Inspiration from the trials of others

Dateline: Tel Aviv

All entrepreneurs have to withstand a certain amount of trial before success comes. Basking in the first day of trading of his Linken-In IPO, I’m sure even Reid Hoffman would agree: trial is just a natural element of being an entrepreneur. If you don’t have the intestinal fortitude for that, perhaps the calling isn’t for you.

As much as that is true, I’d like to tell you about real trials, and how those challenges formed what has become an incredibly successful series of companies started, co-founded, and/or financed by Toronto’s Walter Arbib. We’ve come to know him through our Fund III financing with Skylink in 2009, a Canadian-based aviation company. His business interests are far flung, with operations on at least four different continents. Mr. Arbib and his immediate family were thrown out of Libya in the late 1960s with a Visa and $20. He drove a cab in Tel Aviv, and worked a bit in Rome, before accepting an invitation to work in Canada. In what seems like a short period of time, Mr. Arbib has become one of our least known, but most successful, versions of merchant banker / entrepreneur / philanthopist, rolled into one. All from a standing start.

But, not entirely a standing start. As much as we’ve all experienced trial in our lives, Mr. Arbib’s story is particularly compelling and should spurn every entrepreneur to dig deeper when things seem tough. As you’ll see in a moment, funding payroll out of your own resources isn’t nearly as frightening as twice escaping from the Nazis during WWII. The following story was told by Mr. Arbib’s brother during a ceremony to open the Arbib Family Educational Centre in Jerusalem:

“Both Walter and I are now at an age our elders were not privileged to reach and enjoy.

Still a young man, our father Umberto irremediably lost his eyesight as a consequence of a tragic and violent incident. When he later married and had children, he was denied knowing how they looked.

The figure of his brother Angelo (known as Angiolino) played and still plays an extraordinary role in our family’s history. He dedicated himself to assist his handicapped brother for the duration of his life. With no children of his own, he became a [second] father to me and Walter.

In the tense days before World War II, Angiolino had the possibility of emigrating to America but decided not to abandon his brother, who was refused a visa because of his handicap. Inevitably war broke out and we found ourselves trying to escape arrest by the Fascists in Libya. Walter and I are here today thanks to Angiolino.

I myself twice owe my life to him. The first time when, on the Italian ship we had boarded to escape from Libya, we were put under arrest following Musolini’s declaration of war. Miraculously, Angiolino was recognized by the Captain as a former student at the boarding school they both attended as youngsters. An officer and a gentleman, the Italian Captain ordered a sailor to take a dingy and drop us on the shores of Tunisa at night.

From Sfax we reached Tunis, where we lived as refugees [during the war] and where Walter was born [in 1941].

The second time was when the Germans, in retreat from Libya, entered Tunis and camped near the house we were hiding in. Those were times of fear and one day the Germans broke into the house to take us. In the midst of terror, panic and noise, Angiolino, the ever shy and gentle person, [became] disfigured by anger: standing in front of the taller German commander, he imperiously ordered him and his soldiers out of the house, and the miracle happened. They left, bu said they would return. We were saved from a return of the Germans only because a few days later they retreated from Tunisia.

After the war, we returned to Tripoli and tried to go back to a routine life….

As Quhelet (11:1) says:

Cast thy bread upon the waters; for thou shalt find it after many days.”

One can’t do this story justice in a two dimensional form, but I found it very inspiring, and certainly highly relevant to every entrepreneur the world over. Whatever obstacle you might be facing at the present time, just think of what trials others have conquered in their march to success.

MRM