By Strive Masiyiwa
When my business was still very small, I once found myself facing a crushing cash flow crisis. My biggest concern was finding money to meet the payroll, and this one month, it just seemed impossible.
Being a believer, I prayed every day for a miracle as the deadline drew closer. One morning, it came into my spirit to approach a very wealthy businessman whom I knew was also a man of faith, and would hopefully appreciate my situation. I went to his office, and said to him boldly that I believed God wanted him to help me. To my shock and disappointment, he turned me down flat.
I left his office and continued to try and get the money. Eventually an old friend of mine who ran a bank called me out of the blue and helped me out with a small loan. He didn’t even ask me for a guarantee, which surprised me. This same banker friend continued to extend to me little loans whenever I was in trouble, and he never asked for a guarantee of any kind.
Many, many years later, when I was much more successful, the banker friend of mine disclosed to me something very shocking:
The wealthy businessman whom I’d gone to see that morning called him after I left his office and told him to extend to me the loans, and not to tell me that he was the one who had assisted me by giving the guarantees.
I learnt two lessons from that experience:
# There is so much that can be accomplished in life, when people don't look for credit.
# Always count your blessings, because they are always there.
Just imagine if I’d railed against that guy as being greedy and selfish, simply because he didn't see things my way, or help in the manner I considered best. Perhaps he would have heard about it, and withdrawn his support. I would often bump into him and when he enquired about my progress, I would cheerfully proclaim my hope that things were going to be just fine, and he would always say, "God is great, hang in there!"
During the dark days of Apartheid, someone asked Archbishop Desmond Tutu how he managed always to be so optimistic that it would end one day soon. He replied by saying, "It is because I'm a prisoner of hope."
When my business was still very small, I once found myself facing a crushing cash flow crisis. My biggest concern was finding money to meet the payroll, and this one month, it just seemed impossible.
Being a believer, I prayed every day for a miracle as the deadline drew closer. One morning, it came into my spirit to approach a very wealthy businessman whom I knew was also a man of faith, and would hopefully appreciate my situation. I went to his office, and said to him boldly that I believed God wanted him to help me. To my shock and disappointment, he turned me down flat.
I left his office and continued to try and get the money. Eventually an old friend of mine who ran a bank called me out of the blue and helped me out with a small loan. He didn’t even ask me for a guarantee, which surprised me. This same banker friend continued to extend to me little loans whenever I was in trouble, and he never asked for a guarantee of any kind.
Many, many years later, when I was much more successful, the banker friend of mine disclosed to me something very shocking:
The wealthy businessman whom I’d gone to see that morning called him after I left his office and told him to extend to me the loans, and not to tell me that he was the one who had assisted me by giving the guarantees.
I learnt two lessons from that experience:
# There is so much that can be accomplished in life, when people don't look for credit.
# Always count your blessings, because they are always there.
Just imagine if I’d railed against that guy as being greedy and selfish, simply because he didn't see things my way, or help in the manner I considered best. Perhaps he would have heard about it, and withdrawn his support. I would often bump into him and when he enquired about my progress, I would cheerfully proclaim my hope that things were going to be just fine, and he would always say, "God is great, hang in there!"
During the dark days of Apartheid, someone asked Archbishop Desmond Tutu how he managed always to be so optimistic that it would end one day soon. He replied by saying, "It is because I'm a prisoner of hope."
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