Called to serve God in business

Name:Jaime Alvarez-Swihart '84; he will begin serving as director of Goshen College's Family Business Program this spring.

Business name: Empreses Pic“ & Casas Agrêcolas, Puerto Rico; founded in 1966 and 1975 respectively, by his father, Antonio Alvarez-Swihart '54.

Business description: Empreses Pic“, an integrated poultry processing operation in Puerto Rico that evolved from Casas Agrêcolas, which comprised three poultry farms with 15 employees. The new company includes a feed mill, port facility for grain imports, hatchery, poultry processing plant and market opportunity. Empreses Pic“ began a profit-sharing program among its 30 independent farms before the practice was commonplace, and grew to annual sales of $100 million with 700 employees.

On the spirit of entrepreneurship: "Skills necessary to be an entrepreneur includes creative energy - an entrepreneur's spirit requires consistent creative stimulation; the biggest challenge is developing and adjusting oneself to a more rigid structure once the venture is further organized and stable. Entrepreneurs must also focus on goals, see opportunities where others don't and surround themselves with people with complementary skills.
"In addition, my Christian foundation has guided me through many moral challenges in different business settings. An individual's practice of fairness, goodwill and stewardship is directly related to their moral foundation, and that in turn has a direct relationship with organizational success. A person's reputation is their best business card.Ó