John in Zambia

Here is an excerpt from a report Steve wrote on his recent Zambia trip.

Let me tell you a little about John Enright. He was born in 1950 to American parents serving as Methodist missionaries in the Congo. He grew up in a village, understands the village culture and worldview. He was educated in Zambia, with university studies in Indiana (of all places) and seminary at Asbury and Anderson.

He has become disillusioned by the US gov’t and missionary policy and practices as he saw both creating a system of oppression that says if you are a poor African, you can never be any more than that. Poverty was promoted as a virtue while rich missionaries drove their 4wd’s, wrote fiction in their missionary letters and sat at the top of the social pecking order, only to leave and go home to a long and wealthy retirement. He was forced by war, atrocity and personal threat to his life to leave the Congo. He brought with him the pastor who wrote “A Letter to Africans from an African,” one of his close personal friends and colleagues, whom he personally mentored.

He started 30 years ago trying to figure out how to change the poverty situation as a missionary. He has done/initiated a multitude of projects and business startups. He has created a Kingdom of God based philosophy and practice that might put most theologians to shame. He believes that Africa should be developed by Africans, for Africans, benefiting Africans, without greed, high salaries and corruption we see in many of the government and NGO systems today. He personally takes home $1,500 per month and uses that as the standard he wants every small farmer and worker to achieve as a level of income. (He also knows that too much money too quickly can damage people.)

He had been courted, wined and dined by presidents, knows many high level educators and professionals worldwide, constantly receives visitors from all over the world who want to see what he is doing and he wants to franchise his ideas, partner with NGO’s, local people and businesses. He is extremely knowledgeable, perceptive, opinionated and by his own admission a bit hyperactive. He is a broad visionary and sees the need to focus on the details of a project to see it through to success.

He has just acquired a third farm, each in excess of 1000 hectares, where he is running multiple operations. He understands the power of value chains and wealth creation. For example, he has just put 10 woodmizer saw mills into the bush, each expected to generated 2-3 cubes of wood per day with a value of $400 per cube. This wood comes to his work centers for processing into furniture, windows and doors, flooring, export, etc.


He is into bananas, fish ponds, wood, honey, aloe and cattle (1000 employees) with his non-profit proceeds supporting more development, orphanages, etc. The wood working companies currently generate $10,000 per month excess income that he uses to support a learning center. He is expecting this will increase with the new mills to $25,000. He offers this center free of charge, dorms and meals included to anyone who wants to do training. His goal is to be able to serve (help develop) 500 people per week.

He doesn’t do anything small and understands the biblical concept of creative vision. He wants large margins, on par salaries and top quality work. He is willing to pay a factory manager for the value he creates. He feels that 50% ownership is win-win as it empowers the owner-operator and gives him (John) the leverage to reinvest in whatever he sees fit, including social programs. He personally does the project numbers and understands the options as well as risks.