Breakthrough In Business Integrity

20 Jan 2013 by Mindy Oon CM-

 

Breakthrough in Business Integrity seminar was held at Elim Gospel Hall on Saturday, 18^th of January 2014. Organized by the Fellowship of Companies for Christ International Ipoh Chapter, this talk kicked off with an Opening speech by Dr Anthony Ho, Chairman of FCCI Ipoh. In his speech Dr. Anthony said that one of the purpose of the talk was so that business owners could be encouraged by the speaker and have more resort to run their companies on Biblical principles. Is speech was followed by an opening grace by Elder William from Elim Gospel Hall, and thereafter, the platform was given to Ir. Dr. Nehemiah Lee.

 

 

Ir. Dr. Nehemiah Lee is a civil engineer who founded construction company in 1993 to glorify God in business. He has applied biblical principles of integrity in his business and has won the Star Entrepreneur of the Year Award.  In his talk, Dr. Nehemiah spoke of the 5 milestones of his journey in building a business with integrity.

 

Milestone 1: Calling.

Dr. Nehemiah felt the call of God to start his business at the age of 40. At the age of 40, he asked himself if he was going to do something different and significant for the Kingdom of God, or just remain and continue climbing the corporate ladder in the multinational corporation that he was in. If he were to respond to the call of God, he would definitely be jumping into something unknown. His decision to start his own business came when he realized that as long as he continued to work in a company and had to report to someone, there would always be constrains in following God’s principles in running business. While he tried to stand with integrity and not give bribes to earn projects, his superior would just go ahead to do so, resulting in Dr. Nehemiah having to implement the projects that had been secured through bribery and dishonest means.

 

 

Thus he decides to start his own company to glorify God, and he made it his company pledge to ‘conduct business with integrity and not get involved in any corrupt practice’. 1 chronicles 29:17 says ‘I know also, my God, that You test the heart and have pleasure in uprightness’, and Deuteronomy 16:19-20 says ‘You shall not pervert justice; you shall not show partiality, nor take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous. You shall follow what is altogether just, that you may live and inherit the land which the Lord your God is giving you’. In order to please God, we need to act with integrity and with justice. While it seemed to many that he was signing the death warrant of his company even before he started it when he made this decision, Dr. Nehemiah decided that it was the right thing to do.

 

Milestone 2: Challenges

 

 

As with many other companies, Dr. Nehemiah faced many challenges. He lost projects because he did not pay ‘commission’ to get the projects, A major municipality did not ‘like’ his wall (His company builds walls) because he did not ‘take care’ of the person in charge, he had to face demands to ‘contribute’ from the Resident Engineer (who controls the construction), site technicians fudged reports and rejected his wall panels, and wanted payment to ‘pass’ his product.

These challenges caused productivity to drop, delays in work and Dr. Nehemiah suffered tight cash flow, especially in the early days. However, God paved a way for him when he stood in integrity, and he overcame the challenges with the following principles, taken from the book of Nehemiah.

 

Principle 1: Pray anywhere, anytime, especially before important meetings such as tender interviews.

When Nehemiah wanted to go back to his homeland to rebuild its walls, he prayed that the King he was serving would find favour with him and grant him his request. Nehemiah 1:11 says ‘ O Lord, I pray, please let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your servants who desire to fear Your name; and let Your servant prosper this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.” and Nehemiah 2:4-5 says ‘Then the king said to me, “What do you request?” So I prayed to the God of heaven. And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, that I may rebuild it.”

 

 

Principle 2: Prayer as a weapon of offence (eg. When facing ridicule)

Nehemiah suffered ridicule when he wanted to build the wall. Nehemaih 4:3 says ‘Now Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, “Whatever they build, if even a fox goes up on it, he will break down their stone wall’.

And when this happened, he responded by praying. Nehemiah 4:4 says ‘Hear, O our God, for we are despised; turn their reproach on their own heads, and give them as plunder to a land of captivity!’

 

 

Principle 3: The Build, Fight, Pray Principle

There will be those who go all out to threatened and intimidate us. While we pray, we need to continue building and at times, we will need to fight. When word got out that Nehemiah was rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, his enemies got angry and wanted to attack them. Nehemiah 4:9-20 tells of how Nehemiah faced this challenge. Not only did they pray, they continued to build the wall while holding their weapons, prepared to fight. Thus, they did not just pray, but did their part; and they did not rely on their own strength in facing their enemies, but prayed for God to fight for them.

 

Principle 4: Rejoice when discouraged

Nehemiah 8:10 says ‘Then he said to them, “Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” There will be many times when we will face challenges that will bring us down. However, when we feel discouraged, we should rejoice!

 

 

Milestone 3: Compromises

In this part of his talk, Dr. Nehemiah admitted that there have been times when he has compromised. It is not something that he is proud of, but he shares it because it is part of his journey; and it is in out weakness that we can see the strength and greatness of our God. Living in the real world, there are many grey area and each person has their own way of dealing with these areas.  Dr Nehemiah touched on how he dealt with taxation in India and how he had to pay the Indian officials to get his taxes done, and how he had to be prepared to ‘reward’ people just to get letters written and signed.

 

Milestone 4: Charis

In his journey, Dr. Nehemiah also spoke on how he is blessed by the grace of God. He was compensated for lost projects with a project with Fairway Terrace. And sometimes, what we see as bad might be blessings in disguise. For example, when he lost the deal to build the wall for an expressway, Dr. Nehemiah felt upset. However, looking back, if he had gotten that deal, his company would have turned bust. In another incident, he got played out and at that moment, felt cheated, but on hindsight, it was another blessing in disguise. Sometimes, in our career or in our business, doors are closed because God wants to protect us from certain things in the future. Dr. Nehemiah also experienced God’s grace when a reputed ‘bad paymaster’ helped to ease his cash flow for several years.

 

 

Like an eagle, who soars above the rainclouds during storms, his company sailed through the Asian Financial Crisis of 1998 and rode through the storm of the Global Financial Crisis in 2008. Today, his company is the market leader, overtaking multinational companies, and has had 18 years of consecutive profit record. While there may be a possibility of seeing red in 2013 due to several reasons, Dr. Nehemiah is sure that God has a reason for this.

For 16 years, not many knew who he was or what his company did. But now, in a way that seems to be quite sudden to him, Dr. Nehemiah has appeared in newspapers, magazines, on TV, and on radio, and even on an international platform, testifying on how he runs his business with integrity and how he is where he is today by the grace of God.

 

 

Milestone 5: Conclusion

Dr. Nehemiah concluded with the following verses

2 Corinthians 12:9

‘And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me’

 

Isaiah 33:15-16

He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly,
He who despises the gain of oppressions,
Who gestures with his hands, refusing bribes,
Who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed,
And shuts his eyes from seeing evil:
He will dwell on high;
His place of defense will be the fortress of rocks;
Bread will be given him,
His water will be sure.

 

God will reward those who are righteous, and when we run our business with integrity, God will surely be there for us. His grace is sufficient.