Lessons Young Entrepreneurs Can Learn From Richard Maponya

Richard Maponya’s name echoes from mountains afar and continues to bounce off all corners of the earth. He remains a lighthouse for legions of businesses minds and ordinary folks alike. However, he didn’t just balloon to his iconic status, the late businessman put in the work and braved the odd hours and severe challenges, especially during the apartheid era.

Be Futuristic

From the word go, Richard Maponya had his entrepreneurial mind set on many business adventures. By the time of his passing, the 99 year old had dipped his fingers in numerous pies including, mining, real estate and construction to mention a few.  This kind of thinking is imperative for any young entrepreneur, even though others might wish to only have one business staple, a strategy to plant different branches should be set in place.

Black Excellence Forever

It was a mission and a half for many black entrepreneurs to successfully develop their respective businesses under the apartheid regime. Black excellence might be quite fashionable these days, but for the likes of Richard Maponya, the colour of his skin served as a spiky neckband but he forged through.

Be Persistent

The road to materializing Maponya Mall was met with many challenges. Just securing a license to build the mall was a long and tedious process. The massive project was a long standing dream for the late businessman. Proving just how resilient and persistent he truly was, the year 2007 saw the birth of Maponya  Mall located in Soweto, Johannesburg.

Paying It Forward

By the time of his passing, the “gentle giant of Soweto” as he was commonly referred to, had wished to pass the baton to the emerging batch of entrepreneurs. He added that, a training institution is likely in the pipeline as that would be the appropriate facility to materialise his empowering objectives.

Keep It In The Family

Due to old age, Richard Maponya was no longer physically active in the everyday running of his many businesses. He therefore roped in the services of his daughter, Charlotte “Chichi” Maponya, who continues to demonstrate impressive levels of slayage!

Richard Maponya came, saw and conquered the business landscape across various spectrums in South Africa. Salute!