BAM is Global: Around the World in 40 Days

/in , , /by

We are starting a new series on The BAM Review blog: Around the World in 40 Days!

BAM is a global phenomenon. No one network or organisation can claim that they started it or they are leading it. Rather God is on the move around the world, calling men and women from all continents to start businesses for His Kingdom purposes. To highlight just some of what He is doing, and emphasise that business as mission is a global movement, we will take a tour around the BAM world for the next six weeks or so. We hope you enjoy the trip!

To kick off this series, below is a repost of an interview we did with Mats Tunehag, first published in January 2015, taking a look at the global BAM movement.

Business as Mission: The Global Movement Today

An interview with Mats Tunehag

Mats, what have you seen changing in business as mission in the last 15-20 years?

We are seeing a reawakening of what it means to be a Christian in business in our day and age. There has been remarkable growth of people getting engaged in doing business for God and the common good. If we take a 15 year time span, there are things we have today that didn’t exist 15 years ago. Now, we have a greater common understanding globally of this idea that we call ‘business as mission’. There are significant common denominators in our understanding, even though terminology may vary from group to group.

15 years ago when you mentioned business as mission, there were many questions about ‘What is that?’, ‘Is this something we want to get involved in?’ Today you can travel to almost any country and bump into people who have heard of, or are talking about, or practicing, business as mission. That is one of the major changes globally. Read more

7 Principles for Running a Kingdom Business from a 20 year Journey

/in , /by

Once a month, our panel of mentors answer your practical business questions. Send us your questions!

 

Dear BAM Mentor,

Starting out, I have BAM goals for my business and part of that is a company culture I want to intentionally develop. I expect my values and intentions will hit some roadblocks as I work that out on the ground…. How have you intentionally developed your company culture so that it reinforces and integrates with your BAM goals? What have been some challenges to that process, especially when operating cross-culturally?

~ Crossing Cultures

Dear Crossing,

Starting a business whose explicit goal and raison d’etre is to serve Kingdom concerns is difficult, but not impossible. My take on ‘Kingdom concerns’ is that they essentially boil down to developing people and glorifying God. Down through the ages, many Christians have successfully set up businesses for the same purpose. No doubt, many have also failed. While I do not have empirical evidence, I believe a majority of failures could be down to the business end of things, rather than their choice of Kingdom values over commercial interests.

I started a BAM company in India about 20 years ago. It took me three years to get to a point where I could formalize in writing how I would run the company as a “Kingdom Business”– as I referred to it at the time. Here are seven key principles that I discovered along the way, especially during those first three years of trying to figure it all out. I hope these principles will help you in your own discovery of what it means for you to be a BAM entrepreneur. Read more

6 Ways BAM Practitioners Develop Their Company Culture: Part 2

/in , /by

We asked 12 BAM Practitioners how they have gone about developing their company culture and what values and behaviors they have intentionally tried to instill. Their responses showed six clear themes: 6 ways to develop company culture. [Read Part 1]

Part 2: 3 more ways practitioners told us they develop company culture

 

4. Staff Orientation and Training

Communicating expectations upfront about culture and the biblical foundation for company values is a powerful way to set the stage for a strong ‘culture identity’. Regular discussion and staff training reinforces the culture and values that are being communicated and modelled.

Our business is in a Muslim country which has minorities of all the major religions. Everyone we hire is asked in their final interview, “We operate this business according to the principles in the Bible, is this a problem for you?” We have Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists all working for us. No one has ever turned down a job because of this question. Having laid this foundation, it paves the way for prayer and using the Scriptures openly in our office. It gives us opportunities to teach godly values in all we do. – Patrick, Asia

Staff orientation is something we use to manage expectations upfront – even before making employment offers. We share the mission, history and culture of the company, along with the role of faith at the company or the personal testimony of the founder. This is all to ask if the person is “willing to come into this type of environment”. We get a verbal agreement that they are joining a faith-based or values-based company and embarking on a journey to challenge and grow themselves. We’ve found this is essential to manage expectations and open the door for follow on spiritual impact. From there we take an hour weekly during work hours, where the company is shut down, to break into teams to discuss and set goals around biblically-based principles – Mark, IT, Asia

We meet weekly as small groups to work towards character development – Ben and Yumi, IT, Southeast Asia Read more

6 Ways BAM Practitioners Develop Their Company Culture: Part 1

/in , /by

We asked 12 BAM Practitioners how they have gone about developing their company culture and what values and behaviors they have intentionally tried to instill. Their responses showed six clear themes: 6 ways to develop company culture.

Part 1: The top 3 ways practitioners told us they develop company culture

 

1. Visible Values That Are Thoroughly Integrated into Operations

Having a set of clearly articulated values is a key to developing an intentionally-driven company culture. These values must then be woven through everything that happens in the company.

We try to integrate our core values into everything that we do. Our job applications are built with questions that try to assess these values in applicants. Our HR training is basically a series of lessons on these specific values. Most problems that arise can be answered by looking back at these core values and applying them to individual situations. However, it is sometimes tough to remember to take opportunities to teach values. Often our employees come to us with problems and we have tried to develop a habit of pointing them to the core values and asking them which ones apply to their particular problem. This means slowing down from the demands of the day and taking the time to walk through it with them. It is often tempting (because it is easier and faster) to just tell them what to do. However, we find that when we are intentional and take the time, it is a huge blessing to both parties and to the long-term effectiveness of our business. – Steven, Service Company, Thailand

We have a defined set of three core values, which are Social Justice, Honest Relationships, and Servant leadership. Clearly these have an underlying missiological foundation. Our values affect the way we operate, for instance, our office layout reflects our values: no-one has a big office, or a large desk. We are seeking to embed these across our whole team, irrespective of faith background. We are currently walking through a series of 1 hour sessions with our management team entitled Values Conversations. These are round-table discussions around the values, rather than front-led training. The concept behind this is an understanding that we are journeying together, we are all a work-in-progress and the role of leadership in these conversations is from a place of vulnerability and mutual learning rather than from a place of strength. – MH, Asia Read more

How to Integrate Kingdom Culture in Company Culture

/in , /by

Once a month, our panel of mentors answer your practical business questions. Send us your questions!

 

Dear BAM Mentor,

Starting out, I have BAM goals for my business and part of that is a company culture I want to intentionally develop. I expect my values and intentions will hit some roadblocks as I work that out on the ground…. How have you intentionally developed your company culture so that it reinforces and integrates with your BAM goals? What have been some challenges to that process, especially when operating cross-culturally?

~ Crossing Cultures

Dear Crossing,

Company Culture is Kingdom Culture

If we believe that the first step of any successful mission is getting a believer together with an unbeliever, then we can immediately see the power of business. If the business context may be the only encounter a person has with the Kingdom of God, then that business culture becomes mission-critical. As Peter Drucker says, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”

If you wish to get something done in business, the environment the people do it in is important. If you wish to get something done and have people encounter the light of the Kingdom, then developing the right culture is a non-negotiable. In our business operations, we say that we, “Show people around the kingdom and introduce them to the King.” Read more

Developing a BAM Company Culture Part 2: Aligning a Company

/in , /by

Read Part 1: Developing a Company Culture: Foundational Principles

Since the leaders and staff of a business usually come from different worldviews, with differing values and beliefs, it is quite likely that alignment of behaviours and practices will not be automatic! This is especially true of a BAM company that is operating cross-culturally and with language barriers among staff.

The company leaders may wish they didn’t need policies and systems because they want everyone to be aligned on vision and values. However, very often we are not. Newcomers come in without understanding of the company vision and values, established staff still struggle to be on the same page, simply because they have different cultural norms, expectations and learned behaviours. So how do I as the leader draw us through cultural change? How do I help people adopt our ways?

Going Through Cultural Change

It is helpful to remember that you are working for behavioural change, but that current behaviours or attitudes stem from already held principles, that are in turn rooted in values and beliefs.

There are three stages of cultural alignment:

1. Dependent culture

I will obey your rule but I don’t agree with it. This rule or practice is not intrinsic to me, I comply because I have to, because there is some external incentive or penalty. Read more

Developing a BAM Company Culture Part 1: Foundational Principles

/in , /by

Company culture is vital to success in business as mission. In BAM we ‘show people around the Kingdom, and introduce them to the King’, as one practitioner expressed. Therefore, an important goal of a BAM company is to establish a ‘Kingdom of God’ culture in relationships and the business environment – influencing for God and for good inside the company and in the wider community, among all stakeholders.

Secularisation and mission-drift are a very real threats to a BAM business as it grows larger. The faster a company grows, the greater the threat of culture dilution. The question of how to maintain and strengthen your company culture is something to seriously think about as you prepare to grow as a BAM company.

The Belief Tree

Culture develops out of beliefs and values (roots and trunk) that grow in the ‘soil’ of our worldview. From there comes the principles that guide the decisions we make and the policies we create (branches). These in the turn produce the ‘fruit’ – the actions, behaviours, routines, practices, initiatives, programs etc. in our company.

YWAM_Belief_Tree

Graphic and Belief Tree Teaching by YWAM International

Our worldview is developed by our experiences in the culture and family which we grew up in. We need to first ask ourselves how our own worldview needs to be transformed to align with a biblical worldview – one that is shaped by the Word of God. Then we need to recognise that the people we are working with may have a different set of values, beliefs, principles and practices, growing out of a different worldview to ours. Read more

A BAM Practitioner’s Thoughts on Taxes

/in , /by

Once a month, our panel of mentors answer your practical business questions. Send us your questions!

 

Dear BAM Mentor,

What are some guidelines you could pass on from your practical experience of paying taxes? I am in a challenging environment for business, and while I don’t want to evade tax, I do want to minimise company taxes to give my business the best chance of survival.

~ Taxed

Dear Taxed,

In short, it is critically important that BAM companies do their tax and legal work in a “world class manner.”

What does this look like? You find and retain good tax people who will keep you within the laws while also minimizing taxes. Plan ahead and stay current.

Be wise as serpents and innocent as doves – Matt 10:16

The mature…have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil – Hebrews 5:14, ESV

Some Background

Since 1990, our BAM-focused holding company has had partial or full ownership in over 25 companies with another 20+ companies being “management-supported” by us, with total workforce around 5,000. These legal entities have been in eight different countries, with five of those countries among the least reached of the world – China and four Islamic countries. We have holding companies in three other countries primarily for tax purposes: Hong Kong, USA and Mauritius

We have had situations where we were trail-blazing operating a foreign-owned company in a place. We were the very first foreign company registered in a certain Central Asian country when it was still part of the Soviet Union. We were the second foreign company registered in that same country, under the new system, when it when it became independent. Read more

Navigating Legal and Tax Challenges in Southeast Asia

/in , , /by

We interviewed the founders of a group of retail companies that started in 1999 and now operate in three countries across Southeast Asia. We asked them what their greatest legal and tax challenges have been and how they have overcome them.

One of our first and biggest challenges was figuring out how to set up and operate our businesses in Vietnam. Although the law has changed since we first started out, at the time it wasn’t possible for a retail business to be owned by a foreigner. We had a production company there which we fully owned, but for the retail side we had to be creative. We followed a well-used route at the time that involved setting up an agreement with a trusted Vietnamese partner to establish the company, with written contracts to back it up. Although this route was legal, it wasn’t clear cut and wasn’t always easy to know how to navigate the situation.

Each time we have registered a new company in one of the countries we’ve hired a local law firm or business consulting firm to help us go through the business registration process. This has been essential because where we operate, this is not something you want to do on your own. We use a lawyer and we check with consultants locally about the process. We got our Vietnam registration completed in six months, whereas others have taken years. Getting that expert input is essential – if you don’t have everything right, it can really come back to bite you.

In Vietnam it is difficult to process anything without paying extra ‘fees’. We don’t pay bribes (i.e. offering money to receive a service we are not entitled to), but we do occasionally get extorted for money (i.e. being forced to pay extra for a service we are entitled to). Although we do try and resist being extorted, it does happen from time to time. Read more

Paying Taxes with a Mountain of Cash: A Taxing Story!

/in , /by

Death and taxes, though often said to be the only sure things in life, are not often a source of amusement. However, here is a funny story from one tourism business in Asia that had to pay their taxes the hard way.

Three years after opening their tourism business, the department of tourism finally created the proper paperwork for filing the tourism tax. In developing countries systems and processes are a work in progress. The company paid their other government taxes when due but with the tourism tax, they set aside money in the bank until the government processes were in place. Three years of taxes added up to approximately US$25,000.

Due to risk of corruption, the tax office required that the payment clear the account on the same day it was received. No money could be left in the account overnight. There was no guarantee that a check would clear or a wire transfer go through in the suitable amount of time prior to the end of a day’s work, so cold hard cash was the only acceptable form of payment.

On the morning of paying the tourism tax, the owners parked the company car in front of their bank and walked in with backpacks and duffle bags to make the withdrawal. Not knowing how much space US$25,000 in local currency would require, they tried to plan accordingly. Read more