Bonvera – A New Venture

On May 1, 2018, I stepped down as President of Crown where I had served for 7.5 years to become a co-owner and CEO of Bonvera. It was a difficult decision because my time at Crown was a life-changing experience. I still cheer on my old team and am excited to be partnered with them on big things that I will highlight later in this post. It was a big leap but as readers of this blog know, I tend to enjoy making a leap from time to time and have even written about it in my first book, The Leap.

Bonvera had been started two years prior and I knew a vast majority of the leaders due to my previous business engagements over the years. It is one thing that attracted me to the opportunity. I am a firm believer that everything rises and falls on leadership and this organization had incredible leaders! I had been hired to consult with the team for some time helping them through numerous growth initiatives. Through this engagement, the opportunity presented itself for the company to undergo a leadership and ownership change and I helped lead that process. (A little history of Bonvera.) The subsequent company that emerged from this transition was brand new…different in almost every conceivable way.

The goal was to take this new company in a very different direction. Many times young companies will hit reset and pivot in new directions to take advantage of new markets, opportunities, growth sectors, etc, and I saw huge potential for Bonvera to do the same. In fact, I have studied this for years and led previous businesses through these changes and relished the chance to apply that experience with Bonvera. The team hit the ground running and within weeks we started to move the headquarters from Wichita, KS to Knoxville, TN and started making big changes.

We had new owners and a new board with a renewed vigor for the company and the direction we wanted to go. We changed our branding, products, marketing, website, and started to update technology platforms to serve our customers. We even moved our distribution of products to Red Stag Fulfillment, a world-class distribution firm serving top clients around the country. This move helped us reduce cost while providing better service to our customers. Nothing was left untouched as we methodically looked at every aspect of the business and ways to improve it.

We were not alone in this process. We hired the best consultants and professional firms from around the country to advise on branding, marketing, product development, manufacturing, and technology leading to improved operations. We expanded our product and services portfolio to our entrepreneurs by formalizing partnership agreements with multiple companies. Our product pipeline is robust with many exciting products and partnerships ready to roll out in 2019 and 2020.

We were not only working on improving operations but also impact. Bonvera, meaning “Good Faith” was founded on the premise that success should not be so hard and should be in reach of any aspiring hard-working entrepreneur. Furthermore, we believe that it is possible to do good in the world with every transaction and that the entire supply chain from start to finish should be impacting the world for good. In essence, we aspire to do good in the world in all we do while helping and serving the forgotten and marginalized in society.

To help us live out these goals we partnered with two leading global organizations that help the poor. During my time at Crown Financial Ministries, Crown strengthened its presence in Sub-Saharan Africa with its partnership with Foundations For Farming in Zimbabwe and Malawi by launching Crown Stewardship Schools and creating the I Was Hungry program that teaches sustainable agriculture with a focus on female entrepreneurship.

Bonvera partnered with the I Was Hungry program to purchase the world’s best organic moringa from the farmers in this program and to use this moringa as a staple in some of our key product lines. This gave farmers in Africa the ability to sell their moringa at fair trade prices to the west. Additionally, Bonvera committed to provide a percentage of the sales to go back to support continued stewardship and agricultural education within this program. Bonvera also partnered with Thrive Farmers Coffee with similar initiatives in Latin America with coffee farmers and their communities. We are extremely proud to offer these products to our customers and support these incredible organizations impacting the world.

We committed to SERVING our entrepreneurs with the best opportunity possible and to honor free enterprise by having the most field friendly and rewarding environment for them to thrive. In my previous business engagements, I had seen it all. Our leaders experienced the same and were committed to building a new type of company where people were free to flourish. Many of our competitors in this space have extremely onerous policies and procedures, contracts, non-competes, and mandatory binding arbitration that is set up in the company’s favor.

(Recently, a lot has come out about the horrible practices with arbitration agreements in contracts. Mandatory Binding Arbitration helped protect sexual predators exposed in the #MeToo movement and is being exposed as bad for consumers and business. Many businesses like Facebook and Google are removing them from employment contracts due to the backlash. We made this decision 3 years ago when the company was founded because the leaders knew it was right!)

Restrictive contracts, non-competes, P&P’s, and arbitration clauses forced on entrepreneurs, especially when they don’t have a voice or control over the company, sets up a negative environment over time. We wanted to be the opposite and do the opposite of our competitors. Bonvera is set up to SERVE our entrepreneurs and they have a real voice in the company…because they are the company. This is the first company to have an independent field board (ICAA) to speak into issues while having REAL authority in the company along with a majority of the owners being field leaders. It truly sets us apart. Many other companies can change the entire deal and comp plans on their associates and customers without warning and basically tell them to “shut up and color.” If the associate tries to leave the message quickly turns to, “Oh yeah…we own you…read your P&Ps and non-compete.” Not at Bonvera!

Finally, the capstone of changes we enacted was to further empower and reward our entrepreneurs who make Bonvera great! With our partnership with the ICAA and insight from our field leaders together, we updated our compensation and incentive programs. We rolled out an updated car incentive program along with launching a Cruise/Hawaii Trip program and continue to update our comp plan to be the best in the industry. I truly believe we have the finest leadership team you could ask for. We have incredible and passionate entrepreneurs leading from the front who are serving and providing the very best to our customers.

We have been busy. We have been blessed. I am having a lot of fun and am really passionate about this company and our cause.

#BonveraRocks