Shaharah Bridge, Yemen*

Earvin "Magic" Johnson, American Businessman

I grew up in the small community of Lansing, Michigan, surrounded by neighborhood entrepreneurs, resource-ful men and women running businesses of every size and type, from restaurants, bakeries, and shoe stores to daycares, convenience stores, and hair salons. They were the heart of our community.

When I was a kid, my father had his own business, hauling trash. I worked for him on weekends, and he taught me about work ethic and about doing a job right. Although a 6 A.M. start on a frosty Saturday morning wasn’t too appealing at the time, that experience opened my eyes to what being an entrepreneur is all about. My father taught me that running a small business takes hard work, dedication, commitment, and enthusiasm.

As a teenager, I met two successful local entrepreneurs, Joel Ferguson and Gregory Eaton, who gave me my first job cleaning office buildings. As I dusted desks and tidied offices, I fantasized that I was the CEO and those desks and offices were mine, that I was a successful business owner. I would go to the top floor, sit behind the CEO’s desk, kick my feet up, and imagine my assistant bringing me coffee and doughnuts! Joel Ferguson and Greg Eaton became more than bosses to me. They became my mentors who fuelled my passion even more for business.

When I was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers in 1979, what people didn’t know about me was my dream to become a businessman. I wanted to be a professional basketball player and a successful entrepreneur. When I got to Los Angeles, I used every chance I got to talk to successful entrepreneurs and pick their brains about business. I chatted with CEOs who sat courtside at my games. I met with local business leaders from all over the country whenever I traveled with the team. This put me in a position to also win off the court.

My dream came true. Since leading the Lakers to five world championships, I am now the chairman and CEO of Magic Johnson Enterprises. I’m the only joint venture partner of Starbucks Coffee with over a hundred stores, and I have formed partnerships and strategic alliances with many major brands, including T.G.I. Friday restaurants, 24 Hour Fitness centers, AMC Magic Johnson Theatres, Best Buy, Aetna, and SodexoMagic. Sure, my success on the court helped open doors for me, but the common thread to achieving success in business and basketball is hard work and no excuses, both of which were instilled in me as a young man.

I’ve never lost sight of those business owners who inspired me as a youth in my hometown. And I’ve never forgotten how those small businesses were at the heart of the community I grew up in. Small businesses help our communities grow, by creating jobs and bringing in tax revenue.

This idea of community is the basis for the Magic Johnson Foundation. Among our many charitable and nonprofit programs, we have 18 Community Empowerment Centers. Through these centers, we provide technology training to people who otherwise couldn’t get it. Technology is such a major part of our lives these days that many of us can’t imagine a day without e-mail, the Internet, or our laptops. Technology is critical to the future success of our communities, which Business Technology Simplified is why these Community Empowerment Centers are so important to me.

In my own business, every day I see firsthand how technology helps us work better and faster. I spend a lot of time on the road, so between my cell phone and video conferencing I am able to connect with my employees in the office and my family at home from anywhere in the country. When we’re establishing a new business venture, we use online collaboration tools to share business plans, project specs, and other documents, both internally and externally with our partners. And through our website (http://www.magicjohnson.com), we communicate with the outside world and share our vision and goals.

For today’s business, technology is invaluable. In Business Technology Simplified, you’ll find examples of how small businesses from all over the country are using technology to stay competitive. Technology helps businesses grow. It saves them money. It makes them more efficient. Technology is just as important to these small businesses as it is to my own business. Like I did, I hope that you can find some inspiration in their stories and find ways to use technology to help your own business compete more effectively.

Earvin “Magic” Johnson

(Source: Business Technology Simplified - Microsoft Corporation. Oct. 17, 2010)

The Shaharah Bridge was built in the 17th century in Yemen and though it may just look like a regular bridge at first, it has interesting stories connected to it. The structure was designed to fall apart in minutes in the event that Turks tried to invade and it was also a logical solution to another age-old problem.

Stretching across a 300-foot deep gorge between two mountains, the bridge is still commonly used by citizens in the neighboring villages. The bridge can be found in the Ahnum Mountain Range in northwestern Yemen in the ‘Amran governorate, approximately 87 miles away from the country’s capital city, Sana’a. It connects two mountains, Jabal al Emir and Jabal al Faish, by stretching across a canyon formed where the two come close together. The bridge is 65 feet long and 9 feet wide. It is primarily made of limestone, which is an abundant material in the mountains. The Shaharah Bridge leads to the town of Shaharah.

It is not known for how many centuries people have been living in the Ahnum Mountains. Yemen itself is one of the oldest centers of civilization in the world. The country is located at the bottom of the Arabian Peninsula. While most of the peninsula is arid, Yemen is fertile and experiences regular rainfall. From very early on, the country served as a natural conduit for trade between the East African and Middle Eastern kingdoms. Archaeological evidence shows that large settlements existed in northern Yemen’s mountains at least as far back as 5000 BC.

(Source: Ancient-Origins.net)