Volunteering Expertise Is Rewarding
A few moments after finalizing the sale of his Manhattan apparel manufacturing business, Sanford Zemelis caught a reflection of himself in a window outside his lawyer’s office.
“I said to myself, ‘Who are you?’ I didn’t know who I was anymore,” said Zemelis, whose company, Jane Martin, made women’s loungewear for more than 50 years. He sold the business in 1990.
Instead of feeling sorry for himself, Zemelis joined the International Executive Service Corps. IESC, a Stamford, Conn.-based nonprofit organization that recruits experienced business people to assist struggling small companies in developing nations. Since its founding in 1965, the IESC has completed 20,000 projects, created 248,000 jobs and donated $514 million worth of services. Its volunteers have donated more than 1 million hours of time and facilitated $2.1 billion in purchases from U.S. companies, according to association officials.
Zemelis, who now recruits volunteers and matches them up with clients, was first sent for five weeks to St. Lucia, where he worked with five different clients. After that, he was sent to a small town outside St. Petersburg, Russia. He helped a men’s jacket manufacturer accustomed to filling orders from the government to compete in Russia’s fledgling capitalist economy.
The best part of working with the IESC, he said, is the “ego boost” of knowing his half a century of expertise isn’t going to waste.
“Volunteering is a way to transfer my experience to someone else,” Zemelis said.
The IESC has offices in 50 countries around the world and a database of 13,500 volunteer executives. The offices are headed by an IESC director, usually a native of the host country, who identifies businesses needing assistance. The IESC’s $32 million annual budget is funded by a variety of federal and private grants and donations. Foreign companies that can pay for the consulting services are asked to contribute something, according to Sondra Swann, vice president of marketing for the IESC. She said about 200 volunteers are in the field at any given time.
“These volunteers are very experienced people,” said Swann. “We look for people who are truly experts in their field.”
Harold Lurie of Baltimore, Md., owned his own apparel factory before becoming an executive with Gulf & Western. He had traveled extensively and decided to help business owners around the world. Since joining IESC, he’s worked on more than 20 projects in Egypt, Morocco, India, Bolivia, Bulgaria, Zimbabwe and Russia.
“Sometimes I work harder as a volunteer than I did on salary,” said Lurie. “You work all night if you have to.”
One of his most rewarding assignments led him to introduce a Siberian coat manufacturer to a Bulgarian business person with design and marketing experience.
“The Russian had the factory, and the Bulgarian knew about design and marketing,” recalled Lurie. “They both spoke Russian and hit it off.”
Lurie said the Bulgarian helped the Russian factory owner market his coats in Russia and Eastern Europe, which dramatically boosted sales.
Russia’s serious economic difficulties and the weakened ruble have spurred the IESC to focus its efforts on helping Russian entrepreneurs succeed. “People with 20 years’ business experience in the Soviet Union don’t have any idea of the most basic business concepts, such as collateral,” said B.J. Shannon, a retired optometrist and businessman who works with the IESC. “They are used to a government quota system. They had no control over ordering or inventory. We have to hold their hands and take them step by step.”
Shannon and his wife, Edie, a Realtor, have worked as volunteers in Armenia and Egypt for the past three years. The Shannons offer their clients a wide range of experience, having run their own optometry practice and real estate office. They try to teach struggling business owners and members of trade associations how to thrive in a free market economy.
For more information, contact the International Executive Service Corps, P.O. Box 1005, Stamford, CT 06094, or call 203-967-6000.