The Democratic Republic of the Congo is one of the largest (the area of the US east of the Mississippi) and most populace (almost 100 million) countries in Africa. It is the world’s largest French-speaking country, in the global top 10 in terms of birth rate and urbanization, and in the bottom ten in terms of per capita income. Congo has endured instability for the last 25 years — over 3 million people have died in eastern Congo since 1996 — but is experiencing increasing development and stabilization. The church has not been able to provide a transformational witness to help Congo’s profound spiritual, economic, and social challenges.
Goma is one of the most strategic cities in the country with over 1.5 million people living in an exceptionally beautiful but exceptionally troubled part of the world. Congo’s population is overwhelmingly young; 47% are under 14, yet its youth are tremendously underserved. Few finish school with a high-quality education, and still fewer have good jobs to move into. The business, political, and development sectors are rife with corruption and bad ethics. Bringing Christlike leadership into the business environment and mentoring young professionals as they grow into their roles is important.
Our team’s mission is to create and nourish an intentional, intercultural, creative community committed to living out the gospel in ways that expand the global Church and meet real-life needs in our city and region. We want our city, Goma, to be a city on a hill for the entire country, starting with our street and neighborhood first. We want to be radically implicated in the needs, capacities, and dreams of our neighbors — whoever God puts in our community. Currently, our team works in education, entrepreneurship, renewable energy, and counseling sectors.
We are looking for entry-level young people (limited experience is okay!) who are passionate about business and/or engineering - including finance, operations, marketing, accounting, human resources, project management, civil engineering, electrical engineering, software engineering, and coffee - to support Business as Mission projects in Congo. This is an amazing opportunity to dip your toes into multiple exciting options in a dynamic start-up atmosphere in a cross-cultural mode!
Current BAM initiatives include a growing solar energy business, a locally based coffee company, and a small business incubator. Relevant business, engineering, or project management skills are all welcome.
People applying for this placement should be self-starters, energetic, and impact-driven problem solvers. There are many challenges to living in the Congolese context, but people who are ready to put forth great effort will likely also derive great meaning in seeing how even small inputs make a huge difference in the communities we serve.
The person filling this placement may have some limited training or experience working in business or engineering sectors, and a passion to help develop flourishing business opportunities and young professionals in a challenging environment. A variety of backgrounds and experience could be useful as our team seeks to support our established Business as Mission (BAM) work, and/or help local small business owners develop skills and livelihoods. Our team is impact-oriented and deeply committed to our context and community here, and are looking for others ready to go all-in on building God’s kingdom in Congo together with colleagues here.