Big rewards come from a little initiative

ON SATURDAY, I was with my son André in Lymphleigh Road, Plumstead, and next to the pavement I saw a bicycle with a motor and a little trailer.

On the side of the trailer was a notice board, and on it was written “Dawood Gardening Services”, listing 10 services related to gardening, with contact details.

I met the owner Dawood, a 62-year-old who had decided not to become a beggar, but to elevate his gardening skills into a business so as to put food on the table and make a decent living.

On his trailer were the tools of his trade and he said he worked in the Wynberg, Diep River, Plumstead and Constantia areas.

I told him his story needed to be told as he couldn inspire others to become, in a small and unique way, entrepreneurs.

In a gentle voice he said God had sent me in his direction so people could know about him.

A few hours later I stopped at a shop on the corner of De Wet and Ottery roads, Ottery, and next to the doorway was a young man in his early 20s with a white, well looked-after dog.

This young, neatly dressed man was half in a lying position and, as shoppers came in or out of the shop, he would beg for money.

As I watched him slouching and begging for money, I wished he could see and hear Dawood’s tale and then jump up and also become an entrepreneur, and see that one does not need need a bakkie and a trailer.

You can, like Dawood, start a business with a bicycle with a trailer.