Rev, Jide Ogunsaki is the founder and president of New Kingdom Church as well as CEO of BJ Engineering Limited and DG Flex Limited. He is an ICT turned pastor and a businessman who has replicated himself in his staff members that run his businesses for him while he runs the church.
You run a church and two companies and both are flourishing well. How do you duplicate yourself to be so effective in the administration of the two challenging empires?
I don’t duplicate myself. I simply replicate myself in the people that work with me. I teach my staff to do things the same I would have done them if I were on ground. They run the business while I run the church. I only give directives from time to time as well as supervise when I can do so.
How do you manage the finances of the two separate empires?
I don’t manage the church fund. I have a resident pastor who is very good in administration. So, he manages the church funds. I only oversee, and I don’t meddle with the church fund either. Rather than taking from the church pause, I donate from my business to the church, especially when the church is in need, which is the covenant I made with God, to bless my business so I can fund the spread of His Gospel and the growth of His church.
What are your companies about?
I have two companies; BJ Properties and Engineering Limited and DJ Flex Limited. I had them before I became a full time pastor. The former is a building construction company while the later is an ICT company. DJ Flex deals on software production, networking, contract handling, and information technology management while BJ Properties, and Engineering Limited is into construction of properties to provide accommodation for our people. Looking to collaborate with some foreign companies and go into full-scale real estate business.
Why did you make the choice of ICT and property business?
I went into ICT because I have flare for gadgets. I am quite vast in Mathematics because I actually studied Mathematics and Computer Science in the University. That is why I am into ICT business. I went into real estate after I had become a minister of God. I got the revelation from God to go into real estate because He (God) wants to bless me with wealth and He would do so through the real estate business. I buy bushes and turn them into cities. That is one of my teachings, which is that if anyone wants to make money, let him buy bushes, because, what you call bushes today will turn into cities tomorrow.
Is there any difference between managing a church and managing a business?
Yes, they are two distinct things. The church is managed with a reasonable degree of charity, but a business is business, no charity.
Your church does not emphasize on money or collections like most other churches do. Is it because of your business background or it is because you are a rich man outside the church?
It is not because I am a rich man outside the church but I know that is the right thing to do. I didn’t come into the ministry because of money. I am in the ministry because God called me to minister to His people and liberate them from the powers of darkness. I always tell my fellow pastors not to put monetary pressure on their members but focus on the vision and their mission. When their members come to believe in the vision, the provision will come naturally.
You are a kind of pastor that preaches holiness, salvation, and heavenly principles, quite unlike most other sweet talking pastors who tell people what they want to hear rather than what they need to hear, yet you get invitation from around the world to preach, just as you are about to jet out to Dubai and the United States now. To what can you attribute that?
I don’t believe in a prophet that does not have a source of income, like many who go from church to church giving people prophesies that lack merit. A prophet of God must be soaked in the word of God, else, his prophesies will not hold water, and that is what many who call themselves prophets do today. I don’t believe in such.
In that case, what determines the kind of invite that you honour and the ones you don’t honour to minister in other churches?
It is the raw impartation of the word of God and the miracles that His word often manifests in the life of people during my ministration through His grace upon me that makes people to extend invites to me to come and minister in their churches both locally and abroad. A classic example is the case in India where I went to minister and the son of the pianist in the ministry was raised from death through my ministration and prayer.
What, in your opinion, can the church do to help reduce the high rate of unemployment among the youths and boost the economy of the country?
One of the most effective ways through which people can be delivered is empowerment. The church has to educate the youths on how to turn their inert talents into wealth through entrepreneurship. Therefore, the church has a role to teach entrepreneurship and encourage them with soft financial facilities so that they can start their own businesses. This can be achieved by inviting the youths in the church to submit proposals for scrutiny to ascertain the ability of such youth before funds are released to them.
Your church runs private schools. Are they for profits, or why did you go into school business?
We run schools because we want to help the children of our members and the community get sound education, which their parents cannot pay for in other schools, not for profit. We have a good number of children of our members on scholarship in the school, but we make sure that their parents are truly poor.
Your last word sir?
I encourage Christians in the country to get their Permanent Voters Card (PVC) ahead of the forthcoming general elections and vote for credible and God-fearing people to positions of authority at all levels of governance. Those who are not serving us well should be voted out. And politicians too should maintain integrity and serve well.
And for the company, what’s your last word to potential clients?
For the BJ Engineering Limited, as I said earlier we are into properties and construction. We take up unfinished housing projects, finance the completion and manage it for a period of agreed years.
At BJ Engineering we also provides services and consultation ranging from planning, design, approvals, construction, renovation, sales, letting and property facility management.
We help clients determine fair values for property to be sold or purchased to ensure proper values for money spent. And since we realised the importance of investing at home from any part of the world especially acquisition of landed properties and development. We take up the full responsibility from land acquisition in viable areas or specific locations required by clients and we provide the necessary designs and government building approvals and subsequently develop the properties and we ensure that our services are absolutely affordable and cheaper than other options. So we call on all Nigerians in diaspora who at one point or the other had been frustrated and defrauded by friends and relatives in the course of trying to build houses on their behalf. We will deliver first class quality services for them and we don’t compromise our integrity.
How may BJ Engineering Limited be contacted sir?
Our office line is +234 809 751 5845