Chapter 42 - Clara Started Giving Away Control
The new program grew quickly.
Sofia became one of its mentors.
Clara recruited independent business owners.
Accountants.
Lawyers.
Former entrepreneurs.
People who had built companies without family money.
The program was structured so Sterling couldn't control the businesses it funded.
That mattered to Clara.
One board member questioned it.
“What happens if they succeed without us?”
Clara smiled.
“Then we succeeded.”
He looked surprised.
She continued.
“I spent years watching people confuse ownership with control.”
She looked around the room.
“I don't want Sterling to make that mistake.”
The program launched.
Within months, dozens of small businesses received financing.
One of them was a bakery.
Another was a construction company.
Another belonged to a single mother who had been running an accounting firm from her kitchen.
Clara watched the businesses grow.
For the first time, she wasn't measuring Sterling by how much it owned.
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She was measuring it by how much it helped other people own.
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