My driver here in South Africa, Sandila, quizzed Mary Hagerty and I about how to start a business. After my radio program last night he was focused on the question of capital. He seemed to think that without much money, he had little to no chance to start a business. I told him that “capital” originally came from the Latin word capitas, or “knowledge in the head.”

Sandila thought about this, and this morning, on our way back from a television interview at E TV here in South Africa, he announced to me that he had spoken with a friend and learned that actually, he did not need financial capital right now after all. He could simply locate his first client, and then go to a bank, using the client contract as collateral, and finance his first car to drive his first client. I told Sandila that he just passed the first lesson of entrepreneurship, which is to never give up, or give in, or to let something get in his way towards success.

Sandila will be very successful as a small business owner because he thinks creatively about solving problems. This, is the future of South Africa.

John Hope Bryant is founder, chairman and CEO of Operation HOPE and bestselling author of LOVE LEADERSHIP: The New Way to Lead in a Fear-Based World (Jossey-Bass).

– Posted from my iPhone

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