Hall of Fame entrepreneur JL Holloway’s memoir describes the important role local entrepreneurs have played in creating jobs across Mississippi.
Nothing to Lose: A Story of Poverty, Resilience, and Gratitude explores Holloway’s job-creation successes and failures, from the extremely poor community of Gransby in rural Jefferson Davis County to the large corporations of the Gulf Coast and metropolitan Jackson area. are being tracked. He sold the Mississippi Equipment Rental and Supply Company in Richland and the conglomerate he formed with Ham Industries, Friede Goldman, Holter Marine in Jackson County, and later sold Tenax Aerospace in Madison County. Throughout the years, Holloway has created numerous companies. Work continues today under new ownership.
So did Owen Cooper of Yazoo City, D.R. Sanderson of Laurel, Warren A. Hood Sr. of Jackson, W.A. Taylor Sr. of Louisville, Sammy Davidson of Meridian, and many business creators from across Mississippi. .
Economic development efforts focus on attracting out-of-state businesses to create jobs, but are they still producing homegrown entrepreneurs to create jobs?
Yes, but the resources that focus on entrepreneurship are only a fraction of the resources that focus on recruiting out-of-state companies.
Over the years, Innovate Mississippi has supported more than 1,580 companies and created more than 2,900 jobs. The University of Mississippi’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Business Development has helped hundreds of startups get off the ground, including some that have become highly successful. Other programs in communities across the state help start and grow small businesses. There are also programs that teach entrepreneurship at community colleges and high schools.
Still, Mississippi’s major job-creating entrepreneurs like Holloway are largely bootstrapped. A prime example is the Duff brothers, James and Thomas, who acquired Southern Tire’s Mart in 2003. Today, their firm, Duff Capital Investors, operates more than 20 of his companies and employs more than 15,000 people.
Holloway’s memoir, co-written with Neil White, highlights Holloway’s tenacity and unwavering work ethic as the keys to his success. Entrepreneurship guru William Hatcher of Meridian argues that these are the traits of a successful entrepreneur that cannot be taught. Rather, they are innate tendencies honed by early life experiences.
As part of an Ewing Marion Kaufman Foundation grant to promote entrepreneurship at Meridian Community College, Hatcher developed the Make-A-Job Workshop. The true purpose of this workshop was to assess the tenacity and work ethic of the participants while teaching them the basics of small business development. Those without those attributes were encouraged to stick with Take-A-Job careers.
If you want to know what this actually means, read “You Have Nothing to Lose.”
“All hard work brings profit, but mere arguing leads to poverty” (Proverbs 14:23).
Bill Crawford is a syndicated columnist from Jackson.
