Times Of Swaziland: VALUE OF INTER-GENERATIONAL WEALTH

VALUE OF INTER-GENERATIONAL WEALTH
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By City Press on 14/01/2020 06:17:00


IN the wake of Richard Maponya’s passing and celebrating his incredible life,
there is a depth of inspiration that can be found in his 99-year journey. What
inspires me most was papa’s value for family and legacy. It was not only in
the traditional sense of a father providing for and loving his children dearly,
but also in building a legacy with and for them.
I met papa and the Maponya family for the first time in 2007 as a potential
candidate for the role of centre manager for the soon-to-open Maponya Mall in
Soweto. Built to be the largest shopping mall in South Africa’s biggest
township, the excitement and anticipation by the real estate and retail
communities was high. The vibe on Chris Hani Street, (then known as Old Potch
Road), was electrifying in the build up to the grand opening by former president
Nelson Mandela scheduled for September 27, 2007.
The mall would go on to become, in my view, one of the greatest retail case
studies of our time. Housed in the 65 000m² world-class building was a
26-year-old dream of a man who worked to see the upliftment of black people
through retail and infrastructure. There were dreams within a dream of the young
people who secured jobs in the mall as well as the dreams of black-owned
businesses that opened their stores in the mall of that stature for the first
time.
Impressed
I was thoroughly impressed but nervous about being interviewed by the retail
tycoon and his children, Charlotte and Solly Maponya. It was my first personal
encounter of a family in business and it left a lasting impression and
reflection of what it means to build inter-generational wealth. I was successful
in the interview and my work life not only revolved around the commercial
success of the mall but also in the wisdom of this powerful and generous family.
They worked together, supported each other, challenged each other, uplifted each
other their father and mother’s vision. I learnt firsthand from this
experience what it means to work for good as a black family despite the
limitations imposed on their path by the oppressive apartheid regime. They chose
as a family to contribute to the economic liberation and success of a community
that had help build their various businesses in Soweto. Everything they did was
for the people of Soweto first.
The growing legacy was the continuation of what both papa Maponya and his late
wife Marina Maponya, a business trailblazer herself, had started together.
Though she had already passed on when I worked with the family, her spirit of
community remained with her husband and her children in all that they achieved.
It was powerful to watch and a privilege for be a part of.
At a time that we are often looked upon with suspicion of working with family or
opening up opportunities in business for our relatives and at a time when many
families have been broken by business ventures gone wrong, the lessons from papa
and his family are important to reflect on and learn from today.
Challenges
There is no doubt that they too faced their challenges as a family working
together but here was a visionary who used business to create a spirit of unity
and entrepreneurship among his children. In the process, he left them and us a
legacy of inter-generational wealth inheritance.
The country is a beneficiary of a legacy built from nothing by a black family
who now stand as role models of what happens when families persevere together
with a purpose. Papa, your story will be told for generations to come and
families will rise because you came and showed us the lasting value of pursuing
greatness as family. Rest in power, Papa. Rest in honour, Ntlou.