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Utah businessman Robert Workman found a multi-million dollar idea in the most unlikely of places - in a village in Africa.
Workman spent the first 30 years of his career at Provo Craft & Novelty. He turned his father's business from a small retail store with six employees into an international distributor with one thousand.
While in China working with manufacturers, Workman watched that country transform itself into a world economic power.
"I was there when people were very poor," Workman said. "They were able finally to use enterprise to let themselves out of poverty."
Workman sold Provo Craft to devote time to his humanitarian non-profit organization, TIFIE, an acronym for ‘Teaching individuals and families independence through enterprise.'
"We taught people to go help themselves," Workman said.
It was while working with people in Congo that Workman saw a need for power to run cell phones, lights and other electrical devices.
We began teaching individuals and families independence through enterprise. We taught people to go help themselves.
–Robert Workman
He started Goal Zero, a Bluffdale company that produces small solar-charged power systems and used TIFIE to distribute some of those systems in Africa.
Workman spreads his message of empowerment overseas as well as here at home.
That's one of the reasons the company recently earned a spot on Outside Magazine's annual Best Places to Work list. Goal Zero has a climbing wall, a gym, a slide, flexible work schedules and glowing reports from employees.
"I like how Goal Zero takes your potential and empowers you to use it by giving you opportunities that maybe another (company) wouldn't give you," Creative Director Kyle Parkin said.
Workman says he expected Goal Zero would see success, but not as quickly as it has. He says in its first year, the company did one million dollars of business. He says in 2011 Goal Zero had 17 million dollars in sales and this year it's on track to do 35 million dollars. He says Goal Zero has contracts to do between 50 and 75 million dollars of business next year.
He says Goal Zero is growing so fast, in a year the company will need to move out of the warehouse and office space it moved into just a year ago.
"We're on a runaway rocket ship with both rockets firing at the same time," he said.
On a wall of a conference room is a quote by former Smith's Food and Drug President James Hallsey: ‘You can have anything you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want.'
"I tell people here you can't do good and not get good," Workman says. "It's impossible. It's magic. It just works that way. It's life."
