Freakonomics has a series of profiles on African entrepreneurs. All of them great stories and interesting throughout. I did notice, however, that most of the stories involved expats or entrepreneurs educated and trained abroad. The last entrepreneur profiled, never trained abroad, was clearly amazing, but she was more involved in non-profit style work. This story about Patrice Motsepe, CEO of ARMgold, a mining operation is the kind story and entrepreneur I really love to hear about. Check out how he started off:
Patrice began his business training at the age of six when he would wake early to help his entrepreneurial father by selling liquor to mine-workers to supplement the income his father earned from owning a beer hall. He went on to earn a BA from Swaziland University, a LLB from Wits University, and become a partner at the law firm of Bowman Gilfillan, where he specialized in mining and business law. In 1994, he shifted to the mining industry. Nobody would give him a loan when he started and so for the first nine months he ran his business from his briefcase.
Freakonomics post via Aid Watch
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