They began selling skirts out of the boot of their VW Beetle car in 2000 to friends and family. Sixteen years later, their clothes have been worn at the best fashion shows in Atlanta, Washington, Nigeria, London and India.
It didn’t come easy.
On a balmy Saturday morning, we arrive at the Sun Goddess boutique in Sandton City, a plush mall in Johannesburg, South Africa. What hits you in the face is a bunch of Afro-centric ethnic wear on the racks, a pride and fortune of husband and wife team, Thando and Vanya Mangaliso.
Behind the counter is Vanya; fashion design is her forte. This poised award-winning designer has a petite physique and a headwrap; she has a soft handshake and a striking smile.
Her husband and business partner, Thando, concentrates on retail.
Vanya, 43, was the only child at home, always surrounded by cousins, in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. She had a passion for reading.
“I grew up in a family of dreamers; grateful for the love of books instilled in me and I guess that continues to fuel my dreams.
“The endless beauty in life, love, family, books, history, the future and our rich heritage. I’m also inspired by the idea of believing there is more and I tend to enjoy the sacrament of work; the desire to rise above mediocrity,” says Vanya.
She worked in the corporate world, in Logistics for Transnet, traveling to different countries: Zambia, Congo and Nigeria, where she noticed that fashion dictated their culture.
“When I’d get off the aeroplane in Nigeria, I’d know I’m in Nigeria, because of their traditional wear. But in South Africa, it was not always the case because fashion didn’t exist as we know it today. It wasn’t always like this. It took a collective effort of community that was transitioning,” says Vanya.
It was those trips that encouraged her to start her own business in fashion.
Vanya’s biggest inspiration is her mother, who always wore Umbaco, a traditional outfit.
She always wondered why people didn’t wear [traditional regalia] regularly. It’s no surprise that she created a business out of this.
“We had to define what the South African aesthetic is. It is not merely taking a normal western t-shirt and put buttons, I mean at the end of the day you have to define the DNA of the South African look.”
Even a good novelist couldn’t have written her story.
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The Mangalisos had five stores in Durban, Cape Town and Johannesburg. Managing all shops wasn’t easy. In 2009, they closed three.
“We didn’t have a system that allowed us to manage a shop that was in Durban when we were in Johannesburg so we had to restructure our business. And we opted for the quality of the profit margin as opposed to the quantity,” says Vanya.
They had 150 employees in retail and production but today they have only 20 employees.
The Mangalisos also faced a major setback in their career when their stock of fragrances worth
R2 million ($150,000) got wiped out in one day as a result of a flood at their Rosebank store – a terrible moment.
“I tend not to take things personally at all. It was also a very special and interesting time, making great use of the antagonistic nature of things to rise to greater heights as people,” she says.
In addition to the bad luck she suffered because of nature, there was also an armed robbery at her home in Atholl in Johannesburg, in the middle of the night.
“As it happens you ask yourself how this story is going to end! So helpless, so vulnerable, terrified and sure they clean you out. You can only try to keep calm and be grateful for your lives,” says Vanya.
“I live in the now, fully aware [of living] every moment to the fullest; I tend not to dwell on the dead past or fear the future. I’m also a great believer in letting go of pain once it has served you and so I’m an eternal optimist always looking ahead,” she says.
Even though the Mangalisos struggled with their business, they still believe a loan should be earned.
“When we started the business, we never got a business loan. Having things easy deprives you of being enterprising because as they say necessity is the mother of invention and I think my life is a testament to that,” says Vanya.
Even at their worst time in business, they were creating products to make money. They launched a range of African head gear.
“We’ve become very cut-throat, the business must make money; if it doesn’t make money, we close it. It’s not about your pride; even a fashion line, if it doesn’t make money, we close it. We’ve driven costs down and continued to make sort of the same money,” says Thando.
“With us, it’s all or nothing. If I don’t sell a skirt I don’t eat,” says Vanya.

Vanya-Mangaliso-012

‘If I don’t Sell A Skirt I Don’t Eat

Struggles, rejection, heartache, backstabbing and an empty bank account &#8211; Lebo Gunguluza endured it all and never gave up.
He claims his net worth is more than R300 million ($19.5 million).
We meet Gunguluza at a barbershop in Sandton City, a plush mall in Johannesburg – a world away from where he was born, in a shack behind a funeral parlour in Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape. He had a tough upbringing.
When Gunguluza was six, his father died leaving his mother to provide for three children.
“I grew up with an uneasy upbringing. There’s one thing that my mother pushed for us, in all the difficult times in our lives, she pushed for us to be educated, even today she continues to teach us certain values; respect, love and gratitude,” says Gunguluza, the Founder and Group Chairman of the Gunguluza Enterprises &amp; Media (GEM) Group.
In those lean days he had plans to make his first million at the age of 25, at 35 he wanted to be a multi-millionaire and at 45 a billionaire.
“I grew up so impoverished, admiring and envying other people who had better things than me. I set those financial goals because I wanted to put myself under pressure so that I don’t waste my time on things that will not take me to those goals.”
Gunguluza matriculated in 1989 and studied for a Bachelor of Commerce at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. In his final year, he began his business career by selling accounts for a clothing store on campus, for commission.
Within a month, he was hired as the store’s trainee manager. It meant he had to make up for missed lectures.
Soon after completing his degree, Gunguluza was hired as a sales executive for South Africa’s public broadcaster, the SABC. A year after, at the age of 25, he was promoted to marketing manager of the broadcaster’s radio station Metro FM.
He left the broadcaster to join advertising mavericks Herdbuoys. Here, he decided to start his own business.
“At 26, I realized that I haven’t reached my goal of being a millionaire so I decided to change my strategy. I did what I did but at a higher level. I approached one of the new radio stations and proposed to activate them, that’s how I got to make my first million at 27.”
“Success is not a destination, it’s a journey. Every milestone or obstacle you encounter you have an option to learn from it. I always say to people I have failed so many times I feel like failure is tired of me,” he says.
Gunguluza has had his fair share of ups and downs.
“I was making so much money, I bought my office cash. I then started employing people the wrong way, instead of employing people who are competent. Every girl who was pretty that came looking for a job, I would hire them. My office was not filled by competent people; it was full of pretty people. For me, if you were a sexy girl with a short skirt, you would be employed. And that was my downfall,” Gunguluza says.
At the end of 2008, he was embroiled in a messy divorce with his wife of eight years. He lost everything; his cars and their restaurant.
Because of his financial immaturity and no mentor, within a year of making his first million, Gunguluza found himself running out of cash.
“I never knew how to run a business. I never knew how to manage people. I never knew how to set systems and structures at a company and I never had a mentor. I had to sell one of the cars and ended up squatting at my cousin’s place.”
He then went to read about how businessmen acquire their successes and did some soul searching. Three months later, he learned a powerful lesson.
“Whatever business that you are going into you must know it in and out,” says Gunguluza.
“I was thinking to myself, ‘how come I couldn’t build a company whereas people like Richard Branson and Donald Trump had built successful businesses?’ So I thought to myself that it can only be what’s in my mind.”
Once he had found his seat on the rollercoaster of business, he founded the GEM Group – an integrated media and hospitality group, which boasts 12 print publications, stakes in numerous hotels and a car hire business.
“I decided that I’m going to build one entity that can generate enough cash flow, and then use it to acquire stakes in already existing companies. I didn’t want to start a company from scratch because I learned the hard way.”
The 46-year-old, from humble beginnings, is a turnaround strategist, business speaker and mentor to young entrepreneurs.
What is clear is that whatever he has, he has struggled.                 “In business you will never go anywhere without good contacts. The most important thing is to remain with the person that you are working with because there is a lot that you are going to go through together. There are lots of disagreements, misconceptions, and backstabbing, you have to go through all those things in order for you to mature into a great entrepreneur.”
He spends his time mentoring up-and-coming entrepreneurs through his Izani 12-12-12 Enterprise. Through this initiative, he earned himself a spot as one of the judges in the Dragons’ Den television show – where young entrepreneurs have the chance of getting funds and mentorship.
In the next five years, he plans to go into the software development business and to meet his goal of making his first billion. He also wants to travel the world.
After poverty, a messy divorce and business failures, Gunguluza has suffered on the road to success. He is proof that if it doesn’t kill you, it makes you stronger.

‘If You Were A Sexy Girl With A Short Skirt, You Would Be Employed’

A nail bar is a nail bar, is a nail bar, right? Wrong, Getenesh “Getty” Gizaw points out with fingernails that end in perfect pale acrylic tips.
The owner of SOHO nail and beauty salon in Sandton City, Johannesburg, South Africa, says the real business of a salon is about delivering an experience. How her clients feel translates into return business and new feet through her doors.
Gizaw, an Ethiopian-American, first founded G2, an events company, in the United States. The company brought to Africa the likes of Samuel L. Jackson, Bill Clinton and Beyoncé. When she convinced R. Kelly to perform his Sign of a Victory song as part of the 2010 FIFA World Cup celebrations, it meant Gizaw had to spend extended periods in Johannesburg for rehearsals for the opening ceremony. The self-confessed manicure- and pedicure-addict was in desperate need of a paint-job on one of these trips.
“The best place recommended to me was shocking. The carpets were green, the walls were pink and they did manis and pedis in a plastic basin, the kind my granny would have used,” she says.
Gizaw decided that Johannesburg was ready for a top-end New York-style salon experience.
“It was a gut reaction to begin with, then you take wise counsel and you work out your numbers and if that still adds up you’ve got a great business opportunity,” says Gizaw.
She shifted her home base from New York to Johanannesburg, which is part homecoming for Gizaw. She was born in Ethiopia, but her family was forced into exile when Gizaw was four. They settled in Liberia before Gizaw was sent to Europe and Canada for schooling. She gained citizenship after studying in the United States, where she graduated cum laude from Long Island University and polished her business management skills at Harvard Business School. Her father has lived in South Africa for 22 years.
When SOHO opened its doors in 2011, it was bright, modern, unisex and there was no cheesy panpipe music. It stocks American luxury products that match the high Living Standards Measure (LSM) of its clients. Oprah Winfrey, Rihanna, John Legend and Naomi Campbell get their nails done at Gizaw’s outlet when in town.
While the celebrity appeal helps, Gizaw knows that quality of service, the products and the added extras complete the puzzle. Her employees undergo a nine-week training course, not just to polish technical ability, but to buy into her service ethic and the brand. The products were imported from the United States, until Gizaw teamed up with a Pretoria laboratory to produce a product line.
Added extras include deluxe pedicure-chairs with massage functions, built-in storage space for bags and shoes, and pull-out tabletops with plug-points for gadgets and devices since the outlet offers free Wi-Fi. Gizaw also offers a ‘gofer’ service – staff collect dry-cleaning, stand in cinema queues, or run errands in the shopping center, while her clients enjoy treatments. She also convinced the center’s management to reserve three parking bays for her clients – a first in the mall’s history.
SOHO has a no-bookings-of-fewer-than-five-guests policy. This strategic move eliminates the hassle of dealing with no shows, and admininstrative work on credit cards and bookings. This way, she also capitalizes on walk-ins, and with 25 full-time staff, she does not turn anyone away.
Responding to a changing market and adapting to customer demands and consumption trends are critical. It is paying off. SOHO’s December 2013 figures showed 559 new clients, 800 return customers and it’s already turning a profit with a gross turnover upwards of R900,000 ($83,870).
There has been marginal growth in the beauty industry for the last five years, says Yolanda Knott, Managing Director of TE Trade Events, that organizes beauty exhibitions in South Africa. Euromonitor International puts 2012 growth in the beauty sector slightly down from 2011, at 10%.
Innovation is key. “Salons that want to survive are catering for everyone from men, to tweens to special packages like the ‘mommy and me’ offerings,” says Knott.
Gizaw is expanding her Sandton shop and has secured a prime location for her Cape Town store. The expansion comes at a time when the salon has scooped up top industry accolades for two consecutive years.
“I am looking for the right investors and partners to roll out stores into the rest of Africa. The health and personal grooming market in South Africa and Africa has been growing at double digits for the last few years,” says Gizaw.
SOHO’s brand is all New York, celebrity culture and the glitz of big city life. Diversification into Africa may require tweaking, but it represents opportunities. With the right financial backers, she will launch a SOHO academy. An offshoot brand aimed at a lower LSM market has already been registered under the name Chelsea, which is the sister suburb to SOHO – it is a clever alignment that maps out perfectly Gizaw’s enlarging business footprint.
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<h2>Beauty industry still seeing global growth</h2>
The global beauty industry continues to experience exponential growth despite changes in consumer spending.
“What we’ve seen at Euromonitor International is that this time, with the recession, it hasn’t been lipstick sales that have been doing well, it’s more nail polish, and this is due to a number of different factors,” says Nicole Tyrimou, Euromonitor International’s beauty and personal care research analyst.
“Firstly, we’re seeing consumers are more concerned about their status and individuality. The rise of nail art has helped consumers use nail polish to express their personality through this. We’re seeing nail polish sales actually doing very well for both premium and mass brands across the world and especially in the United States.”
In the category of beauty and personal care, which is the fastest-growing, nail polish sales have remained strong three years in a row. The rapid increase in nail polish purchases could mean that a Nail Polish Index may replace the Lipstick Index, which was coined in early 2000 to indicate current consumer trends in the market. It was established on the premise that lipstick sales can be inversely correlated with economic health.
According to Euromonitor, the global beauty industry is looking much better than it did during the recession. It has experienced another strong performance ,despite changes in consumer spending and a slowdown in China’s economic growth.
“We’ve also seen at-home treatments, which are both pampering as well as a substitute for salon treatments. Facemasks and hair treatments are doing very well. We’ve also seen a lot of the fashion brands moving or expanding into beauty,” says Tyrimou.
Similarly, Africa’s beauty industry has indicated interesting trends despite its miniaturization, when compared to other international regions.
“Africa is one of the strongest growing regions. Together with Latin America, [they are] the only ones growing with double digit growth in 2013. However, [their industries are] still very small. It’s less than Eastern Europe. In terms of big players, [the continent] is still mainly mass dominated,” adds Tyrimou.
“Players such as Nivea and L’Oréal Paris are doing very well. It’s concentrated on hair care and color cosmetics, which are the two categories performing the best at the moment. We’ve also seen skincare doing better. In particular in South Africa, we’ve also seen premium fragrances doing very well. Companies such as Estée Lauder have really been investing in countries such as South Africa, where premium fragrances are growing very strongly.”

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‘If I don’t Sell A Skirt I Don’t Eat

‘If You Were A Sexy Girl With A Short Skirt, You Would Be Employed’

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