Ziwani’s new podcast series RISK tackles the practical realities of taking bold steps in business – reframing the conversation around taking gospel-inspired risks while being grounded in professional responsibility. In this second episode, host Kerryne Krause, seasoned entrepreneur and founder of Cryoslices, interviews Emmanuel Trinity, a Ugandan entrepreneur and founder of era92. Once an unwilling gang member, he now leads a thriving group of social enterprises that have created over 3,000 jobs for youth in some of the toughest communities in Kampala.
You can listen to the full episode here.
Born to a teenage mother who had been shunned from her village, Emmanuel slept under a tree for the first three months of his life before moving to the slum of Kosovo, Kampala – a place so riddled with violence, it was nicknamed after the 1990s war-torn region.
Despite his mother’s best efforts to keep him safe, he was recruited into B13 (a notorious local gang) when he was just nine years old. “They offered us so many promises – there will be protection, there will be food every day, and maybe they’ll take us to school,” he remembers, “but it was a lie.” Within six months, four of his six closest friends had been killed. “That’s when I got a wake-up call – I might be the next one to die. But there was no way out. You couldn’t quit the gang, because they would come after you. I was stuck.”
Four years later, the murder of his gang leader finally gave Emmanuel the chance to escape. After hiding in a trench behind the local church for two days, he was rescued by a group of visiting missionaries. Asked what would keep him off the streets, he made an unusual request: “If you give me a computer, I will never go back.” That gift became his gateway to learning design and video editing – skills that would later become the backbone of his work.
Fast forward a few years and Emmanuel found himself employed as a junior designer at Coca-Cola. For someone who grew up with nothing, it was a miracle. “Suddenly, I was working in an air-conditioned office. I could provide income for my family. Life had drastically changed,” he comments. It was a revelation that you could live in “one world, run by scarcity and limited opportunities, or in another world, where everything is possible.”
By God’s grace he had broken through into the world of opportunity and possibility, but he was troubled by the fact that, in contrast, “most of my friends would never be able to achieve this in their lifetime. Born in the slum, they grew up in the slum, would give birth in the slum, and die in the slum. Why would that be? When they also have the capacity to contribute to society?”
Feeling convicted to do something about this tragic fact, Emmanuel found confirmation in 1 Peter 4:10: “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.” He knew he needed to use what God had given him to serve other people in his community. With no clear plan, he quit his job and went back.
To his mother and his friends, this didn’t make any sense – stepping out of a secure, upwardly-mobile career to go back to Kosovo seemed reckless. “People told me, ‘You can’t take 100 steps back,’” he recalls. “But I realised – if what I’m doing isn’t impacting others, then I’m only doing it for myself.”
He rented a small house near the slum and started by helping a young woman named Maeghan, who was on the verge of turning to prostitution to support her family. Giving her some of his savings, he invited her to rather join him and two friends. “So with four people, I started era92. I didn’t know what to do with them,” Emmanuel smiles, “but I thought, if I train them in what I know and they get good at it, I’ll find them opportunities.”
Within four months, “Maeghan became a brilliant website developer. She worked so hard, day and night,” he recalls. “For me, it all started to make sense. I realised that we had planted a seed, and it germinated, and now we have to plant it a million times.” It didn’t start with a business plan – it started with a willingness to serve, and a belief that God would provide.
And He did. “Out of the blue someone from Canada came and said, ‘I want to spend six months with you improving your program.’ Another friend came and said, ‘I want to help you build your business model.’ I don’t see that kind of intervention in typical startups,” Emmanuel confesses. “There was a grace that God brought into this mission because it was utterly for His kingdom.”
Word spread, more and more young people began to show up, and today era92 has trained over 5,000 youth, created more than 3,000 jobs, and employs 120 people full time.
Drawing on his own experiences, Emmanuel has rooted era92 in a philosophy of dignity and empowerment rather than charity. Young people are not beneficiaries – they are active partners in rewriting their stories. “We’re not ‘helping’ them,” he emphasises. “That’s not our language. We just give them one year of training. They are the ones who have to do the hard work for years and years.”
The program begins with a one-month discipleship intensive based on God’s design, followed by seven to eight months of skills training. “People in these underserved communities have so many limiting beliefs,” he explains. “That idea of a light at the end of the tunnel – so many kids in the slums live in complete, total darkness. They have no hope. So we first try to paint a picture of ‘This is what your life could be, this is what God has in store for you.’ And we are here to work with you to realise those God-given gifts.”
Virtual assistants, web developers, podcast editors, social media managers, call centre agents – it’s a ‘no-brainer’ to access these skilled jobs through the global outsourcing industry, Emmanuel points out. “With just a few months of training, kids can actually get work. For example, in 2024 over 900 young people graduated from our program, and 80% of them are now in active work.” Graduates with business ideas also have the option to join a six-month entrepreneurship program, after which they can apply for micro-loans or investments to launch their own startups.
At era92, mitigating risk involves giving interns and employees freedom within structured boundaries, allowing them to unleash their creativity where the stakes are manageable. This includes rigorous quality control, and regular feedback sessions with clients. Continuous training is central to their success, particularly given the youthfulness of their team – of era92’s 120 employees, only two are over 30 years old.
As Emmanuel explains, “We are changing stories for young people because we see them differently. NGOs see young people as needy, governments see young people as a risk, and business owners see young people as a burden. But we see them as valuable employees, ambitious entrepreneurs, and future clients. Because at the end of the day, if these young people can enter the working ecosystem, they become the next middle class of the African continent.”
It also means implementing sound business strategies. For instance, when era92 recognised the risk in relying on the US and UK for 70–80% of their revenue, they prayerfully diversified their revenue streams across Africa to reduce vulnerability.
Reflecting on lessons learned, Emmanuel shares how one early investment in a computer refurbishing business didn’t work out as planned. “We invested $20,000 because we were so excited, right? And then it failed. I realised that whatever business we do, we have to make sure we have the right person to lead it, the right systems and procedures. And then capital comes last.”
What’s striking about Emmanuel’s story is not just the turnaround – it’s the way he understands risk, and sacrifice. “In the kingdom, we don’t give out of overflow. We give out of surrender,” he states.
Recognising that comfort can diminish our courage to embrace risk, he has intentionally chosen to live simply. “I’ll be honest – whenever you grow and build successful things, it’s easy for that success to get to your head. I had the car, and I was planning to buy the big house, and my friends were encouraging me to start enjoying my lifestyle.”
But he soon realised that “having too many things in our lives can kill our risk appetite. All these things become bondages because we think, ‘Oh, I don’t want to lose this house.’ I realised that all I needed was the freedom to be able to do things for God,” he reveals. Again, some people thought he was crazy, but he sold his personal car, opted to use the company vehicle instead, and moved into a simpler home.
“For me, the biggest lesson comes directly from Jesus Christ. We often say we want to live like Jesus, but truly doing so isn’t easy. Jesus left the comfort of heaven, willingly came down to earth, lived through pain, and ultimately died so we could be restored to God. This taught me a profound truth – wherever redemption and restoration happen, sacrifice is required. As redemptive entrepreneurs, we must embrace dying to ourselves so that others can thrive. That’s the heart of everything I do. I don’t need a billion or even a million dollars to begin making a difference.”
If you’re in a position of leadership, and you’re wondering what kind of risk you’re being called to take, maybe this is it – not the risk to go bigger, but the risk to go back. To serve, to include, to uplift. Because in the end, redemptive risk isn’t about building empires – it’s about laying down your life so others can rise.
