Building a Future

Today I was asked to join Chris and Jamie in a meeting with 27 ladies wanting to start their own businesses. Chris, being the visionary that he is has come up with a few business ideas for these ladies to develop in order to provide for their families & change the community of the slum they live in. Most of the women are single mothers that were once involved in the church but have recently stopped attending. They’re embarrassed to come to church because they’ve had children out of wedlock. I was delighted to be part of this project because of my previous experience in building a business. I know first hand how difficult it is start a business; long hours, hard work before you see a profit, dealing with difficult people, wanting to give up everyday. I never would have thought God would have used my business experience to help women in Africa. Our meeting was in the common African office…outside in the grass! They shared their desire of starting their own business to change their future & their children’s futures. I was so impressed with their vision & organization. A few of the ideas that were brought up are selling kerosene, charcoal, & chips (fries) to the children at school during lunch time. Each lady decided which item she desires to sell & in the next few days she has the responsibility to do research on start up costs. I was given the task of writing the business proposal to present to local companies to raise the capital needed to start the business. The thing that excites me about working with this project is that it was originally the ladies idea. This isn’t some idea that some American came up with. 

The women have appointed their own leaders, treasurer, & secretary. If any woman wants to join the project she has to invest $100 Shillings to start; that way she is more likely to work hard & follow through. For the remainder of my time here in Nairobi I’ll be meeting with the ladies on Thursday mornings to assist them in their business needs, encourage them to persevere, & disciple them. Because these women are currently not attending church our desire is to keep them growing in their relationship with God as much as we can. Each meeting will start out with prayer & devotion. Our goal is to not get too involved in running this business, but rather, we want the ladies to take ownership. We’ll simply be there to offer advice & support.  It’s so easy for the Africans to depend on the Americans to do things for them, but because we Americans will one day be gone they need to have a business they can sustain on their own.


Business leaders

Please pray that God will provide the finances for start-up costs & that He will open doors for these ladies to sell products. Please pray that He will use my experience to guide them along.