The warm home of the Gunguluza’s is a welcoming backdrop. The family maintains a balance of love and business, which, as they admit, is not an easy one to strike. Lebo and Jojo Gunguluza sit down with Thriving Magazine to talk business, family and the pros and cons that come with this interesting yet ideal system.
Lebo Gunguluza, entrepreneur, Dragon Investor & speaker, and Jojo Gunguluza, media entrepreneur, began their relationship on a mentorship basis. “I joined the Dragon’s Den because I wanted to invest in fresh ideas. While I was doing that, I met my better half and she was also really passionate about media,” Mr Gunguluza says. “She was learning about the media space under my mentorship, and then I started focussing my energy on technology and the fourth industrial revolution.”
Lebo Gunguluza is the founder of GEM Group, an integrated media, hospitality and communications group, and Jojo Gunguluza is CEO and Publishing Editor of Izani Publishing, an independent media consulting and distribution company.
On mixing business and family
“The most important thing in a family business is trust because you are bonded by love and other things that define family values,” Mr Gunguluza explains. “You know that this person won’t run away, this is a person who sticks with you through thick and thin in many other spheres of life, not just in business. For us, I think that’s the first advantage”. He also cites accessibility as one of the benefits of working with family. “Because you’re always with your family, you’re able to discuss important issues in business outside office hours”. The third is commitment. “When you run a family business it’s your livelihood. You have a commitment to make it succeed, because the picture is beyond the two or three of you guys, you look at creating generational wealth.”
On the opposite end of the spectrum, Mrs Gunguluza notes some negatives involved in family arrangements. “The negatives would be scheduling time and separating work from our personal lives,” she says. We have little time to spend with family or kids. I mean, we hardly attend any family event, and when we do, it’s much appreciated.”
Aligning visions
Conflict may easily arise when visions in a partnership do not align. With business/spouse relationships in particular, this conflict could seep into the home. “I think for us it was easy because we’ve got one goal. And the mandate for that goal was that our kids live a better life. A better life than what we had and what our parents had. That’s what keeps us on track,” Mrs Gunguluza says.
“That conflice is inevitable because sometimes you are spending more time with work. Your partner might want to prioritise the family stuff, while you may want to prioritise the business stuff,” says Mr G
Grooming heirs
One common vision in the Gunguluza household, however, is that of ensuring that the future Gunguluza’s reap the benefits and carry on the works of the past Gunguluza’s. “Education is always number one,” Mr Gunguluza adds. “If you educate your kids in advance to prepare them and at the same time give them exposure to the world of business, that’s really the only way to build generational wealth.”
Setting boundaries and sticking to them
Another tricky aspect of family business is the tendency of giving extended family a piece of the pie, even when they aren’t necessarily fit to it. Boundaries have therefore become a large part of how the Gunguluzas conduct their businesses. “You don’t just take anyone that wants to be a part of it. Everyone will want to be part of a growing business,” Mrs Gunguluza shares. “We treat is as a normal process: everyone has to be qualified, the person must be passionate about the area they want to be a part of. So we’re very strict about that. We get people that know what they’re doing.”
Featured Entrepreneur – Mr Lebo Gunguluza
Age – 48
Company name – GEM Group
Year founded – 2002
Turnover – 400 Million
Featured Entrepreneur– Mrs Lebo Jojo Gunguluza
Age – 26
Company name – Izani Publishing
Year founded – 2015