NO "UGH" NEEDED

Do you remember Bono, the lead singer for the band U2? 

His music gained popularity in the 1980s and made him rich and famous. Admirably, in the decades since, Bono has dedicated his life to activism on behalf of the world’s poor, especially in Africa.

Unfortunately, Bono’s main solution tended toward greater government aid and ever greater handouts.

(And handouts can often do more harm than good.) 

So it was surprising to see Bono admit in a recent interview with The New York Times that his eyes have been opened:

“I ended up as an activist in a very different place from where I started. I thought that if we just redistributed resources, then we could solve every problem. I now know that’s not true. There’s a funny moment when you realize that as an activist: The off-ramp out of extreme poverty is, ugh, commerce, it’s entrepreneurial capitalism.”

I am glad Bono has come around! He still has a powerful voice. 

His current stance is where Mission Resource (the organization I now work for) has always been. (And without the “ugh”!) Next year we will be celebrating two full decades of encouraging “entrepreneurial capitalism” in Africa for some of the world’s poorest people by providing the loans they need to build their businesses and their lives. 

It struck me that what Bono went on to say about capitalism and globalizing markets could apply equally to our ministry through Mission Resource:

“If somebody comes to me with a better idea, I’ll sign up. I didn’t grow up to like the idea that we’ve made heroes out of businesspeople, but if you’re bringing jobs to a community and treating people well, then you are a hero. That’s where I’ve ended up.”

I agree with Bono: bringing jobs and kindness to a poor community is heroic! 

Mission Resource is blessed with heroes on both sides of the Atlantic: our Ghanaian staff who do the legwork and our financial partners here in the States who make it possible.