When I returned to
The Salon’s Facebook page to share “
The Road Taken,” I was impressed by one contributing member’s take on the piece.
“As a member of the grand Diaspora -- I have left and returned multiple times -- my own experiences confirm that it is so important for large numbers of GRMI locals to NOT live here from time to time, bring back what they see, hear and partake in from other lands,” wrote Matt Patulski. “We are an enclave on a peninsula. We don't have the luxury of a port (NYC) or an interstate (Kansas City) churning fresh ideas and persons everyday.”
Patulski’s statement is a great springboard when I consider the foray of brothers and former Grand Rapidians Whit and Max Alexander into Africa. Their journey is chronicled in Alex’s new book
BRIGHT LIGHTS, NO CITY: An African Adventure on Bad Roads with a Brother and a Very Weird Business Plan.
Since leaving their boyhood home in East Grand Rapids, the brothers have finally settled on both of our country’s coasts with Max in Maine and Whit in Washington state. Their journeys have taken them individually to companies like Microsoft,
Variety and
People Magazine.
It was Whit's invention of the popular board game Cranium that placed him on the cover of
Inc. Magazine, thus bringing Max (again) closer to his older brother. Eventually, this would lead to both brothers harnessing the Midwestern core value structures they learned from their father so that they could, according to Alex, "make a difference in our world."
Bright Lights, No City… follows Whit and Max’s adventures and will be the subject of a lively talk hosted by Fountain Street Church’s “
Duncan Little Fair Speaker Series” on Wednesday, August 8 at 7 p.m.
As Max and I conversed over the phone earlier this week, we began our conversation around the mission outlined by Bill Gates, Whit’s former employer. Gates encouraged attendees at the Davos World Economic Forum to begin engaging in “creative capitalism” as people were encouraged to move away from the giveaway model of non-governmental organizations (NGO),and begin to look at items that the people of the world actually need.
“When you give something away for free all the time as many do in Africa, then it tends to create a dependency or an opportunity for corruption to creep in the vacuum,” says Max.
“This is not to imply NGOs or the people of this region are corrupt," he continues, "but that [the] infusing of a social contract, even at a small level, allows folks a chance to partake in the feedback or validation of a product based on needs, not what we want to toss onto them. This exchange brings value to everyone in the transaction.
“But Whit and I believed we needed to do more than create more sugar water or alcohol consumers in Africa, a place in the world with very limited annual income. My brother decided to address a need he saw emerging on the continent, and specifically in the country of Ghana.”
Whit had a flare as a child for his Swiss Family Robinson-style inventiveness. Later in life, he attended the Georgetown School of Foreign Services, eventually going on to study abroad in Africa’s Ivory Coast for a year before finally landing at Microsoft.
Many years later, Whit, whose service in Africa still tugs at him, would reach out to Max, who also had spent years outside of his work in service to his community. Whit asked his brother to embark on a spectacular new adventure.
The two lads from Grand Rapids hatched their plan carefully. Their iron-clad business plan became the map for the journey this insightful book and laugh-out-loud adventure follows, detailing their vision to bring a rechargeable battery subscription service, Burro, to a country where the disposable culture of use-once-and toss had become a serious environmental hazard.
To solve this crisis, a world would have to be assembled both from outside, but also from within as the brothers continually adjusted their sails to the winds of change happening in Africa.
“Our father, who started a business in Grand Rapids (Alexander Marketing Services) was a very conservative, John Birch Society minded individual who, much to his chagrin, raised two sons who are very much the product of the Woodstock generation,” says Max. “But as crazy as he was in his beliefs that were different than many of Whit’s and mine, he instilled in us an invaluable lesson that guided us in Africa: You do not lie, cheat or steal in business. And above all, he taught us to treat people fairly.”
This childhood lesson would serve them well as they faced a shifting landscape in Africa comes to a thrilling conclusion in the final pages of the book. And lest you think I am giving anything away, just remember that the story of the Titanic well known, but this did not stop millions from lining up to see the tale. And neither should it you, because
Bright Lights, No City… is a delightful read for anyone who has dreamed of starting a business.
And while it will take us out of our comfort zone to read page after page of the brothers fighting to bring something they knew would change Ghanaians’ lives for the better with their best practices approach, their journey to Africa made a profound change on them as well.
“We learned to have a sense of humor in the process,” says Max. “The Ghanaians have a great sense of humor, and made it easy to write the book. They are the funniest people I have ever met. You can diffuse any situation with a joke in Ghana.”
Because the brothers and the Ghanaians who populate this book were having fun, we do not feel sorry for them or pity them as some books or NGOs will attempt to do in gaining your support. Instead, Max and Whit invite us to look at the lighter side of doing business on a new terrain, unfamiliar and familiar all at the same time.
Near the end of our-hour long conversation, peppered with stories the two brothers will share at the lecture as well as a sincere plea to share the message that Africa is ripe with opportunities like Burro presented to the people of this land, I ask what advice they had for other travelers?
“I hope it gets people to travel to other places and to come up with their own ideas to start [their] own socially responsible company,” says Max. “We already witness mass market brands like Coke and Guinness already there.”
Max goes silent, allowing his socially responsible point to linger in the air.
“I certainly wouldn’t want to live in Ghana full time,” Max then continues. “But if you want to make a difference in the world, I can say that attending an African awareness concert is not going to do a lot. For [my brother and me], we are starting to get a bit too old for the work that needs to be done, so if you want to save Africa (or any place), you are going to just go out and do it. No one is going to give you permission. And if you fail, you know you can always move back home.”
Suddenly, I am back in the present and at the close of Matt Patluski’s ending statement on my topic of travel.
“If leaving town makes you anxious,” wrote Patulski, “then think of it as missionary work.”
For the first time, it became clear: The missionary sometimes stays on for a lifetime or until the work is done before moving on to other shores, as Max and Whit have done in their adult years.
And sometimes, the traveler in us may venture to far off lands in search of a mission and by doing so, maybe change the world in a small way before returning back home to share their story so others can hear the message of why travel is important.
Bright Lights, No City… has a message for all of us.
The Future Needs All of Us.
Tommy Allen, Lifestyle Editor
Email:
[email protected]
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