Business as Mission and COVID19 #2

Crises are tailor-made for Christians to demonstrate the love, ingenuity, and grace of God. If we can recover our wits and turn our focus “up and out,” we can quickly see all manner of opportunities to serve. The “fields are white unto harvest.”

The last post was more focused on how to support BAM companies during these times. They have been hard hit, particularly in developing countries where most BAMmers operate. Please note, WEA is setting up a BAM resources page for this crisis; it’s referenced on our home page as well.

Today, I’d like to focus briefly on how BAM companies can impact their community and market. All business is based, ultimately, on finding a need and meeting it with a product or service for which customers are willing to pay. It is the “exchange of value.”

So, look again at the needs in your market. What are the most pressing? What is not currently being met, or being met well. What is hard to get? Impossible to find? Overpriced? All of these things are cues for business owners and entrepreneurs to watch and address.

One common example is the amazing response of various businesses (large and small) to the crisis-driven need for face masks. I’ve seen everything from a single sewing machine operation to entire factories converting time, material and people to making and distributing COVID19 protection. And these are not all from companies that made them to begin with. One wallet maker (www.all-lett.com) has begun offering face masks using their expertise and machinery that was designed to make their wallets.

So, think about what is needed in your market and community. Consider if you already have it or can quickly repurpose people and machinery to produce it. Ask if you can make/provide it cheaper, better, faster than anyone else.

BAMmers, there is opportunity out there to re-engage your business and do so in the name of Jesus. People are looking for “cups of cold water.”