High levels of personal initiative will be required to unlock the potential offered by the many untapped resources in Africa in terms of business opportunities. Significant resources are ploughed into the development of the small business sector by governments in Africa, particularly in South Africa. However, there is little evidence that these efforts are sufficiently effective to produce the desired results. Two issues are addressed in this article: (a) whether or not enhancing the personal initiative of owner-managers improves the performance of small businesses, and (b) the moderation of the content and effectiveness of a short training intervention by means of a longitudinal evaluation study, including a control group. The findings show an increase in the training group's business activities and performance, and also identify the varied contributions of the components of the training.