South African Chamber of Commerce attends Networking summit

Magda Odendaal, board member of the South African Chamber of Commerce in the USA attended the Networking the Nations summit. The Liberty University School of Business and Liberty’s Standing for Freedom Center hosted this event in partnership. Liberty also invited former US Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and founder and chairman of American Cornerstone Institute Ben Carson, and NY Times Bestselling author and speaker on business leadership John Maxwell, as keynote speakers, among others.

SA Chamber USA Board member Magda Odendaal met with John Maxwell at Liberty University during the summit with 300 of the Nations most influential CEOs. Magda previously worked with John on leadership projects in Africa.

The Networking the Nations Summit was exclusively aimed at US CEOs. The purpose of the summit was firstly, to build an even larger network of business leaders in the USA to share their faith and create business relationships that will endure. Secondly, to ignite both faith and intellect to shape history for generations to come. This CEO summit is unique, and inspirational because Liberty University is one of the largest Christian platforms in the world.

The Summit stretched over two days, from 10 August 2021 to 12 August 2021. A titanic collection of American business superstars and capital and marketing experts discussed the direction of technology, money, and specifically how Christians can tap into this pipeline in efforts to share the Gospel in the marketplace.

The Christian way of doing business is open, honest, and warm

“The two biggest questions that are guiding this summit are ‘Where is technology moving?’ and ‘Where is the money moving?’ and those two questions can significantly answer where the world is heading, for good and bad,” said School of Business Dean Dr. Dave Brat. “We want to showcase the superiority of Christian business. The Christian way of doing business is open, honest, and warm, and it’s the best way to do business. Part of the purpose behind this summit is to show the integrity of the Christian business life and why we need Christians in business.”

” Freedom is not free. You have to fight for it”

In his keynote, Carson addressed the dangers of political correctness and Critical Race Theory, outlined the guiding principles of the American Cornerstone Institute, and encouraged the audience to be above all, courageous while defending their faith and American liberties.

“Our nation is the beacon of freedom,” Carson said. “It is the place that everyone else came to from around the world when they wanted to take the heavy foot of oppression off their necks. Because there is a natural tendency in society for those in power to want to dominate others. Our Constitution was written to prevent that from happening because our founders knew exactly what the course of human nature was. Freedom is not free. You have to fight for it every single day if you want to preserve it. And we have to become courageous.”

We are proud that Magda Odendaal represented South African Emporium and South African businesswomen at this event. Malibongwe. #sachamberusa

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