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A special thank you to our friends at JP Morgan Chase for supporting a pilot for entrepreneurship development in South Africa.  Specifically, HOPE Business In A Box Academies, South Africa.

The capstone event for the first group of graduates from the HOPE Business In A Box Academies program is set for this Saturday, and all indications are that it will be truly inspiring and successful, but the real payoff has been the transformational impact of investing up to R1,500 (approximately $100 U.S.) in the ideas of young South Africans.

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Money and amounts aside, it appears that no one has ever invested in the ‘ideas’ of these young future leaders — and this ‘investment’ in them, seems to mean more than we can possibly appreciate.

More so, it is now obvious to my team leaders and supporters of this initiative on the ground in South Africa, that what is needed now is a nationwide focus on job creation, through the nurturing, creation and growth of a generation of young entrepreneurs and small business owners in Africa.

“If you cannot find a job, create a job, must be the mantra in modern South Africa.”  John Hope Bryant

South Africa should remember that every big business was once a small one, and it is impractical to suggest that the solution to jobs in South Africa is working exclusively for big businesses, and government.

“What Africa needs now is a generation of tax payers — because when you pay taxes, that means you have a job. And a job is the one thing with the most transformational power in one’s own life, and for society overall.”  John Hope Bryant

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A special thank you to JP Morgan Chase and their leadership team for seeing the value in this work, and to the leaders within South Africa who have embraced it.  It’s time for a change.  Let’s inspire and invest in precisely that.  A generation — of young job creators.

Commendations to my Operation HOPE, South Africa team, led by Zviko Mudimu, our country managing director, and our global leader for youth empowerment, Mary Hagerty-Ehrsam.

Let’s go…

John Hope Bryant

 

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