Lebo Gunguluza Entrepreneur Profile

Name: Lebo Gunguluza

Business: Gunguluza Enterprises and Media group

Website: new.gemgroup.co.za

Lebo Gunguluza is the founder and executive chairman of a multi-million rand empire, Gunguluza Enterprises and Media group (GEM). He has a couple of notable accolades to his name, such as the Bethseda Business Award for the role he plays in the development of entrepreneurship in South Africa and the Millionaires Club Leadership Award. His entrepreneurial journey was not without obstacles, twice in his career he went from having it all to losing it all. His resilience and remarkable come back story launched his career as a business speaker. Amongst other work he does within and outside GEM group, he is a start-up investor and a turn-around strategist. You might have also seen him on your TV screens as one of the judges from Dragons’ Den South Africa.

Humble beginnings

Lebo Gunguluza was born in Eastern Cape, Port Elizabeth in a township called Magxaki. The shack he was born in was right behind a funeral parlour. In one television interview he jokingly said, “I was born in a shack, behind dead people”. His circumstances were far from ideal. Life got a bit harder when he was 6 years old, his father passed away. His mother struggled to make ends meet with her nurses salary. Due to the bad financial situation she enrolled him in a rural school called Thubalethu. There were some boycotts at the school, this might have contributed to him repeating some of his grades.

His mother became concerned and used the inheritance money that was reserved for his tertiary education to pay for his school fees at a private school called Woodridge College. He was at Woodridge College from Grade 9 up until he finished his matric at the age of 20. He remembers being teased about being the oldest in class and for not being able to speak English. It took him about two years to learn English, and he quickly redeemed himself when he won a schools competition. Out of 10 000 participants from various schools he came out top.

Around the time he finished school he set three goals for himself: to be a millionaire by the age of 25, to be a multi-millionaire by the age of 35, and to be a billionaire by the age of 45. He was fresh out of school and it was now time to chase his dreams.

Career

He started off his career promoting African language stations for the SABC. He continued to take on different roles still in the media, entertainment and advertising space where he built quite a reputation for himself. At the age of 27 with no start up capital, with just an event organizing deal with Yfm, he made his first million through an event he organized called kwaito storm.

From his club ownership and management ventures he started managing artists like Mandoza and Kwaito group Chiskop, but soon realized that’s it’s not a good space to work in because he wanted to invest in an environment that’s more secure. He then ventured into the corporate space and opened a company called Corporate Fusion – a corporate communication and events company. Under this company he launched the Soweto Awards and other awards ceremonies that made him a couple of millions. He made some bad financial decisions and ended up losing a lot of money. He opened another business with his brother called GIDE, a youth development and career guidance company.

Seeing that the group of businesses is growing, in 2002 he founded the GEM group. It  was more focused on event management at that time, before it evolved to what it is today – integrated media, communications and hospitality. The GEM group was a huge success making a turn-over of millions.  Again, he started making bad financial decisions. He admitted to hiring some of his staff based on their looks and not based on their talents or the skills they bring. He was also caught up in the life of living lavish. Neglecting his business led to some serious consequences, within a few months he was deep in debt. His survival instincts kicked in, he sold his business premises to pay some of his debt and invest in a Primi Piatti Italian restaurant. He couldn’t pay off all of his debt, he still owed about 3 million. The 3 million was generated from Primi Piatti and around that time he started investing in the communications sector.

Values

Lebo Gunguluza believes that when resources are limited you must always remember that creativity is unlimited. When you don’t have funding, you need to use your creativity to still get what you want. He also believes that when you commit you are bound to get some results.

Characteristics of successful entrepreneurs

“Born entrepreneurs” are said to be people who instinctively have what it takes to run successful businesses. One of the biggest misconceptions about entrepreneurship is that in order for you to be able to run a successful business, you need to possess a special gift that only a selective few are born with. Entrepreneurial instincts are fueled by various factors, such as a strong desire to change your circumstances or seeing the benefits of creating your own wealth opposed to creating wealth for others.

Granted, no two successful entrepreneurs have identical character traits. This article will explore the characteristics that stand out the most in successful entrepreneurs.

Interpersonal skills

Interpersonal skills are built on the ability to listen and observe. In any social setting, taking a moment to listen and observe allows you to adjust your approach accordingly. Successful entrepreneurs are able to build relationships that lead to the advancement of their business.

Interpersonal skills are also known as “soft skills”, they bring out placid qualities such as empathy and patience. These qualities help an entrepreneur evoke a sense of pride and responsibility in their employees. Employees with a sense of responsibility on whichever roles they fill in the business are more likely to devote themselves. Devoted employees are major contributors to the overall success of a business.

A good leader must always be aware that he cannot run an organization on his own. He always needs to work with people who will help him in achieving the collective goal. Employees tend to emulate the behaviours of their leader. If the leader portrays good ethics it contributes to the overall success of the business.

Resilience

Resilience is built on self-motivation and optimism. The “big break” doesn’t always come after just one attempt. Successful entrepreneurs don’t easily get distracted by the obstacles they encounter, their eyes are fixed on the success they envisioned. When nobody else believes in their vision good leaders rely on themselves to bring it to fruition.

Running a successful business doesn’t mean you suddenly become immune to mishaps. Successful entrepreneurs continue to show resilience no matter what challenges they face. A good leader must understand that in searching for the most efficient business strategy, he might initially make mistakes in judgement. This should never deter the leader from learning from the failure and coming up with a better business strategy.

Problem solving skills

Successful entrepreneurs look at a problem from all angles. They assess all the possible solutions and narrow it down to one. It’s also a selfless act, they take time to choose a solution that’s reasonable and beneficial for their staff opposed to only considering their own interests.

In terms of strategy, great entrepreneurs find a solution that’s well in line with their future plans.

Passion

A lot of time and energy is needed to start and grow a business. The pressure and the workload that comes with starting a new business can easily lead to a burn out. Passion acts as fuel.

Flexibility

Successful entrepreneurs are aware of the fact that unforeseen circumstances can happen at any time. Plans that are already in motion might have to be changed. When things don’t go exactly according to plan it’s easy to start losing focus. Successful entrepreneurs always remember what the strategic plan is and what the objectives are. Those are the most important things to consider. As long as the strategy isn’t compromised they are willing to be flexible.

This characteristic is particularly important because a leader must always ensure that his business stays relevant in a constantly changing business environment.

Planning

The business environment has now factored in complex dynamics ranging from marketing, finance, business intelligence, information technology, governance, strategy, compliance, management accounting and financial reporting. Poor planning sets off a domino effect and can lead to disaster. To avoid that, successful entrepreneurs devote time and attention to the planning process.

Planning gives a clear sense of direction. Through planning you are able to formulate small steps that lead to the final goal. A systematic way of working helps an entrepreneur not get distracted and end up pursuing many ideas at the same time.

Accessibility

Successful entrepreneurs network with the purpose of trying to bring in new business and/or to form new relationships. They understand that, in order to avoid missing some opportunities, they need to be easily accessible. When necessary, they hire personal assistants to help them better manage their time and communication. Nobody wants to build a business partnership with a person that’s unreachable. It paints them as a person that’s untrustworthy and unreliable.

Essential personal finance skills to teach your children

Its not too early to start

It’s every parents dream to see their child grow into a self-sufficient adult. From the time a baby is conceived, the level of dependency starts to decrease until the baby is ready to live outside their mothers body. From the time of birth onwards, their level of dependency continues to decrease. The journey to adulthood has already begun!

Physical growth happens naturally but there are other stages of growth that need to be instilled by the parents, such as intellectual and socio-economical skills. In terms of social skills, when you teach your children to say please, thank you and you’re welcome while they are still young, they will most likely to grow up to be adults with proper etiquette. What about personal finance skills? Is simply telling your child that money doesn’t grow on trees enough to teach them the right attitude about money? Obviously not. The personal finance skills you can teach your child can be broken down into three categories: savings, budgeting and making sound financial decisions.

Savings

You can use a reward system to introduce money to younger children. The reward system can be incorporated with other aspects of learning, such as teaching them to complete their chores on time. If you start early, by the time they are older, they will be better equipped to handle their pocket money in a financially sound way.

The traditional piggy bank system helps your child grow their understanding on the measure of value. You can start by rewarding them with small change and so they would have to collect a few more coins in order to have more money. The longer they wait, the more money they collect, and the closer they are to reaching their target.

Impulsive buying is a symptom of poor personal finance management skills, and it can lead to some serious consequences. The piggy bank systems teaches your child to be patience, they will be less inclined to wanting instant gratification.

How would you feel about not being able to check your bank balance? You can teach your child how to record the money they put in their money box. This will take their understanding of the measure of value a step further. They will have a better understanding of what they can buy with the money they have.

You can teach them about investment by adding more money in their piggy banks weekly or monthly, provided they keep saving – without spending, until they reach their goal.

Budget

Helping your child keep track of how much money they have in their piggy bank leads to the next step: the art of budgeting! You can use any method that’s age appropriate to teach our child how to work out a simple budget i.e. comparing the money they have with the monetary value of the things they plan to spend their money on. A budget will help your child understand the importance of spending less than they have. If the total comes up as a negative they will understand that it means they don’t have the money to buy whatever it is that they want. This will motivate them to save more vigorously in order to meet their goals.

Budgeting will also help your child understand the importance of writing things down. Opposed to just knowing how much they have, yet totally oblivious to how their expenses affect their balance. The ability to track their finances will give them the control and confidence they need to further advance their skills.

Sound financial decisions

Under this category you will be helping your child understand the difference between wants and needs. Sound financial decisions have to do with focusing more on your needs. When your child insists on meeting their wants first don’t feel discouraged. It might take a while for a child to understand this because they are naturally inclined to wanting to meet their wants first before meeting their needs. The best way to teach them is by not being too quick to intervene, let them experience the repercussions of neglecting the most important things.

You will soon notice an improvement in your child’s attitude towards money. For instance, if they previously didn’t have a problem with maxing out their piggy bank, they will start leaving a small amount so they don’t always have to re-open their savings on a zero balance.

A piggy bank might not be practical anymore as they get older. You can confidently open a bank account for them knowing that you have thought them some basic skills that you will continue to build on.