UKRAINE, SPRING 2008

In the fall of 2007, RCE conducted a Business Symposium in Ternopil, Ukraine while launching the Christian Center for Entrepreneurial Success (CCES).  Dr. John Mulford, RCE Director, and a team of Regent MBA Alumni including Tom Stansbury (’99), Natalia Khomyak (’03), Christina Tate (’03), Valerie Kingman (’07), and Russ Wendell (’99), as well as several ‘Kingdom Business’ entrepreneurs – Ron Pileggi, Mark Boyce, and Alex Dappen – participated in the symposium. (Photo at right (L to R): Ivan Papish, John Mulford, Natalia Khomyak, Russ Wendell, Valerie Kingma, Ron Pileggi, Christina Tate, Tom Stansbury)

Several hundred Ukrainians attended the grand opening, and over 85 emerging businesspeople in Ukraine signed up for the Business Symposium and learned how to complete a feasibility study.  A donation was received to launch the Ternopil Center Office, which has been serving as a Kingdom Business resource to the local community and the region.

Tom Stansbury, RCE ‘Founder’, followed up the Business Symposium in 2007 by teaching the ‘Biblical Entrepreneurship’ (BE1) course in March of 2008.  RCE Strategic Partner, Nehemiah Project Ministries International (NPIM), developed this curriculum in Cameroon, Africa to assist emerging entrepreneurs who desire to either start a Kingdom Business, or expand an existing business.  John Mulford and Tom Stansbury saw an opportunity to launch the BE courses through the Center in Ukraine, and RCE and NPIM have deepened their elationship over the past several months.  Tom  took the BE1 Course and was Certified as a BE Teacher in December 2007.  The Christian Center for Entrepreneurial Success in Ukraine has become an RCE Demonstration Project over the past year and is a major part of RCE’s efforts to develop a small business development model that can be replicated worldwide.

The Center in Ternopil was founded with the desire to see Kingdom Business transform many lives in Ukraine – helping emerging entrepreneurs understand how their faith can be integrated in launching a small business that has a Kingdom Impact in their nation.  In 1996, Tom Stansbury visited Ternopil with a YWAM missionary team and met Natalia Khomyak and her father Ivan Papish (CCES Director).  Ivan and his wife Luba have been ministering to the business community in Ukraine, evangelizing and discipling leaders, and RCE’s efforts have been maximized due to the long-term relationship that has been forged over the past decade.

This picture (above) shows the graduating class of forty one emerging biblical entrepreneurs who successfully completed the first course of Biblical Entrepreneurship in Ukraine.  Many are young leaders Ivan and Luba (front row) have been ministering to and developing for several years.  There were also fourteen BE Teachers certified to teach BE1 who hope to plant the course around the region and expand the Center’s Kingdom Impact in Eastern Europe, Ukraine, and Russia.  Biblical Entrepreneurship is typically a 10-week course that uniquely presents a scripturally-based Biblical view of business and entrepreneurship, covering such topics as identifying opportunities, taking calculated risks, solving problems, exercising business stewardship, and understanding Biblical profit.

Tom Stansbury returned to the Ukraine the following summer to teach BE2, the second phase of the Biblical Entrepreneurship curriculum.  Topics included: Biblical economics, identifying your business idea, understanding the business plan, financial statements, marketing and sales, market research, and organizing, registering, and financing your business.

The third section of the BE curriculum gives students the mechanics of completing their business plan for a new start up. If a current business is being expanded, a strategic growth plan will be completed.

Spotlight On: Tom Stansbury (Regent MBA ‘99’) (pictured, right)
A ‘Founder’ of Regent University’s Center for Entrepreneurship

In 2008, Tom Stansbury served as the ‘Entrepreneur-in-Residence’ at the Center, working with Dr. Mulford in launching Kingdom Business activities in Ukraine as part of the Center’s global transformation efforts.

Mr. Stansbury has been a Strategic Business Consultant helping small businesses develop aggressive and sustainable growth while helping Christian business owners ensure they are making a Kingdom impact through their business endeavors.

Previously, Mr. Stansbury developed franchises on a regional and national basis with several of the fastest growing franchises in the nation – both as an executive and as an entrepreneur, doing multi-million dollar ventures as an Investor, Area Developer, and Multi-Unit Franchisee.  He is a Certified Teacher in Biblical Entrepreneurship and has trained students and certified teachers in Eastern Europe in partnership with Nehemiah Project Ministries International (NPIM).

One of the largest Ukrainian banks and their American CEO of EuroStandard (a Ukrainian Business Development Company) have recruited Mr. Stansbury as a ‘Business Developer’ in a $10M venture to launch nine national companies in the Real Estate market beginning in June of 2008.  D