COMMENTARY: Converting Opportunities To Jobs

“So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.” – Galatians 6:10

Over the past week, amidst the despair over the battle to restore jobs and livelihoods in the face of the pandemic disaster, I was exposed to many pockets of inspiration which stimulated and maintained my faith.

My son Bevan’s disruptive innovation leadership style is the embodiment of a measured approach to the operations of his company, Marketplace Excellence Corporation (MPE). He is driven by a positive passion of faith where he sees the glass being half full and not half empty. He preservers with the balanced management of the governance, finance, marketing, operations, and professional development business systems. As adversity threatens, he motivates his team members to excel. He instills patience in the MPE family and buttresses the organization with uncompromising corporate governance tenets.

A member of my Rotary Club shared a quotation by English evangelist Leonard Ravenhill (1907–1994): “The opportunity of a lifetime needs to be seized during the lifetime of the opportunity.” COVID-19 has presented us with a veiled opportunity of a lifetime – our lifestyles have been changed and it is not known how long we must live under the new dispensation. Let us move swiftly and see what we can learn from it while it lasts for the benefit of mankind.

Rotarians deliver according to our motto “Service Above Self” to the less fortunate among us. This quotation is not only relevant to the public health and economic recovery management of the COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 era but also very consistent with the 2020-21 Rotary International theme “Rotary Opens Opportunities”. Through Rotary Clubs, people from all continents and cultures come together to exchange ideas, and form friendships and professional connections, while making a difference in their backyards and around the world.

In 1985, Rotary International (RI) mobilized members, now standing at 1.2 million, combined with other interested parties, to embark on a mission to eradicate polio from the face of the earth. There are fewer polio cases today than ever before, but RI will not stop until there are no cases. If polio is not eradicated, hundreds of thousands of children could be paralyzed. Global health care costs would rise dramatically, and many children’s quality of life would be drastically diminished.

In the same way, there is an opportunity for Rotarians to identify innovative business growth opportunity ideas, to be trained as Shepherds, give of their time, contribute to the growth of enterprise development, and create jobs.

Opportunities float through the air all the time and some will, by chance, land in our laps. However, if we engage our talents, we are much more likely to access them.

The single factor inhibiting the grow of enterprise development is the establishment of a global quick response seed/equity/working capital growth fund. Watch this space for new developments in this regard.

Saving lives while creating livelihoods must be our focus during this season. Let us now convert the platform of data, information, knowledge, insight, understanding and wisdom into commercial opportunities and chart a path between the raging pandemic waters which leads to the creation of opportunities and the restoration of jobs.