Business Partners: Taking over and growing a family business
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GUEST: Shaun Ncala
The story of Shaun Ncala : Entrepreneur brings father’s dream to life The world is full of examples of children inheriting a business from their parents, and often failing with it. But Shaun Ncala is one of very few entrepreneurs who has not only inherited his father’s business, but also his father’s dream, and has succeeded with it beyond his dad’s imaginings. Shaun’s father Donald is of the generation of self-taught, pioneering township entrepreneurs who started with a spaza shop and grew by adding a tavern and liquor store. But his dream of owning a filling station remained just out of reach. He managed to buy a site, and have it zoned for fuel sales in the Jouberton township near Klerksdorp where he was based. But raising the substantial finance for establishing a filling station was a bridge too far. Shaun grew up in Johannesburg after his parents separated, but remained close to his dad, who never got tired of encouraging him to take over the family business one day - and to build that filling station. Maybe it was this input from his father that made Shaun show early signs of business acumen. From a young age he would take two bags to school - the one stuffed with chips and sweets to sell to his classmates. And at college he started a small money-lending business for his friends who ran out of money from time to time. “I was the frugal one. My friends would buy Nando’s, and I would just buy a loaf of bread and milk at Pick n Pay,” says Shaun. He also worked part-time at a frozen yogurt franchise, starting out as a cleaner and working his way up to store supervisor. By the time he graduated, the owner offered him a job and a career path, but Shaun wanted to see what it would be like to run his father’s business. The agreement with his father was to take over the liquor store, pay off the R300 000’s worth of stock to his father, allowing him to go into semi-retirement, and from then on use the profits to grow the business. It was challenging, says Shaun, “but I totally crushed it”. By focusing on the big-spending customers without neglecting those buying small quantities, Shaun tripled the turnover within a few months. Although Shaun was able to streamline the business slightly by implementing some IT systems he was trained in, he found that he learned more about the importance of building relationships with people - his clients, staff and suppliers.
The story of Shaun Ncala : Entrepreneur brings father’s dream to life The world is full of examples of children inheriting a business from their parents, and often failing with it. But Shaun Ncala is one of very few entrepreneurs who has not only inherited his father’s business, but also his father’s dream, and has succeeded with it beyond his dad’s imaginings. Shaun’s father Donald is of the generation of self-taught, pioneering township entrepreneurs who started with a spaza shop and grew by adding a tavern and liquor store. But his dream of owning a filling station remained just out of reach. He managed to buy a site, and have it zoned for fuel sales in the Jouberton township near Klerksdorp where he was based. But raising the substantial finance for establishing a filling station was a bridge too far. Shaun grew up in Johannesburg after his parents separated, but remained close to his dad, who never got tired of encouraging him to take over the family business one day - and to build that filling station. Maybe it was this input from his father that made Shaun show early signs of business acumen. From a young age he would take two bags to school - the one stuffed with chips and sweets to sell to his classmates. And at college he started a small money-lending business for his friends who ran out of money from time to time. “I was the frugal one. My friends would buy Nando’s, and I would just buy a loaf of bread and milk at Pick n Pay,” says Shaun. He also worked part-time at a frozen yogurt franchise, starting out as a cleaner and working his way up to store supervisor. By the time he graduated, the owner offered him a job and a career path, but Shaun wanted to see what it would be like to run his father’s business. The agreement with his father was to take over the liquor store, pay off the R300 000’s worth of stock to his father, allowing him to go into semi-retirement, and from then on use the profits to grow the business. It was challenging, says Shaun, “but I totally crushed it”. By focusing on the big-spending customers without neglecting those buying small quantities, Shaun tripled the turnover within a few months. Although Shaun was able to streamline the business slightly by implementing some IT systems he was trained in, he found that he learned more about the importance of building relationships with people - his clients, staff and suppliers.
