What is the Off-ramp out of Extreme Poverty?

Global ImpactGlobal Investment
Written By Donald Simmons, CFP®

This month, I would like to draw your attention to the following brief read written by Larry Sharp. Larry, a long-time missional business founder and IBEC Ventures missional business coach, agrees with me that we must abandon the notion that charity is sacred and investments are secular. Since investment capital is the lifeblood of business enterprise, we believe that investments, not donations, are the primary component needed to catalyze impact.

Larry explores how Bono, the musician and activist, concludes that investment capital is necessary to address poverty worldwide. Bono considers the impact of globalization, the movement of products, technology, information, and jobs across nations. Larry’s article in its entirety is included below:

Bono on Business

What do you think of when you hear the name, Bono?

U2 and rock music, right?

Every day, we hear testimonials on the news media. Sometimes spokespeople are famous, but not competent to speak up on a subject. Not so with Bono and business. There are many commendable aspects for this 62-year-old rockstar. He loves his wife of 40 years. He has addressed social and religious issues in an effort to raise consciousness on important concerns like AIDS, wars in Africa, poverty, unemployment, among others. He is an apologist for Jesus.

“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.”

—Bono

Keep reading at the IBEC Ventures Blog.

Larry W. Sharp, Larry Sharp is the founder of IBEC Ventures and now serves as Director of Strategic Training and Partnerships. His weekly IBEC Insights blog reaches thousands of current and prospective BAM entrepreneurs in over 100 countries. Larry’s vision and expertise has helped IBEC influence dozens of BAM businesses. Larry currently focuses on the training sector, helping people understand Business as Mission and preparing consultants to serve overseas in high risk places.

Donald Simmons, CFP®

Don has over thirty years of experience building and managing a boutique investment firm in upstate New York that he founded in 1988. A CFP® Professional with a degree in counseling and post graduate training as a portfolio asset allocation specialist, Don fuses professional portfolio strategy with investor psychology and behavior to provide a well-informed perspective on our role as Christian steward-investors.  With nearly a quarter billion dollars of assets under management, his firm consistently ranks among the top 1% of financial advisor practices in the United States. 

Being a fiduciary of his clients’ assets has enlightened Don’s understanding of our role as God’s “oikonomos”—His designated asset managers.  Additionally, Don believes that business itself is an incarnational witness, much like the ministry of Young Life through which Don began his own personal relationship with Christ and with which Don has been involved as staff, volunteer, and committee chair for over four decades.  

While serving as chief operations officer for a London-based Christian economic development fund,  Don observed firsthand the great chasm between societies where capital is hoarded in abundance compared to locations where it is in short supply and desperately needed to fulfill God’s redemptive plan. Don was responsible for coordinating a global management team that deployed dozens of mentors and coaches and financial capital to transformational businesses across more than twenty countries and among the most impoverished communities in the world. Furthermore, as he has traveled extensively both personally and professionally to dozens of frontier market countries since 2003, he’s gained an awareness of the physical and spiritual poverty that are too often met with ignorance and apathy of American Christians regarding their plight. 

Don’s passion for meeting these needs through the expansion of business as mission, as well as being a long-time steward of his clients’ assets, has led him to not only help his clients prepare for retirement, manage their wealth, and consider charitable giving, but also to help investors match their investment decisions to God’s purposes.  

Don has been married to Amy since 1989. Their home is a hub of activity for their four children and a steady stream of guests. In addition to family, Don’s passions include flying an antique (1948) seaplane, cooking pizza in his wood-fired pizza oven, and serving as a board member for numerous charities.

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