Episode 37 - Paying Back a $20 Million Debt Through Faithfulness and Good Work with Shady Hebeish

What would you do if you were presented with the opportunity to take over a business with 20 million dollars worth of debt?

Most of us would pass on the offer, but today’s podcast guest felt a call to step in and help.

Shady Hebeish was working as a pastor when his father passed away suddenly from a heart attack, leaving behind the family business he ran with his brothers. Shady felt the Holy Spirit lead him to take on his father’s responsibilities and try to save the company.

Over the next 20 years, he and the others in his family saw God work in miraculous ways to reduce the debt and grow the business. 

Listen in as Shady tells an incredible story of provision, faithfulness, and miracles.

Episode Transcript

Transcription is done by an AI software. While technology is an incredible tool to automate this process, there will be misspellings and typos that might accompany it. Please keep that in mind as you work through it.

Jacktone: What would you do if you were presented with the opportunity to take over a business with $20 million worth of debt? Most of us would pass on the offer, but today's guest felt a call to step in and help Shady Hebeish was working as a pastor when his father passed away suddenly from a heart attack. Leaving behind the family business, he ran with his brothers. Shady felt the Holy Spirit lead him to take on his father's responsibilities and to try to save the company. Over the next twenty years, he and the others in his family saw God work in miraculous ways to reduce the debt and grow the business. You can find more about Hebeish group on our YouTube channel. But for now, we invite you to listen in as Shady details an incredible story of profession, faithfulness and miracles. This is the Faith Driven Entrepreneur Africa podcast. Let's listen in.

Efosa Ojomo: All right. Well, good day to everyone listening. My name's Efosa Ojomo. I am one of the co-hosts here for the Faith Driven Entrepreneur Africa podcast. And today I am joined by the one and only Chinny Ugoji, Chinny.

Chinny Ugoji: Hey, Efosa, that's a very generous introduction. It's great to be here. Thanks.

Efosa Ojomo: Oh, it's great. Great. Great to be here with you. We're going to be talking to Shady Hebeish in this episode. And I can't wait to sort of just dive deep into his story and how the Lord is using him in the workplace. So let's actually just dive right in. Well, first of all, Shady, great to have you here. Thank you so much for joining us.

Shady Hebeish: Thank you, guys. It's a pleasure and honor.

Efosa Ojomo: Well, Shady, I know our team has produced a wonderful, wonderful video of your company. Listeners, you can go to our YouTube channel and check it out. Trust me, you will be blessed by it. I know I was when I watched it. And so you've talked to us about your story before, but why don't you maybe just give us a quick minute long introduction to your business?

Shady Hebeish: We produce high density polyethylene. It's a family business. It started in the mid-seventies. We have changed over the years. Our activity is what we do there is a lot of innovation. In the last 20 years we have been producing high density polyethylene pipes and fittings for potable water, producing cable conduits for polyethylene produced in garden hoses. PVC garden hoses, also in manholes. These are things that has to do with construction, really. And the family business started with my grandfather and his five sons. And we are the third generation now.

Efosa Ojomo: Wow. Okay, awesome. So so, I mean, let me before I get into detail so someone might hear that and just say, well, what are your pipes? And can you maybe just tell us a couple of places around the world where some of your products are right now that we may not know.

Shady Hebeish: On the high rises in new alanine and in the high rises in the new capital, Capital, also like the presidential area, the headquarters of the ministerial area in the Cairo capital. Yeah

Efosa Ojomo: Wow. Incredible. Incredible. Let's dive into how you even came to be where you are. I mean, I think most of our guests on the show, like they pursue entrepreneurship, right? They see a problem in the world and they want to go try to fix it. You came into entrepreneurship a little bit differently. You were thrown into it. Is this unexpected? You were working in ministry, if I'm not mistaken. I mean, you were a minister not for the government, but for God's government, so to speak. I mean, can you maybe just share with us some of the events that led you to join in your family's business?

Shady Hebeish: I graduated from college, like major in Economics and Business Administration, although that was not on my heart. My like the norm for the family and in Egypt is to have a high degree in engineering, some kind of high degree in, not in ministry. After I finished, I went into an industry training program in the US for one year. I came back, worked to my dad for six months and then I. I had to ask him to allow me and set me free to pursue my dream for a full time. It was a surprise that he agreed. I mean, it took years of prayer. I already had this on my heart since 95. I graduated class of 2000. I went for one year, came back 2001, worked with him for six months. I've been praying since like 95, and I had to sit down with him and talk about mid 2001, 6 years of prayer and he agreed instantly and he was very happy and that was something very strange. I worked as a pastoral role for three years and then mid 2004 my dad had a heart and in less than 30 minutes he passed away. And at that point it's a family business. And I said I knew that there were some troubles at work with my dad and his brothers. But now, I was exposed cause they showed me what we had. And it's a debt with equivalents of $20 million. And I had to go back to business because it was a duty to stand together because it was an impossible to pay back. And I had an obligation to go back to work, then try to see what we would do with this thing.

Efosa Ojomo: Wow.

Chinny Ugoji: Wow Shady, I mean, that's totally amazing. You know, I would like you to talk to us a little bit more about how that debt weighed on your family. You know, you said your third generation in your business, it sounds like up until the time your dad passed away, maybe you were aware that the company was struggling a little, but the enormity of it only really rested on you after his death. How did that make you feel? How were you able to shoulder that? You know, just thinking about it, where you resentful, Did you ask God why this is happening to me? Well, how did you how did you all feel?

Shady Hebeish: It was a great surprise. And it was a great shock because we were raised up, my dad and the second generation, even us, and a very well off entrepreneur a kind of family where, you know, all the successful work and we lived the obduracy. And to have such a problem was something very strange. I mean, we never even worked with that money. We usually had access, so we didn't. But something happened and they were offered different kinds of loans and stuff. And those things happened in the region. And in Romania, which we were working with. We were the agents of 39 different companies in Romania. Things changed politically in Romania and things changed. And I woke up one day and this was the that was my dad passing away early with heart attack and all this was what was going on. There was much resentment. I was shocked, but I did not ask questions. I knew that one of the worst thing to do was to ask at this time because my mind was already under attack from the enemy. So I. I just had to trust God that He is still. Sovereign that he is still able and he is still [....] provider. I had to take it one day at a time. It was tough. It weighed on me. I mean, it wasn't easy. There was stress. There was this the fight of faith and belief mixed with unbelief, faith. And then there's this anxiety.

Chinny Ugoji: Yeah.

Shady Hebeish: You needed wisdom and guidance because there are so many. And we had to do the settlements with the banks.

Chinny Ugoji: It sounds like you didn't even have a choice then. You had no choice but to actually take up this position and, you know, face the debt.

Shady Hebeish: Well, I had a choice. Okay? But I chose to. I knew that it was what I had to do. And this was like from the world and from, you know, this was my response. I was responsible for my family, my sisters and my mom. And I had to help the rest of my uncles. I mean, this was the responsibility. You could see it in the words that in the word this was true integrity and this was to refuse is to go in and to fix it and work with them. Try and fix them.

Chinny Ugoji: Absolutely. You know, even thinking about the repercussions of the death, you know, we know that in your story, you shared that there was a likelihood that if you didn't pay off the debt, that your uncles yourself, you could have been, you know, imprisoned and things like that. But also you did consult experts and tell us about what they said about the debt and you know, how to escape the repercussions of the debt.

Shady Hebeish: When we went to the experts, they said that with what we have in new sources, with the outputs we have from our factories and with the debt, he said, Guys, you don't have any way out. He said, I don't see how you can handle it. And I said, From the professional point of view, you will not be able to pay, focus on more on industry and not on trade because we had both. But still, I don't see how you can do it beyond it. Some other consultant said that I don't see, but when you guys think you have something that it will take two or three generations. If you succeed, it will take years and years. This is not a ten, 20, 30, 40 years. The things you will do to your children and grandchildren if you succeed to at least maintain the status quo.

Chinny Ugoji: Absolutely. And we're going to hear some more, you know, as we go along about how that negative report, God actually turn it around for you. But one of the things I want to just dive into, you know, real quick is one of the marks of a Faith Driven Entrepreneur is that your call to create? But in this instance, really, it seems that you felt more call to ministry, which is why you went to school for it and you served there and all of that. But this time around you were thrust into business. How was that adjustment for you? You know, in a sense, the business had been established before you got there. It's something you had to inherit. Did you feel like there was absolutely no room for creativity or how did you just feel adjusting to this new calling in your family?

Shady Hebeish: I went into a situation where everybody was very anxious and very worried and afraid. There was no room for change or creativity for anything. There was a lot of fear. And so not only you have to work with people you did not choose, but also you could not start to speak much or add a lot. There was a lot of time. There was a big chunk of time. You just would sit and observe and just pray until a little room for you to participate actively in the cycle of work. That was painful. Yeah. Were you left with you have to do something you did not choose and you had to stay idle for some time because it was not the time, nor there was the capacity with the people that were working to trust anyone or to trust anything to change. They didn't want change because they were afraid of change, not only of change, even it was a state of like, you know, which was of case. The reporter brought chaos and brought uncertainty and you had to deal with just like, you know, Joseph and Egypt. Mm hmm. There was a lot of things going around in your mind, and you just had to take it one day at a time. A lot of patience, perseverance and doing very, very little stuff, not knowing how the little you are doing can finally add up and bring salvation or deliverance or breakthrough.

Chinny Ugoji: Thank you so much for sharing this part of your story. The vulnerability there, the fact that you just have to trust God every step of the way, even though was a family business, I can imagine that assuming that role made you feel a little bit like an outsider and you just have to trust God in every step of the way. And I think right now it would be nice to just dive into how you were able to turn the business around. Now, you already had this, should I say, prophecy that was going to take two generations, maybe even more, you know, to dig yourself out of it. Essentially, they were going to tell you you're not going to be alive to see the, you know, the redemption of this debt. But tell us what God did and tell us how you were able to turn the business around in spite of these overwhelming odds.

Shady Hebeish: Okay. I was just one of the team. It was a teamwork. I mean, not just me, but I would say the part from my perspective and what's happened with me. First of all, there was this struggle of to believe that what you're doing is what you call true, because being like in ministry, many times you have this mind of that ministry is holy. But then when it comes to the marketplace, it is of little of lesser or less spiritual thing when with not having the expertise and not having the teaching. I thought that was exemplary and it took a lot of time until I understood Genesis 14:40 how Abraham had 318 born servants into his house that were trained for fighting. And it hit me what the Lord said, that I have known Abraham and chose the name so that he may teach and command his children and the sons of his house. And it hit me that with Abraham worship the house, family and business, we're all holy and we're all one.

Chinny Ugoji: Absolutely.

Shady Hebeish: All the same. And the factories, the workers, I mean, we have people he had families living in here, 318 family living in with him. And they were not pagans. But his calling was that he would teach them and command them to know the Lord and his ways. And step by step, I started to see that, no, it's not like that there is ministry and then there is family and then there is work, with Abraham. I mean, the father of it all. He didn't have the ministry in the sense of a ministry, like a place where he'd go and he ministry to his ministry was his work and family and was his herd and his sheep and his boys and his servants. And this was the ministry, his children, Isaac, his prayer life. This was life. And so being like in the sense of pastor in the church or being the strategic development manager or salesman in the company. Single or married husband to father or child or the son. That's all in the same sphere of the calling. This was a relief.

Efosa Ojomo: And I will say I mean that to all the listeners. When I started watching your video on YouTube, it was one of those videos I hadn't planned to watch, but I couldn't stop watching, so I watched it till the end. So I will urge people to check that out after this episode. You know, one of the things that struck me about your story was the importance of prayer. I mean, you talked about it earlier on when you wanted to ask your father to go into ministry and you prayed for years. How has prayer played a role in your business life? Many of us are sort of entrepreneurs, or we think about doing the right thing and being good stewards of the resources God has given us, working hard and being diligent. But like, how has prayer played a role in your business life?

Shady Hebeish: For me, prayer is the cornerstone, prayer changes us and prayers transform our lives. For me, it's the life of Abraham was a life of prayer, communion and a walk with God even, and Genesis. You can see that Adam was always walking with God in the garden for this life. Prayer is eating from the fruits of life, standing before the tree of life and just dwelling there. And it's a spiritual place. I mean, we could be working, we could be showering, We could be even in a business meeting. And your spirit, which is in communication with the spirit of the Lord and with his presence. And I think this is a mystery. The word speaks about it. It says pray without ceasing. And we have a lot of activities going around, How can I pray without ceasing? And so prayer is the cornerstone. Prayer is the weapon. And a life of prayer would bring the fruit of the spirit. And it will bring success. And it will bring wisdom, it brings glory, whatever we do.

Efosa Ojomo: Wow, That's incredible. So it turns out, just in learning your story, some I mean, for lack of a better word, miraculous things happen to you. And you talk about taking over the business and there was this huge debt on the table. How did the company survive when the experts were like, there's just no way that like this will ever get paid? What what happened? You talk to us about that, what was going on in Egypt at the time. You know, just take us to that time and how, you know, the company was able to overcome this big debt burden.

Shady Hebeish: Well at 2006, we had to sign an agreement with the bank in order to pay the amount of the money over this amount of years with this kind of interest. And I remember my uncle calling me and saying. Here's you have to come tomorrow office to sign. And as I was reading, something was wrong. I mean, I could see that there were things that I was not convinced with. But then I was not that much of an expert. So if they said It's okay, then. My thought is it would be okay. But something did not feel right. And I believe this is the action of Holy Spirit. And so I had to think about it and think about and I called my uncle. They said, I'm not going to sign this. There is something wrong with the agreements. And he was he was so angry. And we were raised up in a way that I mean, you don't say no to your uncle that it's very different here. I mean, especially 20 something years ago. I mean, this for us was like something very big. And I had to struggle to bring myself and every part within me and to say no. And he was shocked and rightly so. And then he was very angry. And then I said I'm not coming tomorrow. I'm not coming. And they had to reschedule the meeting in order to convince me. But then my other uncle was in there. This is divine appointment. He was at the meeting and he got introduced to some kind of expert. And he said, Well, this is an expert. And he brought the expert. They called me, said, there's an expert. Let us sit and show him the things that here is saying. And one of the experts saw the thing, he said, this is a death penalty for the business. And he showed us where were the problems. And my uncle said, well, the Lord saying this, praise the Lord. And so from there, he worked on the different agreements. And for me, this was fundamental because this was the agreement that we stayed with for 20 years or for 18 years working on. And so if we signed this paper, the story would have been finished. Everything would have been destroyed. It was a death sentence. So that was the first thing, the action of the Holy Spirit standing. And then divine appointment. But over the years, there was a lot of things. I mean, there is this innovation where God would use like my uncle. He would just get this idea and he will buy this machine. It's very cheap compared to what it could produce. And then ideas was ingenious in our company to make some changes, which would increase the range of products in this line and then somehow, something happening the market. And there would be great need for what we're doing. Then we start selling it. And this happened a lot. Ideas, lines. And then we would innovate in the lines and then the market would pick up and shifts would happen. So there was this innovation and there was this change in things around us supernaturally. This is the second thing. Third thing in the year 2010, the revolution, everything was closing and that here God spoke from Genesis 26. Isaac, stay in this land. I would be with you. And Isaac sow seed in the land and receive this year, year of famine 100 times. I remember the meeting and we did not usually pray in the meetings. We are all Christian by birth, but not over like prayer. People would not pray before the meetings usually. I would like to discuss the words, but I remember that meeting and after the revolution I stood and I said, I have words from the Bible, from the Lord. And I read this first and I said, I believe this would what's going to happen this year? And this year was the of our most high revenue and most high profits ever in the company. Although nothing around the stuff was like this, it was a year of great harvest. I mean, it was the turning point. The turning here. Yeah. I will add just one little thing that next year, the year after the devaluations, the currency and our debt was an Egyptian pound, which was equivalent to $20 million for the Egyptian people. So when we were evaluated, there was a decrease in our debt and several things with the banks was happening like this. We had an interest and then they raised science. It was high, but then they raised crazily the interest in the bank. And so now our interest was very low. The banks would conduct was and say, Hey, you have a very low interest, please, can you really sign? We do things. And we said, no, we can't. This is a sign contract and we will continue to Miracle after miracle. After a miracle, it was amazing. Divine appointments, the action of the Holy Spirit, faith, perseverance. Because sometimes, I mean, many months were just thought to persevere, to keep doing what you're doing without seeing anything. This is part of the story.

Efosa Ojomo: Wow. I mean, truly, it's incredible just to see God's provision time after time. You know, I want to ask, how can other entrepreneurs seek the spirit more in their work? Because clearly, it's not just about you doing the right things and making the right decisions. I mean, you had nothing to do with the currency being devalued. You had nothing to do with interest rates going down. You know, there were just things that happened that were a testament to God's provision. So how can other entrepreneurs who are listening really just seek the Spirit more in their work?

Shady Hebeish: I believe through spending time with the words and through being hungry to hear God's function and to hear the voice of the Spirit in every single detail. I mean, the Holy Spirit speaks and the manifestation of the Spirit of wisdom and the spirit of Revelation is something that Paul was asking for the believers. And so as we really hunger and thirst for God to be a partner in life in every situation and asking him to give us ears to hear what the spirit has to say because God speaks. You spoke to Isaac. He said stay in this land, and this was what he spoke to. Abraham said, Get out of this land to another land that I will show you. He speaks with situation. It's not just our Christian or our knowledge that would lead us. This is an important part, is to renew our mind. Yes, but the voice of the spirit is something essential, and the Holy Spirit is a part. He speaks all the time and he guides and he in a certain ways. That's beyond our mind and beyond our natural ways. Mm hmm. The Bible speaks about the mind of the spirit, and the Spirit has a mind that has a will and has thoughts and has ideas. And as we seek him, he will speak to our hearts as we seek to worship in office and at work and in the car. They are very important. Standing face to face with God to behold His glory in worship. It opens us up. It opens our spirit to hear what the spirit has to say.

Chinny Ugoji: Yeah. Thank you so much for that, Shady. And, you know, I'm so encouraged by what you've shared. And if you you're listening, whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur, veteran or a serial entrepreneur or whatever, please, if there's anything you can take out of what Shady sharing is that really the Lord will lead you. The Holy Spirit will lead you. Shady has spoken so much about prayer and worship and just listening to the voice of God. And it's not because Shady was a pastor that God speaks to him. You know, God will speak to you if you just seek his face and ask him for wisdom. He will speak to you concerning your business. You can have avoidable mistakes. You know, you can have favor in different parts of your business if you just rely on the Holy Spirit. Yes. Thank you so much. Shady, we're going to go into a fun round. You know, right now we have a lightning round. We're just going to ask you a few rapid fire questions and we'll just like you to take maybe 30 seconds or so to answer each question. Just answer whatever pops into your head. This is a fun round.

Shady Hebeish: Okay.

Chinny Ugoji: Yeah. So great. You're ready? I can tell. Okay, first question. Yeah, We've heard that you really like to vacation on the coast in Alexandria. Now, what's so special about that place to you?

Shady Hebeish: What's so special about the coast in Alexandria? To me, it's the place that's full of artifacts and full of history. Like it was built by Alexander the Great Alexandria. And so that's. I love it. I've been pastoring a church there. And so over that time, I fell in love with the place because I to a lot of the people going there every week. So we have beautiful food.

Chinny Ugoji: All right. Second question, What advice would you give to those who unexpectedly become business leaders?

Shady Hebeish: Prayer, humility, Study about business. And seek the Lord to the words and stay humble.

Chinny Ugoji: Great advice. Great advice. Okay. Third question, What's the one thing you miss the most about being a full time pastor?

Shady Hebeish: The one thing I miss the most about being a full time pastor is time having the time to spend more, to read and study and read more and more.

Chinny Ugoji: Of the word or just.

Shady Hebeish: The word of the word in spiritual books.

Chinny Ugoji: Okay. Next question. What has changed about doing business in Egypt since you started out in 2004?

Shady Hebeish: It's becoming much more professional. There is a lot of things that you need to learn computers and about technology and globalization. And so you have to be well equipped through studying. It was a less professional, more local kind of work. It's opening up. It's becoming more professional. Globalization.

Chinny Ugoji: Yeah, I agree. All right. And finally, what hope do you have for Egypt as you look ahead?

Shady Hebeish: What role do I have for Egypt as I look ahead to Egypt becoming just like it's called its prophetic calling, like the time of Joseph becoming the place of investment and food and a place for people to come and be blessed, just like little Jesus, baby Jesus, and and the time of Jesus and of the time of Joseph. God bless Egypt to be a blessing.

Efosa Ojomo: All right. Brilliant. Thank you so much. I can't wait to visit. I've never been to Egypt.

Shady Hebeish: I would love to have you guys.

Efosa Ojomo: Yeah, I know. It's going to be fun. I've heard really good things. Well, this is sort of the last question we'd like to ask all our guests on the podcast. This question. We just like to get a sense for what God is teaching you right now, or what you've found in God's Word that has stuck to you recently. Can you just share that with us? I'm sure somebody listening will be blessed by.

Shady Hebeish: Sure Studying the first Chronicles you found The First Chronicles 16 how David brought of the Ark in the tent, not where there was no like chamber special chamber then, and only the high priest would go and everyone would go and worship before the glory face to face. That's not an Old Testament revelation. That's a New Testament revelation. I mean, in the Old Testament you touch the Ark, you dead, inside the most holy place, and only the high priest would go in once a year. And so at that time it took a revelation for David to understand how he can and the people can behold the glory and the ark face to face. And so that was a revelation. And out of this revelation, the people were so blessed in worship. Well, in First Chronicles 14, you find that he had a lot of marriages and a lot of children and read about his life at his house. And it was chaos. He did not have a revelation concerning Christ and the church. And one man for one woman, although Isaac had that and a lot of people, Lord doesn't had it. And so he had chaos in that area. Now, what's on my heart was God speaking to me is that as I seek God in every area and God reveals things, whatever areas, I have revelation. There would be a glory and there would be blessing and whatever area. I just walk with the natural information. That's what's happening around me by nature or by what's happening in the normal culture around me. I will reap chaos. David was just with his marriages, was doing what other people were doing. It was nothing. But if he had this revelation, his family life and his house and his, maybe his kingdom would have been much different. Every area. One revelation will not fix everything. One revelation about an area would bring light and glory into that area. We revelation manna every day, different areas. That's why you stay humble. And that's why you stay thirsty. Because his light will bring light to us and would bring glory. Amen.

Efosa Ojomo: Amen. Amen. His light will bring light to us. I love that. I love, love, love that. Because he can create light out of darkness. We can't. Thank you so much, Shady. It's been a pleasure to just get to know you even a little deeper. More about your story. We want to thank all our listeners for just staying with us and continuing to learn from these amazing entrepreneurs that God is using in the marketplace. I want to thank Chinny, my one and only co-host here. Thank you.

Chinny Ugoji: Yeah, it's been great Efosa. Thanks so much.

Shady Hebeish: Thank you Chinny.

Chinny Ugoji: Thank you Shady.

Efosa Ojomo: Thank you all. And until next time, stay blessed.