Impact Stories

Erika Coetzee knows details. She spent 20 years in the corporate world as an executive assistant and in 2018 launched her own business, The Office Cog, to provide administrative services to others.

Launching a business as a solopreneur though can be a lonely grind and Erika immediately sought to connect with other business owners who had insight on marketing and strategy and other areas she’d never had to tackle. This led her to Christian networking organizations in her hometown of Durban, South Africa, her church’s Faith@Work business ministry and eventually to Faith Driven Entrepreneur.

Erika shared, “I am always trying to find Biblical principles to model my business on so when I saw that there was an online, free bible study for entrepreneurs to join, I jumped in….I loved that there were people from all over the world - Singapore, Canada, the UK -  that I never would have met otherwise. And the material gave me a blueprint of how to run my business in a Godly manner, to glorify God, bring honor to Him and impact those around me.”

In particular the idea that she is a steward of The Office Cog and God is the owner stuck with Erika. In early 2021, The Office Cog was feeling the effects of coronavirus on the economy and Erika was left unable to cover all of her expenses but convinced that God had called her to continue her entrepreneurial journey. Business began to slowly pick up and as it did Erika began tithing not just from her salary but from her business account. 

In Summer 2021, South Africa experienced significant unrest and Erika, remembering again that she was stewarding God’s money, began to generously and crazily throw money at people who were impacted. She was able to repurchase stationary for a friend whose business was looted and burned, purchase jewelry from a local small business owner who makes items from home and help several others. And Erika found that as she blessed other businesses somehow her bank balance was higher than in previous months. The details didn’t add up but the reality confirmed that Erika is a steward of what God has given her and she can be generous.

So don’t go it alone! Jump into a Faith Driven Entrepreneur Group. As Erika shares, “If you want to learn how to run a business on Biblical principles, in a godly way, with practical principles and application, plug in here.” The details will take care of themselves.