(Picture above Mirelle is operating a small business catering traditional Malawian food for buses that operate from Johannesburg to Lilongwe.)

Awareness of support for small business owners is extremely low with 74% of business owners unable to name any organization that gives help and advice to small businesses: 94% claim never to have used any support. Paradigm Shift partners have virtually an untapped market for outreach!

A great snapshot of entrepreneurship in South Africa is found in the FinScope 2010 South Africa Small Business Survey.

Mwiza had completed two years of university before she could no longer afford her tuition. And with an unemployment crisis in Malawi, finding a job was impossible. She’d had a son at the age of 16 and, even though her family was taking care of him, Mwiza knew that she was responsible for ensuring his future, which is why she left for South Africa in search of work.

Mwiza started cleaning homes when she arrived in Johannesburg, but she wanted more for herself and her son. One day, a friend invited her to attend service at a church that was offering the Paradigm Shift program to her community. The Sunday that Mwiza visited, the volunteer team at that church announced the start of the program. Mwiza knew then that her opportunity had come!

While attending the Paradigm Shift business training, Mwiza developed the idea for a hair salon business. She’d always had a talent for hair styling, but didn’t know how to turn her skills into a viable business. During the Paradigm Shift course, she learned about the importance of market research and choosing the right location for her business.

Mwiza also learned how to keep records and save her money. She created a savings plan for the hair salon she will be opening when she gets home. Each month she would buy one or two items and have them shipped back to Malawi. After three years of working faithfully towards her goal, Mwiza is ready to return home as the entrepreneur she was destined to become.

She will also become the mother she didn’t get the chance to be as a teenager. She plans to reunite with her son and take care of him once she becomes more financially stable. What sounds like a daunting road ahead brings nothing but excitement for Mwiza. She explains very simply, “I have God on my side. It will be ok.”

Tenacious, hard-working and generous, Ernest moved to South Africa four years ago to escape the political climate of Zimbabwe. He now runs a cleaning and gardening service in Johannesburg.

As a former local government worker, Ernest struggled to find employment in South Africa. And so he turned to business to be able to provide for his family.

Ernest had just one lawn mower when he started a gardening service. But with determination to succeed, he saved money and soon expanded his business to include cleaning services.

When Ernest joined the Paradigm Shift program, he learned about the importance of making his business stand out from the competition, which in turn made his advertising more effective. And his sales have increased. However, success for Ernest is not measured by money, but by the social change he can spark.

“I don’t believe in having millions if I don’t give anything back. My business is only successful if it helps others,” he says.

After graduating from the Paradigm Shift course, Ernest gave “business classes” to his family and friends using the material he learned in the program. He also began mentoring and creating employment for boys in his community.

Now, Ernest is planning to launch a foundation that trains people in poverty to start a business. The Paradigm Shift business training gave Ernest the tools he needed to become a better businessman. But more than that, it inspired him to become a catalyst for change in his own community.

He explains, “The most important thing I learned is that I am only a custodian of what God has given me. And that is why I have to give back.”

Like many political refugees who come to South Africa, Jean Claude found himself in a new country with nothing but painful memories of a narrow escape from death.

Now the owner of a business that sells fish, Jean Claude is living testimony to the fact that it’s never too late to start over.

As a young law student in Kinshasa, DRC, Jean Claude dreamed of making a difference in his country. But an unstable economy cut his dreams short, and he could no longer afford the cost of his education.

Still determined to impact his community, he joined the youth league of his political party and worked his way up to a parliamentarian position.

But Jean Claude’s life quickly turned upside down when political turmoil broke out in the DRC. Once loved and well-respected in his country, he found himself a target for assassination. Just barely escaping death, Jean Claude and his family left everything behind and fled to South Africa.

But starting over in South Africa was difficult. Language barriers and a high unemployment rate meant that Jean Claude had to settle for work as a security guard. To make enough income, Jean Claude and his wife started a small business selling fish.

When Jean Claude joined the Paradigm Shift training program, he’d already registered the family business with the government, but had little knowledge about how to run it.

During the training, he learned to record both his indirect and direct costs, which helped him to make better business decisions. Now that he has more understanding of his true expenses, he has started to save for his family’s future.

While Jean Claude has high hopes for the future, he now believes that “We must put our dreams in the hand of God.” Jean Claude has grown both in his business and in his relationship with God. And for him, that was deepest value of the Paradigm Shift program.

On the one hand we are called to play the good Samaritan on life’s roadside; but that will be only an initial act.  One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on life’s highway.

True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial.  It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.

- Martin Luther King

Out of his commitment to serving his community, he pastors a small church in Messina, Zimbabwe with no financial support. So he runs a small business that buys and resells cell phones so that he can take care of his family’s needs. Thuso has had to rely on his own resourcefulness for survival.

Angered by him becoming a Christian, Thuso’s grandmother stopped paying for his schooling and kicked him out of the house at 17 years old. With no access to education and no means of financial support, Thuso turned to selling products to earn money.

When Thuso was called into ministry, he relied on another pastor to bring him materials and lessons from Bible college. He studied with borrowed materials and was ordained as a minister at 21.

He soon moved to Kwe Kwe––a rural village in Zimbabwe––to pastor a church. But this would prove to be a test of his faith and commitment.His congregation suffered beatings and had their houses burned to the ground by rebel forces.

He refused to stop serving Kwe Kwe, so someone tried to kill him by poisoning him.

When he survived the attempted murder, Thuso never lost his desire to help others. Thuso came to the Paradigm Shift training a church was offering in Zimbabwe, and he didn’t just see an opportunity for his own business to grow, he also saw an opportunity to share the knowledge he learned with his congregation.

He explains, “I came to the Paradigm Shift course to benefit both my business and my community. People come to me and say, ‘I don’t have a job.’ Knowing business is an opportunity for me to share a way for them to provide for themselves.”

Through the program, Thuso learned the importance of record-keeping and budgeting. He also learned about God’s desire for us to work and was able to lose the guilt he carried about running a business while serving as a pastor.

When Thuso dreams of his business expanding, it isn’t just for his own benefit. He dreams about how financial security could pay for his children’s education and give his family a good life. But most importantly, he dreams about how he could help others in his community even more than he already has.

Bianca and her husband reluctantly left their son with relatives in Malawi in search of a better life for their family in South Africa. She now runs a business selling used clothing in Johannesburg.

As a young girl growing up in a small village in Malawi, Bianca had big dreams for her life. She wanted to be a nurse, but when her father passed away, Bianca’s dreams died with him. Losing her family’s sole breadwinner meant that she could no longer afford to go to school, and her high school education was cut short.

With no high school diploma, finding a job in the midst of Malawi’s unemployment crisis was impossible. So Bianca and her husband left for South Africa in search of work. While her husband was able to find a job, Bianca wasn’t so fortunate. In order to make ends meet, she started selling used clothing by walking from door to door.

When Bianca heard about the Paradigm Shift program at New Creation Family Church, she saw an opportunity for her business to grow.

Having now completed two cycles of the Paradigm Shift business training, Bianca has learned how to manage and save her money. Using her Paradigm Shift microloan, she purchased more stock for her clothing business.

She then created a savings plan and saved enough money to rent a small shop in downtown Johannesburg––a dream she’d long had for her business.

Because of the Paradigm Shift program, Bianca experienced significant growth both in her business and in her faith. She has learned how to put her absolute trust in God, despite the circumstances around her.

“My dreams were changed because I was poor,” Bianca explains, “But God has his own plans. I never know what he’s planning, but I have to be strong!”

And it’s with this resolute strength that Bianca continues to work toward her goals. She dreams that one day she will save enough money to finish school and reunite with her son. For now, growing a successful business is the path to making those dreams come true.

The plan centers around two goals: to eliminate poverty and to reduce economic inequality in South Africa. To accomplish these two goals, the plan calls for a “paradigm shift” where people become “…active champions of their own development, and that the government work effectively to develop people’s capabilities.”

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Every now and then we have to remind ourselves of why we do what we do. That’s why we love this video that really brings home the importance of the great commission, and what it really means to make disciples.

Watch it. Share it. And make 2012 the year of the great commission for you, your family, your church or your organization.
 

Check it out: http://www.qideas.org/blog/the-2012-praxis-fellows.aspx