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As an owner of a fourth-year BAM coffee startup in Northern Thailand, my wife Rebecca and I find ourselves hyper-focused on our own world day in and day out. That means trying to control costs, boost marketing, improve employee contact and relations, contact new prospects, inspect products before shipping, preparing loan payments for investors, receipts, accounting, […]

It has been a long time since I was in business school and it seems I don’t remember much; however, there is something I do remember.  It is the question, “why does one start a business?”  The answer (and the books remind us) is to either solve a problem, or meet a need, or follow

“My job is that of a detective,” stated Micah Lund shortly after we met. What? I thought we would be talking about a significant agribusiness, Oasis Agro, in Central Asia where he serves as the CEO.  I had learned about his robust work in the development world with organizations like the Peace Corps and USAID,

When I was growing up in the 1950’s and 60’s, it was common to retread automobile tires, sometimes called re-tire. It is the process of replacing the worn tread on a used tire with new rubber, giving the tire a second (or third) life instead of sending it to a landfill. That issue described me

My youngest daughter is a Human Resource professional, currently working at Oregon State University.  She recently shared a book she had just read entitled “FIT MATTERS” and knew I would be intrigued with the sub-title, “How to Love Your Job”. My first teaching job was in 1970 at Prairie High School in Alberta, Canada; my

IBEC Board member, Dave Kier, owned and operated a sizable animal feed mill in Iowa (see the IBEC video on the website.)  This is one of the many lessons learned over the years in business. Larry W. Sharp, BAM Support Specialist, IBEC Ventures Larry.Sharp@ibecventures.com —– “So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed,

I have often taught and referred to the Kingdom of God (and Heaven) as in the New Testament Gospels books. Approximately half of the references refer to this Kingdom as “here and now”, and half to the “not yet” or the afterlife. In thinking about the “here and now”, some scholars refer to the “Four-Part

IBEC Director, Bob Bush, and Director of Coaching, Jonathan Brake, recently returned from India where they were teaching and coaching BAM startups. Among other relationships, they had the opportunity to meet with Nisha Ghosh, owner of an architectural business in Bangalore. Nisha’s love for India’s impoverished women inspired her to start a new business called Zero. You

Jeanette Amundsen Klodt grew up in the home of career missionaries Roald and Harriet Amundsen in Unalakleet and Nome, Alaska where she was born.  Her parents were classic pioneers and are credited with starting high schools, radio stations, a flying service, a vocational school, and children’s boarding homes as well as churches.  While Roald saw

When I was a child growing up in Canada, we were always given a paper shamrock to wear on St. Patrick’s Day.  A shamrock is a 3-leaf clover, and it is said that St. Patrick used it as a visual to teach the people of Ireland about the Trinity. Some years ago, I learned of