Friends: Marcia and *Helen(Photo: © Clifton Clarke)In 1997, Clifton and I went to Ghana to work as CMS mission partners.
One afternoon, on my way home from Good News Theological Seminary, where Clifton and I worked, I saw a woman walking to town.
The seminary was about seven miles from the nearest town and taxis were expensive and infrequent, so I stopped and asked her if she wanted a lift. She accepted.
We began talking and she shared with me how her husband had left her for another woman and how she was now emerging from a bitter divorce.
Her husband had left her with nothing: he had taken the house, the car and her only source of income because he had not wanted her to work while she was his wife.
I prayed with her and promised that I would continue to pray that God would strengthen and provide for her.
Ghanaian businesswomen at the Sellers of Purple seminar(Photo: © Marcia Clarke/CMS)Nearly three years later I organised a seminar-cum-workshop for women with small to medium-sized business enterprises.
I called it “Sellers of Purple”.
Sellers of Purple is a non-denominational, Christian initiative.
Its main aim is to motivate and equip entrepreneurial Christian businesswomen to excel in their businesses and their faith.
Its name is derived from the example of Lydia, a believer in God and a rich dealer in purple cloth and dye — which had rarity value and was, therefore, highly valued — who is mentioned in Acts 12.16.
While going around the different churches to promote the seminar, I met the same woman, Helen* (not her real name), again.
Although the seminar was aimed at encouraging, training and empowering women already in business, I invited her to come along.
Ghana's economy at the time was such that even medical doctors only earned around £40 a month and most professionals, men and women, owned or ran a shop or business to supplement their income.
The Minister of Trade and Industry at the Sellers of Purple conference(Photo: © Marcia Clarke/CMS)The seminar was a great success.
The Minister of Trade and Industry turned up and promised the women his help and support whenever they needed it.
A well-known training provider introduced the women to the principles of marketing, time management and financial planning.
Helen thanked me for inviting her. She acknowledged that her circumstances at the time meant that she wasn’t able to start any initiative then but she had been inspired for the future.
Nearly 10 years later, I was travelling to the Good News Theological Seminary when I met Helen again – on the same road on which I had met her all those years before.
“Let me show you my canteen,” she offered. She took me to a long room with three tables – each with its own benches; it was a basic kitchen with pots and pans and plates stacked neatly in the corner.
“I cook here,” Helen explained. I have two girls working for me who help to prepare the food and wash the plates. I don’t make much money but it’s enough to live on and it’s my enterprise.”
Helen was putting the Sellers of Purple ethos, teaching and training to work to good effect in her canteen. She had new hope.
We had a photograph taken of us together (above) because we knew that it might be the last time I would see her — for a long while at least.
Today, Sellers of Purple continues to provide potential and existing businesswomen with motivation and training, which may not reap immediate benefits but which can plant "seeds".
It's driven by the women’s business needs while, at the same time, offering pastoral guidance and spiritual direction in terms of Christian business ethics.
Its corporate philosophy is that the world belongs to God, as does business as a strand of life in God’s world.
When Christian businesswomen believe, internalise, live and work such a principle into all their dealings, they come to greater understanding of how to fulfil the purposes and role of business.