The CEO Who Found Peace in the Most Unlikely Place: A Kenyan Hotel Room

Mike Rice sat alone in a Kenyan hotel room, staring at a blank notebook. His missions team had left for a two-day safari. He'd stayed behind — partly because of asthma concerns, partly because God seemed to be orchestrating something bigger.

Just two months earlier, he'd lost his CEO position at an Ohio firm after only 17 months. The equity opportunity he thought would be his final career chapter had evaporated. He'd spent 40 days seeking God instead of networking — a near-impossible discipline for a career connector.

Now here he was. Unemployed. Alone. And God was about to plant an idea that made zero sense.

When God's Plan Looks Nothing Like Your Plan

Mike had invested 27 years in IT staffing and consulting. He'd been a partner in firms, sold companies, built a reputation. The Ohio role was supposed to be his victory lap — until market headwinds and a wary owner led to his exit in November 2023.

"I had a bunch of questions for God," Mike admits. "I thought you directed me here, and now I'm out. I don't get this."

His wife Beth didn't like seeing her husband unwanted or hurt. But she heard God clearly: Be still.

So they did. Forty days of prayer and Scripture. No job hunting. No frantic networking. Just seeking.

"You're hoping on day 41 the answer's revealed," Mike says. "It wasn't."

Then came the Kenya trip in January 2024. For the first time in his career, Mike was on the mission field without a job waiting back home. No emails to check. No stress pulling him away. He could be fully present.

He met the four Kenyan children his family had been sponsoring. What had been a monthly transaction — a debit from his account — suddenly became flesh and blood. Real kids. Real lives. Real impact.

These are real human beings, not a child on a piece of paper. That changed everything.

During those two days alone, God planted the vision: Start a company. Make every placement sponsor a child in Kenya. Integrate faith and business so seamlessly they couldn't be separated.

Mike wasn't thrilled. "That's not what Mike was looking to go do."

The Six-Week Test of Obedience

Back in the States, reality hit. Mike got an LLC. Built a website. But he didn't commit.

"I was angry at God. Have I really spent 25 years growing my career to start over?"

For six weeks, he ran from the call — or at least tried to find something more comfortable. He looked for leadership roles in existing companies. A few conversations seemed promising. God closed every door.

Then came the conversation that changed everything.

Mike's pastor pulled him aside before church. "Your name got brought up to be considered for the board of the Hope Foundation of Kenya."

Mike and Beth had dinner with the organization's founders that Friday night. Nothing about Mike's business wrestling came up. But when Mike woke up Saturday morning, something had shifted.

"My fear was just gone. Completely gone. I had this amazing peace over me."

God gave him a crystal-clear view in the rearview mirror — every piece orchestrated, every closed door intentional, every delay purposeful.

Mike, I've given you 25 years of experience for you to go do this. Do you trust me?

Mike told his wife, "You saw me for four months trying to do everything I could not to do this. Now this is me living out my faith. I'm just being obedient to the call."

On April 1, 2024 — April Fool's Day, a detail Mike calls a "God wink" — The Momba Group officially launched.

When Year One Doesn't Go as Planned

The mission was clear: With every IT placement, sponsor a child through the Hope Foundation of Kenya. Be radically faith-forward. Build something that couldn't quit without making their faith look hollow.

Mike's business partner Keith Giffney from Chicago was instantly on board. They signed agreements with multiple clients. Doors opened. Interviews happened.

But placements? In the first nine months of 2024, they made six. Their goal had been ten.

"Six placements doesn't feed a couple of families," Mike says flatly.

They rolled into 2025 busy with interviews and requirements. Nothing closed. By mid-February — six weeks from their one-year anniversary — Mike's endurance was empty.

"I had two days where I was mad at God. We have this incredible mission. I love what we're doing. How are we not having more success?"

His wife was stressed. Mike was capable of landing a job. He knew it. She knew it. Maybe it was time.

On Friday, Mike had his fist-pound moment with God. "You're gonna have to show me this is what you want me to do."

That next week, God closed three deals.

"If we'd gotten one deal, I might not have noticed. Two, I might have questioned it. Three was an absolute answer: Mike, stay the course. I got you."

God Math: Six in Eleven Months, Eleven in Six Weeks

The math didn't make sense. Six placements in the first eleven months of building the company. Then eleven placements in the next six weeks.

"That's what I call God math," Mike says.

It didn't skyrocket from there. But it didn't need to. Mike had his answer.

"What it did for me was solidify: I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be, and God's got us. Since that moment, there's never been a question. I was all in."

Today, The Momba Group sponsors 30 children in Kenya on a monthly basis. The business hasn't hit stratospheric growth. But that was never the point.

There's a reason we didn't have success early — so I couldn't take the credit. He's in control of the outcomes. We just get to say, 'Look what God did.'

Mike believes God was intentional about starting this business in a challenging market. "It helped grow our faith. I was living out James 1. Endurance grows your faith. There was a lot of enduring."

What Mike Would Tell His Younger Self

For most of his life, Mike compartmentalized. Work. Family. Faith. Three separate boxes.

"I was kind of that one foot in, one foot out guy. I was never all in."

He wasn't bold about his faith. In fact, he admits he was ashamed of it at times — not wanting to be the Christian guy who made people uncomfortable.

"What I would tell my younger self: Step out. Be bold. Surrender the call."

About six to eight years ago, God gave him a life verse he'd never had before: Matthew 6:33 — "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all the rest will be given to you."

"That verse basically says: Mike, just go seek the kingdom first. If you seek the kingdom first, He's got the rest."

Does he do it perfectly every day? No. But it's become his North Star.

"I want my life to speak for the kingdom, for my Savior, for what He's done for me. We're in the end times. I got a job to do. The Lord's allowed me to still be here. I better live on purpose."

The Power of Gaps and Valleys

Mike has learned something most business leaders resist: God is intentional about the gaps.

"I think God has intentions of being quiet at times. I think God has intentions of putting gaps within our work so we can be reliant on Him."

He doesn't love the gaps. No one does. But he's learned to see them differently.

"I don't grow on the mountaintop. I grow in the valley. That's where I get sharpened."

When he's in a valley now, he asks different questions. Not "Why is this happening?" but "What do I need to learn here? Help me be teachable. Help me be moldable."

Because Mike has discovered something profound: God doesn't show you the whole picture at once. He shows you the next step.

"If I saw the whole picture, it would probably scare me. He's just going to give me what I can handle. I trust that."

The Reality Check Every Faith-Driven Leader Needs

Mike doesn't make the money he used to make. But he wakes up with joy every day.

"I think one day I will again. And maybe more than that. What I know is God can trust me better now. He can trust me with more because He knows my heart."

People have asked him, "Don't you wish you'd started this ten years ago?"

"No. I'm a different person. I wasn't ready. God needed to take me through these seasons to refine me so I could be ready for this call — so I could make it all about Him."

The Momba Group is radically faith-forward. It's all over their website, in every conversation, in every client interaction. Mike loves that accountability.

"We can't quit. What would that say about our faith? 'Oh, it got hard, so we quit'? We wear our faith proudly as a badge. We can't quit. What kind of faith is that?"

We know the end of the story. We've got the playbook. We win.

Mike doesn't sweat every deal anymore. He's seen God working on his behalf even when he couldn't see it.

"It's all God's money. It can be gone tomorrow. All of it. He's asking us to steward it well. Whatever it is, steward it well."

What Monday Morning Looks Like

If you're reading this and feeling the tug — maybe toward something that makes no sense, maybe toward full surrender — here's what Mike would tell you:

Get comfortable being uncomfortable. Stop compartmentalizing your faith from your work. Be bold. Surrender the call.

God's been preparing you longer than you realize. Your 25 years? Not wasted. Intentional. Your closed doors? Not failures. Redirects.

Seek first the kingdom of God. Everything else — the deals, the income, the success metrics — God's got that.

And when you hit the valley — because you will — ask different questions. Not "Why me?" but "What am I supposed to learn here?"

Because here's what Mike learned in that Kenyan hotel room, and in those desperate weeks when his cup ran empty: God doesn't show you the whole staircase. Just the next step.

Take it.