616.818.4900 www.partnersworldwide.orgSummer 2012 Partners Worldwide

Christian Businesspeople Transforming Lives

Fall 2012

Transformations

1

MONROVIA, Liberia --- � is summer, accountant Rachel Hall spent four weeks learning and serving “hands-on” as a subject-matter expert with the leadership of Partners Worldwide’s business a� liate LEAD, Inc. Along with Allen Gweh, the director of LEAD, assessing the loan distribution in Liberia was an exchange of ideas, she says. “It was asking questions like, ‘What works best for your company? How do you do transactions? How do you work with clients?’” she describes, noting that the challenges LEAD faces day-to-day are things she has never experienced when consult-ing companies in the U.S.

For example, as LEAD seeks to meet the needs of thousands of micro and small business owners they serve, “they might issue [loans] out in Liberian dollars, but the client pays back in U.S. dollars,” she describes. Fluctuation of exchange rates cannot be easily tracked in a country where both currencies are exchanged informally. She also followed loan o� cers around town one day as they distributed loans. “It was a huge stack of Liberian dollars,” she says, adding that for a long line of clients with no personal bank account, there was no safe alternative.

Yet LEAD sta� ’s ability to solve prob-lems under demanding circumstances amazed her. In a cramped o� ce, the dozen-plus LEAD employees tracked loans and communicated with clients by laptop or phone. Small busi-ness owners frequently stopped at the o� ce to meet with loan o� cers, complete paperwork, or to make loan payments from the income they earned selling foods or tailor-ing clothing that week. Other sta� sorted through client pro� les stacked in cardboard boxes nearby—a format that comes in handy when electricity goes out daily at 1:00pm. “It was aforced break of sorts,” she says about the dark o� ce each afternoon.

Accounting as Mission

Continued on next page

“This is how I would love to do

missions—right here, this is it.”

- Rachel Hall

2 616.818.4900 www.partnersworldwide.org

Continued from page 1

Despite years of professional experience consulting on internal controls, providing her insight in Liberia didn’t mean she should sim-ply suggest North American solutions.

“� ere’s a lot more to it than copy-paste,” she says. “I enjoyed the exchange of ideas.” By questioning, discussing, and brainstorming issues together over the month, the best mo-ments were when a light bulb of new ideas turned on among the LEAD sta� . Ultimately, Rachel knew the sta� would use those moments to � nd solutions that � t the current con-text, achieving a more e� ective model to serve their micro- and small business clients as they grow their businesses and impact their communities.

“� is is how I would love to do missions—right here, this is it,” she says. In years past, she had been on multiple short-term volunteer mission trips evangelizing, building schools, and church planting. Yet, volunteering through Partners Worldwide provided Rachel an oppor-tunity to understand the challenges businesses around the globe face today—and ways she could use her professional skills to walk alongside others with business strategies that � t the context and culture.

Although she was helping with accounting, Rachel says the experience was a mutual ex-change. “� ey were teaching me about Liberian culture and history,” she says, “which has close ties to the African American culture. It was such a bridge that gave me a lesson on my own history, on my culture, on my life.”

She also says the strength of the LEAD network stood out to her. When she wanted to purchase a gift for friends and family back home, the sta� took her to visit clients of LEAD who make handicrafts and jewelry. “� at’s huge when you have a business relation-ship that extends beyond the business. It’s personal,” she says.

For Rachel, sharing her knowledge as a subject-matter expert was rewarding. “It was something that came naturally,” she says. “I feel like it was adding value, even though it’s something that was second hand for me. � is exchange of using my own professional skills—this training, this learning, and being in a dialogue—I so enjoy that.”

Partners Worldwide has a growing need for subject matter experts. At times, partnerships need someone with a particular skill set to step in and strengthen the framework on which local business partnerships operate. A subject-matter expert is an individual who pos-sesses unique knowledge, skills, and ability in functional areas of business, and chooses to use that skill as a resource to the Partners Worldwide network of multiple partnerships rather than just one. Subject matter experts join existing e� orts to strengthen a� liates at an organizational level, or to consult member businesses through speci� c challenges they may face.

Specialties needed include banking and loan management, human resources, information technology, leadership training, product research and development, agribusiness and strategy development. Please visit www.partnersworldwide.org and click “Get Involved: Connect!” to � ll out a Partner Pro� le and become directly involved as a subject-matter expert.

Summer 2012 Partners Worldwide

This year, subject-ma� er experts have addressed specifi c needs throughout our network:

Lynn White (le� ), an accounting professor at Trinity Christian College,

provided training in accounting this spring for members of Hopeline Insti-

tute, the local business affi liate of Partners Worldwide in Accra, Ghana.

Agribusiness specialist, Ron Newhouse (right), traveled to Zambia to

walk alongside AfricaWorks in value-chain analysis and grain storage to

be� er build the bridge between micro-business farmers and larger food

production companies within the country.

Volunteering through

Partners Worldwide

provided Rachel an

opportunity to

understand the challeng-

es businesses around the

globe face today—and

ways she could use her

professional skills to walk

alongside others.

What is a Subject Matter Expert?

Fall 2012 Partners Worldwide 616.818.4900 www.partnersworldwide.org3

Tour PartnerWe are proud to be a tour partner for the 2013 Sea to Sea tour. Sea to Sea is expected to be the largest cross-con-tinental bike tour ever. Biking 3,900 miles across the US and Canada isn’t just about the ‘fun’, but to raise aware-ness and money to fi ght poverty around the world. For more information about the tour, visit seatosea.org.

Watch a video of Grace’s story and find out more:

dignity.org

Start your Journey

Call or email today for more information: 1.800.919.7307 info@partnersworldwide.org

LEARN!

• Visit our website and be

inspired by the stories of

our work

• Join the Journey series: sign up for one or

more of our weekly webinars

• Read My Business, My Mission. Order yours

at www.mybusiness-mymission.com

• Check out our videos on YouTube Channel:

h!p://bit.ly/PWYouTube

• Join Equip - monthly learning opportunities

coming 2013

SERVE!

• Pray for our ministry

(Prayer newsle!er coming

January ‘13)

• Come on our next Engage trip and see how

your passions, calling and skills intersect

with our work

• Offer your skills as a Subject Ma!er Expert

• Mentor an entrepreneur in one of the

23 countries in which we serve and have a

direct impact

• Join an existing partnership... or create one

� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �� � � ! " � # $ %& ' ( ! � ( % ) * +

PAID* , - . / " - 0 1 / 2 3 4 $! + " 4 $ % � 5 ' 6 6 7