One of the people who traveled to India with me was Minnesota State Representative Erik Paulsen, a Republican representing District 42B, which is in the southwest metro community of Eden Prairie. We visited several times during the week-long trip, but my best conversation with him occurred on the hour-long flight between New Delhi and Bangalore, where we sat next to each other.
Serving in the State Legislature since 1994, Paulsen is focused on efforts designed to improve Minnesota’s business climate and educational environment. Part of his reason for traveling to India was to scout out partnership opportunities for the numerous high-tech companies in Eden Prairie. He sees the potential Asian partnerships offer Minnesotans and Americans. In the legislature, he authored legislation to make Mandarin Chinese language education available in Minnesota high schools; in the last legislative session, he secured funding for the Minnesota India Center at the University of Minnesota.
Paulsen was the House majority leader for four years, and has a penchant for bipartisanship. He even joked that he got more legislation passed in 2007 being in the minority party than he did when he was in the majority. Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life lists Paulsen as one of the state’s 82 (out of 201) legislators who had a 100 percent pro-life voting record in 2007.
When U.S. Rep. Jim Ramstad (R-Minn.) announced he was retiring at the end of the current term, Paulsen announced his candidacy for the 3rd Congressional seat. I live in the 5th District so I won’t get to vote for him, but I am supporting Paulsen. I like politics and I have always wanted to support someone who actually reflects my thinking. There were as many as nine Republicans expressing interest in the seat, but Paulsen quickly got the others to line up behind his campaign.
Open seat elections are special. With members of congress typically holding onto their seats for years, if not decades, open seats don’t come up that often. The Third District is particularly interesting because Ramstad is a pro-choice Republican, and the western suburbs, which make up the Third District, are gradually turning out more Democrat voters. Many of the national pundits are calling the Minnesota Third a toss-up. The Democrats feel an opportunity here and the speculation is several millions of dollars will be spent on a contentious race. That would be a marked contrast from the past several years in which Ramstad ran essentially unopposed and regularly won easily.
Now there is some talk that Ramstad is not going to resign. Reports in various publications and across the blogosphere have Ramstad holding onto his seat. Apparently Republicans figure 2008 is going to be a tough enough year as it is; if they can convince Ramstad to stay put, that is one less seat they will have to worry about losing.
I think this is a disaster. Ramstad announced he is retiring and he should stand by that announcement. Paulson has already put a lot of work into the campaign and it would really be unfair to his supporters for Ramstad to now say: “just kidding, I’m staying.”
What the Republicans really need is new blood, not the same old thing that Ramstad represents. The party is under-estimating Paulsen. He is clearly a candidate who can win. Keep in mind that the money the Democrats pour into running against him is money they won’t have to pour into other races, such as the Minnesota Sixth District where the incumbent is Michele Bachmann. If Ramstad runs in the Third, the Democrats will have more money to aim at that contest, where they believe they might be able to unseat one of the country’s most conservative representatives.
No matter who runs, Republicans are not going to win back control of Congress in 2008. My point is, Republicans need fresh blood and Paulsen is one of the best examples of that. I am going to continue to support him. I cannot get excited about more of the same, which is what Ramstad represents. He announced he is resigning and he should stand by that announcement.
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Saturday, December 22, 2007
School play gets the ‘Mystery’ right
The school that my children attend, Holy Family Academy in St. Louis Park, put on a very powerful Christmas program on Thursday night.
The program, which involved all the school’s 200-plus students, was called “Mystery of the Manger; It’s the Gospel Truth!” It was presented in the beautiful auditorium at Hopkins High School.
I am filled with joy about this program because it so convincingly articulated the meaning of Christmas. This was not a light-hearted, feel-good holiday program. This was a compelling story of doubt, evangelization, conversion, repentance and joy – the whole human struggle summarized on a proscenium stage in a lively, 40-minute production.
The story centered around an investigative reporter, Jane Bond, who visits a convent to “get the facts” about Christmas. Skepticism pervades her questions for Sister Mary Catherine and her colleagues Sister Therese and Sister Bernice. Her brief conversation with Father Michael doesn’t seem to sway her disbelief. But something moves her to watch the convent’s depiction of the Nativity, presented on Christmas Eve. The play is so moving, she comes to see the meaning of the Incarnation. She responds by writing a story for her newspaper, the Morning Star, proclaiming the Truth of the Christmas story.
There is a brief scene which gives the “Mystery of the Manger” particular weight. After viewing the Nativity play, Jane experiences conversion and then goes to confession. The light focuses our attention on the Nativity play-within-the-play where Mary and Joseph knelt around the Christ child in the manger. But off to the side of the center-stage action, Father Michael hears Jane Bond’s confession, which she makes on her knees. It was an understated but powerful touch that brought meaning to the rest of the story.
So often we want what’s easy. We want Christ, but really we only want the Nativity, not the crucifixion. Everyone wants the Resurrection without the cross. Everyone wants forgiveness without repentance. Of course, however, they are inseparable, and this Christmas program did not miss that point. It is the first Christmas play I have ever seen in my whole life that has gotten the whole story right.
The sixth, seventh and eighth graders who acted all the different parts were incredible. The talent among this group of kids is astounding. I am very proud of my own kids who were in the show, but really I applaud all the kids who had any part in it. And, I applaud the teachers and parents who found the script, adapted it for this presentation, and worked with the kids over months to produce such a memorable performance.
The program, which involved all the school’s 200-plus students, was called “Mystery of the Manger; It’s the Gospel Truth!” It was presented in the beautiful auditorium at Hopkins High School.
I am filled with joy about this program because it so convincingly articulated the meaning of Christmas. This was not a light-hearted, feel-good holiday program. This was a compelling story of doubt, evangelization, conversion, repentance and joy – the whole human struggle summarized on a proscenium stage in a lively, 40-minute production.
The story centered around an investigative reporter, Jane Bond, who visits a convent to “get the facts” about Christmas. Skepticism pervades her questions for Sister Mary Catherine and her colleagues Sister Therese and Sister Bernice. Her brief conversation with Father Michael doesn’t seem to sway her disbelief. But something moves her to watch the convent’s depiction of the Nativity, presented on Christmas Eve. The play is so moving, she comes to see the meaning of the Incarnation. She responds by writing a story for her newspaper, the Morning Star, proclaiming the Truth of the Christmas story.
There is a brief scene which gives the “Mystery of the Manger” particular weight. After viewing the Nativity play, Jane experiences conversion and then goes to confession. The light focuses our attention on the Nativity play-within-the-play where Mary and Joseph knelt around the Christ child in the manger. But off to the side of the center-stage action, Father Michael hears Jane Bond’s confession, which she makes on her knees. It was an understated but powerful touch that brought meaning to the rest of the story.
So often we want what’s easy. We want Christ, but really we only want the Nativity, not the crucifixion. Everyone wants the Resurrection without the cross. Everyone wants forgiveness without repentance. Of course, however, they are inseparable, and this Christmas program did not miss that point. It is the first Christmas play I have ever seen in my whole life that has gotten the whole story right.
The sixth, seventh and eighth graders who acted all the different parts were incredible. The talent among this group of kids is astounding. I am very proud of my own kids who were in the show, but really I applaud all the kids who had any part in it. And, I applaud the teachers and parents who found the script, adapted it for this presentation, and worked with the kids over months to produce such a memorable performance.
Monday, November 26, 2007
The odd couple
The president’s approval ratings are low; I have heard many people describe George W. Bush as the worst president this country has ever had. I even know Republicans who feel this way. David Gergen, a professor at Harvard and editor-at-large for U.S. News & World Report, said in a speech I heard a while back that he considers Franklin Roosevelt to be the best president of the 20th century.
Without commenting on the effectiveness of either the Bush or Roosevelt presidencies, it strikes me that these two presidents are remarkably alike.
Consider that they both served multiple terms, shortly after periods of unprecedented commercial prosperity. The American public had grown familiar years earlier with the names of both men in preceding presidencies held by relatives with the same name.
Roosevelt and Bush both led the country into unpopular wars following a cataclysmic attack on American soil. Neither was able to lead us out of war. And each vastly expanded the size of the federal government.
It is difficult to ignore the similarities between the institution of social security and the prescription drug benefit, both passed, at least in part, to win political favor. While both offer benefits with populist appeal, both will ultimately undermine the financial integrity of the country.
You never really understand the impact of a presidency until long after the man has left office. Years from now, as historians consider the American presidency, I wonder if more people will examine the similarities of these two leaders, who today are rarely linked.
Without commenting on the effectiveness of either the Bush or Roosevelt presidencies, it strikes me that these two presidents are remarkably alike.
Consider that they both served multiple terms, shortly after periods of unprecedented commercial prosperity. The American public had grown familiar years earlier with the names of both men in preceding presidencies held by relatives with the same name.
Roosevelt and Bush both led the country into unpopular wars following a cataclysmic attack on American soil. Neither was able to lead us out of war. And each vastly expanded the size of the federal government.
It is difficult to ignore the similarities between the institution of social security and the prescription drug benefit, both passed, at least in part, to win political favor. While both offer benefits with populist appeal, both will ultimately undermine the financial integrity of the country.
You never really understand the impact of a presidency until long after the man has left office. Years from now, as historians consider the American presidency, I wonder if more people will examine the similarities of these two leaders, who today are rarely linked.
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Thanksgiving
| About a year and a half ago, I listened to a speech by a guy named Dinesh D’Souza. He had just written a book called “What’s so great about America.” The title is a statement, not a question. As he was describing the plight of people who struggle with real poverty all over the globe, he quipped that while we worry about cars and big houses, many people in Africa, Asia and parts of South America would “be happy to have regular bowel movements.” That line got a little chuckle but I realize now that he wasn’t kidding. In India, I saw many skinny, near-naked people living in squalor. Some bathed themselves in muddy rainwater that collected in the potholes. Collecting trash, others picked through rubble that lined the streets. In the countryside, I saw people thrashing wheat by hand, or digging in the dirt without tools. Everywhere I went with my travel group, we saw beggars. The water they drink is not clean; the food they eat is not substantial nor particularly nutritious; their living conditions are not safe. Yes, I can understand, their bowels are probably not functioning to their potential. If they were, it would be a big deal. D’Souza wasn’t kidding. This is Thanksgiving Day and I am not creative enough to think of anything else to do with a blog post today than to give thanks. Of course I am thankful for the really big things, like a great wife and kids, a home, work that I enjoy, faith and great friends, but lately I am finding particular joy in giving thanks for the little things. For example, I am thankful for matching socks, and paper for writing down ideas, pens that work, pencils that are sharp. I am thankful for shoes and gloves and a warm hat. I am thankful for all those free newspapers that are available throughout the city, not that they offer particularly good reading but they tell me I am in a world full of people with all kinds of different ideas. I am glad everyone is not the same. (Oops, I think that is a big thing, not a little thing.) I am grateful for the little restaurant where I buy my lunch three days out of five. I am grateful for plumbing, let alone indoor plumbing. I am grateful for soap and a dependable razor. I am grateful for toothpaste that tastes good and dental floss. I am grateful for Kleenex and paper towels, sugar and chocolate chips, banana bread and spaghetti. I am grateful that someone figured out electrical outlets should be standardized, and I am grateful that someone figured out all the rules for driving on the road, and I am grateful that the parking meters in downtown Minneapolis take a rest on certain holidays, including Thanksgiving. I am grateful for my eyesight and my ears so I can drink up all the interesting things that are going on around me. I am grateful for the squirrels and all the little animals that scurry through my back yard, giving me entertainment. I am grateful for the people who collect our trash and deliver our mail and provide police and fire protection. I am grateful for the operators who staff the 411 telephone service and the people who put together the phone book. I am grateful for the street cleaners and the cable guy and the meter readers and all the other people who do their jobs to keep the city operating. But, oops, there I go again. These are big things. None of these things are little. Maybe there are no little things. Good health, including properly functioning bowels, is a big thing. On this Thanksgiving, in 2007, I am particularly thankful for those people in India. I saw a lot of poor people when I was there but I didn’t see people who had given up. They were persevering. They were making the most of what they have. It seemed to me that they were holding onto hope. They must have seen potential that most of us miss. Thinking about all the things for which I can be grateful is helping some of that potential to come into view for me. |
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
The blessing of adoption
November is National Adoption Awareness Month. I wrote a memoir about adoption, something Susan and I experienced four times. This is an excerpt from Emerging Son (www.emergingson.com) where I reflect on fatherhood, the result of our adoption efforts.
Why do we have children anyway? It’s a question that seems particularly relevant to adoptive parents. Unlike biological parents, we can’t claim any child was unexpected. We took very deliberate, complicated steps to assure our place as parents. Why?
I was responding to a deep inner yearning – a yearning that almost seems in conflict with itself as I was seeking to reclaim my childhood and at the same time seeking my adulthood. I wanted that family I grew up with. Childhood was such a positive, loving, and happy time for me, I wanted it again. But I also wanted to grow up. Like any living creature, I wanted to become what I am – that is, an adult. And somehow I grew to believe that a typical man approaching 40 should know the love of a wife and kids, the security of home, and meaningful work. As a kid watching my dad, I never realized what a bid deal it was to have all this; now I know.
The same way a baby emerges from the familiar comfort of the womb into the unknown, harsh but opportunity-filled world, a man exchanges a carefree, self-centered existence for the uncertain but potentially joyous responsibility of fatherhood. I am grateful for the time I had as a single man, and for the time I had with Susan before we had children, but I am so grateful for this period. Parenthood demands love and trust and faith like no other period in life I have known. Fatherhood is helping me to replace my natural-born selfishness with selflessness. Maturity is figuring out that the whole world doesn’t revolve around me, and fatherhood is helping me to see that, and more important, to embrace that.
I found my home in fatherhood. Now my job, which could take decades, is to help my kids find their home.
I want the same thing for my children as I want for myself: I want them to work all their lives to replace their natural human selfishness with earnest selflessness.
Love that can change the world comes from a selfless heart. Susan and I will give our kids opportunity. They will go to good schools. We will show them many wonderful places in the United States and the world. And I will support them, no matter what their vocation. Their pursuit of any demanding, honest work will make me proud. But people don’t change the world by what they do, they change the world by who they are. And I pray my children grow to become the selfless heroes that the world so desperately needs.
Why do we have children anyway? It’s a question that seems particularly relevant to adoptive parents. Unlike biological parents, we can’t claim any child was unexpected. We took very deliberate, complicated steps to assure our place as parents. Why?
I was responding to a deep inner yearning – a yearning that almost seems in conflict with itself as I was seeking to reclaim my childhood and at the same time seeking my adulthood. I wanted that family I grew up with. Childhood was such a positive, loving, and happy time for me, I wanted it again. But I also wanted to grow up. Like any living creature, I wanted to become what I am – that is, an adult. And somehow I grew to believe that a typical man approaching 40 should know the love of a wife and kids, the security of home, and meaningful work. As a kid watching my dad, I never realized what a bid deal it was to have all this; now I know.
The same way a baby emerges from the familiar comfort of the womb into the unknown, harsh but opportunity-filled world, a man exchanges a carefree, self-centered existence for the uncertain but potentially joyous responsibility of fatherhood. I am grateful for the time I had as a single man, and for the time I had with Susan before we had children, but I am so grateful for this period. Parenthood demands love and trust and faith like no other period in life I have known. Fatherhood is helping me to replace my natural-born selfishness with selflessness. Maturity is figuring out that the whole world doesn’t revolve around me, and fatherhood is helping me to see that, and more important, to embrace that.
I found my home in fatherhood. Now my job, which could take decades, is to help my kids find their home.
I want the same thing for my children as I want for myself: I want them to work all their lives to replace their natural human selfishness with earnest selflessness.
Love that can change the world comes from a selfless heart. Susan and I will give our kids opportunity. They will go to good schools. We will show them many wonderful places in the United States and the world. And I will support them, no matter what their vocation. Their pursuit of any demanding, honest work will make me proud. But people don’t change the world by what they do, they change the world by who they are. And I pray my children grow to become the selfless heroes that the world so desperately needs.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Global business: easier than ever but still challenging
Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson needed three weeks to travel across the Atlantic Ocean in the late 1700s; Charles Lindbergh took 33 hours to fly from New York to Paris in 1927. Last Friday, it took about 21 hours to travel from Mumbai, India to Minneapolis. The venture consisted of back-to-back nine hour flights, with a three-hour layover in Amsterdam.
Global air travel is routine today, but I still marvel how easy it is for 21st Century citizens to conduct business around the world. When we landed in Delhi on Oct. 21, one of my colleagues quickly picked up the score of the Gopher football game. (The University of Minnesota lost to North Dakota State University, 27-21.) And we could follow the Red Sox victories over Cleveland in the AL Championship series, and the first two games of the World Series, just as if I were in my living room at home. I was able to keep in contact with my office by email and post to my web site with absolutely no trouble.
The ease of conducting business from half-way around the globe, however, should not fool us into thinking that it is easy to do business in a foreign country. Minnesota’s disappointing experience with the Essar Group serves as an apt example. While we were in India, Essar Global of Mumbai announced it had closed a deal to purchase Minnesota Steel Industries in Nashwauk. At a cost of $1.6 billion, Essar plans to develop a specialty steel plant on the site that would represent the biggest foreign investment in Minnesota ever, bringing many sorely needed jobs to the area.
But the ink on the purchase papers was barely dry when the U.S. Department of Commerce contacted Minnesota Gov. Pawlenty to inform him of Essar’s engagements with Iran. Essar apparently is in negotiations to build a multi-billion dollar oil refinery in Iran. The Iran involvement would be a violation of U.S. sanctions against the country; Pawlenty said he could no longer support the Essar investment in Minnesota.
It is possible that Essar will back out of the Iranian deal, and even if it doesn’t it is possible that another steel company will come along and set up shop in Minnesota if Essar is barred from operating here. But what a roller coaster! Whatever happens, it will be a long time before a new steel mill is operating on Minnesota’s Iron Range.
Whenever you do a deal, you never really know what you’ve got until the deal is done. Even with the best due diligence, surprises always come up after the deal is officially closed. The significance of those surprises is typically proportionate to the size of the deal -- $1.6 billion is a lot of money; gaining a new steel plant, and then losing it in a matter of days for an area that desperately needs the jobs, is wrenching.
During our trip, we were apprised of cultural differences between Americans and Indians. Proud and formal, Indians like to assure potential clients. Sometimes they say “yes” to cover for the short term, only to back away when it comes time to close a deal. One mission delegate shared a story about contact he had with a potential Indian customer. All the negotiations went smoothly, and a deal was all but signed. In the end, the client never signed, much to the surprise of the Minnesotan.
I don’t consider any of these nuances to be significant enough to deter American business people who really want to do business in India. If you have a product appealing to middle class consumers, you really need to look at getting into this market. Rusy Kohli, who is handling distribution of Polaris in India, summarized the decision American companies need to consider about doing business in India.
“You can get in now and be the first one in, and put up with all the difficulties and barriers,” he said, on the one hand. Or, on the other hand, Kohli said: “You can wait until some of the barriers become easier to handle but then play catch up to all those others companies that got in ahead of you.”
Global air travel is routine today, but I still marvel how easy it is for 21st Century citizens to conduct business around the world. When we landed in Delhi on Oct. 21, one of my colleagues quickly picked up the score of the Gopher football game. (The University of Minnesota lost to North Dakota State University, 27-21.) And we could follow the Red Sox victories over Cleveland in the AL Championship series, and the first two games of the World Series, just as if I were in my living room at home. I was able to keep in contact with my office by email and post to my web site with absolutely no trouble.
The ease of conducting business from half-way around the globe, however, should not fool us into thinking that it is easy to do business in a foreign country. Minnesota’s disappointing experience with the Essar Group serves as an apt example. While we were in India, Essar Global of Mumbai announced it had closed a deal to purchase Minnesota Steel Industries in Nashwauk. At a cost of $1.6 billion, Essar plans to develop a specialty steel plant on the site that would represent the biggest foreign investment in Minnesota ever, bringing many sorely needed jobs to the area.
But the ink on the purchase papers was barely dry when the U.S. Department of Commerce contacted Minnesota Gov. Pawlenty to inform him of Essar’s engagements with Iran. Essar apparently is in negotiations to build a multi-billion dollar oil refinery in Iran. The Iran involvement would be a violation of U.S. sanctions against the country; Pawlenty said he could no longer support the Essar investment in Minnesota.
It is possible that Essar will back out of the Iranian deal, and even if it doesn’t it is possible that another steel company will come along and set up shop in Minnesota if Essar is barred from operating here. But what a roller coaster! Whatever happens, it will be a long time before a new steel mill is operating on Minnesota’s Iron Range.
Whenever you do a deal, you never really know what you’ve got until the deal is done. Even with the best due diligence, surprises always come up after the deal is officially closed. The significance of those surprises is typically proportionate to the size of the deal -- $1.6 billion is a lot of money; gaining a new steel plant, and then losing it in a matter of days for an area that desperately needs the jobs, is wrenching.
During our trip, we were apprised of cultural differences between Americans and Indians. Proud and formal, Indians like to assure potential clients. Sometimes they say “yes” to cover for the short term, only to back away when it comes time to close a deal. One mission delegate shared a story about contact he had with a potential Indian customer. All the negotiations went smoothly, and a deal was all but signed. In the end, the client never signed, much to the surprise of the Minnesotan.
I don’t consider any of these nuances to be significant enough to deter American business people who really want to do business in India. If you have a product appealing to middle class consumers, you really need to look at getting into this market. Rusy Kohli, who is handling distribution of Polaris in India, summarized the decision American companies need to consider about doing business in India.
“You can get in now and be the first one in, and put up with all the difficulties and barriers,” he said, on the one hand. Or, on the other hand, Kohli said: “You can wait until some of the barriers become easier to handle but then play catch up to all those others companies that got in ahead of you.”
Monday, October 29, 2007
India is the placed to be
As I looked out the window from my 16th floor room in the Hilton Towers Hotel in Mumbai on Friday, I saw a city that reminded me of New York. It was busy and chaotic in Mumbai, a city that went by the name of Bombay until 1995, but the commotion seemed more understandable here than it did in the other parts of India we visited. I actually think I could live here, a comment I would not make about Delhi or Bangalore.
Renny Thomas, a consultant with McKinsey & Company, made a compelling case for India’s economic potential during a morning-long briefing. He explained India has 200 million households. Each household represents an average of 5.5 people. Three things will happen over the next 40 years: The number of households will grow, the average income of the wage earners in those households will grow, and the average number of people in those household will decline.
These trends are motivating to any company which offers household products. Nowhere else in the world is there such a large market with so much up-side potential. The average household size in China is 3.7 people and in Russia it is 2.8 people, Thomas offered for context.
Thomas noted that 30 percent of the country’s population currently lives in urban areas, a percentage that is expected to grow to 70 percent in the next 50 years when the population is expected to level off at 1.5 billion people. Currently, 700 million people or 75 percent of the country’s population, live in rural India, dotted with some 65,000 villages.
I wondered whether the country’s 9 percent annual GDP growth would mean much to those living in rural areas. A reliable source of electricity cannot be guaranteed even in urban areas, so what hope might there be for raising living standards in rural areas? Thomas said wide-area wireless networks will bring internet access to low-cost battery operated computers, which will help bring new levels of education to the country’s remotest sectors. “The country gets wireless,” he said, citing the fact that Indians are signing up for cell phone service at a rage of 6 million new subscribers per month. In a country were land lines were never particularly reliable for communication, more Indians that ever are talking to each other by cell phone.
Habil Khorakiwala, head of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce, said the proportion of people living in poverty in the country already has declined by 15 percent since the country opened itself up to economic reforms in 1992. The middle class has grown from as small as 15 million people to well over 100 million people in the last 15 years.
Thomas cited McKinsey & Company data which showed the number of “deprived” households – the poorest of the poor – had dropped as a percentage of total population from 80 percent in 1995 to 54 percent in 2005. By 2025, it is projected to drop to 22 percent. By 2025, 41 percent of the country’s population is expected to be in the middle class.
To my mind, helping hundreds of millions of people out of poverty is a very compelling reason to get involved in commerce with India. It is always gratifying to know that a business venture may bring profits, but I think it is even more exciting to consider that it will help people live at a better standard of living.
Clearly, there are a number of barriers to doing business in India – poor infrastructure, high import duties, unreliable sources of electrical power and water. But all kinds of American companies have shown those obstacles can be overcome. If you want to be a part of the biggest economic development story in the history of the planet, then India is the place to be.
Renny Thomas, a consultant with McKinsey & Company, made a compelling case for India’s economic potential during a morning-long briefing. He explained India has 200 million households. Each household represents an average of 5.5 people. Three things will happen over the next 40 years: The number of households will grow, the average income of the wage earners in those households will grow, and the average number of people in those household will decline.
These trends are motivating to any company which offers household products. Nowhere else in the world is there such a large market with so much up-side potential. The average household size in China is 3.7 people and in Russia it is 2.8 people, Thomas offered for context.
Thomas noted that 30 percent of the country’s population currently lives in urban areas, a percentage that is expected to grow to 70 percent in the next 50 years when the population is expected to level off at 1.5 billion people. Currently, 700 million people or 75 percent of the country’s population, live in rural India, dotted with some 65,000 villages.
I wondered whether the country’s 9 percent annual GDP growth would mean much to those living in rural areas. A reliable source of electricity cannot be guaranteed even in urban areas, so what hope might there be for raising living standards in rural areas? Thomas said wide-area wireless networks will bring internet access to low-cost battery operated computers, which will help bring new levels of education to the country’s remotest sectors. “The country gets wireless,” he said, citing the fact that Indians are signing up for cell phone service at a rage of 6 million new subscribers per month. In a country were land lines were never particularly reliable for communication, more Indians that ever are talking to each other by cell phone.
Habil Khorakiwala, head of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce, said the proportion of people living in poverty in the country already has declined by 15 percent since the country opened itself up to economic reforms in 1992. The middle class has grown from as small as 15 million people to well over 100 million people in the last 15 years.
Thomas cited McKinsey & Company data which showed the number of “deprived” households – the poorest of the poor – had dropped as a percentage of total population from 80 percent in 1995 to 54 percent in 2005. By 2025, it is projected to drop to 22 percent. By 2025, 41 percent of the country’s population is expected to be in the middle class.
To my mind, helping hundreds of millions of people out of poverty is a very compelling reason to get involved in commerce with India. It is always gratifying to know that a business venture may bring profits, but I think it is even more exciting to consider that it will help people live at a better standard of living.
Clearly, there are a number of barriers to doing business in India – poor infrastructure, high import duties, unreliable sources of electrical power and water. But all kinds of American companies have shown those obstacles can be overcome. If you want to be a part of the biggest economic development story in the history of the planet, then India is the place to be.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Meet some of the delegates
Not only am I getting the opportunity to meet many wonderful people from India, but I am getting to know my colleagues on this trade mission. Let me introduce a few of them to you:
Kim Pearson founded New Boundary Technologies in 1985, a software company with 30 employees. He said he’s made two observations during his trip here. First, the small tech companies in Bangalore are raising the standard on human resource practices. In order to mitigate rates of turnover as high as 30 percent, the small companies are adopting HR policies typically only found in big companies. “They spell out a compelling career path, and offer good training,” he said. They offer good compensation with bonuses. Pearson said they do a better job than most small tech companies in the United States. The example of the Indian companies is actually going to force American companies to adopt similar HR practices in order to compete for talent.
Second, Indian companies have done a good job of creating a knowledge repository so that when someone leaves the company, the information in their head is not lost. The company records everything and the person who takes over gets all that information and doesn’t miss a beat. With all the people who are going to be retiring as the Baby Boomers age, “we need to be doing the same thing in our companies so the intellectual capital of the company is not lost,” he said.
Erik Paulsen, state representative for Eden Prairie, Minn., recently announced he is running for the third congressional district seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. He is interested in India because there are a number of tech firms in Eden Prairie. He is interested in facilitating cooperative arrangements between Indian firms and those in Minnesota.
Paulsen introduced legislation last session that resulting in a $150,000 appropriation to the University of Minnesota for the launch of a Minnesota India Center. Paulsen said details for the center’s operation are being worked out by University officials, but he suspects it will offer some kind of support to businesses interested in India. It may also focus on health concerns.
A China Center was set up at the University of Minnesota in 1979, a resource Paulson tapped as he worked for legislation establishing a program to teach Mandarin in Minnesota schools.
Mark Aulik, owner of Allow Hardfacing and Engineering Co., of Jordan, Minn., spends about half his year in India, where he has been doing business since 2001. His company makes equipment for processing food, including automatic potato peelers and fruit packaging machines. He believes his company is a natural fit for India, where food is so important, yet most of its rots before it gets to market.
Aulik sells a system for rendering slaughtered animals so no parts go to waste. The system gives the animal’s owner a more efficient way to process animals and reduces land and water pollution. Aulik said he believes his company can make a big difference in India.
Megan and Dennis Doyle are founders of Hope for the City, a charity that channels excess corporate equipment and supplies to disadvantaged people. They recently shipped a carton of medical supplies to Armenia. In seven years, people all over the world have received millions of dollars in supplies through Hope for the City. The program also offers meals to disadvantaged children during the summer in the Twin Cities.
Hope for the City has a micro-loan program in India, with 75 loans currently outstanding. The loans range from $100 to $500. The money is being used to help villagers start or advance a business. On person used the money to buy an iron to start a laundry business, another used the money to buy a water buffalo.
Boris Miksic is president of St. Paul-based Cortech, which has been doing business all over the world for years. Miksic told the group that his company has just signed a deal to help an Indian state clean up its streets and give work to the poor. The state is hiring unemployed women to go around their city and pick up trash, using biodegradable trash bags made by Miksic’s company.
Miksic has published a 286-page paper-back autobiography, titled “American Dream: a guy from Croatia.” He gave me a copy of the book and I have been reading it as we travel.
Sam Roy is president and CEO of EPS Technologies of Mankato. His company has developed a technology for reducing the pollution emitted by diesel engines. The product already is in use in Thailand. As we drive about, he notes all the trucks driving by, belching out clouds of exhaust. Visibly excited about his company, Roy said the product will make the air cleaner and help the owners of the vehicles save a lot of money.
Steven Cremer is president of Harmony Enterprises in the tiny southeast Minnesota community of Harmony. His business was started by locals looking to do something to spur their economy. In the 1960s, they made the tent components to travel trailers. Now, with 60 employees, the company makes waste management products. For example, the company makes a machine which compacts cardboard, which can be recycled.
Sidney Emery is CEO of MTS Systems, which makes testing equipment. Emery said the company made a decision a few years ago to focus on China and he is here evaluating that decision. His conclusion is they made the right decision. He said the difference is China offers opportunity right now, whereas the opportunity in India is still a few years off.
Brett Shockley is CEO of Spanlink, a company that helps companies automate their telephone systems. With his company’s equipment, a customer can call an office in Minneapolis, and be seamlessly transferred to an employee in St. Paul. This allows businesses to make the most of their branch networks, Shockley explained. With all the economic growth in India, there are going to be a lot of new offices needing phone systems.
Gopal Khanna is commissioner of the Minnesota Office of Enterprise Technology. Gov. Pawlenty calls him the state’s chief information officer. Before joining the Pawlenty administration, he worked as chief financial officer for the Peace Corps, improving procedures across the organization’s international operations. Khanna, of Indian heritage, is bringing new efficiencies in information management and telecommunications to the state’s numerous departments and agencies.
Steve Korstad, chief financial officer for Coronal, is traveling with his colleague John Howard III. Coronal is an emerging company which offers a pollution-free way to incinerate waste products. Using carbon arching technology, garbage can be vaporized with heat that exceeds the temperature of the surface of the sun. The process produces a methane gas that can be used or sold. The company is preparing to set up shop in northern Minnesota near a paper mill, which will use the methane to dry its paper. Garbage from neighboring communities will fuel the operation.
Kim Pearson founded New Boundary Technologies in 1985, a software company with 30 employees. He said he’s made two observations during his trip here. First, the small tech companies in Bangalore are raising the standard on human resource practices. In order to mitigate rates of turnover as high as 30 percent, the small companies are adopting HR policies typically only found in big companies. “They spell out a compelling career path, and offer good training,” he said. They offer good compensation with bonuses. Pearson said they do a better job than most small tech companies in the United States. The example of the Indian companies is actually going to force American companies to adopt similar HR practices in order to compete for talent.
Second, Indian companies have done a good job of creating a knowledge repository so that when someone leaves the company, the information in their head is not lost. The company records everything and the person who takes over gets all that information and doesn’t miss a beat. With all the people who are going to be retiring as the Baby Boomers age, “we need to be doing the same thing in our companies so the intellectual capital of the company is not lost,” he said.
Erik Paulsen, state representative for Eden Prairie, Minn., recently announced he is running for the third congressional district seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. He is interested in India because there are a number of tech firms in Eden Prairie. He is interested in facilitating cooperative arrangements between Indian firms and those in Minnesota.
Paulsen introduced legislation last session that resulting in a $150,000 appropriation to the University of Minnesota for the launch of a Minnesota India Center. Paulsen said details for the center’s operation are being worked out by University officials, but he suspects it will offer some kind of support to businesses interested in India. It may also focus on health concerns.
A China Center was set up at the University of Minnesota in 1979, a resource Paulson tapped as he worked for legislation establishing a program to teach Mandarin in Minnesota schools.
Mark Aulik, owner of Allow Hardfacing and Engineering Co., of Jordan, Minn., spends about half his year in India, where he has been doing business since 2001. His company makes equipment for processing food, including automatic potato peelers and fruit packaging machines. He believes his company is a natural fit for India, where food is so important, yet most of its rots before it gets to market.
Aulik sells a system for rendering slaughtered animals so no parts go to waste. The system gives the animal’s owner a more efficient way to process animals and reduces land and water pollution. Aulik said he believes his company can make a big difference in India.
Megan and Dennis Doyle are founders of Hope for the City, a charity that channels excess corporate equipment and supplies to disadvantaged people. They recently shipped a carton of medical supplies to Armenia. In seven years, people all over the world have received millions of dollars in supplies through Hope for the City. The program also offers meals to disadvantaged children during the summer in the Twin Cities.
Hope for the City has a micro-loan program in India, with 75 loans currently outstanding. The loans range from $100 to $500. The money is being used to help villagers start or advance a business. On person used the money to buy an iron to start a laundry business, another used the money to buy a water buffalo.
Boris Miksic is president of St. Paul-based Cortech, which has been doing business all over the world for years. Miksic told the group that his company has just signed a deal to help an Indian state clean up its streets and give work to the poor. The state is hiring unemployed women to go around their city and pick up trash, using biodegradable trash bags made by Miksic’s company.
Miksic has published a 286-page paper-back autobiography, titled “American Dream: a guy from Croatia.” He gave me a copy of the book and I have been reading it as we travel.
Sam Roy is president and CEO of EPS Technologies of Mankato. His company has developed a technology for reducing the pollution emitted by diesel engines. The product already is in use in Thailand. As we drive about, he notes all the trucks driving by, belching out clouds of exhaust. Visibly excited about his company, Roy said the product will make the air cleaner and help the owners of the vehicles save a lot of money.
Steven Cremer is president of Harmony Enterprises in the tiny southeast Minnesota community of Harmony. His business was started by locals looking to do something to spur their economy. In the 1960s, they made the tent components to travel trailers. Now, with 60 employees, the company makes waste management products. For example, the company makes a machine which compacts cardboard, which can be recycled.
Sidney Emery is CEO of MTS Systems, which makes testing equipment. Emery said the company made a decision a few years ago to focus on China and he is here evaluating that decision. His conclusion is they made the right decision. He said the difference is China offers opportunity right now, whereas the opportunity in India is still a few years off.
Brett Shockley is CEO of Spanlink, a company that helps companies automate their telephone systems. With his company’s equipment, a customer can call an office in Minneapolis, and be seamlessly transferred to an employee in St. Paul. This allows businesses to make the most of their branch networks, Shockley explained. With all the economic growth in India, there are going to be a lot of new offices needing phone systems.
Gopal Khanna is commissioner of the Minnesota Office of Enterprise Technology. Gov. Pawlenty calls him the state’s chief information officer. Before joining the Pawlenty administration, he worked as chief financial officer for the Peace Corps, improving procedures across the organization’s international operations. Khanna, of Indian heritage, is bringing new efficiencies in information management and telecommunications to the state’s numerous departments and agencies.
Steve Korstad, chief financial officer for Coronal, is traveling with his colleague John Howard III. Coronal is an emerging company which offers a pollution-free way to incinerate waste products. Using carbon arching technology, garbage can be vaporized with heat that exceeds the temperature of the surface of the sun. The process produces a methane gas that can be used or sold. The company is preparing to set up shop in northern Minnesota near a paper mill, which will use the methane to dry its paper. Garbage from neighboring communities will fuel the operation.
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