Perspectiva

My first day on the job I entered the non-air-conditioned facade with a long sleeve shirt, slacks, and beads of sweat streaming down my cheeks, only to find out I’d be attending a strategic planning workshop for leather shoemakers. Sounds interesting, right? Well…it was…for the first hour or two. As my eyelids got heavier and heavier I reached into my bag of government experience and deployed the “staying awake” tactics. I got up and pretended to go to the bathroom, stretched my limbs, and returned to my seat with the hope that I would actually learn something about strategic planning. Even though I had no such luck, I realized immediately that my job would not be about building “knowledge” in its traditional sense. Instead, the true benefit would come in building perspective.

The workshop about strategic planning on Day 1 offered the perspective of the local leather shoemakers, where I listened to the simplistic visions of these niche businesses. As we split up into groups I felt obligated to make some sort of contribution. After we went through the basics and answered all of the questions about the strengths, weaknesses, and goals of their business, I took a minute to talk to the dominating voice of our group.

“Fernando, what are the real goals of your business?” I asked.
“To sell more, to go international, to improve,” he responded.
“That’s great. But how are you going to do that? What do you need?”
“Better machinery.”
“And what if you can’t get better machinery?”
“Then I can’t improve.”
“Is there anything else you can do to grow your business?”
“No. Only better machinery.”

That was it. There was no mention of anything else aside from this machinery. There was no mention of stylistic change. There was no mention of relocation, or different marketing techniques. There was certainly no mention of using the internet. In Fernando’s mind, there was only one solution to his problem – machinery – which he doesn’t have and he can’t afford.

The parent/child workshop on Day 2 offered a slightly more uplifting perspective, for we asked the parents and the children to split up into groups and express through drawings the concerns in their lives. First, we had the perspective of the parents, which was characterized by drawings of money shortages, workers commuting or moving to better-paying countries, and unemployment. Then, we had the perspective of the children, which was more or less characterized by drawings of themselves, sitting at their school desks with inner-monologue clouds about their heads thinking about their future. So typical – children always thinking of themselves! Yet, it was invigorating to see that in spite of challenges, children still have the vision, creativity, and ability to dream.

Without a doubt, the most humbling perspective struck on Day 4, when a coworker and I went out into the field for credit solicitation. Our first stop was a regular borrower from our organization who operates a tortilla business in her backyard. Now, by backyard I mean an area the size of a one-car garage, with a dirt floor, wooden table, and spotty covering – like the picnic area of a run-down park. This woman, with her two assistants, is known for making the best and biggest tortilla in the neighborhood. With the microcredit, she was able to purchase the two giant tortilla pans that rest on the naturally-generated burners on the back table. About ten minutes into our visit, a local came by and purchased four tortillas. I thought to myself…wow, four tortillas for one customer, not bad! Then I saw the monetary exchange, at 2 Cordoba’s (about 10 cents) per tortilla, and thought to myself again…even if she has good day of 30 customers, and they each buy 4 tortillas, she will generate 12 dollars of revenue for a full day’s work. Minus materials and labor…you do the math.

Even though the first week of work placed me in observation mode, I quickly learned about the scopes of the businesses and people my organization works with. We have the local salespeople who spend their days in the market, the local youths and adults who seek out more education, and the backyard business owners who operate on neighborhood reputation. There was something about those visits on Day 4 that just didn’t sit well though. As we sat in prospective clients´ homes, I found myself not only scanning the room in awe of the conditions, but also in search of threatening mosquitoes that would possibly attack me. Talk about perspective: I’m concerned about a mosquito bite. They’re probably concerned about anything but.