It seems hard to believe now, but the tit-for-tat ethnic killing that threatens to tear apart the country of South Sudan began with little more than a political tug of war. I was almost pulled into it myself on a trip there in December. One early evening, I was in the middle of interviewing the former Minister of Education Peter Adwok when police came to arrest him.
Parallels
How I Almost Got Arrested With A South Sudanese Ex-Minister
Alex Livingston graduated from Harvard Business School last year. He was offered a pretty sweet job at a startup, but he turned that down in favor of something a lot more ambitious.
He's 27 years old, and he wants to be a CEO, not in 15 years, but now. He and his business school classmate, Eddie Santillan, knew they wanted to run a company together. They just didn't know which company. So they went to investors and asked them to be their partners — to give them some money so they could find a company to buy. If the company did well, the investors would too.
Their pitch worked. The guys raised a few hundred thousand dollars. It's money they're using to live on while they hunt down a company to buy.
Believe it or not, this is a real corner of the investing world, and it's growing. These investments are called search funds, and there are investors out there looking for young people to invest in. Investors like Rich Kelley, of the firm Search Fund Partners.
Why would anyone invest in a couple of recent graduates who don't even have a company in mind yet?
Kelley says it gives him the option to look at deals he wouldn't know about otherwise.
Here's how it works: These young guys (and they are nearly all guys) are called searchers. They look for solid companies with good earnings potential. Kelley says eight or 10 investors like him each hand over about $30,000. Added up, that covers a salary and travel expenses for up to two years while the person hunts. Kelley says it's less than he'd pay a full-time employee to scout for juicy deals.
Jim Sharpe of Harvard Business School also invests in search funds. He admits this route to entrepreneurship can sound incredible to the uninitiated. He knew one young man who became a searcher, then tried to explain what he was doing to his parents.
"His father told him, 'Son, this is a scam. This can't be true. People are giving you money to go not work for two years? There's got to be a catch here.' "
The catch is that young searcher is going to do all the work. And if they're successful, the investor gets a cut and an opportunity to invest even more.
The risk for the investor is that the person never finds a company and burns through their money.
Alex and Eddie, the Harvard Business School graduates, are now 10 months into their search.
They've learned it can be stomach-wrenching process. They came really close to a deal once, only to have the seller pull back at the last moment.
Eddie says they remain optimistic. Still, it can be tough for some business owners to see the two of them as credible buyers. Convincing them, he says, is toughest part of all. Until they can pull that off, their search continues.
As part of a series called "My Big Break," All Things Considered is collecting stories of triumph, big and small. These are the moments when everything seems to click, and people leap forward into their careers. The following is what you might call an "almost Big Break."
Kurt Braunohler is now a successful working comedian. He has his own podcast, a well-reviewed comedy album, and a weekly variety show in Los Angeles. But for years, he struggled to find work in comedy.
Several years ago, Braunohler got close to what could have been his big break, when he got a call from his manager about a major movie audition.
There was just one catch: The part required an actor who could speak German.
That condition presented a problem.
"My joke on stage is that I realize I look like the IT guy from the Nazis," Braunohler says, "but, weirdly, I don't speak German."
But Braunohler's manager was not deterred.
"[My manager] calls back and he's like, 'Can you speak with a German accent?' And I was like, 'Well, a comically bad one,'" says Braunohler.
When his manager called back one more time, he told Braunohler he had an audition.
"This is going to be a disaster," Braunohler remembers thinking.
As it turned out, the audition wasn't just for any movie. Braunohler would be auditioning for a significant supporting role in Sacha Baron Cohen's 2009 film Brno.
Not only was the mockumentary poised to be a huge blockbuster, Braunohler calls Baron Cohen his "comedy idol." Braunohler was up for the role of Lutz, Brno's assistant in the film.
Movies
Dolce & Guevara: 'Bruno's Guerrilla-Comic Assault
Urging the release of separatists detained during Friday's unrest that left dozens dead, more than 100 pro-Russia activists surrounded a police station in the southern Ukrainian port city of Odessa Sunday.
From the BBC:
"The initially peaceful rally turned violent as protesters - some wearing masks and carrying improvised weapons - broke windows and forced the gates.
"Several detained protesters were released by the police. There were chants of 'Russia, Russia' from the crowds."