Real Business
Why Business?
Look at any financial publication and you will discover that investing in “Impact Businesses” is trendy. Analysts find it innovative that products and profits can do social and environmental good as opposed to being inherently "bad." But this has always been God’s design.
God created us in His image: to create, to work, to be productive for ourselves and others all for God’s glory (Gen 1, 2; Col 3:23). For centuries, Christian business people have impacted the world through business enterprise. Whether exampling Christian ethics, providing honest wages and safe conditions for employees, or witnessing for Jesus in deed and word, these men and women have used their God-given skills and passions to change the world.
We believe the for-profit business still holds the key for sustainable, transformative Kingdom impact internationally and domestically. We are dedicated to returning business and business people to their intended place in God’s Kingdom Plan, the engine of disciple-making.
What is a Kingdom Impact Business?
A successful new business needs three things: the opportunity, the entrepreneur, and the resources to start and grow.[1] In a Kingdom Impact Business, each of these things are seen through God’s Kingdom eyes.
Products are evaluated using an Asset-Based Community Development model.[2] Profits then become the engine that powers people transformation: economic, social and, ultimately, spiritual reconciliation. Kingdom Impact Businesses create direct impact: a percentage of profits used by local pastors/missionaries to help the materially and spiritually poor in the community. They also create indirect impact: empowering, training and educating employees, exampling Christian ethics, being good neighbors.
[1] William D. Bygrave, “The Entrepreneurial Process,” The Portable MBA in Entrepreneurship, ed. Bygrave and Zacharakis, 3rd ed. (Hoboken: Wiley, 2004), p11.
[2] Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert, When Helping Hurts (Chicago: Moody, 2012), p119.
Investment Philosophy
The Camino Foundation serves Kingdom Impact Businesses through various structures like equity or debt. Regardless of the legal relationship or structure, the Foundation reviews and approves our investments based on the following criteria:
- Self-Sustaining - On average we expect our investments to reach a breakeven point by the end of the forth year. In periods of growth, our investments are expected to reserve enough capital to fund significant portions of growth.
- Transformative - Our businesses will proactively seek to generate direct and indirect impact. The pinnacle of impact is making disciples.
- Leadership Driven - Our businesses will require leaders with implementation skills and vision. Our investments will be operated by divinely-designed entrepreneurs who have God given skills and passions to start, grow, and develop Kingdom business.
- Impacting Spanish Speakers - CGF is a subsidiary of Camino Global whose mission is to make disciples of Jesus Christ, serving among and with Spanish-speakers globally. Our investments seek to accomplish this end.
Investment Structure
The Camino Foundation legally engages with companies through debt and equity. The foundation reviews each business plan and structures the deal based on the following considerations:
- Location of business and available legal entities in that region
- Growth stage of company
- Risk assessment
- Long term objectives
- Current portfolio allocation
- Potential impact