Top 10 Christian entrepreneurs
UKpreneur written by a christian entrepreneur has been busy compiling a list of the top 10 christian entrepreneurs.
As far as our criteria and methods go, we first had to define who really qualifies as an entrepreneur. The term is often used broadly, but for this list, candidates had to meet the following conditions: One, they had to have started the company; two, they must still be alive and active (to at least some extent) within the company; three, they had to be known for their Christian faith, not just claim to be a Christian (this is the tough one); and four, the company that they founded and are still somewhat involved in had to have done at least $1 billion in revenue for the 2003 fiscal year or have a personal net worth of over $1 billion from their life of entrepreneurship.
As far as our methods go, we researched numerous books dedicated to Christian businesspeople including our own database of Christian businesspeople, referred to Forbes and Fortune Magazines’ annual list of top companies and leaders, and consulted with our vast web of writers, advisors, and industry representatives. We first compiled a large list, then narrowed the candidates down from there by means of the criteria cited above.
What follows is what resulted from our research. Each of the following businesspeople met each of the criteria, and are listed in order by either personal wealth or company revenue for the last fiscal year.
It is a bit unfortunate that we know of only 6 Christians that made Fortune’s top 1000 list of best companies. That kind of percentage rate of faith present in the upper echelons of America’s current business landscape is a bit disheartening. Business Reform’s list, however, will hopefully bring this travesty to light, and our mission, as always, is to provide our readers with the tools that will allow more Christians to someday take over the list altogether.
An interesting aside: 2004 was a good year, it seems, for chicken. We’re not exactly sure of the importance of this detail (aside from it coming about thanks to Dr. Atkins’s current popularity) but two of the top ten entrepreneurs on our list —namely, Lonnie “Bo” Pilgrim of Pilgrim’s Pride, Inc., and S. Truett Cathy of Chic-fil-A—have made their billions by selling poultry-related products. A trend? We’re not sure. But we can at least say that, if nothing else, 2004 appears to have been the year of the bird.
Join us over the next few days as we count them down! Amen!