Where There Are No Jobs: Enterprise Solutions for Employment and ‘Public Goods’ for the Poor

by David R. Befus

The greatest weapon of mass destruction? It’s poverty, says David Befus. And the best way to fight it is with business.

Latin America Mission, P.O. Box 52-7900, Miami, FL 33152, 2005, 219 pages, $10.00.

—Reviewed by Wally Kroeker, editor of The Marketplace, published by Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA).

The greatest weapon of mass destruction? It’s poverty, says David Befus. And the best way to fight it is with business.

Few evangelicals know as much about promoting economic activity among the poor as Befus, president of Latin America Mission. He also served with Opportunity International, World Relief and World Vision. Here Befus distills his vast experience into a compelling business manual for helping the world’s four billion poor people, even in meagre shantytowns where everything seems unorganized. He sees business as a missional ally not only because it can supply funds but also because it taps into the “invisible desire of the poor to create, to produce, to innovate…. To work!”

He presents four business models: (1) service business (clinics, bookstores), (2) endowment enterprise (commercial enterprises to raise support), (3) business incubator (viable business projects to create jobs or income) and (4) micro-credit (affordable loans for small businesses).
All of these can, in their own way, alleviate poverty, but Befus cautions they are not a quick fix and points out pitfalls and possibilities.

Economic enterprises are as complicated as banking and require business savvy. Too often the Christian witness has been tarnished by “magic-pill” ventures that went sour and left their clients worse off, he writes.

This is why he is not a fan of subsidies, which can be addictive. A community-funded sewing group with a history of subsidized production may generate inferior products that are not marketable. “Such ‘photo-opportunity’ projects are NOT desirable; they also tend to create another experience of failure,” Befus writes.

Subsidies also impair a clear assessment of impact. “People are generally happy to receive the product or services free, even if the quality is poor or the service not really necessary. When subsidies are depleted, such projects simply disappear.”

A robust business approach not only strengthens fiscal depth, it also teaches responsibility, Befus points out. To insist that micro-credit clients repay loans is neither hardhearted nor un-Christian; rather, it teaches accountability and integrity.

Fiscal viability does not preclude social outcomes, Befus writes. Ventures must also promote workplace virtues like justice, care for the environment, mutual aid, human dignity and encouragement to live in the image of God.

Anyone who wants to help the poor will be in a better position to do so after reading this book.

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