TCI has begun activities in Kenya in support of sustainable economic development under a program named BRICKhouse.  BRICKhouse represents up and coming economies, which formerly included Brazil, Russia, India, China (the BRICs) but which TCI believes also includes Kenya.

Through contact with GFE (Global Field Evangelism), a loosely affiliated Christian-based group of individuals supporting churches, orphanages, schools and feeding stations, TCI has partnered with a large group of Kenyan individuals over a manageable geographic footprint.  Almost all support for these individuals and/or their humanitarian projects comes from outside donations and assistance.  However, many of these individuals supplement their finances with outside employment or local businesses, and others aspire to do the same.  While the goal of several of these activities is to facilitate expansion of associated humanitarian projects, each also has personal goals for business success and expansion and improved quality of life.  Due to each individual's awareness and affiliations for each other, the group provides an excellent opportunity to assist not only the individual businesses in becoming successful and sustainable, but also to develop a network of interdependency among these and other businesses in the region to create the basis for an economically sustainable community.

While TCI applauds the humanitarian efforts of GFE in general and of these individuals in particular, TCI’s mission in the region is not humanitarian (at least not in the direct sense).  TCI’s vision is to build a replicable business model and an empowered community that allows economic sustainability anywhere it is applied in the world.  We will study, design, implement, test and evaluate all appropriate business practices (including management, financing and investment) along with existing and not-yet-existing relevant technologies to incorporate into successful business models.  By encouraging and modeling behavior that supports interdependency and sustainability among various local enterprises, the local economy will grow and expand, allowing for more, and more diverse, expansion and opportunities for further capital investment and return.

Affiliation with GFE

TCI is not affiliated with GFE in this endeavor.  GFE remains a Christian-based humanitarian organization whose means of support is derived primarily from outside donations and contributions from individuals within the GFE network.  What GFE provides for TCI is access to a group of like-minded individuals who know and respect each other, and a common point of contact in Bishop Ben Bahati.  The financial activities of GFE also allow TCI to establish a current baseline of economic performance to use as a baseline metric against which to gauge success of TCI’s model and approach.  While the initial group of contacts comes through GFE, it is not TCI’s intention to limit its activities in the region only to individuals associated with GFE.  As more individuals and businesses are added to the program, they will be appropriately benchmarked so meaningful statistics and performance metrics may continue to be measured.

One of the benefits provided by initially tapping into the GFE network is that the network is composed of a group of individuals with a demonstrated capacity for and desire to reach beyond themselves in support of the community, as exhibited through pasturing, feeding, housing and educating children and adults with no capacity to pay or repay their time and efforts.  When one combines a desire and capacity for entrepreneurship with a firm grasp of the interconnectedness of any sustainable economy, there exists a foundation for success that is hit and miss in the general community as a whole.  This is especially true when so much of the economy is currently based on a hand-out mentality where each individual or family is striving for a piece of a fixed set of resources.  Only a thriving, bottoms up economy can support the expansion and growth necessary to allow all individuals a chance to succeed. 

Despite the common bond in a desire to help the greater community, the individuals in this group express a wide variety of diversity in economic levels, education, geography, businesses and business approach and progress, tribes, and economies in various towns and environmental conditions.  Also, at least one group has already initiated a micro-financing strategy that initially centered on a donation-based model for the source of funds but is expanding to more sustainable conventional sources of financing.