Alfred A. Whittaker was a devoted Christian and active churchman while pursuing a financially rewarding business career. Then at the age of fifty-five he resigned as executive vice-president of the Mennen Company to become part of a very small organization with a very big idea for Third World development. His extensive interest in overseas dealings goes back to when he was president of Bristol-Myers International Corporation. Mr. Whittaker holds the B.S. in business administration from New York University and an honorary doctorate from Taylor University. He is the co-founder of a group of homes for unwanted children, a former board chairman of Nyack College, and a director of Voice of Calvary in Mendenhall, Mississippi. Mr. Whittaker, now executive director of the Institute for International Development, Incorporated, was interviewed by Senior Editor David Kucharsky.
Question. What if anything has economic development to do with Christian outreach?
Answer. The hardest thing in the world is to look at a starving man and tell him God loves him. Why can’t missions realize that?
Q. Maybe they do realize it but feel that the Church’s very nature is to give priority to spiritual matters. And given today’s realities, how much could the Church do?
A. Is it unspiritual to clothe the naked and feed the hungry? Our best example is Christ himself. He met physical as well as spiritual needs. In Matthew 25 he tells how deeds of compassion performed for fellow human beings will be regarded as if they have been done for Christ himself. Through meeting these needs we earn the right to relate to them on a spiritual level.
Q. Yes, but we can’t be held responsible for what is beyond our practical capacity. Do you feel that the economic, political, social, and cultural barriers that separate the affluent West from the Third World can be transcended enough that we can really do some good?
A. It is not easy, but I’m sure they can. We have an example of this in the case of the free-enterprise system here in the United States, even though the end result leaves something to be desired. Many companies, particularly the larger ones, have established a substantial international business. They have in recent decades been moving into the developing countries, where they have found markets for their products. In so doing they have found ways to surmount the obstacles. Now in the process, in many cases, they have made and marketed products that actually are not suited to the needs of the poorer and most populous segment of people. But yet the products are sold there. They are meeting the desires of the few with great purchasing power but in the process fail to meet the basic needs of the masses who live below the poverty level.
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Q. Do you think that many of the multi-national corporations have taken unfair advantage of the people in the poorer countries in the continuous quest for growth and expanding markets?
A. Large American corporations have been accused of being imperialistic, and I suspect that in large measure this is a valid criticism. Huge sums of money have been invested overseas and cheap labor recruited. While that has provided jobs for a number of people, many a company, once successful, expatriates that money plus much more in the form of profits. Further, it makes it virtually impossible for a local worker to participate in the ownership of the corporation. Hence there is no possibility that such an enterprise will become indigenous.
Q. Are you sure that people in the Third World can be adequately motivated to improve their lot?
A. I’m certain that they can, but it is an educational process. Most importantly, the poor must be made aware of their poverty. We must live with them, identify with them, and work to change their mentality and outlook.
Q. What do you say to the point made by Jesus that we always have the poor with us?
A. The poor, yes. The hungry, no! And there is a world of difference. Typically, in a developing country, there are the relatively few at the top with most of the wealth, the great masses at the bottom with little wealth, and no middle class. So you could improve the economic lot of many by 100 per cent and they would still be poor.
Q. Now then, what is so special about what your organization, IIDI, is trying to do?
A. We are attemping to alleviate the problems of poverty by creating jobs and raising the level of family income.
Q. And you recognize the needs of the people in the underdeveloped countries, right?
A. Right. Commercial operations originating in the affluent West have not been keyed to business development in the Third World, where poverty is habitual. Many people believe that we have starvation and malnutrition because there is not enough food to go around. That’s not true. Sufficient food can be produced today to feed all the people in the world.
Q. Why are people going hungry?
A. They are going hungry because they do not have enough money to buy food. It’s a marketing problem, not a production problem. If there were money to buy food in these poorer countries, the food would be there.
Q. And why don’t people have money?
A. Because they don’t have jobs. Unemployment in the poorer countries runs at 30 to 40 per cent of the work force, to say nothing of under employment. The economic development of the country is not sufficient to support the available work force. This is a basic problem that creates a number of peripheral problems. IIDI’s activity is focused on generating jobs by starting new businesses or expanding those already in operation.
Q. What about the billions that the United States has put into foreign aid over the years?
A. Much American aid has been in the form of infrastructure such as roads, irrigation, dams, and electrification, which has helped the country at large but has been of only indirect help to the poverty-stricken. Much of this aid, it is true, has been humanitarian assistance; but since our government deals directly with the governments of the developing countries, a lot of the aid for a variety of reasons has not filtered down to where the needs are greatest. This clearly points up the importance of mobilizing the private sector in the task of economic development, which can work directly at the level of need.
Q. Christian organizations have been engaged in direct relief and rehabilitation too. Doesn’t that money help?
A. It does—temporarily. These agencies have done a tremendous work. A lot of suffering has been alleviated, for example, in the help extended following major disasters. But there must be some long-term solutions as well.
Q. What do you mean?
A. We have in the Christian community a tremendous resource represented by the businessmen. I’m talking about those businessmen who have a commitment to Christ, a commitment in which there is implicit obedience to the commandments of Christ, including those requiring us to care for the unfortunate. Christ has also given us the commandment to go into the world and preach the Gospel. We have related these commandments in sending out medical missionaries and educational missionaries, that is, teachers. Now, why not the businessman? Why not turn his skills and experience into a ministry just as we have those of the doctor and nurse and teacher?
Q. In some places, most notably in pre-war China, missionaries got an awful reputation for allegedly aiding and abetting foreign merchants who were exploiting the people. Don’t we run the same risk?
A. No. The Christian entrepreneurs we work with have an entirely different motivation and operate their business on different ethical principles.
Q. How can we put ourselves in the place of the poor in the Third World countries so that we can understand their problems?
A. We have to roll back the clock about 150 to 200 years. We have to think about how people in the United States made a living then, because that is where most of these countries are in their economic development. There were abundant resources, but not many skills or entrepreneurs. The same is true today in the Third World countries. All have resources but are lacking capital and expertise. They have the people with talents in latent form. Why not match up the resources with the needs? And if a country has, for example, abundant forests, instead of simply cutting down trees and exporting the logs at next-to-nothing cost, wouldn’t it make sense for an American who knows the lumber business to go to that country and invest capital in a business that may involve a saw mill and a fabricating plant? He would employ people in jobs that they are easily trained for, and then export the wood in a finished or semi-finished form. This would mean not only supplying more jobs than if he just shipped out logs but also sending out the fruits of the people’s labor in a form that has a higher value, which then improves the country’s balance of trade.
Q. So then IIDI acts as a sort of clearing house?
A. We call ourselves a catalyst. We use contacts we have established in these countries with missionaries, local businessmen, and others. Our project directors will even uncover business opportunities and put them in written form to challenge American business entrepreneurs. We motivate them on a spiritual basis to respond to these opportunities. In that way we bring the resource and the opportunity together.
Q. I gather that in many neglected and out-of-the-way places around the world, the missionary will be the only outsider who has any idea about the potential of that particular place—what the people there can or can’t do, what problems can be expected, what there is to do there, and so on.
A. That’s partially true. But also bear in mind that the IIDI project director resides in the country and is also very familiar with the local situation as well as the language, culture, business practices, and the like. For example, Ross Clemenger, our project director in Colombia, was a missionary under the Gospel Missionary Union mission for over twenty-five years before joining IIDI in 1972.
Q. So it isn’t as if the businessman is coming in cold and taking a gamble. Here’s someone with experience who can advise him.
A. That’s right. Now in most cases, however, this businessman, if he were to apply the usual business criteria in evaluating the opportunity, would not respond positively. These opportunities carry more risk. That’s why only businessmen who have some sense of commitment become involved.
Q. Some people are planning a funeral for capitalism. How do you feel about it?
A. Capitalism is not dead, not by a long shot. One of the things that has made this country great and continues to supply the vitality for our economic growth is the capitalistic system. And it can work just as well in these poor countries. Our approach is basically the free-enterprise system, but we have set up requirements that correct some of the perceived weaknesses of the free-enterprise system.
Q. Can you give an example of these requirements?
A. Well, let’s say a businessman agrees to explore an opportunity that we bring to his attention. He goes overseas and meets our project director, who will, in effect, be at his side in order to lead him through the many first-time experiences. If he decides he really wants to move ahead, he must agree that when he starts the business, the primary objective is for him to share his resources in a way that will allow the people to learn the business and come to the point where they have the capability to run the business on their own. He must see that the employees are trained and then move the more capable ones into positions of responsibility, work along with them, and gradually relinquish management. Also, he must set up some way for them to share the profits so that they can eventually participate in the ownership. Ultimately it becomes a completely indigenous business.
Q. What size investments are we talking about?
A. I would say most of the businesses we are involved in begin with an investment of between $10,000 and $30,000.
Q. Is that cash, or do they borrow on other assets, or what?
A. The businessman from North America can provide part of this capital himself, part comes from the host country partner, and at times IIDI will participate in the financing of a project.
Q. How does IIDI invest in a project?
A. We have set up a special fund for doing this. Contributions are made by people who desire to participate and help the business become successful so that people without jobs and with little hope can become gainfully employed and raise their standard of living at least to the subsistence or self-support level.
Q. What if there is a national partner?
A. There is always an involvement with a national, since the goal is to have the business operated and owned by local people.
Q. How soon can the American investor expect a return?
A. It depends on the business. Many businessmen know, of course, that even though a profit can be realized quickly, it helps the business to grow more quickly if those early returns are plowed back into expansion.
Q. What are some of the snags you have run into?
A. One major problem results from the fact that we do not charge for our services. We are a non-profit organization. Yet there is an operational expense—salaries for a small staff, office space, and travel. These need to be covered, and we have chosen from the outset not to turn to the churches for operating support. Rather we have positioned ourselves as a professional organization with a spiritual purpose, and therefore have tried to generate the funding outside the churches. Some Christians do give to our work, but we have felt that by actively soliciting support from the Church we would in effect be taking money out of one pocket and putting it into another.
Q. How hard has it been to find Christian businessmen who are willing to invest in the way you have described?
A. Sometimes it is difficult to find businessmen who are far enough down the road on their spiritual pilgrimage to realize fully that what they have is not their own, but that they are merely stewards of what God has put in their hands. Until a person reaches that point, he is probably not a good prospect.
Q. Obviously some businesses are more suitable than others, right?
A. Yes. Businesses related to the growing and processing of food in rural areas are very suitable. One of the things we like to try to emphasize is projects which keep the people in rural areas and out of the crowded cities. If the businessman has been successful here in the United States, the chances are excellent for his replicating his business anywhere, making proper adjustments, of course, for the peculiarities of the local situation.
Q. What is your ultimate vision?
A. My vision is to demonstrate the viability of what we’re doing so that we can turn it over to denominations and mission groups to implement it on a larger scale. They have the structure to do it. This does not in any way involve a substitute for current programs. It merely involves the mobilization of a latent force that already exists within the Church and superimposing it on that which is already under way. This then becomes a relevant, meaningful expression of “living” the Gospel as well as preaching it.
Sunrise
Day-sun dying, sleeps the dark-terrors through—
tempting tiger stalk. Who can cry
up light to blind his eyes, find a high
path to safety? And does the dead Jew-
son sleep? The lion-walked-world that slew
Him trembled at His last breath. Who can try
the stoned darkness to find life, pry
out resurrection secrets? Watch. Dawn’s new
rays pierce to the pause of dark, dog-snap
yapping at the night, to drive it to horizon’s pocket
or circling it, robe it, transfigured at bay. So sing
the star-songs, morning-song of the garden to the tap-tap
tapping of dew dropped pearling the locket
stone He wears risen before Mary — King.
Douglas Livingston
