There’s a fantastic new documentary film, The Call of the Entrepreneur, which is currently touring major cities with limited special previews. The makers of the film expect it to be released (most likely in independent film houses) shortly after the tour. The film follows three entrepreneurs whose businesses range from small and rural to very large and international. The common thread tying the owners together is the presence of “entrepreneurial spirit,” which is something few people have. It’s a combination of economic foresight, creativity, persistence, and most importantly, a willingness to take huge calculated risks.
Why do I want you to see this film? Well, without giving too much away, it’s because I want you to see how over-bearing governments push the smartest and most creative people, the innovators, away. One of the business owners in the film is international media mogul Jimmy Lai, whose family’s wealth was stolen by Mao Zedong’s Communist China. Working as a train porter in mainland China in the 1950’s, Lai only learned of a world outside the People’s Republic when he tasted a Hershey Bar given to him by Hong Kong business man whose luggage he carried. His family scraped together about $300 to smuggle him to Hong Kong at the age of 12. He risked never seeing his mother again for the mere possibility that outside world had something more to offer.
Lai credits Democracy and free markets for his success as the founder of one of the largest listed media companies in Hong Kong. He calls Communist China “a monopoly that charges a premium for lousy service.” When people ask him what his media and clothing companies do, he says that he is “selling freedom.“
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