From Rwanda

Dr John Mulford, writing from Rwanda
Dear Team,
I arrived on time this noon (Sat). God answered our prayers about the exit row, although not until the last minute. When I got to the gate in D.C. at 7:45am, the agent said they saved those seats for tall people, so I couldn’t have one, but I could check back at boarding time (10am). Just like clockwork, got exit row aisle. Jason understands the importance of this seating—the difference between stretching your legs out as far as you want vs. eating your knees for 13 hours. So God is good. He cares even about little things like seats.

Dona picked me up and took me to see our offices at Telecom House. He moved in yesterday to a suite of 3 offices—Praise the Lord!

Someone at Telecom House told Dona that he wasn’t sure if we could stay in those offices even through May. But at least we have space now.

I didn’t get to see our offices (Chrystel has the keys), but I saw others in that wing on the 4th floor. Very nice. Tile floors clean and in good condition. Walls painted and no holes. Didn’t test electricity yet. Elevators have been repaired and modernized.

Our offices overlook the major boulevard with downtown Kigali in the distance. Offices across the hall overlook golf course. The whole wing is vacant—about 10 offices/suites of various sizes. One could be a classroom for up to 20. It seems that this space is in high demand, so RDB is juggling requests from many people. The building has a very professional feel—and it is being brightened up. Nice plants in planters at entrance. Shiny tile floors.

I’ll spend the weekend trying to get everything ready for resuming classes plus my other To Do’s. Thank you all for praying as a team.

I’ll be in touch.

Blessings,
John

Kyrgyzstan: Privatization Initiative Generates Transparency Concerns

Originally published by EurasiaNet.org
February 24, 2011 - 10:41am, by Deirdre Tynan

Kyrgyzstan

At least 38 businesses seized by the Kyrgyz provisional government following the collapse of former president Kurmanbek Bakiyev’s administration last April are slated to be privatized by mid-2011.

The public auctions scheduled for May and June of this year are a prime opportunity to replenish the state’s coffers, Kyrgyz officials say. But some observers contend that restoring investor confidence is a more important aspect of the process than the final sales amount.

Kyrgyzstan’s reputation as place to do business took a battering after the rash of post-Bakiyev nationalizations. Almost a year later, there remains considerable skepticism about the ability of the Kyrgyz government to oversee a transparent privatization process.

Estimates on how much money can be made by selling off assets, many of which allegedly belonged to the ex-president’s son, Maxim Bakiyev, as well as his associates, range from $80 million to $110 million. Items up for sale include plots of land in the Issyk Kul resort area, hotels, a cinema, a stake in a mobile phone company, a Bishkek Distillery, and several imported cars.

According to the Deputy Minister of State Property and the Director of the Fund for the Management of Nationalized Property, Dair Kenekeev, $80 million is a conservative estimate based on the sale of items that are not subject to ongoing legal contests. For some items that the government wants to sell, ownership remains in doubt. As a result, authorities’ legal right to privatize them is open to interpretation.

Up to nine entities, including the electricity exporting Chakan HPP and the Manas Refueling Complex will remain government owned because of the revenue that they can generate for the state, Kenekeev said.

Some economic experts say that if the government was to divest itself, even partially, of its stakes in more lucrative holdings such as Manas International Airport or the Dastan weapons company, the windfall could be even bigger.

Potential buyers are already lining up. A bevy of Turkish investors who accompanied Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on an official visit to Bishkek in early February are expressing interest in Manas International Airport, Dastan and KyrgyzTelecom.

The president of the Kyrgyz Stock Exchange, Aibek Tolubaev, also urged the government to put anywhere between 5 percent and 40 percent of its holdings in Dastan, Manas International Airport, KyrgyzTelecom, RSK Bank and Aiyl Bank, on the market. Such a sale could attract more than $40 million, he said.

Some transparency activists are wary that the latest privatization scheme will have tangible benefits for the state. Tolekan Ismailova, the director of the Citizens Against Corruption, a Kyrgyz rights and watchdog organization, said previous attempts to re-distribute property after forme president Askar Akayev was ousted in 2005 did not create the desired effect of replenishing state coffers. She stressed she considers entire process “illegal” because “Constitutional provisions safeguarding private property have been violated.”

“The new government, first and foremost, has to give the people justice. They must prove that they themselves were not engaged in theft or raiding, and through litigation decide what belongs to whom. But so far, this has not been a transparent process, it’s been closed to journalists and observers. This suggests there is a policy of grabbing at work,” she said.

Medet Tyulegenov, a professor of International and Comparative Politics at the American University of Central Asia in Bishkek, said while the public supports the sale of seized assets the government must be seen to act in a way that prioritizes both profit and transparency.

“Corruption is a very sensitive issue, especially because much of what is on sale used to belong to the previous regime. If it turns out that the current government repeats the mistakes of the previous one, it will cause severe frustration,” he said. [Tyulegenov previously served as executive director of the Soros Fund-Kyrgyzstan (SFK), part of the Open Society Foundations (OSF). EurasiaNet operates under the auspices of OSF, but has no direct ties to SFK.

Editor's note: Deirdre Tynan is a Bishkek-based reporter specializing in Central Asian affairs.
Originally published by Eurasianet.org (http://www.eurasianet.org/).

Heading back to Rwanda

Dr Mulford leaves once again for Rwanda tomorrow morning--the second cohort of entrepreneurship students began studying at our Business Development Center in Kigali about 3 weeks ago. Some unexpected challenges have arisen this time around:  getting Blackboard access for our students seemed to be an almost insurmountable hurdle (but innovation and persistence paid off and we think we've solved the problem--thank you Adam from IT!) ;), and the wonderful location of last semester became unavailable and so we've had to look for another meeting place (seems like we have found an excellent space for classes and office space, but this will have to be confirmed once Dr Mulford gets there in person).

If you haven't seen the report of the first graduating class for the BDC, you should check it out! Then, consider--is there some way you could be involved?

Be in touch!

Called to be in the Marketplace

...Then Jesus said to Simon, "Don't be afraid from now on you will catch men." So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him. Luke 5:10-11


Too often we as Christians have two lives; our church lives, where we do our so called ministry and our secular live, where we earn our living. If we feel called to what we consider to be full-time ministry, the immediate assumption is that we are called to be the traditional pastor who must establish a local church or become a foreign missionary. Many have even left their businesses or professions in the marketplace because they believe that the only way to be in full-time ministry is to be a part of the local church staff or be involved in foreign missions; by doing this, some have found themselves outside of the will of God.

Ministry is bigger than the local church; ministry involves every aspect of our society. There are three basic institutions that God has established where ministry must be carried out; the local church, the family and the marketplace. Among those institutions, the marketplace is the one where we spend most of our time with the majority of unsaved people. Marketplace ministry is carrying out our vocation as a calling, in the name of Christ, with the intent to fulfill the great commandment (Matthew 22:37-38) and the Great Commission. It challenges us to allow Jesus Christ to change us from fishermen to fishers of men.

Many of us who have accepted Christ are still acting as fishermen. We spend most of our time and energy in the marketplace toiling and worrying about how much fish we can catch, we do not realize that we are no longer fishermen but fishers of men. As fishers of men Jesus has already taken the responsibility to ensure that we catch enough fish to make our business profitable, our project successful, or that our campaign for office prevails.

Are you a fisherman or a fisher of men? Are you fulfilling the great commandment and the Great Commission through your business or profession?

I started my career as an entrepreneurship instructor, executive director and founder of a nonprofit youth organization. I was doing good works according to most standards; helping young people learn the skills of business so they could have an alternative to drugs, and providing leadership training to young, aspiring leaders. But in 1995, through a Christian businessman who was operating in his marketplace ministry, I received the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior. That led to a personal transformation where I received my marketplace call to use entrepreneurship as a tool to empower the body of Christ and seek and save the lost. That revelation then led me to develop an entrepreneurship training program called Biblical Entrepreneurship and to restructure the organization my wife and I founded into a service ministry called Nehemiah Project International Ministry which helps people build kingdom businesses in partnership with churches, Christian organizations, and Christian colleges and universities. At that moment I went from being a fisherman to being a fisher of men. By the grace of God, the Lord has blessed us to assist thousands of individuals who are now operating profitable, sustainable and scalable kingdom businesses in the marketplace. Your transition may not be as drastic; it may not even cause you to change what you are doing. You may only have to change how you are doing what you are already doing or your attitude towards it.

How to identify your marketplace call?

1. Listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying to you.

2. Identify your gifts, skills and abilities.

3. What do you have a burden for?

4. Where does your passion lie?

5. How do you incorporate the great commandment and the Great Commission in the execution of your ministry

Remember there are very few industries and professions where we cannot serve the Lord, for the scriptures says, "And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him" Colossians 3:17.

Copyright © 2011 Patrice Tsague ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.