Partner: African Evangelical Christian Mission (AECM)
Location: Togo
The Gozem car rental project is not only providing a reliable service to the community in Togo, but it also financially supports the work of the AECM ministry and its missionaries serving vulnerable communities in Togo, Benin, Ghana, Nigeria, and Ivory Coast.
African Evangelical Christian Mission (AECM) has been a Mission ONE partner since 2006. They train pastors and missionaries through an extensive network of local churches with a focus on discipleship, pastoral care through relationships, walking with broken families, and freedom from bondage through Christ. Through the local church, they have also been able to establish schools and clinics to meet the needs of the community. They currently have over 100 pastors within the organization, all of whom are struggling to make ends meet given the fact that they serve in very poor communities that are not able to support them consistently.
THE PROBLEM AND THE SOLUTION
On a recent partner visit, Mission ONE found that AECM has been struggling to financially provide the resources necessary for them to continue their ministry. With over 100 pastors spread out across multiple rural communities in various countries, the quarterly support sent by Mission ONE is not sufficient to meet their every need.
Currently, Joseph Ayigah, AECM president, and his wife Graciah, survive off of the occasional honorarium they receive when they travel to share Graciah’s testimony of being resurrected from the dead. They, along with their numerous pastors, also do not have reliable transportation to continue to facilitate travel to rural villages to serve their communities. Each village pastor needs a motorbike to travel across her or his area and minister to people. Without more funds, they are unable to provide these resources for their ministry.
Both Mission ONE and AECM desire to collaborate on projects that will enable the operational cost of the ministry to become locally sustained in the next few years. This helps their ministry bring in more revenue which in turn allows them and their pastors to continue serving and sharing the love and freedom found in God. After much prayer and consideration, they decided to start a car rental project which both generates immediate cash flow as well as meets their day-to-day expenses.
OUR PLAN
The first step was to research the car rental idea through conversations with others who have successfully started a similar project. During this process, the AECM team met with GOZEM, an Uber-type company based in West Africa, and decided to partner with them in this endeavor. Mission ONE has already sent funds to purchase the first vehicle, and GOZEM has installed their software in the car to monitor rides through a GPS tracker. GOZEM has also already trained the driver who will be operating this car in how to properly use this system to track rides. Customers are able to find the availability of the car through the GOZEM platform which provides a steady stream of business as the advertisement is run through an already trusted and popular source.
The long-term plan is to purchase two more vehicles, each contingent on the anticipated achievement of the project milestones. The funds for the purchases of all three cars will be provided by Mission ONE, which will make it possible for this project to scale quickly and provide cash flow for AECM’s operational expenses.
DESIRED IMPACT
The desired impact for this car rental project is for its profit to replace the quarterly support that Mission ONE currently sends to AECM. In addition, revenue from the car rental as it continues to grow can support the purchase of a ministry car and motorbikes for AECM’s pastors. Since the pastors work in rural communities often covering large geographical areas, having access to transportation will significantly improve their ability to perform pastoral care in the communities in which they serve. For the AECM leadership team based in Lomé, a ministry car will make it easier for them to regularly travel across the country and to Benin to provide ongoing training and ministry for the local pastors. Finally, this project will provide jobs for at least three drivers long-term in addition to the many indirect benefits of operating a locally sustained ministry in Togo.
MEASURABLE GOALS
01.
Revenue will replace quarterly support six months after the project is implemented.
02.
Purchase four motorbikes for the AECM ministry team two years after the project is implemented.
03.
Purchase a ministry car for the AECM leadership team four years after the project is implemented.
OUR IMPACT
- The first car was purchased in January 2022.
- The car is being rented out and averaging a weekly profit of $100.