First day of class*

from Dr John Mulford in Rwanda
(note: subsequent updates are expected to be briefer) ;)
*This is the first day of class for Dr Mulford, but students began the course on January 31st with Jason Benedict teaching the first 2 weeks of the curriculum.

Mon, Feb 28, 2011

1. Up at 3:30 a.m. Must have slept too much over the weekend. Surprised Leigh Ann (my wife) by skyping her so early my time (7 hrs later there). Plenty to do with class planning, Center planning, etc.

2. First one to arrive for breakfast. Warm greetings from Jean Marie—the full hug with heads touching on alternate sides three times, followed by intricate handshake (think secret pledge handshake). He made a delicious omelet for me.

3. Met Chrystel at our new office—4th floor Telecom House.

• Our stuff was there minus our desk chair—RIAM wouldn’t let Dona take it, because they couldn’t locate it on their inventory. One more hassle to overcome. [Now it is evening and Dona was able to get the chair, PTL!]
• Having no chairs, called building manager to ask to borrow, but he was busy.
• That led to our going to elevator to check classroom in basement. Much to my surprise, the wing opposite ours is occupied by Bridge2Rwanda (Dale Dawson, the founder, is a friend). Their ops director said they want to serve as in-country base for organizations that want to send teams, invest, etc. They are coordinating trips for Stanford, Harvard, Carnegie Mellon, etc. They will offer college entrance exam—SAT, GRE, GMAT, TOEFL—prep courses. Also have a tourism/marketer who will arrange in-country logistics for any team that wants to come. They have five sharp Americans working in the suite. All that to say that they lent us three chairs. Nice to have friendly neighbors engaged in similar work.
• Classroom in basement is big improvement over past spaces; however, not ideal for group work. Set up in tiered seating with fancy desks, microphone on each desk, big chairs—for Rwanda Senate to use for some meetings. Does have A/C, good lighting, plus two big photographer floodlights on stands, which light it up for video recording. We had to rearrange seating to get 32 in front of the speaker—has a big stage with desks, kind of like Moot Court. Hope we don’t have to do that every night.

4. Dona arrived at Telecom House. We worked out peer mentoring groups. Tried to get personalities, gender, and industry mix the best we could. Plan to meet the group as a whole Sat morning for a pep talk; then have them assemble in their groups and plan for further meetings on their own.

5. Met Franklin, Marketing Mgr Rwandatel, at lunch. He just happened to sit at the table Dona and I occupied at Blues Cafe. Had a nice talk about data services. He said Rwandatel has about 200MB connection to outside world (120 fiber from Uganda and Burundi; 80 MB satellite). Said Satellite cost (to Rwandatel) is about $1000/mo. per MB bandwidth, and falling. Wouldn’t tell fiber cost because once the fiber is laid, cost is so low they don’t want users to know it. He said they charge about $3,500/mo for 1 MB line, but that prices will drop fast. Franklin said he was interested in our program. Wants to start his own business. I invited him to visit class.

6. Paul Kayoboke, our contact at Rwanda Development Board, e-mailed asking for meeting to draft formal agreement on the space they provide for our Center in Rwanda. I’ll be glad to get that completed. We have been in limbo too long.

7. Last minute prep for class. Still no Internet, which is a problem, since half the class involves using it.

8. Carine, “Encourager” award winner from Cohort 1, called to invite Dona and me to breakfast at her house on Friday.

9. Arrived to set up for class at 5:15. Room being used by bldg mgr for meeting w housekeeping staff. He finished in five minutes. Gave me chance to meet him. Very friendly and welcoming. Asked if we had everything we needed. Said he’d take a picture of our chair arrangement and reset each evening if others moved them during day meetings. He made sure the IT person fixed the wireless internet in the classroom. He had a table set up so I could use projector. Very nice, big screen. Really looks sharp. Only problem: two lights just over screen put glare on it. He said he’d have those two bulbs removed tomorrow. He gave us keys to both inside and outside doors, so we can have the students enter directly from the parking lot thus avoiding delays through security in the lobby. What a refreshing change from our treatment in other facilities.

10. Class went great.

Fancy technology in the room is nice, but a mixed blessing. Every student has a microphone, so we can hear them. But I want them to learn to speak up. One cool thing. They don’t have to raise hands; just press their button and a red light on the neck of the mic lights up. I told them they should think “SFB classroom” (Jason taught first two weeks in this less-than-ideal environment) when they get their first space and furniture. This room is much too plush for start-up entrepreneurs. They laughed, but also nodded agreement.

Students introduced themselves and their business ideas. Heartbreaking to hear how many lost family members in genocide. One man said he was lastborn of 8 children, and the only survivor of his family. As a result, many have deep passion for helping orphans/survivors and helping their country in general.

Very diverse group in terms of backgrounds and business ideas. Many businesses similar to Cohort 1—pigs, poultry, added goats; consulting; doing business in Rwanda portal; Christian school. Not as many in health care or IT. I only got a glimpse of their ideas. I’ll know more by the end of the week.

Students remember lots of what was covered in first two weeks—well done Jason! They were very good on values, purpose of business, and loved the life purpose topic. I sensed that we have a more highly educated group. Now, we’ll see if that translates into stronger entrepreneurs.

11. 11:30 p.m. Handling a bunch of e-mails, finishing this blog and then off to bed. E-mail from Chick fil A guys says they are psyched. They can’t wait for Sat. arrival.

Kyrgyzstan: Civil Society Flexes Strength in Orphanage Row

Originally published by Eurasianet.org
February 22, 2011 - 11:02am, by Chris Rickleton

Children take an afternoon nap at Bishkek's Shining Path children's shelter for orphans. A backlash against plans to close this, one of Bishkek's most successful orphanages, has ensured the it will stay open, at least for the foreseeable future. (Photo: David Trilling)

On a bright winter’s day in Bishkek, a group of children play in the front yard of the Shining Path shelter, a home to orphans and young people from broken backgrounds. “Take the guests to mother,” a nurse instructs Daniyar, 6, who is swinging on the monkey bars. The guide leads the way through colorfully painted corridors to the office of Valentina Kochetkova, the shelter’s director.

“Here we are one big family,” Kochetkova says. “Russian, Dungan, Kyrgyz – the children don’t know the difference, and that’s how it should be.” The state-owned building, she explains, was first designated as an orphanage in the mid-1990s. Since then, the organization has thrived with a rent-free arrangement and substantial grants for maintenance, food, clothing and medication from foreign donors. More than 3,500 children -- many of whom grew from infancy to adolescence under Kochetkova’s watch -- have passed through Shining Path’s doors since 1996.

Yet this playful world was hurled into uncertainty in December when Bishkek city officials announced their intention to disperse the 56 children at the Shining Path facility and install a kindergarten in its place. Critics called the decision a misplaced attempt to address the ballooning kindergarten shortage in the city.

City officials say state-run kindergartens in the capital are operating at 40 percent over capacity. The problem is exacerbated by the steady influx of migrant families from the country’s regions and the privatization of formerly state-owned buildings that could have been converted into kindergartens. Given budget challenges, children’s shelters, which aren’t a source of profit for the state, are easy targets for conversion.

“At the end of November last year, a representative of the mayor’s office invited me to City Hall and told me that the agreement regarding our free use of the building would be terminated on December 31, 2010, and that as of January 1, 2011, it would not be renewed,” Kochetkova explained. “Naturally we were extremely distressed at the thought of children in need of our help being redistributed amongst other children’s homes across the city, already themselves overcrowded.”

At present, roughly 20,000 children attend 78 kindergartens in Bishkek, says Ainagul Malikovna, director of the city Education Department. “At full capacity, these kindergartens should accommodate no more than 12,500 children,” Malikovna said, adding that another 1,500 children were on waiting lists.

For Anna Zakharchenko, a single mother, the mathematics of life creates a painful dilemma. “Ideally I would like my child to attend a private nursery, as the state nurseries are overcrowded,” she says. But unable to afford the fees on her part-time job, she waits for a spot at the local state nursery, which charges $65 per month. She has waited six months so far. It’s a vicious cycle. Until her son, who is two-and-a-half, starts nursery, “I can’t take up full-time work. Some skip the lists with gratuity payments, but on a part-time salary I can’t afford those either.”

The story of the Shining Path facility would probably not have had a happy ending just a few years ago. But things are different now – even amid the prevailing economic uncertainty. In the aftermath of Kyrgyzstan’s political overhaul, featuring the switch to a parliamentary form of government, civil rights organizations have forged relationships with emboldened MPs. This alliance has made it easier to identify causes, conflicts and municipal shortcomings – and to rectify them.

In the case of the Shining Path orphanage, Shirin Aitmatova, an MP in the opposition Ata-Meken faction, proved instrumental in getting city officials to reverse course. Aitmatova first called attention to City Hall’s designs on the Shining Path site, aiming to produce pressure in opposition to the conversion. “Isa Omurkulov, as mayor of Bishkek, encroached on children. He wants to take a shelter away from orphans,” Aitmatova told parliament on February 3.

Others, such as Nazgul Turdubekova, who heads the Child Rights Defenders’ League, a non-governmental organization, argued that the mayor’s office “chose to try and evict these children to create space for children from functioning families,” thus displaying a “fundamental misunderstanding” of the state’s responsibility to children on the margins of society.

 Aitmatova and Turdubekova were able to generate media coverage that exposed kindergarten and orphanage shortages and framed a seemingly local issue in the context of a national debate. All the public attention induced Mayor Omurkulov to issue a verbal promise that the shelter would remain operational for the foreseeable future. Shining Path’s Kochetkova described Aitmatova’s contribution to saving the shelter as “indispensable.”

For now, the orphanage looks safe. Rather than evict children from Shining Path and other homes, Malikovna from the city education department told EurasiaNet.org, “Municipal buildings rented to different organizations will be returned [to the government] for the purpose of creating new kindergartens.” Since the controversy began, “we have created space for 280 more children.”

Editor's note: Chris Rickleton is a Bishkek-based journalist.
Originally published by Eurasianet.org (http://www.eurasianet.org/).

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.

Stand

Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand. Ephesians 6:13


Are you facing pressures that are seeking to push you back? Are you tempted to give up on the assignment the Lord has given you?

It is not uncommon for Biblical Entrepreneurs to face pressures that tempt them to want to give up or to question whether they should continue their business or the project they have undertaken. Success is never achieved without external resistance.

Do not assume that just because your cause is righteous, everything and everyone will cooperate with you; actually, sometimes the more righteous your cause, the greater the external pressures.

How then should you respond when those external pressures continue to beat on you like a bad tornado? Just stand. Yes, just continue to resist them by remaining firm in your posture and focused on your direction. To stand means to rise to an upright position on your feet or as specified {freedictionary.com}. The assumption here is that you are being attacked and pressured - not just because of what you are doing - but because of the righteous stands you are taking. Of course if you face pressure and do not have a righteous position, you will not be able to withstand the pressures because you do not have the strength of Christ on your side.

How do you stand in the midst of the pressures of business and ministry?

1. Rejoice in the Lord because the joy of the Lord is your strength.

2. Put on the whole armor of God - what is the armor?
a. Truth
b. Righteousness
c. Peace
d. Faith
e. Salvation
f. The Word of God
g. Prayer in the spirit

3. Know that you are in spiritual warfare

4. Boldly preach the Gospel

There will come a time of complete victory when you no longer feel the resistance - not because it does not exist - but because you have been so perfected by past pressures and your spiritual maturity is so great that you begin to view trials the way Apostle Paul viewed them.

Here is what Paul said about his trials:

"For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us" Romans 8:18.

"Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal" 2 Corinthians 4:16-18.

"Therefore I take pleasure in my infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecution, in distresses, for Christ's sake for when I am weak then I am strong" 2 Corinthians 12:10.

May the Lord Jesus Christ grant you the desires of your heart, not just to stand, but to overcome so that you may be able to share His goodness in your circle of influence in the marketplace.



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

If the Lord Wills

"Instead you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that,'"
James 4:15.


Have you developed your plan for this year? What is your approach to planning? Imagine that you are about to invest in a business and you hear the business plan presentation which begins with if the Lord wills we will do such and such...?

Unfortunately as scriptural as this sounds, most of us will have reservations and doubt about the business because we will interpret that the presenter is uncertain about the future and possibly wants to use God as a copout. Yet this is the very approach that James suggests we use in planning our businesses.

In James 4:13-16, James contrasts the world's approach to planning with the kingdom approach. James suggests that the world's approach has the following characteristics:

1. Certainty of the future
2. Pride
3. Self-centeredness

While the kingdom approach should have the following characteristics:

1. Recognition of our limitations
2. Humility
3. Centered on God's will

What does "if the Lord wills" mean? It means "should God permit or allow". It is recognizing that no matter what our plans are, they are subject to God's ultimate purpose. It suggests that we are seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33), and as stated in the Lord's Prayer, we are inviting God's will into the situation (Matthew 6:10).

What are your plans for this year? Have you considered God's will for your life and your business? God's will protects you, provides for you and keeps you safe.

No matter your circumstances or the economy, the safest place to be is in the will of God. In the will of God there is provision, protection and safety. In the will of God we find peace in the midst of turmoil, in the will of God we find safety in the midst of uncertainty, in the will of God we find favor.
Whatever your plans are this year, make sure they keep you in the will of God. How do you find the will of God? Use the following guidelines to help you:

1. Pray and fast.

2. Study His word and look for guidelines and patterns within His word.

3. Reflect on your past experiences with God as a guide to where He is taking you.

4. Seek the council of others who are trustworthy and God-fearing.

5. Make sure you have peace about the direction you sense God is leading you in.

God's will is easy to find when we are willing to lay down our personal agendas.

God's will usually moves us toward an uncomfortable direction but one that will have the most spiritual and natural impact in the lives of others. God's will is that we trade our agendas for His agenda. If the Lord wills, what will you do this year?

Copyright © 2010 Patrice Tsague ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.