The heart of reaching out to poor neighbours

For the poor will never cease to be in the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall freely open your hand to your brother, to your needy and poor in your land.’ Deuteronomy 15:11.

Leaders of Family Business who have had the privilege of travelling to Europe, South Africa or the USA will often admit their initial shock at seeing the homeless and beggars.

Those whose minds transform come to the realisation that while poverty is widely evident, it is not an Africa-specific problem.

When John, then in charge of logistics for a multinational petroleum company, visited Madagascar in the late 1990s, he was astounded to see poverty-stricken light-skinned individuals in the streets of Antananarivo. He had imagined poverty to be a black people problem.

Poverty comes in different types. Leaders of Family Business, especially those who venture into high level business or politics are often themselves victims of poverty even though they may be extremely rich materially.

Only a small number of “wealthy” people are certain that any of the people who so loudly sing their accolades would want to be associated with them if their financial circumstances were to change dramatically.

Stories are told of renowned business leaders who, though well known in the financial circles, sit alone after work; their peers want nothing to do with them even though they are adored as entrepreneurship kings.

While they may be incredibly rich in dollar terms, they are notoriously tight-fisted and might very well also be one of the poorest people suffering from the kind of poverty described by Mother Teresa as that of being “unloved, unwanted and uncared for; the greatest poverty of all.”

On September 30, 2014 Kenya’s economy was rebased moving the country from a poor to a lower middle income economy with one stroke of the pen.

According to local analysts, this increase in financial status did not increase the amount of money available for government to spend on infrastructure nor did it result in the increase of family incomes.

It, therefore, came as no surprise that the celebrations and fanfare were confined to government offices and seeing that more than 45 per cent of Kenya’s population lives below the poverty line; they had no time to celebrate this abstract promotion.

Various governments since Independence have tried their best to alleviate poverty among Kenya’s population through the development of appropriate policies to improve health, agricultural productivity and encourage entrepreneurship.

While these policies are well meaning, their effect is limited since they do not deliberately encourage partnership with faith-based institutions and family-owned businesses as conduits or agents of poverty mitigation, especially in dealing directly with those who suffer.

The Leader of Family Business should accept the existence of poverty, whether brought on by the negligence, laziness or pure bad fortune as a fact of life.

Every family business ought to have within its stated or unstated purpose actions they take towards comforting those who are afflicted by material poverty.

Poverty is a reality of life. There will always be people who are in material need if for no other reason as to provide a channel through which more fortunate people, especially Leaders of Family Business, can give part of their resources and obtain blessings that accrue from generosity.

The alleviation of poverty from society does not solely belong to the government.

This task mainly belongs to faith-based organisations and family businesses with whom the poor are most likely to interact and who can, on account of such proximity, provide the most viable solutions to the challenges poor people face.

It is only through generous giving to those who are less fortunate that Leaders of Family Businesses can free themselves from spiritual poverty which so often afflicts those who are materially wealthy.

Mr Mutua is a Humphrey Fellow and a leadership development consultant focused on family businesses. E-mail: [email protected].