Order Gifts from Kingdom Companies Overseas
I sport my Zeenat pure-leather over-the-shoulder purse like I bought it in New York City at a high-end fashion store. But I didn’t. I get comments on it all the time, Oh my goodness, I love that purse, where did you get it?
From India! I say. My friends live and work there. They own an artisan business that employs people—even women entrepreneurs in the villages. They’re living out the Kingdom of God in a spiritually strategic place—and oh my, the artisan leather products they distribute around the world are SO. AMAZING.”
**If you want the name of this company, you’ll have to write me at hello@jeannie-marie.com and ask**
Then I pull out my leather journal with the yellow kind of real paper, that looks hand stitched, and they say, oh wow, where’d ya get that?
Same country. Different Kingdom company.
Here’s how my business friends describe their beautiful Mera Journal:
Mera is the Hindi word for my/mine. Your Mera Journal is a space for you to fill with your thoughts, ideas, plans, and dreams. Your handcrafted buffalo leather journal is bound in a beautiful Dusty Rose leather and hand-stitched together with 200 lined pages. It's tied with a strong leather strap that wraps around the entire journal. The paper in your journal is great for ink, graphite and mild water mediums. Make the Craftsmen Blend Mera Journal truly yours and fill it with everything you.
I mean, come ON! Don’t you want to fill your journal with everything YOU?
I pour my friends a cup of coffee, that tastes deliciously bittersweet, and they say, “Okay! Is this coffee from India too?”
I laugh. Nope. It’s from Africa. And guess what, you’re getting some for Christmas, shhh, try not to remember I told you that.
My friend notices my quilted, colorful blanket draped over my chair and nods, That too?
Of course! I bought this in Bangladesh from a business that employs over two hundred at-risk, trafficked women who recycle sari’s into beautiful blankets and pillows—and sell them to retailers all over the world.
Here’s the thing. I know a lot of entrepreneurs living and doing business in majority Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist countries. Places where the amount of believers in a people group is waaaay less than one percent. They’re doing good things in places where most of us won’t live.
So I thought, this year, I’m going to support their companies and buy my Christmas gifts from them, instead of giving the money to Jeff Bezos.
Here’s a few Kingdom companies that I’ve personally purchased products from (so I know they’re well made, totally worth your dollars, and going to a good cause).
***You might wanna bookmark this page because I’ll be adding to this list all next year on a quest to promote these kinds of businesses.***
I’ll only include businesses and owners I know personally though, so you can be sure you’re getting quality products, fair trade, from people focused on a wholistic approach to transformation in some of the most spiritually strategic countries in the world.
Basha Boutique
A vlog highlighting Kingdom businesses I visited like Basha Boutique in Bangladesh
High quality, handmade, unique products that reflect the love of Bangladesh while employing hundreds of women at-risk and survivors of trafficking. Home textiles. Accessories. And Seasonal items. (See a vlog of when I toured Basha Boutique).
Craftsmen Blend
The journal that some of you may be getting for Christmas!
Handmade products. Perfect blend of beauty and practicality. Distributing for local leather craftsmen. With global styles and trends. Custom and wholesale options. (Hello, the place I ordered my journals and wallets for gifts…and if you do a bulk order, you could get them custom monogrammed).
ABC Christmas Coffee
The coffee that supports a cause—education!
Naturally-processed coffee grown at Endebess estates in Kenya. Hand-picked and sun-dried on bamboo railed beds. Proceeds supports African Bible College students. (By the way, I’m teaching at Justice College next semester, which is an extension of African Bible colleges!)
P.S. Maybe God made YOU to be one of these business entrepreneurs. Would you consider changing your address to a majority Muslim, Buddhist, or Hindu country? You could create jobs in places with often the highest unemployment and poverty—and the lowest literacy rates, education opportunities, and access to the Good News.
Take the Grow to Go Test to find out if you’re a Starter, a Grower, or a Goer on the Grow to Go scale—and how to move yourself along the scale to be ready for God to potentially leverage YOUR unique business skills.
