Reflections From South Africa & Kenya

I was in Johannesburg and Kenya the last 2 weeks for a business trip and the first thing that struck me was that Singapore Prime Minister Mr Lee Hsien Loong made the same trip to the same two countries just a few days right after me!

Although my trip was packed with meetings, I found some time in Johannesburg to visit The Village Foundation, courtesy of Ms Nolwazi whom I met when I was speaking at the Finance Magnates Fintech Summit. The Village Foundation is a non-profit organisation with a mandate that focuses on entrepreneurial development and economic impact.

Within the first 30 minutes of my visit, I was blown away. They had a structured program to train entrepreneurs who would not only build their own business, but be a force for social impact as well. I also had the opportunity to speak to about 30 entrepreneurs when I was there. As the mandate of the Foundation was to raise up kingdom-minded entrepreneurs, I focused on “good work and good works” from Matthew 25 in the Bible with the following two stories:

The Parable of the Talents

In Matthew 25, a rich man delegates the management of his wealth to his servants. He gives five talents (a large unit of money) to the first servant, two talents to the second, and one talent to the third. The first two servants doubled their money while the third servant hid the money in the ground and earned nothing. When the rich man returned, he rewards the two who made money but called the third servant “wicked and lazy.”

The Parable of the Sheep and the Goats

Jesus said to His disciples, “I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.” When His disciples asked Him, “when did we see you hungry, thirsty or naked?’

Jesus replied, “For what you did to the least of these, you did to me.”

The first parable teaches us about doing “good work”, to steward our gifts and responsibilities well to earn a return. The second parable teaches us about doing “good works” because Jesus Himself identifies with the poor, the marginalised and the oppressed.

I told the entrepreneurs we are to follow this exact model of “good work and good works” when we are in the marketplace as well.

When I was in Nairobi, I had the opportunity to meet the director of Our Daily Bread in Kenya, James Gitoho (picture above). Our Daily Bread is a dear partner of our organisation under our 3rd pillar and it was awesome to hear the wonderful stories and updates from James.

James also shared a story of how the precious resource of the word of God helps Kenyan soldiers through hard times…. and that’s because the ODB booklet fits nicely into their uniform pocket.

One other meeting I had was with a fine gentleman called James Ogolla. We got on like a house on fire, and he invited me to be interviewed on “Hope TV”, one of the leading media organisations in all of Kenya. During the media interview, I shared about “meaningful work” and “meaningful relationships.” Relationships must come BEFORE work; which is our original design from Genesis.

When Paul encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus in Acts 9, his immediate cry was “Who are you Lord” (this is the soul crying out for relationship) and “What do you want me to do” (meaningful work only comes after meaningful relationship).

I closed the session with a prayer on air, sharing with the audience to excel in their work (Proverbs 22:29) and blessed them with Paul’s closing words in 2nd Corinthians.