2008/2009

Annual Report

Dear Friends,

I’ve been deeply moved this year by the passion and dedication of men and women around

the world who make our shared vision a reality. This year, Partners Worldwide worked with

over 18,000 businesspeople who have been called to build lasting and local solutions to

poverty by growing businesses and creating jobs. By strengthening relationships between

international and local partners in 20 countries around the world, we have walked alongside

these men and women and helped create 1,141 jobs while strengthening and sustain-

ing an additional 22,016 jobs—jobs that send children to school, pay medical bills,

restore dignity and hope, and make poverty something of the past for thousands of

families each year. Praise God!

As a growing network of businesspeople, in 2009 we also transitioned into our new headquarter facility which serves as the Global

Service Center for Partners Worldwide. Now, we off er plenty of space to connect businesspeople, to use as a site for business train-

ing and presentations, and to more eff ectively operate with our growing domestic and international staff . This building is a tremendous

blessing from God, and would not be possible without a lead gift from Richard and Helen DeVos and generous support and vision

from a core group of donors.

Over the last decade, we have walked alongside a strong network of small and medium entrepreneurs in Haiti who together employ

hundreds of people, creating a ripple eff ect of dignity and sustainability for families and communities. Following the devastating 7.0-

earthquake that hit January 12, 2010, many people within our businesses network lost loved ones. Even more lost their homes. Some

factories were severely damaged. Yet, in this time of great need, none have lost their hope. Right now, we are in close contact with

each entrepreneur who is striving to ensure that local jobs and local businesses, based on biblical standards, will set a solid foundation

on which to rebuild a country.

While we walk alongside businesspeople in Haiti and throughout the world, God has powerfully revealed his plan to transform lives

through business as ministry. Yet, in the midst of transformation, we still face the realities of a world in need. Now is not the time to

put down our tools and rest. Along with you, we recommit this new year to walk alongside believers in the marketplace, who share our

mission to “Encourage, equip and connect business and professional people in global partnerships that grow enterprises and create

sustainable jobs, transforming the lives of all involved.”

Thank you for serving with us in these accomplishments, and the many challenges to come, through your generous prayers, talents, time

and fi nancial support. As you look through this Annual Report, please accept our gratitude for all that God will continue to do in and

through you.

Serving With You,

Doug Seebeck

Executive Director Lettercutivee Dir

Partners Worldwide

2008 - 2009 Overview

CAMBODIA 15 58 0 150

COTE D’IVOIRE 19 500 27 60

ECUADOR 14 40 4 36

GHANA- NEW! *

HONDURAS 12 148 88 217

HAITI 34 84 45 236

INDIA - NEW!*

KENYA 307 3,588 119 3183

LAOS 11 24 0 50

LIBERIA 34 2,152 102 2109

MOZAMBIQUE 2 350 98 252

MALAWI 19 2,945 39 3038

USA 53 263 65 0

NIGERIA 13 181 78 330

NICARAGUA 64 3,966 236 814

PHILIPPINES 15 220 0 792

SOUTH AFRICA 27 146 12 114

TANZANIA - NEW!

UGANDA 22 526 84 656

ZAMBIA 51 10,320 144 9979

TOTAL 712 25,511 1,141 22,016 18,208

Tota

l Men

tors

(loca

l and

int’

l)

Clie

nts w

ho

rece

ived

trai

ning

, m

ento

ring

or

loan

Jobs

Ret

aine

d

Jobs

Cre

ated

Num

ber

of c

lient

busin

esse

s/fa

rms

28

56

17

177

39

3,045

24

917

350

2,968

9

69

181

220

19

120

9,969

*This was a new or emerging country for this year and therefore does not have 12 months worth of data

Latin America & Caribbeann Amermer ccca

In Latin America, Partners Worldwide had seven partnerships in Honduras, Nicaragua and Ecuador. Our partners provided loan capital to 230 small

and medium businesses; facilitated training for over 4,000 members in business, advocacy and biblical worldview principles; created 328 new jobs; helped retain over

1,000 existing jobs; and engaged over 40 international mentors. In Haiti, 45 jobs were created and 236 jobs were retained through our two local affiliates, Haitian Partners for Christian Development in Port-au-Prince and New Jerusalem in Gonaives.

Twelve local businesspeople from the region traveled to Grand Rapids, Michigan for the 2008

Partners Worldwide International Conference. Networking with peers from more than 20 countries, these members gained insights that helped them strengthen their efforts back home.

The results produced from the energies of our Latin American local affiliates – in particular Farmer-to-Farmer and Business-to-Business in Nicaragua – have awakened many Christian businesspeople to the abundant opportunities for partnerships throughout the region.

HONDURAS

• Diaconia Nacional is based in Tegucigalpa and has established credit unions in areas of Honduras where there are Christian Reformed churches. • Stewardship of Christian Ministries is based in Nueva Suyapa, an impoverished community on the edge of Tegucigalpa, and supports small and medium businesses that have grown out of the micro-credit program.

NICARAGUA • Farmer-to-Farmer began with a vision of empowering landless Nicaraguan farmers to be able to own their own farms, and has expanded into six landbanks with many active mentors from Iowa. • Business-to-Business sucessfully strengthens the missing middle in Nicaragua through individual and group mentoring along with access to capital. • Partners for Justice is a partnership of legal professionals who encourage, mentor and support fellow attorneys and advocates through a local affiliate, the Christian Center for Human Rights. • Nehemiah Center offers practical training resources, including Biblical Worldview and Kingdom Business classes that are foundational for Nicaraguan Christian business owners.

ECUADOR • Partners for Christian Development offers training, mentoring and access to a revolving loan fund to local businessespeople who seek to start or grow their businesses.

HAITI • Haitian Partners for Christian Development advances Christian businesses in and around Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The group also established two business incubators in some of the poorest areas of Port-au-Prince where small businesses can grow while they share the costs of electricity, water, security, and office equipment. • Jerusalem S.A.: Individuals from Wisconsin partner with this business group based in Gonaives to support the development of multiple businesses, including a block-making factory that employs 30 people.

Nicaragua

Honduras

Haiti

Ecuador

“This is how you solve poverty,” says retired insurance salesman Cal Walstra. He’s referring to

the fruit of the Business-to-Business local affi liate in Managua. Founded by Roberto and Rosa

Espinoza to bring mutual encouragement to Christian business owners, B2B has leveraged a

loan fund and business training with the following results:

• 102 members receive personal business mentoring and training along with seminars, workshops and networking

opportunities.

• 24 of these members have received loans ranging from $2,000 to $7,000 US

• The B2B revolving loan portfolio has a value of over $150,000 with a 100% repayment rate.

• Last year businesses in the B2B network created 102 new jobs and sustained another 151 jobs.

One loan is creating job opportunities for the poorest of the poor. Susana, owner of a family-run ice-cream business,

already had 19 employees and 20 salespeople peddling ice-cream by pushing insulated carts around Managua. In

envisioning an expansion of her business to meet the demand for her product, Susanne took the idea of business as

ministry to heart. As a result of a B2B loan, she is now able to double the number of sales jobs and has committed to

fi ll the next ten available positions with those in the society who need them most – residents of the local dump.

Susana’s story shows how the success of small and medium sized businesses ripples out and

restores hope to those in greatest need. She’s a living embodiment of “business as ministry for a

world without poverty.”

Susana’s story shows how the success of small and me

restores hope to those in greatest need. She’s a living

world without poverty.”

“

t

l

Managua

Nicaragua

One cart equals one job as over

twenty vendors sell Susana’s natural

ice-cream on the streets of Managua.

West Africaest AfrAfr ccc

Liberia

• Nine international mentors and 23 local mentors provide support for

entrepreneurs within LEAD, Inc. (Liberia Entrepreneurial and Asset Development, In the Name of Christ), an affiliate of over 1,800 members. Last year LEAD strengthened 2,109 jobs and created 102 new jobs.

CÔte d’Ivoire

• Near the city of Danané, ACLCP (The Association of Christians Fighting Against Poverty) offers training in business and agricultural stewardship to its 350 members who created 27 jobs this year.

Ghana

• Hopeline Institute offers women training in business and preventative health, promoting village savings and loan associations with 400 members in more than 40 villages.

Nigeria

• Partners for Christian Empowerment Network (PCEN): Four active chapters of PCEN consist of nearly 70 business owners and entrepreneurs who created 78 jobs this year and strengthened 330 others.

• Water Wins: Over 150 bore holes have been dug, hand pumps installed, and a sustainable maintenance program is functioning in northwest Nigeria, serving over 60,000 individuals.

Partners Worldwide walks alongside businesspeople

and entrepreneurs in Liberia, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Nigeria to create jobs and overcome poverty. People of West Africa are subsistence farmers, producers of cloth, fisherman, nomadic cattle and sheep herders, seamstresses, retailers, government workers, traders and merchants, with an average annual income of approximately $700 USD.

Throughout the region, businesspeople and entrepreneurs within the local business affiliates have strengthened the marketplace with more than 65 mentoring relationships. This year, members created 207 jobs and strengthened 2,499 more. In Liberia, one local business affiliate serves as a hub for access to training, capital and mentoring in order to stabilize businesses and create hundreds of jobs following the end of the civil war in 2003. A Côte d’Ivoire affiliate focuses on building the agricultural sector by strengthening the capacity of local farmers to produce more food supplies for the local market. In Ghana, the newest local business affiliate in the region focuses on training and mentoring small business owners, while in Nigeria, two affiliates provide business networking and sustainable water sources in rural regions of the country.

Liberia

Côte d’IvoireGhana

Nigeria

As a young professional, husband and proud

father of a new baby boy, you wouldn’t think

that Robert Shane would have the time to use

his experience to serve others. Yet, through his

church in West Michigan, Shane learned of the

opportunity to use his experience in the banking sector in the U.S. to

mentor others in Liberia, West Africa.

Shane got connected with Liberia Entrepreneurial & Asset Development,

In the Name of Christ (LEAD, Inc.), a Liberian-owned and operated

business development organization based in the post-civil war capital city,

Monrovia, Liberia. In 2008, Shane made a decision to use the skills he

learned as a loan supervisor of a credit union to strengthen others to be better stewards of fi nances. He joined the small

group from his church to fi nd possibilities. To his surprise, four months later, he was on a plane heading to Liberia for the

fi rst time, preparing mentally and spiritually to do a requested audit on LEAD.

To ensure transparency and accountability, Shane and the staff of LEAD created a policy and procedures manual to

implement throughout the operations. With higher standards to follow and a commitment to stewardship, LEAD has

since grown from three to six counties, providing access to business training, loans, and ongoing mentoring to over 900

local entrepreneurs.

Businesspeople in LEAD have committed to rebuild the struggling economic sector and create employment in post-civil

war Liberia since 2005. While many people dread audits, Allen Gweh, National Director of LEAD, knew that the

process and the implementation of recommendations made by Shane would only strengthen the organization to reach new

goals.

MonroviaLiberia

LEAD National Director Allen Gweh with

Grand Rapids native, Robert Shane

This year, LEAD provided

a 12-week business training

class to over 600 Liberian

businesspeople

east Africaast AfrAfr cccca

Partners Worldwide was birthed fourteen years ago in Kenya when a group of North

American and local businesspeople asked the question: “How can businesspeople be a part of the solution to end poverty?”

Today, the local business affiliates in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda have grown into a regional network of over 3,000 Christian businesspeople and professionals. East African partners share the goal to effect change in the lives of their families, employees, clients, and the marketplace, and created 203 jobs and retained 3,839 this year. Since 2004, East Africa has hosted four Partners Worldwide Regional Business Conferences that brought together over 600 local and international businesspeople for networking and shared learning. The 2009 conference, held in Kampala, Uganda, drew over 150 attendees and offered training seminars in topics such as servant leadership and business as mission.

Throughout the region, business training, mentoring relationships, networking, and access to capital have proven effective tools to grow businesses and create jobs.

, erican partners share oyees, clients, and the year. Since 2004,

wide Regional 600 local and international009 conference, held in aining seminars in topics such

onships, networking, and esses and create jobs.

Uganda

Kenya

Tanzania

Kenya

• Gitithia is a community rooted network of agribusinesses with over 2500 members in 10 rural regions of Kenya • Christian Entrepreneurs Savings Society (CHESS) offers affordable credit, and business and technology training to more than 400 members in a wide range of sectors • Reformed Institute of Theological Training (RITT) offers work-study agricultural training for future leaders of the church. • Twenty jobs were created for adolescents at Heritage of Faith, a center that caters to orphans and vulnerable children. • Fullscale is a savings and lending organization serving businesspeople in Mombasa. With 50 members, Fullscale adds value to local businesses through` computer training, trade fairs and networking.

Tanzania • Grace Community Development and Education (GCDE) is an emerging partnership with a focus on providing training and affordable credit through a community organization in Sumbawanga and Mbeya.

Uganda

• Ugandan Christian Business Partners (UCBP) provides access to capital and business training to over 80 small business owners in Kampala and Gulu who desire to strengthen the marketplace. • In the Uganda Amaranth Program, mentors walk alongside 20 farmers and 12 women of a bakery group to process and produce goods from amaranth, a high-protein grain that thrives in harsh growing conditions. • Talanta Finance is a lending partner that provides access to capital to local business affiliates in northern Uganda. In a current loan program, 40 farmers have in-kind loans in the form of an oxen traction set (a pair of oxen and ox-plow) that increases their production from 20-percent to 70-percent, a large step forward in a former conflict zone.

At the age of 8, Ugandan entrepreneur Margaret

Aloyo started a business, growing and selling fresh

vegetables and orange juice sweetened with cane

sugar. Because she was a girl, her father didn’t pay

for her schooling. “I paid for schooling,” she says,

“which taught me to work and depend on my own.”

Thirty years later, she trains and mentors over

700 farmers—mostly women in agricultural cooperatives—who supply

her business Blessed Organic Relief with cash crops including

peanuts, sesame seeds, and shea nuts to process the popular

moisturizer cream, shea butter.

According to Margaret, the yield has been bountiful—a harvest

not only of sustainable income for each woman, but a strong

work ethic and a new sense of dignity they now hold within

their own families.

“Women used to collect the shea nut wild, but now they are

farming it because they weren’t fi nding enough,” Margaret

says. “Now, because they grow it, they are excited because

they can pay the school fees for their own children.”

She also mentors them spiritually. “At the end of the day,

the women and I sit down together and read scripture.

Some don’t know how to pray, so they say what they want

to say, and then at the end I say, ‘In the name of Jesus,

Amen.’”

“She is using her business to answer a need,” says East

Africa Regional Facilitator, Nana Yaa Dodi. “In the very

way she lives, her life displays Christ. People around

her are drawn to the understanding that Christianity is

not just of the spirit, but of the whole person.” They met last summer upon visiting a Ugandan business affi liate Margaret has

volunteered to mentor—a female cooperative processing the high nutritional value grain, amaranth, in the northern town of

Mbale.

Margaret sees the Partners Worldwide network and regional conferences as a key factor in her approach to business. In 2007,

she attended a regional conference in Nairobi, Kenya. There, she met a Kenyan businesswoman with experience in production,

and established a mentoring relationship that led her to raise her

own standards of packaging and product quality. “Through this

networking of businesspeople, I can do far more and reach new

goals,” says Margaret. This year, she and 150 others attended

the Partners Worldwide East Africa Regional Conference held

in Kampala, Uganda.

“She is using her business to answer a need. In

the very way she lives, her life displays Christ.

People around her are drawn to the under-

standing that Christianity is not just of the

spirit, but of the whole person.”

KampalaUganda

A few of Margaret’s shea butter products from

her business Blessed Organic Relief

preneur Margaret

g and selling fresh

etened with cane

er father didn’t pay

ooling,” she says,

epend on my own.”

mentors over

o supply

g

st

East Africa

Farming • Malawi: Nkoma Synod • Mozambique and South Africa: Africa Works • Zambia: Farmer to Farmer, Farmer and Friends

Youth and HIV/AIDS • Mozambique: Ebenezer Trade School • South Africa: South Africa HIV/AIDS Collaboration (SAHAC) • Diaconal Partnership (multiple sub-partnerships) • Lebone Creche • Musa School • Joosse (Disabled and Home Based Health Care) • Investments for Africa • Zambia: Chipata Christian School • All Kids Can Learn (AKCL) • Teach to Fish

Local Affiliates by focus

In Mozambique, esidents of a community impacted by out affi liate Africa Works greet visitors with a dramatic chorus: “Africa

Works found me down! Africa Works picks me up!” Through the air wafts the smell of poultry. Some people complain about the

odor, but one woman says, “I don’t care. It is the smell of money!”

Africa Works has helped turn the fortunes of the town of Masia, home to 600 identifi ed orphans, 25 child-headed households,

and 350 critically and chronically sick. Loans to small and medium sized entrepreneurs like Anabella Matola Campira have made

the diff erence.

Anabella owns a poultry operation where she supplies chicks, feed, technical assistance, and access to capital to over 30 heads of

households, most of them women. These 30 smaller operators have 200 to 2,000

chicks each. Anabella personally receives a loan of approximately $8,000 US every

broiler cycle (six times annually). The broiler chicks and feed are supplied to the 30

that she has trained, coaches, and has confi dence in. Their loan repayment rate is

excellent.

In addition to economic development, Anabella is a vital part of the safety net in

Masia. She and the smaller operators take from their own resources to provide food,

clothing, and assistance to the most vulnerable in society . Driven by her faith – she

and her husband are members of a local pastors’ network – they encourage operators

and families with their motto: “God is our motivation.”

The leaders of Africa Works see Africa as a “continent of entrepreneurs” and dream

of expanding into 20 countries. We share their passion and walk alongside them to

see the rise of many Anabellas.

a Synod rica: Africa Works Farmer and Friends

• Mozambique:th Africa: South AfricaAHAC) • Diaconal artnerships) • Lebone sse (Disabled and Home

ments for Africa • Zambia:

focus

Malawi

Mozambique

Zambia

South Africa

HIV/AIDS continues to decimate Southern Africa with the highest infection and death rates in the world. Everything we do is influenced and impacted by HIV/AIDS and thus our partnerships reflect this reality with responses

addressing youth, orphans, and vulnerable families.

Although the social programs are particularly strong, every single partnership has within its structure an economic foundation. These social programs in turn provide strong social capital upon which to build strong relationships and our business training.

Africa Works

Southern Africa

Partners Worldwide has worked in Asia since 2002 and now walks alongside local business affiliates in Southern

Asia through Christian businesspeople and professionals in Cambodia, Laos, India and the Philippines. Within this regional network of over 1,600 members, 32 local mentoring relationships and 9 international relationships have enabled many to set higher goals and take longer strides to overcome poverty.

Quick Facts

Philippines

Evangelical Business Entrepreneurs for Social Transformation (eBEST) More than 130 people from 6 nations joined together in Manila in April 2009 for the Partners Worldwide conference “Doing Business in Times Like These.”

Cambodia

Cambodia Christian Business had 13 local mentoring relationships in an affiliate of 30 members

India

The Hyderabad Affiliate has an emerging partnership of high-impact entrepreneurs and is launching a local business affiliate in central India.

Following a trip to India in collaboration with Christian leaders in a business seminar, here’s a refl ection on the journey by Regional Facilitator of Asia, Greg Matney:

From tigers prowling through the lush green forests to nomadic tribal groups traipsing through desert plains, India is a land of diversity. Cities of wealth created by information technology giants and colossal call centers juxtapose slums full of op-pression and brutality. In the midst of this billowing economy and rampant poverty are Christian entrepreneurs, seeking to serve God through their professional skills and faith-centered passions.

“No one has ever created a network of Christian business professionals in this country,” stated Michael Brian, Founder of Expera India, a staffi ng and resource company that spans six cities in southern India. To fi ll this hole, I recently traveled to this land of contrasts, and hosted business training conferences attended by hundreds of Christian entrepreneurs.

In April 2009, some training sessions drew upon the vision, mission and values needed in business. Others covered business planning and fi nances. Yet, from the border city of Calcutta to Jabalpur in the heart of India, most people attending shared the same news – in a country of over a billion people, there is a lack of training to prepare believers for their calling in Business as Mission.

Many also agreed that the religious persecution many believers face in India could sub-side if the Christian business community made their mark on the ‘tiger economy’.

To walk together as Christian businesspeople, a new partnership is being laid out by high-impact business owners in Hyderabad, India and partners from the U.S. Today, as seeds are planted, the harvest envisioned is a nationwide movement of Christian busi-nesspeople.

Planting Seeds for a Movement of Businesspeople

AsiaAsiaaaaa

eneurs for Socialthan 130 people from 6 nations joinedPartners Worldwide conference “Doing

Cambodia

indialaos

Philippines

Pillars

Board of Directors

Names listed below are of Board members who were active between July 1, 2008 - June 31, 2009

CRCNA/CRWRC

Pillars is a group of people who are committed to furthering Partners Worldwide’s vision of “Business as Ministry for a World Without Poverty.” Pillars serve as ambassadors for our work, as well as offer generous financial support. Through unrestricted gifts in the 2008/2009 year, Pillars provided nearly 15% of Partners Worldwide’s contributions from individuals. We want to thank each for their generous support and involvement.Dale and Mary Andringa Ted and Lorraine BloemhofPaul and Yulia BroekhuizenRen and Elsa Broekhuizen Robert and Danette BuikemaMarvin and Joan CooperRichard and Helen DeVosKen and Roberta EldredTrent and Kristine FrankeDave and Deb GenzinkDonald and Alice GenzinkJerry and Rosie HaakLou and Jan Haveman

Felix and Sandy HernandezAndy and Kathie HoekstraRod and Char HuiskenPhil and Lilian KoningMilt and Carol KuyersPeter and Jan LanserArnie and Cynthia MorrenMarty III and Ruth OzingaRob and Sally Petroelje Doug and Gail SeebeckRobert and Laurie SmickleyDave and Deb SmiesJohn and Judy Spoelhof

Jes and Joy TarpRob and Laurie TribkenKevin RiordanTerry and Linda Van Der AaKen and Geraldine Van GilstJohn and Ruth VanderHaagHenry and Helen VanKlaverenKen and Trudy Vander MolenJack and Carol VanderPloegJoe and Judy Van Tol Eric and Wendy VanVugtRobert and Louis VermeerJolee Wennersten

Dale AndringaValerie BettenRonald DavidBing GoeiJerry HaakKathie HoekstraCal JenSandy JohnsonPeter Lanser

Rob TribkenJames TuinstraJack Vander PloegKen Van GilstCal Van HeukelemCal WalstraWill DeBoerRick Bulthuis

Special Thanks

Partners Worldwide would like to recognize the Christian Reformed Church of North America (CRCNA) for their partnership and support. This relationship has played an important role in the growth and impact of our ministry over the past ten years. Partners Worldwide would also like to thank the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC) for their collaboration in ministry and shared goal of poverty elimination.

Individuals $2,243,868 - 45%Foundations** $2,130,036 - 43%Churches $314,349 - 6%Donated Services $260,962 - 6%

& Other

Program $2,954,271 - 80%Management $524,133 - 14%Fundraising $223,013 - 6%

Capital Expenses* $957,656

Total $3,701,417

80%

14%6%

43%

6%6%

* 2009 income is higher than total expenditure due to the use of these contributions to ministry programs in 2010** Income includes a $1.1 M capital campaign for the purchase of a new office facility

* Cost to purchase a new office facility

2007 2008 20090

1000000

$2,000,000

$3,000,000

$4,000,000

$5,000,000

} Represents a one-time gift for the capital campaign

Contribution Total Trends

45%

Financial Highligths

Income$4,949,215*

Expenditures$4,659,073

EVANGELICAL COUNCIL FOR FINANCIAL ACCOUNTABILITYPartners Worldwide is proud to be a mem-ber in good standing of ECFA, the Evangeli-cal Council for Financial Accountability. ECFA’s steadfast purpose is to enunciate, maintain, and manifest a code of financial accountability, ethics, and reporting which is consistent with enlightened and respon-sible Christian faith and practice. www.ecfa.org