“What we’ve built over the last four years are supply chain solutions that solve world problems.”

– Mike Mannina, President of ThriveWorx

There are plenty of opportunities for individuals and organizations to make a difference in the world, whether that means driving change in their local community or halfway around the world. But while they all stem from the best of intentions, not all efforts have an equal impact.

As Mike Mannina, President of ThriveWorx, explains to Supply Chain Now Radio co-hosts Scott Luton and Greg White, it is possible to have 2-4 times the impact on a resource constrained community by positively affecting the economics of agricultural work than it is through any other type of outreach program. And that statistic holds as true in Atlanta, Georgia as it does in Guatemala.

If agriculture is the target of improvement, supply chains must become the lifeline – but first, supply chain teams have to stop thinking of themselves as transactional, instead seeing their power to connect people and transport value:

• By unifying all the different types of organizations trying to do good into a networked force.
• By helping consumers understand the economics of the far end of the supply chains they are served by.
• By remembering that none of us – not people or organizations – has infinite time to work with, and we all have to make the most of every minute we get.

[00:00:05] It’s time for a supply chain. Now radio broadcasting live from the Supply chain capital of the country, Atlanta, Georgia. Supply chain. Now radio spotlights the best in all things supply chain the people, the companies, the technologies, the best practices and the critical issues of the day. Now here are your hosts.

[00:00:35] Hey, good afternoon, Scott Luton here with you live on Supply Chain Now Radio, welcome back to the show. On this episode, we’re kicking off our newest podcast series, Logistics with a purpose. So on this series, it’s all about Supply chain Logistics firms that are really changing the world. You know, we’re in really moving the needle, not just offering lip service. So we’re proud to partner with Vector Global Logistics to bring you these inspiring leadership and really community service stories. Our audience, you’re going to have plenty of ideas and best practices to benchmark with for sure. So stay tuned for what promises to be an intriguing conversation. A quick programing note. Like all of our series of Supply Chain Now Radio, you can find our replays on a variety of channels Apple podcasts, SoundCloud, YouTube, Greg White where you get your podcasts from. As always, we love to have you subscribe. So missing thing. So we’ll thank all of our sponsors that help make our programing and allow us really to bring best practices and innovative ideas to our audience. But in particular, with this new series, you big half hour Vector Global Logistics who we couldn’t think of a better partner to be own this series with. So about Vector, which you can learn more about in a second, but an asset free multi-modal company in VEO which is able to provide top class C freight air freight truck rail general Logistics to its customers.

[00:01:53] Man, if you need to put some stuff somewhere into the folks, you’re right, they can move it anywhere.

[00:01:58] But you know, more intriguing to me is core to the culture is their dedication to a wide variety of charitable calls as globally. So perfect partner for us in the series. You can learn more at vector g l dot com. Okay.

[00:02:13] I know that that is already much more than what Enrique and Adrian want to talk about with Vector. Yeah, about because they’re very humble people. They are, but they’ve been great part of that. So we’re not.

[00:02:22] So we can talk about. All right.

[00:02:26] So as as Yonk as our audience can tell. Here with me today, my fearless co-host Greg White says a serial supply chain tech entrepreneur, kronic disruptor and trusted advisor to many. Greg, how you doing? I’m doing great. Thank you. Itchin to go. Oh, yeah. This is fine. I love this part. Yeah, I love it, too.

[00:02:45] And you know, we love our new series and especially the I think this is going to be unique in that, you know, Corda, who we are in quarter of our program, is the transparence, new frankness and the genuine conversation. Well, I think that’s going to was what’s going to body a lot of the content in this series.

[00:03:02] Well, you know, we get to spend time with with Adrian and with Enrique and the entire vector team all the time, because they’re just down a couple suites from us. Right. Right. So we get to see this every day. So I’m excited for our listeners to hear and see. I agree with these guys are doing outside of just the their their business and kicking off the series.

[00:03:23] I think we have a perfect guest. Let’s let’s say hello to other folks in the room. So otherwise we never talk for a couple of hours. Mike MENAGH, President, Throbbed Works Foundation. Good afternoon. How you doing?

[00:03:33] Good to see you guys. Thanks for having me on. Great, great.

[00:03:36] You know, we have heard so much about the organization and of course, the coffee. I think I heard about a a dinner that y’all had had a month or two ago. So I’m I’m so excited. We’re excited to have you here so we can learn more about the story and about the great work you’re doing. So looking forward to bring you in and learn more about that story momentarily.

[00:03:55] I also want to say hello to Adrian Patel Vector Global Logistics. I do. Adrian. Well, thank you. Great to be here. Thanks, Scott. Great to have you. And Enrique Alvarez with also a Vector Global Logistics. Enrique, how you doing?

[00:04:08] Thank you very much. I’m doing great. Always a pleasure being with you and Greg.

[00:04:12] It is. And it’s always great to have repeat guests on. Yeah. As you mentioned, as we rise, we’re going live in what in what? About three months ago, we sat right over there and had a interview with Enrique. And it resonated. Yeah. And because of all of what you talked about was they get back. Yeah, right.

[00:04:31] Yeah, that’s right. I mean, that was kind of the impetus for this this series really was to expose that. And frankly, we’re using you as a lever to challenge other companies to be as active in charitable giving in philanthropy as you guys are. Since it’s such an integral part of your business model.

[00:04:48] So no, thank you once again. And yes, we’re very passionate about giving back.

[00:04:52] Yeah. Yep. Now let’s talk about news update. Yeah, his desk. So what is new about it?

[00:05:00] Come in the team up to Malcolm and the team. So we’re in the in the holiday season. So this may have this may be a reflection on things by the time this publishes. But interestingly, second hand gifts and life experiences are top holiday regifting lists. Items. Yes, OK. We gift love it.

[00:05:24] Much to the chagrin of the folks on the Seinfeld show. Re gifting is really it’s really a good thing. It is.

[00:05:30] I mean, people you know, people are. So let me tell. This so you can read this, this is a New York Times article that talks about it’s called second hand gifts and Experiences, still top holiday lists. But look, people are you know, they’re not. Some people are rejecting consumerism. The waste, the. Well intentioned, but sometimes over giving. And and a lot of people are getting into experiences. Right. A cooking class or a cruise. I hope my wife doesn’t listen to this.

[00:06:05] Or life experience and consumable things. I mean, like coffee. Not that we’re pitching you guys, but I mean, this this is a great golfing.

[00:06:13] Everybody does this effort. Yeah. It’s what makes Suzanne go.

[00:06:16] And then, yes, people are giving things or, you know, one of the this won’t be listened to before Christmas, will it? One of my daughters is going to get a gift certificate to Goodwill. That’s where she does her shopping. She does goodwill, love. And what she does, what she gets from goodwill that she no longer wears. She gives the most ministries, which is a charitable organization as well. So anyway, you can tell we’re kind of interested in that. So. But that’s interesting that that happens, and yet retail still reigns over one hundred and ninety million Americans shopped online or in stores or will have shopped online and in stores during the Christmas season or sorry, just the Thanksgiving weekend. And yet so many people are starting to change their patterns. And I think it’s a good thing.

[00:07:06] I don’t know. I feel like a lot of people have enough stuff. Right. Look, a lot of us sitting around this table have enough stuff. It’s not global.

[00:07:17] But if you don’t need stuff, I think it’s great to instead get experience. And particularly in this age where we’re in our eye. I mean it right. Natural age where it you know, we’re in our devices all the time. I think it’s great to get life experiences. So I like it anyway. I think it’s an interesting trend. A big trend. Interesting to talk about.

[00:07:39] So target. Right. So a lot of companies talk about sustainability. Target is delivering in spades on this. They’ve set some pretty ambitious, ambitious emissions reduction goals. So they want to reduce their emissions by 30 percent from 2017 levels by 2030. Right. That’s a that’s a pretty substantial goal. And they already had a goal. Let me see what it was.

[00:08:04] They already had a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2025. Looks like they’re on pace to do that, but they continue to challenge themselves. And one of the things that they’re doing to make this happen is and this, I think, is a brilliant use of your power in the Supply chain. They want to have 80 percent of their source, their suppliers engaged in likewise processes. And as you know, one of the quotes in the article that I read about this that kind of inspired me is most target suppliers have very singular focuses on keeping Target as a customer.

[00:08:41] So essentially, essentially, they’re going to compel these vendors and give those vendors, those suppliers priority because of meeting helping them meet this initiative. And I think that’s fantastic.

[00:08:53] You know, we’ve seen a lot of big brands here as sustainability. Finally, not only are the companies and shareholders demanding, but consumers are demanding it. That’s right. Nike, we we covered a store where they’re building a big new facility in Europe with sustainability is like the top of how it’s planning its approach. This is taking trucks off the road because, ah, they’re putting it next to the canal system. I can’t remember how many miles an empty miles are saving, but but that’s just a tip at Iceberg. IKEA is working with us with early-stage, or maybe a startup company called Up Tauro to reduce returns and improve its reverse Logistics, of course. We spoke a lot about that earlier today. Yeah. Oh no. Reverse Logistics series. But it all. I mean, it’s all it’s all tied together, right? It’s all tied together, but it’s in it.

[00:09:42] And, you know, we’re going to hear more and more and more as a target continues to raise the bar on on corporate responsibility. And, you know, they’re a big influencer in that regard, right?

[00:09:52] Well, not the I believe that at the end of the day is just one of the things that we’re realizing is that people are going to start moving into more purpose. Purpose. Right. So companies are starting to shift away from. Yes. Consuming things to really doing things responsibly, not because they are nice, but because they know that everyone else. That’s coming up. And all the millennials that are behind us. Yes. Demand that. Yes. It’s just really going to be a competitive advantage, as we talked about on our last podcast, as it’s gone from a nice to have to like you inhabit, you’re going out, you have to have purpose city capacity.

[00:10:30] I like that.

[00:10:31] Recalling the words coined a word to sustain a sustainability. Well, that’s it. Malcolm possibly being on that one. But.

[00:10:39] But kidding aside. You’re absolutely right. And and it is it’s neat to see in so many different ways. And we talked earlier about how consumers and in some of our buying habits. That’s the next thing we need to really start to shift. Right. This whole returns era that we live in where you can get three and sin2 back. Well, what happens to the two, you know? Unfortunately, no. All to allow folks know all too often what does happen to the two because they destroy it because it listed low, low, at least cost way of handling with that. All too often. So anyway, fascinating to see what Target’s doing I think is setting a good example in many ways when retailers are in.

[00:11:20] I mean, they have the greatest ability to impact these things because they are attached to the consumer. Yeah, they touch every product that goes to the consumer.

[00:11:27] So it’s easier for them to push this sort of initiative through the supply chain because if you don’t do what they want and you don’t make any money off of them. Right. And they are reflecting I think they’re you know, they’re reflecting very well. In a timely fashion, the demands of the consumer. I agree it’s only going to get more prominent because the next generation of Gen IV to millennials in and I take a genze, right?

[00:11:57] Yeah. genze today.

[00:11:59] Yep. So I have two two millennials and an genze and um, she’s even more aware of these things even than the millennials are. And it’s I mean she’s the one who buys her clothes from Goodwill Slavitt. She’s very aware. It’s funny to think about people. Who know first know the word supply chain. Consumers know the word supply chain. And now they know supply chain responsibility and sustainability as well. Love it. Bring her on. And I think it’s important. Important part of what we do.

[00:12:31] So, look, we’re gonna talk about a purpose. Her postie. We should’ve made that the title of the. I was going to be the end of it. Yeah. Title of the episode capacity. That’s right. Not pomposity. So. So. Yeah.

[00:12:46] So I don’t know which of you wants to take the four on this, Adrian or Enrique. But before we we really roll into the discussion. I think it’s important for our listeners to understand why you felt compelled to launch this series and kind of the message that, you know, you you want to get out there or get extracted because you know, I know this is a big part of what you do. So can you tell us a little bit about your why here?

[00:13:15] Yes, of course. And the main reason is because we’re passionate about giving back. And I again, I’m not saying that because we’re nice people or we’re actually want to pretend to be nice.

[00:13:27] Would you say you’re really tough one, so be it. Yeah, right. Exactly. Especially if I’m on any kind of philanthropic purpose. Yes. Adrian’s along with black belt. Yeah. That’s all I ever thought. But no, I didn’t. That’s just in our DNA.

[00:13:42] That’s why we started vector. We started vector with the mission of changing the world and making the world a better place and making impossibly impact for people that work with us. And this is the reflection of who we are and why we do what we do. And I’ve said this before, but we just happened to be in Logistics. We do a terrific job at it. But it really is a way for us to affect the lives of others and positively change the culture of the society and the communities that we’re in. And so for us, this series Logistics with Purpose was a way to share a little bit of the amazing organizations that we work with day in and day out. And just to give everyone else out there a little bit of a sense of how amazing it feels and how impactful it is. If you can’t, like, change your mindset a bit and change your business model a bit and then just really focus on changing things for the better and in revenues and profits and all this, other things will then come. So we’re basically just excited to to introduce your listeners to some of the people that having inspired us to to to wake up in the mornings and work as hard as we as we do.

[00:14:59] So Mike is going to share with us a little bit about, you know, what what how how thrive farmers and thrive works, contribute to that. But can you tell us a little bit about. I mean, you guys are a great and shining example of how to do this. Can you tell us a little bit about how vector contributes to the changing the world? So, I mean, just on the on the on the charity side of it, with every container that we ship, we supplied dehydrated food stuff to to Africa.

[00:15:30] We’ve been doing that to serve international for many, many years now out to office in Mexico. Also contributes in a large way to a body that helps children with with cancer. So that’s a big part of what we do down there. It’s it’s it’s a huge passion for them. And in Chile, we support in what organization for children with learning disabilities and physical disabilities.

[00:15:59] So those are just three for every container. But it’s not something I would still be one of these organizations. No, we did. It goes to Africa. Okay. Okay. Kenya, I believe it is that we. That we do. Yeah. Got it. OK. We helped out feed the people. They would be doing it for.

[00:16:14] Every office has its own costs and Ryder every container moved. And this holiday season we usually do either the donate on behalf of our clients. And this year we basically worked in conjunction with Matilda in Ghana to Ryder container for four five thousand children in Ghana and we actually loaded them with books and glasses and we’re doing some ice screenings and.

[00:16:38] Yeah, exactly. For these kids, you can’t you can’t really see properly with or without the glasses, you know. And some of these kids, this party is it’s the first time they get a solid meal with some chicken for the entire year. So it’s a huge thing. And we’re very proud of our colleague Matilda, who has organized this food for years in a row. Now we Matildas an irresistible force.

[00:16:58] Yes. And Sheer, really? Harper on the next episode for sure.

[00:17:03] Three continents. Ja, ja. Move the needle and and really impacting lives and especially kids. You hate to see kids suffer in any way, shape or form. You won’t see any suffering. But kids in particular and kids with cancer and kids that don’t have a full meal like you talk about are or kids that are struggling to have books to develop reading skills or or can even, you know, their eyesight is impacted. So I love it.

[00:17:27] We love the story metric to just every container. Yeah. I mean, it really reinforces the VA to do it right. And the win the trigger for doing it. Yeah, right. It’s so right.

[00:17:40] And it just makes it a lot more meaningful as well. Right. Because you’re not thinking of moving a container from point A to point B, you’re thinking of giving food or giving books or giving education or giving hope or shipping. Bicycle’s right. So. For people that work at Vector. I think that just having this course as our main strategy has made us an even better Logistics company, if that makes sense.

[00:18:06] So how long have you been doing this? You said basically since the inception. Right.

[00:18:10] So when I was 9 2000, I might want to add as well that we’re all we’re all empowered to go out and find a cause that we’re passionate about as well. Just the most recent example, we have colleagues in in our office in Mexico who went out in the road and found a group of children who would be, uh, I didn’t have much this this Christmas season, organized a big party for them, got a Christmas wish list from the caregivers who were looking after them. And, uh, and a lot of it out of their own pocket went outside of the budget they had and supplied these kids with with Christmas presents and everything they wanted to. Wow. That’s a huge thing for us.

[00:18:47] Is that what what do you guys think? The main thing this Gates wanted was she’s UPS. Yes. Soccer balls. No, it’s very clothes. Like underwear. Underwear. It’s often socks. Yeah. Socks. Underwear in. Which is heartbreaking. Isn’t. I’ll use this. That’s what they want for Christmas. Yeah. I can set you up with some socks next time. Nick. Next. That’s good. Let’s do that. Send the whole container. Yeah. I’ll add some socks to the next containers for sure to do that.

[00:19:18] So let’s make sure our listeners know how can they learn before dove into the conversation, Mike.

[00:19:22] How can folks learn more about vector V that can come to, uh, come to us on Facebook of our website? Uh, Victor G.l. Dot com. We’re on Instagram. Oh, they can contact me personally. Adrian ADR I-A in DOT Purtill P U R T I L L at Victor V E CTO r G.l. Dot com.

[00:19:46] Excellent. Great. Excellent. I appreciate your. And I know this.

[00:19:50] I just love here and Adrian talk. I did too.

[00:19:52] This funky, funky southern accent of my various other. We need to do some more at the IQ of this table. But it just goes up because we’re back. Exactly.

[00:20:04] They sponsor Supply Chain Now Radio. Just real quick. Sponsers Supply Chain Now Radio. Right.

[00:20:09] We get that, we got it recorded, we’re gonna make that into our next session. It’s gonna work like that. So I appreciate your Sheer. I know they are very.

[00:20:18] It’s always about the customer. Always about effort. Always about, you know, everyone other than Vector. But thanks for for bearing with us and talking us more about what all do day in and day out. And I can’t be we can’t be more excited about the series. So thank you very much. OK. So back to our our featured guests here today. And again, I think for this first this kick off Logistics with a purpose series. What an excellent organization.

[00:20:43] So, Mike Mannino, good afternoon again. Good to see you guys. Yeah, I like to have you. Your ears have had a big burnin sometime. Cough has been percolating.

[00:20:55] We’re big fans. It does smell really good. I can’t I can’t smell the. Can’t smell. Hold up the mike. That’s right.

[00:21:04] So let’s let’s get into it before we talk shop, before we learn more about throbbed works and throb. Let’s talk more about Mike, who Mike is. So tell us about where you grew up in and give us some anecdotes about that upbringing.

[00:21:15] Yes. So I I’m at Atlanta native, grew up outside of the city, in the suburbs from a Generally Middle-Class family.

[00:21:25] Nothing abnormal.

[00:21:28] My parents did separate at an early age and that kind of forced my brother and I to become a little more independent. We are always very we were taught few frugal ness, I guess. And stewardship from a young age.

[00:21:43] So I got to be frugal city capacity.

[00:21:49] But I’d say that I was always I was always working from the time I come home. I remember being. I don’t know if I’m you know, this was legal at the time, but it didn’t used to matter way. I cut my grass when I was in. I was eight years old when he cut the grass. And then that turned into doing neighbors where we work for neighbors and then working at the local swim team. And how many yard did you get up to? I only had a couple of my brother was the real entreprenurial and he had like four or five yards, which at that time, you know, he was.

[00:22:18] What’s the age difference in two years? Okay. You’re the oldest. I’m the oldest. Two years. Okay.

[00:22:24] And so, you know, I was find on a normal course B. I say I was pretty scrappy and surviving.

[00:22:30] And then, you know, I was not. Spirituality was not a big thing in our household. Not a huge thing. But then when I was about 18, before I went off to college, I did have a very deep spiritual encounter. Mm hmm. That really kind of woke me up to what? What. What am I living for? And I had this weird fear as a kid.

[00:22:52] I even fear. But I just had this sense that I wasn’t going to live very long. I always had a sense of urgency.

[00:23:00] And I don’t mean to get super deep. I I wore these guys for the listeners. I wore them ahead of time. Here we go.

[00:23:06] The philosopher here. Yeah. I’m so, so sorry if you glaze over. But, you know, I always felt like life was going to be short.

[00:23:13] And so I felt this sense of urgency. And after that spiritual awakening, I kind of understood the why for me. And so I went off to college. I went to University of Georgia and was so grateful for the Hope Scholarship because I was able to afford to go study business and journalism. And it was one of the summers I got a scholarship to go. And it was really cool because the donor wrote this scholarship to force people to study abroad and go do an experience in non traditional non-European countries. So there was scoped where you had to choose either somewhere in Asia, Africa or South America. Well, I chose Peru and I got the scholarship, the grant, and I went and spent a summer in an orphanage outside of Lima and then up in the mountains in the rural parts of the country. And that was my first time seeing that the disparity in the world and for me, kind of this injustice that I felt very compelled to do something about. Mm hmm. And so I came back. That was a deep summer, a lot of processing.

[00:24:27] I have literally a whole I’m a I’m a I’m right. And so I had a whole journal like this in front of me filled just from those 60 days I was down there because I was just absorbing so much. And that basically shaped the rest of my my life. How long goes that? Roughly. No, let’s say 20 years. Okay. It’s probably 20.

[00:24:47] So was I mean, was there like a pivotal moment while you were down there where you just went?

[00:24:51] Yeah, the very first have to do something about. Yeah. You know, I land. Yeah.

[00:24:56] I’d done international travel is always drawn the culture. I was always drawn to understanding people and, you know, fascinated by the differences and yet the commonalities in human human existence. So I went down and got there late one night, so, you know, I got picked up from the airport, went to a volunteer house. It was kind of like a group house.

[00:25:17] And it was then next day or the following day after that, when the director of the volunteer program took us to the slums outside the city of what had been a trash dump, that then a bunch of my people had migrated from the Amazon jungle and came to the city. They were kept out, you know, decades before the city built a wall and said, you cannot come in and migrate here, but you can have this trash dump. And that trashed up, then turned into an entire city with two hundred some thousand people.

[00:25:47] But it had you know, for me, we went there and we were driving through. And I remember we went to a cemetery and I had never.

[00:26:00] In the trash dump. In the trash. And this is it’s like a town.

[00:26:05] And it I saw the day of the cemetery and it was these two super basic, you know, little tombs, blocks.

[00:26:15] And I was all in dirt and all dirt roads. And there was no running water and there’s no there explaining about the corruption. And I was asking, you know, what’s that bucket in front of these little shantytown homes in there? Well, that’s where the water gets delivered. And, you know, a lot of these guys, if you don’t pay them a bribe and you don’t get water delivered. So I’m just sitting there.

[00:26:33] I just remember like walking in and weeping and just feeling like this. This isn’t right. And, you know, so I Fazli spent the rest the last 20 years in different forms of trying to empower humans to thrive. Human flourishing is kind of, I’d say, the theme.

[00:26:55] And it sounds really deep. And I mean, I’m not trying to say like I’m perfect in that. I know, you know, I’m not selfish, but it definitely put me on a journey of like, I want to understand why is this the case that there’s this this level of disparity and what can be done about it? Yeah. And I think something can be done. And in 20 years in. I’m I’m not. You’re doing it. I’m not jaded. And I think we can’t do it. And, you know, when we met Enrique and in Adrian at Vector’s through a mutual friend who said you guys have to meet because you all are trying to change the world and make it better. And so that’s how this whole introduction came. And so you’re stuck with me today.

[00:27:35] To ask.

[00:27:35] Love it and love. Just to how frank you are with that opinion that you had and then how you’ve acted on that.

[00:27:44] You know, in the 20 years since and we’ll talk more about throbbed works here. So we’re familiar, of course, with prov. I’m less familiar with thrive work. So tell us more about the organization first and then we’ll talk about your roll call.

[00:27:59] So I think you’ve got to see that there are two distinct entities in a singular mission. And what what’s really cool when you really go deep, but to how do you make the world a better place? You can retrofit an old business model and then try to make something good come out of it or what we got to do, we get the luxury to do which which was dream of how to solve a problem. And then what are the platforms you need to actually engage to solve that problem? And we came up with a two pronged approach. You needed to read shape the coffee industry through a for profit business that took a commodity that had been traded. Second largest traded commodity in the world, coffee behind. What do you guys think? Maureen a large orange juice.

[00:28:47] Daryl oil. Oil is the largest traded commodity, so it’s much nicer to drink orange juice. Coffee is the second largest macheted.

[00:28:57] And so yeah, there there was 400 plus years of this of a disparity of a supply chain of things being grown in parts of the world on the backs of very, you know, indentured servant or slave labor. Right. Coming into a wealthier economy, wealthier consumers. And that value never got transferred into those economies. So when when Michael Jones, our co-founder, who I got to meet a few years into his journey of launching drive, he he basically said, we’re going to change this and we’re going to rebuild how this is done and we’re gonna build it from the ground up. And so that’s drive farmers. The farmers is essentially a direct source, supply chain for large scale businesses. And we do have amazing customers out there, some of the best restaurants in the industry. We work with big clothing companies who care about supply chain and manufacturing workers, smoothie companies. We work with hotels. We have our own coffee shop. And we kind of have this really unique customer facing piece, but we’re really Supply chain Logistics company. And the whole piece was consumers are paying the same price for a cup of coffee when you go buy it at. The store you go buy it at, a cafe you buy in a grocery. Year after year and maybe, you know, I actually I’m a nerdy economists on the side.

[00:30:16] I was tracking the price of a cup of coffee from from a big, you know, company. You can probably guess whose price they are selling.

[00:30:25] Firstly, for 20 years, you’re a saint, Saint Arbroath.

[00:30:30] So I was tracking the pricing and it basic tracks with inflation, which means it’s stable. Yeah. If you look at what a farmer who grows the raw product at the bottom of that value chain, what they’re getting compensated in real terms is actually declining over the past 20 years. You know, I started on an annual basis. You can have a 60 percent volatility on that price. So imagine you’re getting one paycheck a year. And you have to invest all of that paycheck into your your business to be in business the next year to get the next paycheck.

[00:31:02] But you can’t predict what you’re going to earn. And so what happens in the coffee industry for a lot of farmers is devastating. And then it creates all these other ills in society. So immigration, you see coming out of Guatemala, people leaving because they don’t have healthy lives. So thrive essentially as solving that. And we’re really excited and proud of that. So they’re they’re transferring that value, that price stability to farmers doing a profit share. Farmers are earning 66 percent above some of the fair trade prices and even beyond why it’s. And we are paying consistent prices year after year. And that’s been amazing. Has been so fun to be a part of that team.

[00:31:37] Sixty six percent above fair trade. That’s the average in a lot of them are even higher than that. Should be in bold numbers. Yeah. By the way, that is enormous.

[00:31:49] One of things that I learned last time we met with Mike was the immigration and then how it correlates with the price of coffee. And I thought that was just fascinating special because he was right in the middle of that immigration, I guess, media movement.

[00:32:03] And yeah, I mean, to me, that’s incredible. It’s a it’s it’s the external effects of an economy that gets broken, you know.

[00:32:12] And so it’s not that we are taking we’re not involved in policy issues. We’re not involved in these kind of issue.

[00:32:18] But if you go down to the core of why would somebody leave a really beautiful place, that when you go to a you know, I was three weeks ago, we were launching our water initiative in a western highlands of Guatemala. It’s right on the Mexican Guatemalan border. When you go to this place, it’s the most beautiful paradise you’ve ever seen from the mountains, the trees, the landscape, the climate mean it. It couldn’t be more beautiful. You couldn’t grow more delicious foods and fruits, you know, crops. Right. So why would you want to leave that at great risk to yourself? Well, it’s not because people just decide by hands what do they know, what they told, what they’ll tell you is the pain of hunger is so much greater than the fear of what’s on the other side of, you know, trying to risk your life. So it’s it’s really interesting.

[00:33:11] Well, let’s talk up. I want to ask you about the program. Areas that throbbed works is involved in. Can give us example before that. We do that. Your role with organization. How do you spend your time?

[00:33:21] So my role has largely been to launch drive works. And that’s kind of. Now, the second piece of this. So let’s let’s go back to the thesis that if you want to change the way the world affects poverty, which is what we’ve set out to do, and we want to create communities that thrive. And we want to do that through agriculture, because if we affect agriculture, the World Bank. So this premiere institution of the whole world says you have a two to four times higher impact if you move the needle on AG than any other industry. So we know we can reach the world’s poor through AG. We do it through coffee. Now, what is it? A community with more income due to evolve and then get the other things they need? Well, that’s where it thrive. Works came in because we said, hey, we’ve got to unlock this potential of the entire community where farmers are now earning a decent living. And how do we do that? Wealth drive works came and said we’re gonna do a holistic community development approach, which is focused on economic opportunity, health and wellness. Leadership got to unlock that potential that’s already there. Education and environment. And then within those pillars, you really we dig in, really do a lot of water initiatives and we’re focused on education.

[00:34:44] So those are kind of the buckets. And we say those are the elements that are essential to a thriving community without any of those five. You basically can’t have a place that thrives and you can apply that formula to Atlanta or to Boros of Atlanta or Chicago or all of the. Well, you can you can apply the same formula. And so that’s what we’ve been we’ve been thinking through. And we decided it was in our interest to. Put a nonprofit together that is separate from the company and not even funded entirely by the company, but funded by a by a coalition of like minded people, organizations, customers who are buying product from these communities. Now have a right to be there and thrive. Works is becoming, you know, what we’ve built over the last four years is now supply chain solutions to to solve world problems. Love so well we would love is if we can ever be helpful. And that’s why I’m excited to be here today. Any of the things we’re learning along the way could help the targets of the world and the Costcos of the world. And the shipping company is a world we can be helpful.

[00:35:52] We want to be, you know, as is our listeners can probably already gather from what you’ve shared. You’re not putting your eggs in one basket. You’re touching the community in the places you serve a number different ways from transformational leadership, economic opportunity, education, environment, health and wellness. Your organization’s touching each of those aspects. What’s, um, what’s what’s an example of a couple of those areas that maybe you haven’t touched on yet where you’re really driving the needle?

[00:36:21] Right. So the needle. Sorry. So we have we we you know, I can go back into my history. Yeah. I can tell you about my career, which was previously in government. And so I had this in government.

[00:36:32] Your job is to create policies that allow conditions for humans to flourish. Right. That’s the general thrust of what a good government is. They do help society thrive by creating good, stable policies. It’s a top down approach. Right. And what’s cool about business is we get to be the grassroots bottom up. And so with with thrive works, we say we’re market driven. So we come behind the supply chain of a of a for profit. I think that’s the secret of we can effectively move the needle on poverty far cheaper, quicker and more effectively by working with a corporation who’s got a supply chain tail somewhere. It is willing to let us work with that. Then we could if we just tried to do it on their own. So market driven, locally led, you’ve got to get in the mind of the community first and then globally connected, meaning how do you when when a community’s lacking a piece of what they need to move the needle, that’s when we need to connect them in a globalized world to our resources and talents from the outside. So that’s what we do. And so the the programs, basically the communities have to drive what we are going to partner with them. If we come in and say, huh, we see that you don’t have water and these kids don’t have shoes. And this is and we come in from the outside, which is often, sadly, how the government will do things.

[00:37:57] And no ding on my government colleagues, especially if you’re listening. I was one of you. I still love you. You do a lot of great things, but we’ve got to be really careful with that. And so the communities tell us what to do. The last thing we just launched three weeks ago was a culmination of three years working in the community. And it was a clean water initiative. And it’s it’s starting small with household clean water. And that’s touching it mean as small as six hundred and fifty people. And in round one another 650. Round two. But I think what’s really cool is that communities have actually bought in. They’re actually paying for a lot of this themselves, largely because they’re earning and they can. Right. And now we’re about to be able to scale that to thousands in a whole region that really needs it. So that’s exciting. We do some leadership camps with high school students and elementary school students. So we have a whole group of camps. We’ve we’ve we do now partnership with wind shaped camps. They are one of the large camp organizations in the US. They do amazing, amazing work. And we’re working with them in Costa Rica. We do eight weeks of programing. And that was really fun because, you know, here in America, a lot of us kids maybe go to a camp or something.

[00:39:13] But in Costa Rica, we send our kids up for every single right.

[00:39:20] Bashfully where the summer goes only with you for weekends.

[00:39:24] Yeah, that’s right. Why I love you, Bradley and Gracie. But anyway. Well, so.

[00:39:28] So it was so fun because we’re trying to explain to these communities this, you know, what it’s about to come. We’ve got this week long camp and they just couldn’t imagine, like, what is that right? But anyway, fast forward. And we’ve done it two years and in 16 different places. And what it does is it brought this amazing unity to entire communities of people who are divided politically or spiritually or economically. The whole community in a rural town has to come together to put on this four day camp where they’re the volunteers, because, again, we’re not come in, do it for them. They’re going to lead it. We’re going to support it. And then you get in a rhythm and all the sudden. Mazing good comes out of that, so that’s the beauty of having a specialized nonprofit that works with the for profit but is not a normal corporate foundation. We needed to specialize and we needed to be autonomous and unique.

[00:40:20] That’s an exceptional vision by any standard, even for a nonprofit to teach them to fish. Yeah, not give them fish. Right. Because ultimately that creates the sustainability of that community to be able to support themselves. Right. Even if even if a community has the economic means to do so, they still need to have the knowledge to understand how to deal with those means. Yeah, right. Yeah. Wow. That’s great.

[00:40:44] Okay. So it feels like to say it’s harder to do.

[00:40:46] Yeah. We feel like we.

[00:40:48] But it’s core to what you’re offering it. I mean really essential. Yeah, it’s essential. And you know, that’s not always the case. But that transition from standing to standing on your own is is a really important part of what a philanthropy younger’s delivers.

[00:41:03] So do I get to like right on that if you have what I want? Oh, I want to start preaching. I’m ready to go for it, man. Because like, here’s the here’s the call to all of us in the global community.

[00:41:16] Supply chain is we’ve got to start seeing ourselves as we’re not part of a transaction of supply. Writing from a POV far reach part of the world that you’ve never heard of. To your customers, right where these are, each transaction actually represents people and it represents a livelihood. It was so cool in the 21st century that was never really able to be done quite to this degree ever before in the previous centuries.

[00:41:45] Millennia really is that we can now shrink the world. Yeah. To the you know, what’s going on in the western highlands of Guatemala in those families producing a bean that then somehow makes it to a restaurant in Manhattan. Yeah, it’s being drank by an executive of a Wall Street firm.

[00:42:07] Right. That all the sudden there there’s now this unique connection. And so what what’s been so fun for me and rewarding? You know, when I was on this water project, it was one of the most successful restaurant tours that I’ve ever met. Skive, very successful restaurant in Manhattan who had come down.

[00:42:24] He he buys coffee out of this community with us. And he got to go into a kid’s house. Kid’s got spinal bifida and they don’t have any treatment there. So he’s paralyzed. And yet we get to relate as humans on equal footing. And so here you have this guy who’s he’s restaurants doing seven, seven plus figures a year and a kid who’s paralyzed living in a hut on the mountains of Guatemala who produce something that his customers at Manhattan are enjoying. And Supply chain makes us all come together and bond. And so that’s a love it.

[00:43:05] Well, you know, we’re all partial in this around this table because supply chain folks, folks that work in this world, I think they they can, as you’re putting it, they can so uniquely not just shrink world, but they can save the world. We are used to as supply chain professionals. We’re used to solving problems and solving problems quickly solving solving surprises, you name it. We know that in the day the consumers got to be served. Right. And that’s what it is. I heard you speak about the power supply chain a lot of what you do and and supply chain solutions. Best to great advantage of Supply chain today, because not only can we tap into all that knowhow and that leadership bandwidth, but since Supply chain is gonna see at the table, we’re making a much greater impact. And so you’re preaching to the right choir here, but hopefully Lovera listeners are getting exciting, exciting times, right?

[00:43:59] Because at this point, as we’re talking libber before we started the podcast, like the consumers are starting to not only connect the dots, but there are starting to personally relate to people all over the world, which will not only shrink the world even faster, but they care. It’s you’re not just buying a book, right? You’re really want to buy a book that was manufactured by someone that’s really care for that person, that’s doing the planting of the trees or whatever. Right. So it’s it’s going to be very exciting. And I think, as you said, Mike, just consumers with technology and with what you guys are doing, and that’s why you guys are so important, this whole Supply chain network as well. Greg Greene and Scott is just raising that awareness. And as we continue forward in the world a couple years from now, we’re hoping that people just realize that we’re all in this together.

[00:44:48] Absolutely. And there’s such an awareness gap. I mean, you know, yesterday on only one of our podcasts, we were talking about the gender gap in an industry and in how, unfortunately, according to some views out there, well-founded, data driven views that this technology, you know, everyone’s doubling down on a car in 2020. You hear. Single conversation. I think folks be surprised on just how much A&A touches in their life that they really don’t know that that’s what’s driving. Well, unfortunately, in that communities we’re talking earlier, I think 22 percent of the professional community are women. Right. Huge gap there. Well, if we think about what button then, Greg, and you have a much more eloquent view than I do on this much more educated view. But, you know, if we don’t if we don’t change who’s building the algorithms and if we aren’t so careful about not perpetuating some historical bias. Well, what’s coming out of these of these A&B programs is give me more of the same. It’s not that anyone’s wrong. It’s not how do you put it, a drive in here?

[00:45:50] Yeah. It’s more imprinting than intentional. Right. It’s if if a guy is teaching A.I. about shoes, he’s gonna use a man’s shoe. Right. If a guy, you know, subconsciously sees doctors as men, it’s gonna be a picture of a man whenever you teach the A.I. about doctors. And I think we have to be an intentional rather than imprinted. We have to be an intentional to be, you know, to be representative of every body or, you know, all of the points of view. Right. We need more. We need more points of view. Right. When we. Well, I mean anything. Yeah. Right. Yep.

[00:46:26] And it comes back to awareness. You know, it comes back to so much of what you’re talking about. And a point you just made. Enrique, you know, if folks just kind of salt and we all struggle with it. Right. Isn’t there’s limited hours and days. If we could all just try to understand and know what we don’t know, because there’s all that gap for everyone. There’s so much that we can that we can much, so much, so much more that we can accomplish. And then I love the I mean, you know, our next question we want to pose to you was about your why?

[00:46:55] But I think I mean, I think if anything, I think you could maybe consolidate your. Why? Because I feel like you’ve expressed your why. Yeah. Throughout this. But I mean, is there I mean, is there sort of a central tenet that, you know, that you’re serving? Is there that. Yeah. Yes. There are nagging feeling in your mind or something that you feel like you’re certain.

[00:47:15] I mean I told you the highest purpose for me was, you know, if we were created by a good God. I wanted to serve and and love him and do everything for that. And then the sad part of that is if we’re here in this short little blip of life, that I want to maximize the time that I’m here, because if I think I’m I’m going.

[00:47:36] I don’t know if you’ve seen Hamilton. It’s one of my favorite musicals. I love musicals. My wife got me into it. If you haven’t, you’ve got to see it. But there’s this whole song in it of why do you write like you’re running out of time every day. Every day at night. You’re running out of time. So this theme that this guy who came from an island and was an orphan and and had nothing becomes Alexander Hamilton, who then leads so much of the country’s founding. Right. Brilliant, brilliant show and play.

[00:48:03] But but I related to that. It was like, gosh, that’s it. Like, I can’t sleep. I hardly slept last night. This whole week is crazy. I just feel like if we’re good to be here, I need to make the most of our time when we’ve got to help each other.

[00:48:19] And that’s it.

[00:48:20] It’s an obsession. Yes. Right. I mean, you know, I talked to a lot of the founders and and leaders of companies that I work with. And I’ll tell them that, you know, many people will say, I’m just really passionate about this technology or this, you know, this application or this cause. But but passion is not sufficient. Obsession is what is required to really engage and really to make things happen. And you’ve got that.

[00:48:51] And that’s always given. I’d say it was given to me. And and I think the challenge for all of us, because everyone listening, you’ve got some obsession.

[00:48:59] So it’s like how do you cultivate and maintain it? Because it’s easy to get jaded. It’s not easy to think. Right. It just doesn’t matter. This is just more I mean, in the whole sustainability world, you know, I think many of you are probably sick like I am of just hearing about sustainability. Sustainability.

[00:49:16] Well, if you don’t see it as an opportunity to leave your mark on the world because you really want to do that and you feel like you’re forced just to do it, because that’s what the market ask. And that’s what this customer I don’t know why they want that, but, you know, it’s it’s not as fun if you’re just doing it because you feel like you have obligation. Right, guys, this way. We’re fun to do it.

[00:49:38] When you see that, you can make it to make an impact. Absolutely. It’s I’m a I’m a throw a twist here. Oh, here we go. So we want to close. But before we we get more information at where folks learn more and we always like to get a sense of what folks are thinking kind of in the broader I mean. Well, that’s tough to say with this audience because they’re already thinking in the broader global business community. But rather than just asking Mike about the trends and topics that he’s thinking about more than others, I want to also get. Adrien’s and Enrique’s input on that, too. So we’re to start with Mike, though. So when he when you when you go broader and we think about it and you’ve got a pretty unique perspective because you are already so deeply involved in that global community. But but what else? When you’re not driving change, when you look at how the industry is evolving and with its technology business, what what is one of those trends or developments that you’ve got your finger on the pulse and find more intriguing than others right now?

[00:50:39] So I I obsess about how do these different how do different ecosystems really work together in the world? And what I mean by that is how do how would a Logistics company work with a dish like, you know, a retailer, work with the supplier, work with an NGO, work with a government? So I you know, I see all these spheres of different people doing good. Right. And rarely do they actually all work together. And you’ve got big bodies like the UN, everyone they you know, that put sustainable development goals, Rybar DA going to New York, you have a few conversations with Fortune 50 companies and then everyone kind of goes their merry way and nothing really changes. And I think what I’m seeing is there has to be places where we innovate and bring these spheres of expertise and knowledge together in ways that are win, win, win. And that’s what we’ve basically tried to do at Thrive works with all of our stakeholders.

[00:51:36] I love it. You know what? You’re clearly the best of the best, because as Mike Griswald has shared with us, Gartner, if they conduct the top 25 supply chain rankings each year, a wonderful it’s a huge source of information and one trends they identified, I believe his last year in 2018 rankings were the best of the best. We’re getting exactly what you described, all the different industries and sectors and how there’s something they can do together with the best companies are figuring out how to have those conversations with these with all these different components of society and then doing something with that, using different resources in different ways. That’s what that’s what’s driving. A lot of that was a common thread, a lot of with the top what they call the Masters category and allow the top 10. So your vision’s dead on this. That’s the challenge. You know, let’s not think like it’s 1982. We talk about that a lot, but let’s act like it’s like it’s 2032, right? Yeah. All right. So moving right around the table. Adrian, I want to pose the same question to you. You know, you are involved in global business, too, but what’s what’s one development or innovation or topic that you’re tracking more than others right now in global supply chain?

[00:52:43] I think what’s what’s what’s really critical and this is this is not new at all, but it’s something that I try and focus on a lot. And studies have borne this thought. A lot of articles I’ve read and reports I’ve read that customers, when they polled executive decision makers and companies looking for supply chain services, need the service providers to to offer ideas in innovative areas of improvement to their supply chain. And that’s just not happening because all, you know, pretty much the same you offer the same rates, they use the same service, the same carriers. So that’s something I find is something that’s going to continue to be a driving force is how we can make a difference.

[00:53:29] The same thing that you think the shippers. I think you guys might call some of them some of these people, shippers. But the retailers and distributors and manufacturers, you think they are coming to you. They want to come to you for ideas about how to change things. They want us to go to them with ideas while innovative ideas. EFT. Well, they’ve got the right companies having the same day. I mean, this day hearing the same things over and over again. Yeah. And they’re looking for people to do to make a difference, to make them think about things in a new light. Wow. Which is not happening.

[00:53:58] Yeah, that makes a lot of sense, especially in the modern day supply chain where everything changes by the minute. Right. And so I can hear that conversation as you as you went through that, as you shared your answer. I love how you do this. Mr. or Mrs. Supplier. But what else can you do? You know, I’ve got these other challenges. I mean, that’s a conversation. That part probably plays out on a very regular basis. Enrique, what about you? What what what are you tracking more than others here lately?

[00:54:28] Well, one of the things that I really see and I think that’s going to be critical not only for our company, but just for, I guess, the life of a lot of companies. Other it’s just like how to build bridges between each other and how to kind of like do that. And we have presence in Mexico. We have UPS in Chile. And everyone kind of like pays attention to the news. And there’s a lot of really polarized ideas that are trying to separate us from one another into different buckets, into different classes and do painting this picture of a very dramatic and chaotic world that we or they want us to believe we live in. And what I what I really see like. China, when I go to Chile, when I travel to Mexico and when I talk to all those people in all these different clients and also the people that work with us, is that there’s so many things that kind of bind us together. And so one of things is going to be critical, is just as thriving as an organization will be to to really bridge the gap and try to try to separate media in such a way that you’re just getting the news. But at the same time, you’re really conscious about what the news are telling you and what is true, what is not true and what you really wanted to be true. Because we don’t want to have this self-fulfilling prophecy about the world ending. And I feel like sometimes that’s that’s kind of like where we heading. Right, guys? So going out there, meeting people, the example that you put together was this business owner in New York, kind of like being in, what, tomorrow with this kid? It’s just that’s what we need to do. And that’s what I think we should continue doing. Just troubled more. Be outside, talk to people, forget about their Tronox Aymen.

[00:56:11] There’s oh. Him we’ve talked about. Blessed be the blessed. Yeah. Let’s be the target bond. Right. And it reminds me we are blessed are the peacemakers. And you gotta find you gotta be willing to go out and find those common threads. Ryder, plenty of differences, plan things that divide us. But if you if you care about taking the time to understand it and find the ties that bind someone’s life, we would might say it’s just a lot more fun.

[00:56:36] And honestly, there’s enough people out there that chair certain core values regardless of your religion or political view. Right. Does that just inspire you? And if you’re just gonna be here in this world, in this life for a short period of time, as Mike again, Will.

[00:56:55] Well, said you my rather live at a hundred times.

[00:56:59] That will be, hey, it’s still short reality, but now you might as well just go like try to inspire people. Absolutely.

[00:57:06] I try to I try to keep this in mind. Believe what you live, not what you hear. Right. I mean, you hear a lot, but I mean, like you’re talking about and like you’ve experienced you experience a lot different than what you hear. And I just refuse to believe what I hear. I believe what I live. Right. And I like that. And I think that’s it’s comforting, honestly, because you don’t feel like the world is ending because you’re not seeing it. You don’t feel like there’s a lot of strife, at least. You know. I don’t wanna go into a whole bunch of them there. Believe what you left.

[00:57:41] Believe what you. Don’t limit yourself, Greg. Yeah. Yeah. All right. If I don’t limit myself, this thing won’t enter the final.

[00:57:49] And that is just likely that people are when we get to know each other and actually remove our titles and our barriers and our intensity of whatever passion about we actually just do life with somebody or share a meal or break bread. I mean, it is amazing how it doesn’t matter what your political views.

[00:58:09] It doesn’t matter. Probably don’t even know you. You don’t have to know. All of a sudden you realize, wow, we have a lot more in common.

[00:58:15] Is it? There was a beautiful ad a couple of years ago called in an ad, but it might have been narrated on TV by Tony Morris. Mm hmm. It was really, really emotional that you said we were a lot more alike than we are different. I mean, it was incredible.

[00:58:29] I’m with you. If you’ve experienced life, you’ve experienced that firsthand. Yeah, that is just simply true. Mm hmm. Right. If you’ve if you’ve gone outside your comfort circle, then you will have undoubtedly irrefutably experience that thereby needs an epiphany like Mike, you know, where he he you chose to go.

[00:58:47] I guess you were challenged with that. How do you put it? Go to a non European. What was it?

[00:58:54] What a challenge. Like nontraditional non-debate, like go to go to developing country. And I’m really grateful for Mr. Court. Yes. Back in the day, he gave me an opportunity.

[00:59:05] Sikhi, first, understand or educate? I’d love to admire that. And Amarr more about, you know, the action you’ve taken since you undergo in that aspect you’re joining. Okay. So much good stuff here. I’m glad this is a series, Enrique and Adrian, because I think it’s a heck of a story.

[00:59:24] Two hours are pretty high.

[00:59:26] Well, yeah, there’s so there’s so much critical content in conversations like this and also a lot of passion. And I think with a lot of passion comes a lot of perspective. Let’s make sure, Mike, that folks know how to plug in to throbbed works great.

[00:59:43] So if you need coffee, coffee solutions, go to WDW that thrive. Farmers, WSJ.com, you can look us up there. If you’re looking for a supply chain solution, thinking about how do you do good in your organization with your supply chain and how could you partner with nonprofits behind you and let them reap your benefits and you’ll all went together then reach out to thrive works w ww that thrive works w o r x dot o r g and you can hit me up at Mike at Thrive Works dot oag.

[01:00:13] Excellent.

[01:00:14] What if you want to reach out to Enrique Fera Fino by some of its coffee come what does in Nicaragua?

[01:00:22] Well, so our listeners are maybe if you’re seen YouTube, you can see this. But on the back of this throbbed coffee is the former that everyone else.

[01:00:33] Yeah. Yeah. Shuker that coffee. Yeah, that is. Man, that is so cool. You gotta put a face with. You’re right. Everyone producing whatever widget if somebody produce that and particularly if they grew it themselves as agro. Kryder It’s not manufactured. Miura even more so and so. So Mike, I know you’re not here to sell anything, but where can folks go by this? We can buy that on our website, Delcambre to have that drive. Farmers dot com perfect and e retailers carry it. We know it’s predominantly food server. Yeah. Up in the north, if you’re up in Michigan and stuff, you’ll start seeing some some of your grocery.

[01:01:09] We’ve got some deals launching where you can get in grocery stores in the Midwest and love. Michigan area.

[01:01:15] But so I have to ask, what’s your favorite?

[01:01:17] I mean, you can see that you have a broad range of lines. You know, it depends on my mood.

[01:01:23] You know, some days I want we’ve got a really good Ethiopian right now. We’ve got a really high end one from Curser Rica that’s that’s sweeter and more citrusy.

[01:01:32] So we kind of like get really nerdy and geeky about our flavors, just like if you’re drinking different wines, maybe four different countries to others to add as well, as well as Mike being a nerdy economist on the slide, he’s also a professional coffee gotten through Izzy when you drink. And I experienced firsthand. Absolutely.

[01:01:49] We’ve got to have we need to have a coffee cutting anything. When I was at Cisco, we cut different vestibules kind of against each other. Right.

[01:01:56] We wish you a supping thumping table. Yeah. And then you cut through the coffees and then get scored and rated and love it. You can have a winner. Want to do it? We’ll end by number. Go. Maybe we can bring the whole thing back. That may arise. And film there. Yeah. So record drive works. WSJ.com that or CalWORKs. Sorry. Thrive. Farmers dot com. That’s what it was. I know it’s confusing.

[01:02:20] We’ll have both links on the show notes. Yeah. Make it really easy for folks to plug in. Fascinating story. Love what you are doing to give back.

[01:02:28] And again, what a great story that Gracies great partners. So yeah, not just me. On that note, last, we just couldn’t fit everyone. Mike was the only one. And let’s make sure Victor again, Victor GLW. That’s it. Adrian and Enrique.

[01:02:45] I know, of course, you could bond off all everyone across social. But what a great really. Thanks for y’all’s time today. Thanks for y’all’s continued partnership.

[01:02:54] This really send a container feet of community, by the way.

[01:02:58] Yes. But this is this is kind of what we should be doing. You know, love making stories like this. Efforts like this, initiatives like this are visible. So we really appreciate it. OK. So you all sit sit tight for a second as Greg closes out on some of the events we’ve got coming up.

[01:03:16] Oh, my. Are we gonna be busy? If that isn’t enough? And gosh, don’t you think it ought to be? Hey, we’ve got. What’s that from? That’s from Letterman. From the 80s, man, when I was a kid. I’m not a boomer.

[01:03:32] So we’ve got to see SCMP Atlanta roundtable coming up January 15th featuring NASCAR trast. track. Right. Yep. And that you can find out more about that at Atlanta. CSC MP dot org. We’ve got the retail or sorry, the reverse Logistics association conference in Vegas baby February 4th through the 6. That’s RLA dot org. Tony Sheer wrote a great, incredible team. Mayor Emanuel just Trident. They’re trying to solve reverse Logistics problems from the front. Not after the fact. Trying to prevent.

[01:04:08] Speaking of which, we have to get your connect. I mean, yoed really. Tony is out of change world too, because when you think about e-commerce, you think about the returns. You think about sustainability. And you think like we’re talking maybe on the front end this episode. You think about just all all the waste that’s created. Yeah. MBA may have been quite a show anyway.

[01:04:27] Sorry, Nina. I know. I’m sorry. I’m trying to visualize that. I can’t imagine that. We got we got to get them together off camera first. Yes. Right. Yeah. Get them to work out a little. A few.

[01:04:40] You know, I was a little nervous. No, we weren’t nervous. Energy go head to head.

[01:04:46] Lots of kindred spirits. So Moto X 20.

[01:04:50] Right. Thirty five thousand of your closest friends and solving materials, handling problems. That’s March 9th to 12th here in Atlanta, Georgia, World Congress Center. There’s a newly remodeled Georgia World Congress Center.

[01:05:04] It’s also where at least we first cannot get connected with Enrique Internet on the George Prest Logistics Summit.

[01:05:09] All right. All right. So we were all on the executive committee, the board George Logistics summit. Before we knew each other really well. I’m back. We might have tipped an adult beverage or two and talked about things like this.

[01:05:22] I drink coffee. That’s all. Very good. Very good coffee, too. Sheer and ethically sourced.

[01:05:29] Not only will we be streaming live from Moad X again amongst the thirty five thousand of our closest friends, but also Moto X is hosting the 2020 Atlanta Supply chain Awards. So if you’re in Atlanta or in the twenty nine County Metropolitan Service area of Atlanta, nominate yourself, nominate a friend, nominate a company for one of the many categories that we have at Atlanta Supply chain Awards dot com.

[01:05:57] Christian Fisher, CEO sorry. Christian Fisher presidency. of Georgia Pacific is gonna be our keynote speaker and Sharon Cooper will be our M.C.. She’s got an amazing history reader bio on Vetlanta Supply chain side.

[01:06:11] If I’m not mistaken, you are based right here in Roswell. We are right. Yeah. Maybe we’ve gotten close to Tony. Yes. We’re gonna have a new category for Vetlanta. You know, like that jerai category or the something. I love that.

[01:06:25] Let’s talk more about that. But Enrique, thanks for your service. You’re you’re serving on the Vetlanta Supply chain Awards Executive Committee. Appreciate that. And you all support and nominations are taken off yet. Just in the last couple of weeks, we’ve had groups like Dematic, the Clorox Company. Froome Grant has been nominated, Blue Ridge, logia City, a whole slew of both technology companies, manufacturing companies, Logistics companies, you name it. Joining together to celebrate successes across and in Supply chain communi right here.

[01:07:00] You think you deserve a war and a war?

[01:07:02] Nominate yourself and we’ll be the judge of that.

[01:07:07] One last thing. Yeah. One last thing.

[01:07:09] The A.M.E. Association for Manufacturing Excellence, Atlanta. Twenty twenty Lehne Summit is May 4th, the 7th. And we’ll be streaming live from there as well. That’s right. Check us out. Thank you. Don’t hey, don’t run into us while we’re while we’re broadcasting.

[01:07:27] Any good safe distance people?

[01:07:28] That’s right. And you can find all that information on the events tab at Supply Chain Now Radio dot com. Really want to thank our guests today, really enjoy this. This is, you know, each of these good conversations reminds us while we’re doing what we’re doing and it’s been really an honor to walk through the conversation over the last hour and some change. Mike Mahina, president, Throbbed Works Foundation. Adrian Patel Vector Global Logistics. Enrique Alvarez. Also with Vector. Thanks for y’all’s continued partnership. Be sure to our listeners. Check us out. Upcoming events, replays of interviews, other resources at Supply Chain Now Radio dot com. You can find us on Apple podcast. SoundCloud, really all the leading sites where podcast can be found, of course. YouTube. How can we leave out YouTube on behalf of the entire team, including Greg White? This is Scott Luton wishing you a wonderful week ahead and we will see you next time on Supply Chain Now Radio. Thanks, everybody.