At the age of 27, Lebo Gunguluza was the youngest black South African to become a millionaire. He achieved this without any funding or BEE endorsements, but rather by identifying and acknowledging his talents and not being afraid to take risks.
Gunguluza is the founder of the South African Black Entrepreneurs Forum which addresses the problems aspiring black business people face today. Last year he was honoured by the South African Millionaires Club with its Leadership Award and also received the Bethesda Business Award for his contribution to the development of Entrepreneurship in South Africa.
At the age of 27, Lebo Gunguluza was the youngest black South African to become a millionaire. He achieved this without any funding or BEE endorsements, but rather by identifying and acknowledging his talents and not being afraid to take risks.
Gunguluza is the founder of the South African Black Entrepreneurs Forum which addresses the problems aspiring black business people face today. Last year he was honoured by the South African Millionaires Club with its Leadership Award and also received the Bethesda Business Award for his contribution to the development of Entrepreneurship in South Africa.
Gunguluza, who currently owns seven multimillion-Rand companies, gave a motivational talk recently to potential entrepreneurs and was hosted by the Rhodes University Business Society. He told his audience the story of how he became a millionaire.
Gunguluza realised that there was a gap in the market for black entertainment events at a time when Kwaito music was very popular. He had no money or resources, but he had an idea. In exchange for advertising on the radio station he worked for, he was able to generate all the resources needed to host a massive Kwaito event. At the end of the evening, Gunguluza went home with R1.5 million.
He recommends nine steps to success:
1. Acknowledge your talent
It is not you who tells you what you are good at. It’s the world that tells you what you are good at. You must listen to the world. He gives an example of self proclaimed singers being shattered on Idols after being told that they cannot actually sing.
2. Appreciate and understand the value of risk
Do not be afraid of taking chances, rather embrace it. The higher your risk, the higher your returns are, but before taking on a risk you need to use the power of knowledge to assess the outcomes.
3. Invest in your education
By investing in your education, it allows you to express your ideas, opinions and beliefs. Education will improve the way you think, the way you talk and present yourself.
4. Develop skills
It is important to develop skills by focusing on what you are good at. Choose something in line with your talent. As a student he sold Edgars’ accounts, based on his ability to interact well with people and promote his ideas. This put him through his fourth year of university.
5. Understand the importance of time
Gunguluza set himself goals and one of them was to become a millionaire by the age of 25. This is how he realised that time is of the essence and that time equals money, your time is valuable.
6. Identify gaps in the market
Once you identify these gaps, you can then access the opportunities you understand, It is vital to research the gap in the market for the idea to sell.
7. Sell and promote your idea
“If you really want to succeed you need to sell,” he said, explaining that you need to be able to present value to your customer.
8. Form complementary partnerships
When generating ideas in a field that is not in your expertise make sure that you partner up with someone from whom you are able to learn things.
9. Exchange and bartering
“Sometimes you don’t have money. You just have to use the value around you.”
Gunguluza bid farewell to his audience after concluding that aspiring entrepreneurs should start with an idea, and the resources around them.
“What you can see the most makes you the least money. What you can’t see at all makes you the most money. Vision is what drives the leader the most.” He concludes.
