Dear Friends of RCE,

God seems to be moving in a powerful way with many of the projects we have been pursuing. RCE is partnering with ICCC to develop the prototype Business Development Center in Burundi. We hope the Burundi Center will be the model for Centers in dozens of countries around the world. This is a huge undertaking which we are launching in faith. RCE is developing the training curriculum and assembling materials and programs for support services to nurture businesses after they are launched.

One of our own, Tom Stansbury, is spearheading the development of what we call the "Africa Project." Tom handled marketing and recruiting for the Business School when I was dean of the school, he received his MBA from Regent, and he has been a Founder of RCE since its inception. Tom is passionate about kingdom business and the vision and mission of RCE. As Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Tom has been instrumental in launching and growing several projects for RCE. The Africa Project is a God-sized challenge that will test our faith and provide room for God to show his faithfulness.

John Mulford, Director
Regent Center for Entrepreneurship
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The Africa Project

Here at RCE we have embarked on a Great Adventure we are inviting all of our Founders, Friends, and Regent Alumni to join with us!

This Great Adventure is the heart of Kingdom Business – transforming lives and nations through business – beginning on the continent of Africa!

Dale Neill, President of the International Christian Chamber of Commerce (ICCC), has invited Dr. John Mulford and the RCE Team to partner in a Great Commission venture. We’ll be creating Business Development Centers in the nations of Burundi, Rwanda, Benin, and Liberia, in association with the ICCC Global Trade Center based in Jerusalem.

Dale and Dr. John Mulford, RCE Director and former Dean of Regent’s Graduate School of Business, traveled to Africa in August to lay the groundwork for what we are calling "The Africa Project": establishing Business Development Centers that will create profitable and sustainable SME’s that we believe will create jobs and a groundswell of Kingdom impact, beginning in January with the nation of Burundi – one of the poorest nations on planet Earth.

The Presidents of these four nations are Christians who have asked ICCC and Regent University to partner together to train emerging entrepreneurs in each of their respective nations. The goal? To establish thousands of businesses that we believe will not only lead to the transformation of these nations through business, but which will provide access to the other 53 nations of Africa.

We begin in January 2009 in the nation of Burundi, intent on training entrepreneurs to plan and launch 1,000 small to medium-sized businesses over the next 5 years. In April of 2009, we start a 15-week course that will take the first group of Burundi students through the process of identifying a business idea, learning the functional areas of starting a business, and then provide coaching through the start-up and launch phase.

As you know, Africa has been the recipient of foreign aid for decades – a continent rich in natural resources that has benefitted little from foreign aid. Our purpose is to use ‘trade,’ not ‘aid,’ to literally transform these nations as well as the entire continent – teaching people to fish, ‘to feed them for a lifetime,’ not just a day.

Regent’s theme is ‘Christian leadership to change the world,’ and we believe The Africa Project is an amazing opportunity given us by God to make a difference by going in with resources and depositing an entrepreneurial spirit that will help lift these nations from poverty and civil war to be a blessing to other nations – even Israel (more on that aspect later). God has placed Christians in top leadership positions in these four nations – leading their countries at a time of literally rebuilding their nations from nothing – and we have this window of opportunity to actually transform lives and nations through business as never before.

In order to capture this opportunity we need your help!

Time, Treasure, and Talent – these are the resources God has given you, and it is our desire to channel your gifts and resources through The Africa Project.

RCE needs to raise $200,000 by December 31st, 2008 in order to get on the ground in January. We are asking everyone we know to participate in at least 1 of these areas. When was the last time you had a chance to partner in the transformation of 4 nations that has the prospect of transforming an entire continent?

I just returned from Ukraine where I served in a Kingdom Business venture. For the past 3 months I was a Strategic Business Consultant with one of the largest financial institutions in the nation, helping to create a nationally-branded company in the real estate sector. Over the course of the past year, RCE has launched a business development center in Ternopil, Ukraine – there we have taught Biblical Entrepreneurship and now have emerging entrepreneurs in the process of writing business plans; we will be holding a Business Plan Competition in November of this year.

This experience has given us ‘on the ground’ competencies in launching Business Development Centers we hope can be replicated around the world. ICCC is in over 100 nations, and we believe The Africa Project will not only impact the continent, but also provide a Kingdom business replication model that can be launched world-wide.

As we embark on this Great Adventure, the RCE Team is inviting each and every person who reads this to partner with us in this huge Kingdom Business effort – because if all of us join together with what God is doing on the earth today, we can impact an entire nation – even an entire continent, if we do it ‘AS ONE’ (remember Gladiator?).

I will be keeping you posted on developments each week through our blog, as we take this step of faith. Be in prayer, as the week of September 29th I am in Atlanta meeting with Os Hillman from Marketplaceleaders.org, along with Dale Neill, regarding The Africa Project. Later in the week I will be attending the Board of Governor’s Meeting in Chicago for Opportunity International as well.

Next week, on October 8th, we will be holding an RCE Executive Roundtable at Regent University where Dr. Mulford and I will be laying out more details of this incredible opportunity – you are invited, so please join us!

For the King and His Kingdom,

Tom Stansbury, MBA
Entrepreneur-In-Residence

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