Listed in order of oldest to most recent partnership with Biblical Mentoring to provide spiritual training / discipleship in the marketplace:  

1.  BUV Ministry – F2M (Farm To Market) Tractor
Will Austin – Website:  DriveBUV.org

2.  SEED Liberia (Society for Education and Economic Development)
Frederick Hill  Source:  SEEDLiberia.org

3. Victory Vision Skills Center – Cameroon, Africa (Fai Silas Nfor) via BUV Ministry

Silas in Cameroon (Source:  drivebuv.org)

Silas’ story embodies the multiplying impact of the Basic Utility Vehicle (BUV). Our story starts with this background from Dan Duke with Wycliffe Bible Translators who first met Silas in 1994.  Silas was the cook for the Wycliffe Missionary Center when I arrived in Cameroon in 1994. He was remarkable in that he had more energy—entrepreneurial spirit—than any of the other Cameroonians I met. In addition to working as a cook, he had a catering service on the side, a little store, and his wife, Mary, had a sewing shop. We had an experimental idea: since we had these little businesses going anyway, why not intentionally use them to teach young people how to start their own Christian businesses, and to disciple them in the process?
This is what became Victory Vision Skills Center, a cluster of small businesses which takes in young people (usually delinquents, orphans, and ex-convicts), feeds and lodges them, and trains them up to the point of being able to start their own Christian business, which they in turn will use for the Kingdom.
So, Silas & Mary have a very unique ministry which is primarily a network to help bring the body of Christ together, and to help bring over helpful ideas from the United States. Victory Vision Skills center is just a small, raw-hide organization, all crowded in one small compound, nothing compared with other Cameroonian businesses. But it is at the center of a growing network of Christian Cameroonian businessmen, who are also trying to use their businesses for the Kingdom, both in principles like hard work and honesty, and in discipling those who they employ. Some of these guys are success stories who Silas took from the streets years ago. In some ways, Victory Vision started as an avenue to bring out ideas about grassroots “how to get out of poverty” to the urban poor. Silas has helped bring in two groups with based on their ideas (abstinence and wheelchairs). The structure is open-ended, so as the network grows, very different ideas will come into Cameroon through Victory Vision, and that is fine, indeed, hoped-for.

Fast forward to Silas telling his story:

When Daniel Duke told me about the idea of buying a BUV, little did I know it would end up with me! I was not interested in farm work or water projects. My focus at that time was on my ministry – Victory Vision Ministries. In April of 2017, I purchased a used BUV, rebuilt it and turned it into a successful transport service. The right tool at the right time came with the BUV. Little did I know the impact it would bring to my people. ”Katakoh” meaning the most outstanding slow and steady machine ever seen.

The last two years have been a big blessing to the people of Ntaba of the Ndu area. The BUV has taken the lead and proven its capability in tough conditions, transporting ALL of our crops, even where there’s no road. The new paths are now called a new English name “Farm to Market“ roads because the BUV created the new road. My vision is to introduce BUVs to the whole country of Cameroon as I grow a BUV transport company. I will grow it by introducing its services to some pineapple plantations in Yde and some City Councils in the western region. Best of all, I will also sell some BUVs to explore other places that I can’t reach with my vehicles.

I am confident that BUV will sell like hot cakes. I am consulting with my network to see how we can start promoting them here. The last two years BUV has caused some drivers of 4×4 vehicles to think twice about their choice of vehicle. Some were stuck for days in mud, while, with little help, BUV created its own roads. In the rural setting, the BUV is the King and there is no question.

In much of the past year, we were unable to operate due to the conflict going on in our area. All the farmers really cried because we were not there to assist them. They had to go back to the old way of carrying crops on their head. Please join us in praying that peace will return in my area of the country.

Please consider supporting Silas and his dreams for a BUV transport business in Cameroon. We plan to send 5 BUVs to Silas, a Christian entrepreneur. Silas will pay for the BUVs out of the income he generates from his business and then the proceeds can finance other BUV entrepreneurs. This is truly a story of planting a seed that will continue to reap rewards season after season impacting God’s Kingdom every day.