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The chairperson of Brand SA, Charlotte ‘Chichi’ Maponya, is charged with putting the country’s best foot forward at a difficult time. But a lifetime of running multiple businesses, including being CEO of the Maponya Group, gives her invaluable experience, writes Sue Grant-Marshall
Charlotte “Chichi” Maponya imbibed entrepreneurship from birth as she toddled around the Soweto home of her enterprising and iconic parents, business personalities Richard and the late Marina Maponya.
Yet she never allowed herself to walk in their powerful shadow for, as a young woman, she deliberately left the Maponya family business and struck out on her own.
Her independent attitude, combined with years of experience in starting up and running her own companies, is interwoven with a graceful, friendly elegance.
It has made her the kind of Brand SA chairperson South Africa needs because selling the country to investors right now is a tough call.
Yet Maponya remains quietly optimistic, despite South Africa’s problems with Eskom’s troubled power supply, its reputation for inflexible labour policies and xenophobia.
She’s sitting in a Melrose Arch hotel, a cappuccino at her elbow and laptop at her fingertips, when I arrive, looking as relaxed as it’s possible to be, given a phone that never stops beeping and strategies that need formulating to propel us out of the mess we are in.
“I talk to Eskom because Brand SA has to understand the current situation, given our ‘We’re open for business’ mantra,” she says.
“[And while the situation is obviously worrying], I don’t believe we’ll go to a total blackout. I think there are adequate plans to rescue the situation,” she says.
She’s upbeat about the independent power producers making a big contribution. “This creates opportunities to bring them into more formal structures.”
Maponya mentions the good things we have going for us, which include infrastructure such as roads, our stock exchange, excellent banking services and mobile telecommunications.
Obviously, the wave of xenophobic violence is making her job more difficult.
“It is very unfortunate, especially as we’re known for our tolerance for diversity,” she says, but takes an optimistic approach again.
“We need to make our young people aware of other African cultures and this could provide us with an opportunity to introduce something in our schools.”
The entrepreneur – who has run many companies and has often had to deal with labour issues – says from a potential investor perspective, there are a few labour regulations that are viewed as being rigid in the current market conditions.
“The main problem is the lack of certainty about when a strike will end as, unlike many other countries, we have no prescribed time limit. That bothers me.”
She is hopeful that Brand SA will be able to provide positive input to help rectify the situation.
Her wide-ranging experience should assist because the Maponya Group has extensive and diverse interests in companies that include mining, agroprocessing, motor retail, energy and property.
Maponya Medical Solutions supplies medical equipment and consumables to public and private hospitals, and Nalesa Media, which is run by her daughter Palesa, does outdoor advertising.
So a third-generation Maponya has arrived on the company scene and Maponya reflects on the differences between her childhood and that of her six children. She was only 12 when she took part in the 1976 student march from Soweto to then John Vorster Square in Joburg and vividly recalls the chaos in which it ended.
“There was tear gas and dogs, and I was trying to work out what I feared the most as I leapt into someone’s yard to hide. There were guns too.”
But she also remembers the strong community spirit in Soweto, “where neighbours would keep an eye on us”.
After she had graduated from the University of Natal with a BCom degree, she worked for a while in the family business before responding to an invitation from Herman Mashaba, founder of Black Like Me, to market the hair care brand.
“It was time to break out of the family mould and for my dad to gain confidence in me,” she says.
She rejoined the family business in 2004 and worked closely with her father on developing Soweto’s iconic Maponya Mall. She was there for its official opening by Nelson Mandela, a close family friend, in 2007.
But life is not all business. Maponya has always been fascinated by the arts and music, and is chairperson of Opera Africa, a not-for-profit company founded 21 years ago in Sandton. “I love opera and wish I had the talent to sing,” she says passionately.
She was also an avid tennis player and was inspired to set her sights on Wimbledon when the now late tennis legend Arthur Ashe stayed with her family in Soweto in 1973.
She no longer plays, preferring to spend time with her seven siblings, six children and two grandchildren, and enjoy the solitude of trout fishing.
“There is such peace in feeling the wind and listening to the lapping water,” says this busy businesswoman.
The little black book
Business tip: Keep focused. There are many distractions and pitfalls along the way.
Mentors: My parents, because of their relationship. They were so close in business, as friends, as confidants. And I could ring them any time for advice.
Book: Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
Inspiration: South African women. They are resilient and persevere against all the odds.
Wow! moment: The opening of Maponya Mall in Soweto. It was a dream my parents had for many years. Sadly, my mother, Marina, did not live to see the day, but my father did.
Advice: Don’t beat yourself up over what you can’t change because it’s beyond your control.
