Business as Missions through Globalization

Unny Nzioka is an accountant by profession, but her working career began in a bank.

While taking night classes in Nairobi, Kenya, she worked in nearly every banking position, from teller to customer service manager to relationship officer. Being at a bank helped grow her already-burgeoning love for numbers, where she says she “saw firsthand how someone can record what they’re making financially as part of their business—to know where it was a loss or a profit.”

Her first job post-graduation was back at the bank, where she did accounting in the finance department. She also got connected to Partners Worldwide, a U.S. non-profit organization involved in eradicating poverty across the world through business as missions. After volunteering there for nearly a decade, she wound up leaving the banking world and serving Partners Worldwide as Kenya partnership manager. She also spent some time in consultancy.

“Consulting broadened my experience; I worked with people who owned businesses across the globe. They were exporting; they were importing. I traveled throughout Africa and began to develop a strong understanding of international business.”

Her varied background prepared her well to teach at Dordt, where she has taught courses in accounting, money and banking, international business, and more. “My students get very excited when I talk about my business experience in Kenya; they tell me they enjoy learning from someone who has worked in accounting, banking, and international business in the working world.”

Her experiences have also fostered her interest in globalization, “the shift of the world toward an interconnected, interdependent world economy.”

Globalization is important, she says, because in today’s modern world there is no single country that can assume to be self-sufficient. “As the world has progressed, as technology advancements have come in, as barriers to trade have been lowered, it has become clear that countries rely on one another,” she explains. “More importantly, if we look at what each country is good at, we can build more efficiencies so that countries can focus their resources on what they can do best while getting products and services they need from other countries.”

Globalization can transform communities; it can also open the world economy to competition worldwide, “keeping businesses on their toes and wanting to do the best for their customer, which can also benefit communities,” she says.

There can be downsides to globalization as well, such as the risk of labor force exploitation. Sometimes there are misunderstandings around cultural norms and practices.

“How do you bring global brands, products, and services into a country and marry that with the local culture and resources?” she asks. "They can develop strong understanding of local culture, which can help global businesses find more success.”

What does this have to do with Christians in business? Nzioka points to Matthew 29:19-20: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”

“Sometimes we Christians forget that when Jesus said, ‘go into the world and make disciples,’ He was talking to all of us, not just pastors or clergy,” she says. “Businesses often have a very narrow goal: to make money—some at whatever cost. Now for a Christian businessperson, I might want to make money, but my business is also a platform from which I can share the Gospel. I conduct my business in a way that magnifies God. If a business is in the global space, the world can see Christ through you and how you do business.”

Many Christians think that to eradicate poverty, donations must be made to developing countries. Nzioka thinks of her home country of Africa, where “charities never change much,” she says. “They are good, but they are not an end in themselves. It seems to me that the best way to eradicate poverty is through business. When you grow the businessperson, they grow the business, which in turn employs more people and puts more funds into the local economy. The more Christian businesses and their owners grow, the more we can help fight against poverty.”

Nzioka often encourages her students to find ways to learn about other cultures and countries, whether through experiences on or off-campus. “Our economies are interconnected and interdependent whether we live in Sweden, Switzerland, or South Africa,” she says. “I tell my students to take trips across the world whenever they can. It gives us a better understanding of the possibilities and helps us appreciate the place God has for us.”

Entrepreneurs are risk-takers, she adds, and taking a Christian business global can be a risk that might pay off.

“What matters is that we understand what these risks are and find ways to navigate them. We are all fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of God regardless of which part of this beautiful world we are in. If we open our eyes, we’ll find God’s creation. I pray that through global business, Christians can be a blessing to others and that we can also partake of the blessings that God has placed in other people across the world.”