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Esfna - Need to improve its' Business Ethics The American Dream becomes for many an emblem of hope while the reality is often different largely through exposure of loneliness, and frustration. Another aspect of the immigrant experience is the loss of family ties. Social institutions such as churches, mosques, community organizations, and associations are expected to play a greater role in easing the problems of its members. For the Ethiopians of Diaspora, the Ethiopian Sports Federation of North America (Esfna) has done its fair share in providing assistance to the community for the past twenty years. Furthermore, the kids' show-as part of children's production devised and performed by organizing committee has produced significant change to kids' behavior and their cultural awareness. The annual kids' show has brought hundred of primary school children to the doors of Esfna. Parent would enjoy seeing the fruits of their child and we thank Esfna for making this event possible. Esfna was founded in 1984 with only four teams, and today it has expanded to twenty-five teams from twenty-two North America cities. Esfna was and still is the only viable means for converging with Ethiopians in large numbers. The tournament and its events have become an important destination for many Ethiopians who eagerly look forward to the July 4th week as a time away from work and a vacation in style with Ethiopians and the friends of Ethiopia. High school reunions, family reunions and many types of fundraising events are occurring around and behind the scenes at the Esfna tournament. Besides the soccer activity and entertainment extravaganza, the tournament has become a central location for those who wanted to be seen and heard by Ethiopians. Political and social organizations have a huge opportunity to attract Ethiopians during these tournaments. In the seven or eight days of the tournament, a large number of Ethiopians are available as a captive audience to any organization who will try to promote their cause to the Ethiopian community. The Ethiopian musicians and their promoters seem to be champions in directing the crowd to their shows and introducing their newly released CDs. However, as your read further, you will be upset when you hear of the nasty rift which occurs between Esfna officials, musicians, and the promoters every year. Esfna should be given the proper credit for bringing Ethiopians together year after year for 20 years. "Kudos" to them for their dedication and commitment. We should all salute both the founding members and the Esfna leadership for the hard work and commitment they exhibited over past twenty years. By far they have done a remarkable job. On the other hand, there seems to be a great need for improvement in the culture, direction and the way Esfna does business with the community. The focus of this paper will cover only one area where I have fully participated as a business entity and dealt directly with Esfna on more than three occasions, namely the tournament events held in Dallas, Washington, D.C. and in Houston, Texas in the years 1999, 2002, and 2003, respectively. Inside the stadium, in the "Vendor Area" (as denoted by the Esfna) you will find the Ethiopian entrepreneurs, such as me, trying their best to introduce their products and services to the community. Esfna as 510(C)(3) organizations should be non-political and non-profit but contrary to non-profit agency, the vendors are year after year, neglected, mistreated, manipulated, and their lifelong savings are ripped off by profit driven Esfna business policy. The motive to accumulate wealth on the back of vendors and the public is paramount for Esfna. The so-called financial statement is usually vague often unexplained, in detail to the public. The host city for the next years' Esfna tournament is announced during the closing ceremony of the tournament in July. As the vendor selection process Precedes, the Esfna management seems very reasonable and fair, but in reality you will experience the same system or equivalent to the 18th century Ethiopian land tenure system. Obtaining any information from Esfna is like threading a camel through a needle hole. The Esfna web site is abandoned for months; therefore, it is never updated with timely information. A simple response to an email, letter, or a phone call is next to impossible or non-existent for the Esfna Business Manager. Six or seven months later, the application forms become available to vendor applicants, but you will need to know an Esfna insider to obtain the form. Some vendors know how, when and where to apply. An application fee of $25.00 must be submitted in the form of a cashiers check for each application, even though there is sufficient time to allow clearance of personal checks, which are not valid for Esfna. This can lead an applicant to believe Esfna does not trust anyone. All applications must be submitted on or before April 15, after which no further application can be accepted. One usually hears through the grapevine about the intent to withhold the application forms in order to distribute to a preferred group of people. The Esfna Business Manager swears that the selection process is fair, unbiased and gives equal chance to everyone. He claims all applicant names will be tossed in a pot for drawing and winners will be randomly picked. Contrary to what is preached by the Esfna Business Manager, our applicant experience was an eye opening and full of surprises. We repeatedly saw many people operating concession stands who did not apply during the allotted time frame. Also, we witnessed many individuals who had never paid the $25.00 application fee, nor have their name thrown in the drawing pot or participate in the lottery, become the proud owners of a concession stand The most amazing part of this whole experience came during the tournament, when the Esfna Business Manager is aggressively selling every inch of the vendor area to individuals or organizations. For $1,600.00, you received a ten by ten foot tent with electric power; where as, a five by ten foot tent with electricity would cost you $600.00. Additionally, the $1600.00 vendor fee does not come with water, table or chair, only a small tent. The more space Esfna sold the more money it generated. It did not matter how many days were left to the end of the tournament, the Business Manager continued to sale concession stands and collected cash instead of the required Money Order or Cashiers Check. A receipt for this cash was never issued nor was a record made of who made the cash payment. This leads one to wonder about the legality of Esfna financial records. The other agonizing moments came when we showed up to work to sell our products. There was a "Gestapo like" person at the door yelling and screaming at us for not having our Vendor ID. The fact is we had provided our picture two months prior to the Business Manager, expecting to receive it before the tournament. If you were one of the lucky ones, you would receive an ID with your name misspelled or even your picture with someone else's name on it. This was the best possible situation, so then we would be free to get into the vendor area. The majority of the vendors would be given excuses such as, "your picture is missing, please get another one", or "we are too busy to deal with it now' and "you have to wait until we can get to it", or "your ID is with so and so", and on and on. Meanwhile, you are subjected to the mistreatment at the gate until you could somehow sort out the multitude of problems. Esfna has a contractual agreement they present to you, and there is never enough time to read, review, or understand. Interestingly, as the each day proceeds, the business manager will redefine the contract as he sees fit, usually to his own advantage. Therefore, contractual agreements really mean nothing to Esfna management. For instance, if you brought your products to the vendor area by 2:00 p.m. today for a drive through, you would never be guaranteed you could come at the same time or even earlier the next day. This restriction would force the vendors to a brutal, labor-intensive exercise. Also, the vendor would loose their selling time based on rules changed on a daily basis. What has been so exciting and refreshing is Esfna does not take responsibility for anything, yet they are very quick to collect money for services they do not stand behind. A good example would be the electric power provided to the vendors by Esfna. Many times during the tournament, the number of concession stands would out number the available power supply, which results in continuous power failures. We witnessed many individual's products go bad due to power outages. The tournament schedule is changing continuously everyday. When you think you will have customers and are making sales, the lights would go off and we forced by the police officers to close our business. Also, did I mention the continuous harassment by the Health Inspectors, who came twice or three times a day to your stand. Although I believe that the overwhelming majority were genuinely serving Esfna, the board must work together to grow the club by making the correct decision. This includes speaking with a collective voice on important issues affecting Esfna particularly issues related to the vendors and other resources who made every event possible by generating significant fund for Esfna event. I could go on and on about the hardships vendors have faced with Esfna, but I believe that it is time that Esfna should focus on improving its bad image and effectively change its backward business practice before it is too late. My recommendations include: Improved communication with the community. Listening is something that most of us do every day, so it would be reasonable to assume that we're all pretty good listeners, right? But few of us actually are. Exercise honest business ethics and practices. Unethical conduct or fraud in Esfna cannot and will not be tolerated. Hire professionals to perform the Business Manager duty. He or she could be held accountable for his/her actions. It is impossible to hold a volunteer individual responsible. Treat vendors with respect and listen to their concerns. Have a plan of action and stick to it. The best advice I can give to Esfna is to use every source possible, but to do your own homework. Have confidence in your ability to execute the business plan that best suit your organizational goals. Do not focus only how to make money. Invest in tomorrow because there are many ways to participate and even the smallest gift will make a difference when it is combined with others. Try to earn the respect and trust of the community. Contributed by Tsegaye Yohanes |