A coun­try can gath­er its peo­ple end­less­ly and still fail to equip them. At Christ Is the Answer Min­istries (CITAM), I saw an insti­tu­tion take that dis­tinc­tion seriously.

The CITAM Busi­ness Forum con­fer­ence and expo, themed “A Dream for a Bet­ter Africa,” brought enter­prise into a place of faith. As a guest speak­er, I felt priv­i­leged to address thou­sands, includ­ing Mus­lims and peo­ple of oth­er faiths. Shared oppor­tu­ni­ty had brought us together.

But the most sig­nif­i­cant work had begun before the con­fer­encestart­ed.

I was elat­ed to learn that more than 100 young inno­va­tors par­tic­i­pat­ed in a two-month train­ing pro­gram asso­ci­at­ed with the inau­gur­al Youth Invest­ment and Tech­nol­o­gy Hub. I watched eleven final­ists present their ven­tures to five judges. As a result, the top three received fund­ing yes­ter­day (last Sat­ur­day) and will receive men­tor­ship going forward. 

That sequence mat­ters: prepa­ra­tion before pre­sen­ta­tion, scruti­ny before fund­ing, and guid­ance along­side fund­ing.

The exhi­bi­tion brought togeth­er more than 100 busi­ness­es. Its doors, still open this Sun­day, wel­comed del­e­gates and the pub­lic, allow­ing entre­pre­neurs to showcase prod­ucts and engage poten­tial cus­tomers. The church cre­at­ed oppor­tu­ni­ties for peo­ple to con­tribute, not mere­ly ask­ing them to listen. 

Ses­sions linked faith and stew­ard­ship to cus­tomer val­i­da­tion, gen­eros­i­ty, and glob­al brands. 

Sure­ly, this is the exam­ple worth repli­cat­ing, not merely the event.

Gov­ern­ment must ful­fill its respon­si­bil­i­ties. But hold­ing it account­able does not pre­vent an insti­tu­tion from teach­ing a skill, con­nect­ing a men­tor, or pay­ing a young sup­pli­er fair­ly. We must not out­source every pos­si­bil­i­ty to the State.

Afrobarometer’s April–May 2024 Kenya sur­vey found that 70 per­cent of adults trust­ed reli­gious lead­ers some­what or a lot. What prac­ti­cal dif­fer­ence should that con­fi­dence make? 

A con­gre­ga­tion offers an oppor­tu­ni­ty that a polit­i­cal ral­ly alone can­not: peo­ple return. Some­one can bring a quo­ta­tion next week, ask why an order lost mon­ey, or seek help cor­rect­ing busi­ness records. Reg­u­lar con­tact makes fol­low-through pos­si­ble, but it does not make it automatic.

Kenya’s 2024 FinAc­cess sur­vey found that 84.8 per­cent of adults accessed for­mal finan­cial ser­vices. Yet only 18.3 per­cent were clas­si­fied as finan­cial­ly healthy, based on meet­ing dai­ly needs, cop­ing with shocks, and invest­ing in future goals. 

These fig­ures do not make pover­ty a fail­ure of knowl­edge. They chal­lenge us to con­nect access with capa­bil­i­ty, decent incomes,and fair oppor­tu­ni­ties. Every­one should under­stand costs, repay­ment oblig­a­tions, and cash flow, includ­ing reli­gious lead­ers and trustees. Not every­one needs to own a business.

Gen­e­sis 41 links the conference’s dream to organized prepa­ra­tion. Joseph inter­pret­ed, pro­posed, and stored; by verse 57, peo­ple were com­ing to buy grain. The les­son I draw con­cerns the work between the rev­e­la­tion and the meal. 

Who is organizing that con­nec­tion in our communities?

Begin with what is already avail­able: an accoun­tant, a work­shop, a will­ing buy­er, an unused class­room. The young per­son seek­ing a first cus­tomer may wor­ship beside some­one who needs that ser­vice. Nei­ther knows it.

Let young peo­ple help design the pro­gram. An accoun­tant can teach cost accounting using their actu­al prod­ucts. A busi­ness own­er can super­vise a paid tri­al. The insti­tu­tion should mod­el trans­par­ent pro­cure­ment, clear spec­i­fi­ca­tions, and prompt payment.

Make the work green and use­ful: main­tain rain­wa­ter sys­tems, repair equip­ment, reduce food spoilage, and improve resource effi­cien­cy. Estab­lish demand before buy­ing machin­ery. Record what changes.

Pro­tect wor­ship from com­mer­cial pres­sure. Par­tic­i­pa­tion must remain vol­un­tary, per­son­al infor­ma­tion pro­tect­ed, and accounts trans­par­ent. Wel­come peo­ple of all faiths. Nev­er let spir­i­tu­al trust become a short­cut around sound finan­cial judgment.

Oth­er church­es, mosques, and reli­gious orga­ni­za­tions can adapt this approach. Start with a man­age­able group, des­ig­nate men­tors, and sched­ule a nine­ty-day review. Ask what par­tic­i­pants can now do, what cus­tomers bought, and what needs cor­rec­tion. I advo­cate a dis­ci­pline of think­ing care­ful­ly, test­ing ideas, build­ing respon­si­bly, and return­ing to check results.

Lead­er­ship means chang­ing what hap­pens with­in the insti­tu­tions already entrust­ed to us. Before ask­ing what the coun­try lacks, let’s ask whose abil­i­ty your insti­tu­tion has not yet dis­cov­ered and what it could help that per­son achieve. Think green, act green.