Businessman Samson pins success on faith in God

By ROSELYN ELLISON
KOKOPO businessman Samson Kennedy understands how depressing it can be for a youngster to not get past Grade 10 at school and return to the village.
He experienced that at Kokopo High School, now Kokopo Secondary School, around five decades ago.
“After completing Grade 10 I stayed at home because I was not accepted by any higher institution in the country to further my education.”
Samson, 59, comes from Woginara Two village in Dagua, East Sepik. His mother is from Imau village in Susurunka, Namatanai, New Ireland. His parents moved to East New Britain from East Sepik when his dad secured a job as a plantation worker in Kokopo.
Samson was born and raised in East New Britain with his siblings.
A family from Malakuna Five in the Bitapaka local level government in Kokopo district offered a piece of land to Samson’s dad for his family to use and live on. They have been living there since.
When he dropped out after Grade 10, Samson started selling copra to earn some money. He believed that God has a plan for him and he must try to help himself first.
He saved enough money from his copra sale to buy a second-hand truck. He bought copra from farmers and transported the bags on his truck to the main buying centre where he resold them.
His small business grew so he decided to venture into the bus business. He bought two buses and named them Yoshida which in Hebrew means “In God we trust”.
His buses now transport people along Route 9 from Tokua to Kokopo, Route 8 from Kokopo to Papindo and Route 1 from Kokopo to Rabaul.

He also bought land and later developed five allotments to build apartments for rent. Two apartments are now being occupied and two are still vacant.
Kennedy is married and lives with his family on a piece of land he owns towards Ulaveo and Tokua airport.
From selling copra to now enjoying a growing business, Samson always remembers to be humble, putting his feet on the ground and trusting in God.
“I want to share this with my brothers, sisters, daughters, sons and friends out there to faithfully give one tenth of your earnings, fortnight salary or allowances to God and He will bless you. I am speaking from experience.
“All these years I have worked hard. I struggle but in everything I do, I trust God and put my faith in Him because I knew very well He will bless me.
“I don’t like to boast of my achievements. I humble myself in whatever I do and most importantly I serve people who are in need.”
Samson supports many church activities and believes that the pathway to Heaven is through faith.

“ All these years I have worked hard. I struggle but in everything I do, I trust God and put my faith in Him because I knew very well He will bless me.”

“You must have faith to please God. Faith without work means if you don’t put it into practice what you believe in. You are just wasting your time. But if you practise your faith, you will see God’s blessings.”
His favourite Bible verse is Ecclesiastes 2-26: “To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.”