Mr Ephraim Matsilela Sono known as Jomo Sono, ‘the black prince of SA football’ or Bra J or Mjomana is a legend, even though I personally shared a post throwing shade his waythis week in the midst of all the social media craze I have to admit that there is a lot young entrepreneurs (young people in general) can learn from him. He is the owner, Chairman, and a coach of Jomo Cosmos football club. The longest serving coach in the premier league!!
Looking at his early career or the birth of his career one thing, one thing one can learn is that he was a persistent person. Let me just say should he have never attended that first game he was fielded maybe there won’t be Jomo today. He knows how to take an opportunity and run with it, that is what landed him a contract with Orlando Pirates. He is a hard worker that is why he has scored himself a name Jomo (named after the former Kenya President Jomo Kenyata).
He is a very dedicated man that can be witnessed by simply tracing his career as a soccer player from start to the day he resigned from being fielded out of desperation to playing in the United States. When he bought himself a soccer team Jomo Cosmos (which he named after himself and his former team) one can learn that you can turn your passion into business. He had a choice to buy himself cows, hotels maybe but he chose soccer because that is what he is passionate about.
His determination, passion and consistency scored him a couching job for Bafana Bafana, but before he got there he was a caretaker couch, he was also a technical advisor and that shows how much he is willing to learn (starting small). This is the man who went to play a game on his wedding day.
He is the board member of 32 companies, got business interest in property, Petroleum, hospitality, mining, vehicle tracking and still finds time to coach, spot young talent in the dusty grounds where cameras never go and yes sit on the driver’s seat. From today onwards I am calling Mr Jomo Dr Jomo. All of us can learn a lot from this underrated South African hero!! We salute him for his resilience, passion for developing youngsters and also leading the way in business, I myself can only wish for such a genius persona that is within this man.
And oh, the reason we wrote this piece?? Well….
This past week a picture of a Jomo Cosmos bus driver taken from a distance was circulated on the ever chill-less South African social media scene. The bus driver sorta kinda looked like Jomo Sono, this then set social media on fire with people claiming that Jomo Sono actually drives the team bus. This then resulted in many memes being created having his picture on, from him being proclaimed as the team Doctor, to team Spokesperson, team Lobola Negotiator, team Lawyer to team music Director. The list goes on… But apart from the chill-less social media, I just thought that some genius can be drawn from this man. All this highlights his flexibility, he has within him multifaceted traits, he does not limit himself to one thing, he believes in expanding himself and exploring all his God given talents and realizing his full potential.
South Africans stand up!! It is for that reason that we South Africans will cease to use the figure of speech “Jack Of All Trades”, the recently updated version shall be used as “The Jomo Of All Trades”. This is in honour of Jomo Sono’s multifaceted nature and ability to unleash his full potential and inspire us all to explore whatever it is we want to take on. So go on and explore all possibilities, do not be scared, it can be done, let your ideas outlive you.
“You can’t connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road, will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well-worn path. And that will make all the difference.” Steve Jobs (this is a quote taken from a speech he gave to graduates at Stanford University encouraging them to explore whatever it is they want to take on, that it might not make sense now but trust that one day it will all make sense and everything you would have built on will integrate and turn into a success story.)
#MONEYMONDAY
Article By Dimo Moraswi Wa Sekele & Kagiso Maloma
