For Jabu Stone, it's the look on a fellow South African's face when Stone offers him a job.

For Nku Nyembezi-Heita, it's the realization that "a whole generation of blacks have been born without a ceiling."

Stone is CEO of Afro Centric Design, a hair salon chain and a hair care product manufacturer that focuses on Afrocentric hairstyles.

Nyembezi-Heita is CEO of the Johannesburg, South Africa, branch of Alliance Capital, an investment management firm based in New York.

They are among the new faces of entrepreneurs and business-savvy South Africans who are fast carving out a niche for themselves in their nation's post-apartheid era.

Three cities visited

More than 40 of the businesspeople gathered in the Grand Hyatt in Buckhead for a two-day promotion last week to show Atlantans and the United States that South Africa is indeed "alive with possibility."

The South African Branding, Trade and Investment Conference had made stops in New York and Chicago before ending its weeklong roadshow in Atlanta.

The tour was coordinated by John Hammond, chairman and CEO of the South African American Business Association of the USA, an Atlanta-based organization. He said that Atlanta was a fitting place to end the trade mission.

"The struggle for freedom in South Africa and freedom in Atlanta were not that dissimilar," said Hammond, who is also an assistant dean at the Goizueta Business School at Emory University. He takes a group of MBA students from Atlanta to South Africa every year.

Hammond said the trade mission represents a reality that didn't exist in South Africa 10 years ago. "Increasingly in South Africa there is a diversification of business," he said. "It's symbolic of the democracy in South Africa."

Stone is a potent symbol of that new reality. He had always dreamed of owning his own business, even before the apartheid regime ended in 1994.

"There were no [government] structures for helping businesses" during the apartheid period, he said. He added that most black South Africans, with few possessions and little collateral, could not afford the high financing charges at banks even if they were allowed through the front doors.

Loans now available

All that has changed over the last decade. Stone has been able to get the loans to expand his business, open stores throughout the country, and create jobs in communities.

"When you create more entrepreneurs, you drop crime, poverty. People can be more productive and come up with more things," he said.

Nyembezi-Heita calls the apartheid period a "dark cloud that you couldn't break through. There were a variety of curveballs thrown in the way of black people, especially women."

The banker, who was educated in the United States and Britain, said that since the first democratic elections in 1994, opportunities have opened up for women of all complexions.

"There is a huge realization in South Africa that women are very important," said Nyembezi-Heita. "There is less animosity. Even for white females, the environment is more positive than it has ever been."

She said there's a new sense of confidence throughout the country. Many South Africans are willing to take risks, such as leaving their original callings and finding new ones, whether it is switching from engineering to banking or politics to wineries.

"People think that they can do anything," said Nyembezi-Heita. "It gives energy, vibrance, and creativity to our society. I hope we don't lose that as our country matures."

Allen Judd wants the United States to help ensure that South Africa succeeds in its transition from a brutal and oppressed land into one bursting with opportunity.

"We must pay closer attention to our political and economic ties to sub-Saharan Africa," said Judd, vice chairman and treasurer of the South African American Business Association of the USA. He described the region as a vital trade partner for the United States and an alternative to Asia in sourcing manufactured products.

"We want to show a new image of South Africa as the gateway to sub-Saharan Africa," and that South Africans are "first-rate business partners," said Judd.

Judd said that letting South African and U.S. business leaders meet in person is the first step to building a personal business relationship.

Said Nyembezi-Heita, "South Africa is open for business."