Greetings! Life has been flying by this summer- and I am eager to touch base.
My husband and I recently returned from Southern Sudan, which gave me a refreshed perspective on life and business. It was a region where a generator and water well within walking distance brings wealth (and health) to a family, goats and roaming chickens provide sustenance, and fields of cassava, and mango trees provide a lunch break and shade for the weary. I witnessed the daily backbreaking work of the Sudanese with babies on their backs- hauling water for miles with no shoes, cultivating land with a hoe and oxen. It was humbling to serve these people who make their way through life one day at a time, alongside others from North Dallas. It really calibrated me.
In a region that earns a mere $400.00 in annual wages, let me tell you about my lesson in market place ministry with Pastor Sam. We worked alongside Sam in villages connected by trails, traveling with backpacks from home to home. Years prior, Sam’s parents were killed in tribal war in this country- brutally murdered in front of him as he hid as a young boy. He fled for safety, and grew up among friends- knowing he would return one day to make a difference in this land. Now in his 30’s, as we neared the end of our visit, Sam showed us a field next to his church under a mango tree and shared his vision to cultivate it with his new oxen, wooden plow, and cassava seed (donated by a group with the ministry). As it dawned on me it would be a couple of years before he had a product to sell (cassava is like grapes in terms of cultivation time), I inquired how he would make a living until then. That’s when he articulated his plans to rent the oxen to neighboring villages, plow and rent an extended portion of the field for those who wanted to grow faster germinating seed, and plow other fields for families who were not able to do the work themselves. I was amazed at his energy and entrepreneurial spirit! He devised an entire sustainable economy right there that met a need at every level.
After returning to my office, I started thinking about a similarity. While I dare say there are not many of us touting our new oxen for rent around here (!), most of us have found a place in our economy to make a contribution for a return- just like Sam. In fact, I meet scores of Sam’s every day and I make it a practice to offer them meaningful financial solutions and resources to leverage the assets they have built in order to reach their ultimate goal. “Leverage” in this context, is not a bad word. It’s a way to capitalize on a limited level of resources retained in the business to enable it to sustain growth without emptying their cash reserves. Cash remains king, and my job is to identify ways to make it last- at a fair price and good return while they run the business.
Although professionals in my field aren’t winning popularity contests these days- many of us take our job more seriously than ever. It’s about so much more than filling an order (or meeting quotas). It’s about creating a plan that mutually satisfies our fiduciary responsibilities, and benefits the businesses we work very hard to earn. If you don’t get the impression your banker works alongside you from that perspective, I suggest you find a new one! This is the most fundamental definition of “Relationship Banking 101”. Like Sam, the results you seek may take a little time, but the sum of efforts together will far exceed that which could be accomplished alone.
All my best!
Shannon
