quality, the cost of shipping the bikes from China is almost equal to the cost of the bike. This shipping problem is a built in protection for locally produced goods. Many products that are bulky and lack special technology or sources enjoy this benefit. Think of toilets, furniture, bread, etc. as examples.

But it got better. Project Rwanda has already had a cargo bike designed by an American bike designer and a prototype built.

‘Bike factory’ was moved from deep in the mental recesses to one of the most interesting ideas to consider.

(Story continues here: http://cheetahdevelopment.blogspot.com/2009/06/bicycle-factory-chapter-2.html)

Friday Find of the Week

2009-05-29T14:00:00.000-05:00

May 29, 2009

Friday Find of the Week

This was on the back of the toilet in the hotel. It’s kind of a cardboard air freshener. Triple the pleasure! The flowers are camouflage. It really brings the fresh aroma of urinal cake to the surrounds.

US Embassy in Tanzania

2009-05-28T04:37:00.000-05:00

The visit to the US Embassy was quite interesting. As you might imagine, the security is quite high. I wanted to take a picture of it but there are soldiers all around – even on the street. Pictures are banned. I would have especially liked to take a picture of the street sign with a silhouette of a camera and a NOT symbol over it. It would have been the ultimate Kodak moment.

To get in, I first signed in. Then they contacted the person I was meeting. After a while I was allowed through an airport type security. Then they took all my bags and my cell phones and took possession of them, checking them in. I was allowed to put my sport coat back on and take a pad and pen. Then to the next security checkpoint farther inside: this was airport plus with a full wand down. Oops, I had a camera in sport coat pocket. Not allowed.

When Mr. Fred Maeda came out to meet me, I asked if he might clear my lap top so that I could show my presentation. He explained that if I could arrange for the proper approvals, it would take more than a day for it to go through all the security checks. So, no.

After all this rigmarole, I did have a very good meeting. Fred Maeda and his boss, Carl Fox both joined me. Fred is a knowledgeable Tanzanian that had many connections. I expect many of them will be quite helpful.

Here is his picture. In order to get it, we had to leave the compound and walk down the street. He was kind enough to humor me on this.

African Music

2009-05-28T03:55:00.001-05:00

I don't think that you could understand Africa without experiencing her music. I began my day invited to a prayer meeting next to the hostel. So after a cold shower at 5:30 am I wandered over into the service. As only one of two Mzungu (white person) filling the church, I was pretty obvious.

Picture a large church filled with singing people. No, see you don't understand if you haven't been to Africa. The few old hymns in the dozen that they did were anything but stodgy - even with an organ leading. And drums. And an electric guitar. And multipart harmony. And swaying. And a tenor song leader with a voice to call across the Grand Canyon. I would have taken a picture but it seemed to be so Spirit filled that it felt sacriligeous. Here's a picture taken later when the church was quiet.

There is music everywhere. On TV. On radios. Broadcast into restaurants. While I ate dinner, the music came over the speakers and there was a choir practicing in the courtyard. And as I headed to my room, I heard another choir at practicing at the church. It called to me so I went and listened. I tried to upload a clip of some music but the internet was just too slow. After more than an hour and a half of waiting, I gave up. So here's a picture of them practicing:

It's like rock music for choirs, but better.
African music is really special. Even when you don't know what their singing, it grabs your heart.

Arrival!

2009-05-27T07:45:00.003-05:00

May 27, 2009

A day of travel, planes and airports completed. Then I stepped into the evening air of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, moist with the exotic breezes of the Indian Ocean.

What does it mean to arrive?

As if one has ‘made it’. As if the journey was merely an inconvenience between here and there. As if something was complete. No, to arrive is to start, or rather, to start anew. The journey continues.

The best arrivals are accompanied with warm greetings – and so I was. Chilwa Kiliaki, once a friend of a friend and now a new friend, waited almost an hour for me to emerge from the airport. Greeting me with a sign and a smile, we hugged immediately. She had prepared the way and took me to my hotel.

And so here I am in the Lutheran Hostel in Dar, thousands of miles from home. As if journeys are to be seen as going and then returning: home and away.

But that is such an unsatisfying point of view.

On this long day of travel I can’t help but think about the many journeys of my life. Indeed, I can’t help but rethink the old analogy of life as a grand journey.

Looking back I see this strange zig-zag path: a mish-mash of career shifts, changing objectives, new friends, different views on life, etc. My path could be that of a drunken soldier on a crooked road lost in the dark.

C. S. Lewis once wrote upon arriving in heaven or hell a person would look back on their life and see a straight line leading directly there. I see what he means. When I look back, the zig-zags fade and I see a straight line leading to right here and right now. Someone recently told me this is like tacking in a sailboat: the boat must go back and forth to overcome – no, use – the wind to get to its port of call. I have felt this before in my life – when what from this vantage point I was off on one of those side paths. It was a straight line to that place, too.

Maybe this is what that ancient prophet meant by ‘the crooked shall be made straight and the rough places plain.’ We just need the perspective to see it.

African Dance

2008-08-20T19:56:00.002-05:00

“Lord, you are more precious than silver.” These are the words to a song we sang in Africa. We sang our songs. And we learned theirs.

The orphanage director we met said shyly, “The children ask me, ‘Why don’t you ask the rich people for money?’” She had gone through her city seeking help. She continued her explanation, “But that is not how it works. You cannot make them.”

Now hugging her heart she said, “They don’t understand.” I think she was referring to her children not understanding. She fears they will grow up full of anger. But maybe she was referring to the wealthy, maybe even to us, now standing before her.

But who can understand? Even a casual look revealed the scope of poverty to be beyond one’s resources or that of any accessible. The prophecy is at once confirmed, “The poor will always be with you.” And so one’s hand is pulled back as from a hot stove.

There is another way to look. Into the eyes.

And here is something different. Not the so-called ‘face of poverty’. Just a face.

We tell ourselves that the poor are somehow different. We are able to maintain that attitude by keeping them flat – in pictures on our TV and in junk-mail pleas. But when we see them face-to-face, our defenses are challenged.

Of course! They are people like us. They mourn their dead – but all too often. They are smart and industrious but under-educated and without resources. They feel pain and hunger; they rejoice and pray. They love but more freely. They are not two dimensional.

They are us. Why is this a revelation?

To look into the eyes is not ‘moving’. Rather, motion occurs naturally. Here in Africa there is often music and with it, joyful dancing. At first one stands at the edge like a nervous teenager at a school dance, only watching. Then your head starts nodding. Your hands start clapping. Without thought your feet are soon moving and you are joyfully dancing, too. That is what it is to look this other way – to look into the eyes.

And this is important: You stop giving and start sharing.

It is in the nature of dancing, naturally.

To say we were on a mission trip is a confusion of reality. It means we went to take care of them. Yet the most common statement made by people on such trips is that they got more out of it than they gave.

Yet that is still deceptive. This is not just a balance of trade between givers, with one delivering goods and the other spirit. No, it was literal and in every way. The words we used most by far were, “Asante sana”. Thank you very much. We said this constantly. The African’s were always giving. No, not that. They were sharing generously; even out of their deep need. We constantly felt a sharing that was joyful and energetic and caring and generous and what can be said? It defies description. It was so warm it would make us ache.

The other thing about dancing is that it is best done with partners and in a group. And that’s how it was. We were together in sharing. And so the energy of the dance was greater than the sum of the dancers. That’s how a good dance feels. The music unites the dancer’s energy and brings them to a place they cannot go alone.

It was truly a spiritual experience. We came to know something we could not learn any other way. We sang new songs in new tongues. We danced new dances.

And we saw in a new way. We learned the meaning of some other words from that prophet, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you something to drink?” It was both the unrighteous and the righteous who say these words. Neither recognizes the Lord in the needy, but one acts because they see their brother in need and so naturally they move. Not guilt. Not giving. Not apportioning. Sharing. We looked into their eyes and saw in a new way.

Our eyes were opened.

There once were two brothers. The older brother was wealthy and alone and the other poor, with many children. On the day of his death, their father divided the land evenly. That night, the older brother lay awake staring into the darkness. He said to himself, “This is not fair that our father divided the land evenly. My brother is poor and his family in need. So he is not shamed, I will rise early and move the property marker.”

The younger brother also lay awake with sadness. He said to himself, “Why should I receive this land when I already have much joy. I will rise early and move the marker to add joy to my brother.”

In the morning they met at the marker and fell into each other’s arms, weeping.
It is said that they built the city of Jerusalem at that spot. And it is in this place of sharing that we can build the New Jerusalem. It is a place of abundant generosity, collective joy, and endless song. We saw it with our own eyes.

And we couldn’t help but dance.