A Second Step Forward

Last week, I wrote of the challenges that I ran up against when presenting our chicken farming "franchise" model to a group of church leaders. I had naively assumed that the church leaders would be more receptive of an opportunity to partner with successful entrepreneurs to develop a micro-enterprise.

This week, I travelled out of the city with my colleague Glenn to present the idea to Christina and Miguel, the family of chicken farmers who could potentially serve as the "franchisor" in our model, and received a more positive reception.

Since we had been at their home a couple of weeks ago, they had expanded their chicken houses and were now raising 2,150 chickens -- roughly a 100% increase.

Miguel explained to us that they expanded because they saw greater demand for their product. He also explained that entrepreneurs never stop expanding. He's not satisfied with 2,150 chickens, but wants to grow the business even larger.

For better or for worse, that sentiment is the fuel that drives economic development around the world.

It's also the sentiment that we're hoping to build upon for the success of our "franchise farming" model. Christina and Miguel have a vision of us helping them to expand their business by building more chicken houses and buying more chickens; by contrast, our vision is to help them expand by teaching them to sell the expertise that they have developed over the past decade of raising chickens to help inexperienced franchisees to have the same success.

Christina and Miguel received the proposal in a very encouraging manner: skeptical optimism. They welcomed the proposal, and thought that it was a good idea. They also spoke at length about a list of fears that they have.

Of their fears, trust was featured most prominently. How can we trust the franchisees, they asked. What if they steal our chickens? What if they don't work hard? It's a valid concern.

We can't assure them that the franchisees are worthy of their trust, but we can provide Christina and Miguel the opportunity to meet any potential franchisees before committing to move forward with the project. After all, they are the ones who need to trust their franchisees; not us.

They also spoke about assuming additional risk by bringing outsiders into their already-successful operation.

And they shared with us the story of a woman who had found business success, only to be poisoned to death by envious clients.

I was glad that they shared these fears with us. Their sharing signaled that they trust us enough to be honest with us. It also signaled that they're engaging the proposal seriously enough to properly weigh its risks and benefits.

I'm not an expert at reading this foreign culture. It had occurred to me that their response might be the polite, indirect way of turning down our proposal, but I don't think so. And neither did our interpreter.

A second step forward.

Next, we have to bring the idea back to the church leaders. If they again demonstrate reticence, we may have to build some momentum by proving the concept using a more willing group of people, in a different village.

* * * * *

As we wrapped up the meeting and were about to begin our drive back into the city, Miguel walked around back of his house and soon re-emerged with a live chicken under his arm. A gift to express his appreciation for us and our work. We politely declined their generous offer, sheepishly admitting that we didn't know how to prepare a live chicken.

His wife laughed at us, and insisted that we return to their house some day to feast on that chicken together. She would even teach us how to kill and prepare it. I will never turn down an invitation to a barbecue, but I hope next time to bring with me several potential franchisees to share the feast and begin building the bonds of trust.