Dick Gygi loves marketing, product development, and brand management. But Gygi also has a passion for developing people and building strong teams. In 2000, after his company was sold to American Greetings, Gygi simply had too much energy to retire. And as God's timing would have it, Gygi picked up a copy of Halftime by Bob Buford—and discovered his destiny.
“It empowered me to think that in my retirement I could continue doing what I've always done well but do it with a new vision. After meeting with Bob Buford, I was convinced the Lord was calling me to mentor executives in the context of creating businesses specifically for the purpose of giving the profits to support ministries.”
Initially Dick and his partners manufactured gift wrap paper that amounted to $2.5 million in revenues in the first year. “[We] had money left after we paid all our bills; so we created a donor advised fund and gave the excess profit to ministries we wanted to support. Based on that success, we created The Magi Company. We were these wise guys—well, actually, we were lost guys in the Kingdom looking for a way to bring our gifts to the Lord!”
In 2003, The Magi Company used this model in Africa to help 1,600 Muslims in a Malawi prison who were starving and literally rotting. With an investment of $30,000, they planned to install irrigation pumps and teach the men and women to plant and raise their own food.
“We installed the pumps. The prisoners planted hundreds of fruit trees and other crops. Now, they raise enough food to feed the entire village. The quality of prison life there has changed so much that people ask to be transferred into that hell hole. It wasn't on our agenda, but God used us to return dignity to these men and women by empowering them to feed themselves.”
Dick discovered that God has plans that are always bigger than ours. He attributes his own success not to being smarter than others but simply because God allowed it. “I want to encourage others that God has a bigger plan, and whatever they've accomplished in the marketplace is what He ordained. I love the marketplace, and I want to stay there. I love the competitiveness and the strategy—the bumping and grinding of the business world. But I want to create businesses that will support nonprofits. And I want to encourage men and women to use their experiences for great things.”
The latest venture, Thrift Smart, promotes thrifty living and creates jobs for those who have a desire to work but may not have the skills. By selling donated clothing and household goods at a value price, Thrift Smart’s proceeds are donated to four ministries involved in the startup.
“We found a man who had opened a thrift store to support a ministry he had in Florida. It worked, and he opened five more. We brought him to Nashville and had a group of CEOs talk about this idea. One of the CEO's studied the market and put a business plan together, and declared that he wanted to sell his company and do this full time. So we went to four ministries we wanted to support with the profits from these retail thrift stores.
“Next we went to the largest donors of those four ministries and asked for loans, not gifts. We raised $500,000 in four weeks. We hired the CEO and set up a nonprofit 501C3 Thrift Alliance and established a brand called Thrift Smart.”
This concept was so successful in providing jobs and services to low-income families that a second store was opened in Nashville—a 30,000 square-foot store that is expected to do $1 million in revenue in the first year of operation. “We have a plan to open 10 stores, and then keep going. Two hundred stores could yield $100 million in annual profits for ministry support. I believe in my lifetime we could have enough enterprises going to give away a billion dollars.
“I'm almost 60, and I'm working more now than ever. But it's more energizing than anything I've ever done. It's the best of times. I love developing people and creating enterprises that help them do what they do best all the way to the finish line. There's no reason we should quit.”
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