I lost my dad to cancer about 2 ? years ago. I miss him, especially so on Father’s Day. My dad was a good man. He taught me many things, mostly through just being a great role model. Work Ethic-Early on in my life he instilled a good work ethic. He didn’t want me leaving for work with just enough time to walk in the door “on time.” I needed to be there early and make sure I was ready to start work on time and it didn’t matter if no one else did that. Honesty-My parents always modeled being honest. If someone didn’t charge us enough for something my parents always let the person know and paid the full price. When I was in junior high my dad bought a franchise business. A few years later he went bankrupt. Some people said he lost it because he was too honest. Involvement-My dad was involved in PTA, civic groups and home owners associations. He usually ended up being president of these groups because of his willingness to commit the time, his calm demeanor and easy speaking manor. Acceptance-Life was not always easy but he accepted the difficult times with out complaint or blame. Kindness-I don’t ever remember seeing my dad treat anyone with anything except kindness and respect. Love-My parents were married for almost 60 years. I’m sure they had their ups and downs but they never showed it. Forgiveness-I know I did things in my life that disappointed my dad. But he was able to let those things go and love me anyway. I love you Dad. Thanks for helping me become the person I am today.

My next meeting is with CFW shops and P&G Kenya to discuss how we might use women sales agents to expand the reach of the CFW shops. I’m working with Adema Sangale and Irene Mwathi of P&G Kenya to finalize a proposal for using the CFW shops to learn about a new business model. The idea is to use CFW’s franchising skills with their outlets to build-in a new component: franchising local women sales agents. They’d receive products to sell through CFW’s supply chain, thereby ensuring product availability and cost -- not always easy to do in the developing world. We agree with CFW shops that the key challenge is sufficient revenue for the women. They will sell a wide variety of health products, including P&G’s PUR, Always, and Vicks throat drops.