East Africa Conference Highlights

At the end of August, Partners Worldwide Executive Director Doug Seebeck and Cheryl Broetje shared with over 70 Kenyan businesspeople, launched My Business, My Mission in Kenya, and hosted a workshop on servant leadership.  Cheryl Broetje is the co-founder of the world’s largest privately owned apple orchard and is also the founder of the Center for Sharing, which houses a servant leadership school and provides local leadership formation courses. Cheryl gave concrete examples of how viewing their business as mission has blessed their orchard's employees along with the orchard itself. “The decisions we made didn’t always seem to make business sense, but they did make kingdom sense.” She also taught that “servant leadership doesn’t just mean listening and caring for your employees’ needs, but also knowing how to engage their strengths and partner with their passions.”

An African contextualized study guide of the book was prepared by Dennis Tongoi, a popular Kenyan Christian business author.  During the launch, he challenged the participants to view themselves and their business as a vehicle to end poverty. The message of this respected author helped the Kenyan participants understand how important this issue is to their business, their customers and employees, and most importantly their faith.

Martin Mutuku, Partnership Manager of Kenya, was impressed by the commitment and participation of those attending, "As an organization, this helped us learn how this material can be used to help educate and inspire businesspeople in Kenya, Africa and around the world."  

Following the seminar in Kenya, Uganda was privileged to hold its first ever Partners Worldwide East Africa Regional Conference.  The theme of this year’s conference was “Soaring on Wings like an Eagle in Tough Economic Times.”   The conference drew attendees from five countries including Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and the United States.  

Participants heard from both local and international business people from around the world.  They were able to seize the many opportunities that the conference provided.  This included networking with other Christian business people, hearing the biblical principles of succeeding against the odds, and discovering new ways to use their businesses as vehicles for preaching God’s word.  Participants were also introduced to new business concepts and were energized by hearing testimonies from individuals who started out with nothing but have built successful and profitable businesses.

There was a great deal of positive feedback from participants.  Benjamin Okello, from Northern Uganda, said, “People are hungry for this type of conference.  It isn’t often when Christian business people have the opportunity to get together in order to fellowship and share their successes and struggles. “

Many participants walked away from the conference feeling a sense of renewal and energy for being vessels of God’s love in the business world.

 Two Ways You Can Be Involved

1. You can also network with Christian businesspeople and learn more about business as mission by attending the October Partnership Summit. Click here to register.
2. Order a copy of My Business, My Mission and downloand a FREE group study guide at www.mybusiness-mymission.com (coming soon!).

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