Product Innovation… in Nicaragua

This post was originally published May 27, 2013.

Good evening,

The United States is the wealthiest country of all time, while even so one of the youngest. Never before has all citizens been granted access to such abundant resources.

But to assess these resources, one must believe that he, and he alone, can be willing to put effort and initiative into building a better life. This opportunity has been afforded to all Americans, but each must make the decision.

There is an intersection of faith and business. Free market capitalism works wonderfully to alleviate physical suffering, yet many believe that one can only make an impact in a church or a non-profit. Subsequently, wealth becomes a terrifying concept. Reasonably so, as Jesus said (among other not-so-subtle comments) that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to go to Heaven. Reading on in the passage reveals that the disciples were startled by this, and asked, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus replied, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” The love of all money is the root of all evil, but God knows that money is simply a rationing device in an imperfect world. With man, money is a short term, corrupted tool to gain pleasure. For God, it is a tool to promote His glory.

When abundant resources and a similarly abundant rationing device are available, and if society is conjoined with the ethos of God, humanity furthers the Kingdom of God in unique and otherwise unattainable ways. Through the arts, humanitarianism, philosophy, education, philanthropy, the study and application of medicine, architecture, technology… the mind of God is demonstrated through man. It is powerful and beautiful, and serves God’s ultimate purpose to bring Himself glory.

Work enables this. At the Wilberforce Weekend Conference a number of weeks ago, Glenn Sunshine presented on the innovation of the printing press and the morality of work. Gutenberg sought to innovate to remove the drudgery from work (i.e. copying Bibles by hand), to thereby unleash the Word of God into the hands of all people. Gutenberg’s innovation allowed man to focus his efforts on other aims and pursuits.

Entrepreneurship is an essential attribute of any person who seeks to make the invisible Kingdom of God visible, whether it is by forming an organization that specifically caters to women who feel like the only choice is abortion of a pregnancy (Save the Storks), or to create an office furniture company that will allow freedom of thought and collaboration among workers (Steelcase, Herman Miller, etc.).

Entrepreneurship can breathe new life, even in the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. I visited Nicaragua for 12 days this month to be a mentor in the Applied Global Innovation Initiative (AGII). I traveled with a PhD business professor, a furniture designer, a nurse, three engineers, one medical student, five industrial designers and one entrepreneur. For one week, we led 100 Nicaraguan students in a workshop to develop simple business ideas that would solve specific problems in Nicaragua. These businesses take advantage of Nicaraguan resources, use Nicaraguan ingenuity and help change the culture of Nicaragua (Nicaraguans tend to accept what life they are born into. We sought to encourage them to work, to allow them to re-engineer their circumstances). The program is unaffiliated with Christianity, but you can imagine my thoughts and prayers during the week.

Each year in May for the past eight years, students are divided into teams of five students. They begin with an open mind and end with a simple business plan and prototype. The May workshop is organized as a competition that allows the top five teams to progress to the next stage. In August, industrial designers assist the five winning teams in developing an advanced prototype. If the teams are committed, there is a final workshop in March that will help them finalize their plans and launch their business. Their product goes from conception to market in less than a year.

The long term impact was evidenced through the presentation of Professor Emeritus status to the two leaders of AGII by the Vice Rector of UNAN Managua (I’m told, the equivalent of the University of Michigan in Nicaragua). The short term impact was evidenced through the initiative and innovation demonstrated by the students. To the left is a picture of me with the winning team. One of their members is wearing a prototype coffee harvesting harness developed that week — coffee harvesters currently hold a bucket and a rope, while climbing trees to harvest coffee; this simple product will ease the intensity of work and produce higher returns for coffee plantations.

This program intersects business and Christianity, whether the participants realized it or not. They demonstrated ingenuity, hard work and determination, and also love and empathy for the least among us — qualities of the ethos of God.

If you have skills that you believe could be used in this Initiative, contact me and I will put you in touch with the right people.