The GLC Podcast with Luphumlo Joka
Get insights and tips on how you can take your leadership to the next level. In this podcast, we profile religious, business, and poilitical leaders who are making a difference in their communities.
The GLC Podcast with Luphumlo Joka
Celebrating The Life of Sizwe Mlungwana (1975-2024)
Sizwe Mlungwana was the CEO and founder of Sizwe Mlungwana Properties ,a founding Pastor of Chris's Missions Church in East London Duncan Village and a celebrated business in the Eastern Cape . He recently passed away ( June 2024).
The GLC Podcast is a division of Global Leadership Consultants PTY LTD .
I had a business in Deben. I got to Deben in 2001, october In 2003,. I started a small business. I opened a cell phone repairs shop because cell phones were a big thing at that time. The cell phone repairs were a big thing. Okay, let me put it that way. And in Durban, all the cell phone repairs shops that were there are owned by Indians, all of them. I've never seen one owned by a black person.
Speaker 1:So we're owned by Indians. So I found a place. It was a small place. I was sharing the premises with other people. I put a signage. It was like an open market, so I put my desk there. I put a signage outside.
Speaker 1:Third, phone repairs. I found people coming in. I don't know how to fix phones. So what I did is I will collect this phone. So the first day I got one phone. So the first I got one phone. Okay, what's wrong with the phone? Hey, it's not ringing. Hey, I said okay, all right, what happened? I don't know. I said, okay, give me a second. I found a certain muhammad who has repairing phones. Hey, bro, I've got a phone here. It's not ringing. It's not ringing. No, no, bring it, I'll fix it for you. How much will you charge me? I'll charge you 60 rents, okay. I went to this guy. I said, okay, I'll do it for you for 220. Oh, yeah, yeah, that's the best. Okay, I gave a receipt. I took that phone to my muhammad. Muhammad fixed the phone for me. I gave him his 60 rents. I called the okay wow that person came.
Speaker 1:I said come in two days. He came in two days. His phone was ringing. Well, gave me 220. I made a profit of about hundred and sixty rents Wow, and I had. So it grew. I will get two phones in a day. It grew to having ten phones in a day. I collect them I because my reputation take them to, mohammed fixes them all, and then I made money, yeah and then I realized that wait a minute.
Speaker 1:Let me get my own shop here. I looked for a shop. I found one that was owned by Methodist Church in Alwall Street used to be called Alwall Street at the time. I went there. I found a place, but I had to share premises with another lady called Robin Bester. She was selling second-hand clothes. On the other side I was having my cell phone shop. So we were sharing this nice shop in a busy street and my business grew. Okay, I didn't get that space from Methodist, I got it from Robin. I went to Robin was a tenant of the whole shop to say can I rent a small space in your shop? Of course I'm looking for someone to help me with this big rent here. So she charged me 1200 runs a month. I had a desk in a space as as big as this not so big place but was close to the door at the window.
Speaker 2:What year was?
Speaker 1:this 2003? Okay, yeah, 2003. And then, as my business was growing, robyn's business was going down. So she said to me I'm closing the lady we saw second hand yeah, she's a white woman. Okay, she said I'm, I'm, I'm closing. I said, okay, let me take the whole place. She said, yeah, of course you are doing well. I took the whole place. I had a cell phone business this side I, so I, I I ran that business. In 2004 I bought a celsius franchise. I, I raised money and I bought a franchise. It was not the franchises where they come and brand your shop, but it was a franchise where I could sell contracts.
Speaker 2:Okay, as how much did you buy?
Speaker 1:it for 50,000.
Speaker 2:Wow, yeah, so you were making lots of money from this, yeah yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:And I then sold contract phones and then, after a short while, I realized that no, no, no man, this business now is becoming a burden to me emotionally. I had break-ins and in 2007, I sold it. Wow, I sold it 2007,. I sold it to this young guy, to these guys who were so fond of me, they respected me Wow, so they bought it from me. I took the money, paid my debts. You know, I didn't even have a car at that time. Though I was making money, I never bought myself a car. Why not?
Speaker 2:so how are you getting around taking taxis?
Speaker 1:and that was not my focus. You know, car was never a focus for me and 2007 I've sold my business. Now Robin head that sees where soldiers business.
Speaker 2:Robin is the lady yeah, yeah, robin best she had that season is no longer there.
Speaker 1:She gave me a call, says I had that you sold your shop. I said yeah, I did. I was having problems, break-ins, you know. And yeah, it was not. It was becoming a frustration for me. She then said don't you want to be an estate agent? That was in in 2008.
Speaker 1:I said what, yeah, man, what is an instant agent selling houses? I said no man, robin, come on, come, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on. She said look, I'm going to be an agent. I'm going to an interview with Ches Everett. Don't you want to come with me? I said I've never heard of someone going to an interview and bringing a friend. She said no, man, let's go. I said okay, cool, so she was very fond of you. She was go and okay, cool, so she was very fond of you. She was.
Speaker 1:She took me to her interview. When she got there, she told this guy a bunny fletcher. She said I know this interview is for me, but I I brought him along. He said oh, okay, and bani interviewed both of us. Wow, and who was the owner of the Chess Awarded franchise? Barney Fletcher, you know, interviewed both of us and he took both of us. He asked do you have a car? I said no. Have you ever been an agent before? I said no, and then he said but I like you, you know, and he gave me the opportunity.
Speaker 1:He said normally we don't take someone who doesn't have a transport, but I'll give you this chance. Um, not long after he he took us, robin called me to say scissors, this is not for me, I'm quitting. I think she quit in in two weeks, sure. So later, and I got to realize that Robin is just someone that God used, yeah, to introduce me to the business she was not in it, she didn't even enjoy it.
Speaker 1:So mr Pani Flecha left South Africa, he went to Australia. So he, he, he closed that. He closed that business. It was in Musgrave in Durban. After closing on those premises because he was a tenant there, a company by the name of Leapfrog took over the tenancy.
Speaker 2:I've heard of Leapfrog.
Speaker 1:And Leapfrog was a recruiting agent and I'm one of the people that they recruited. I joined LeapFrog was a recruiting agent and I'm one of the people that they recruited I joined LeapFrog and LeapFrog I must mention this because I think it's very, very important LeapFrog, the owner of that business, then loaned me money to buy a car. Wow, yeah, he loaned me $35,000 and I bought a Toyota test what year was? That 2008, wow 2009, in fact maybe 2008 end of the year. So they loaned me 35,000.
Speaker 1:I bought a Toyota test because, you are working so hard and you are making sales for them. Yeah, they saw my work ethic. They saw that I loved what I was doing. I was dedicated and so I so I bought myself my first and then, in 2009, a lot of things happened in my life. I left Devon, so I resigned from Leapfrog. I went back to East London In 2011,.
Speaker 1:I joined Harcourt's and the principal there is Lance Houseose Hackerts Cornerstone. I joined Hackerts, so I was with Hackerts from 2011. I was under the leadership of Lance Hose and Dina Anvari. Dina is the one who convinced Lance to take me. She felt like I could do it and Lance gave me that opportunity. You know, lance gave me that opportunity and Lance and Dina are people that really, really, really helped me. You know, to go back to the business, and so that was in 2011, 2012, 2013. That's where they saw that this person has got capacity. You know, because because in 2013 I began to get awards, you know, and I got really nice hours because I was, I was, I was doing well. In 2015, I left Hackworths and then, end of 2015, I joined Remix.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:And my principal there was Antoinette Clark, and I joined Remix. That was in 2015, december. That was in 2015 December. So 2016, 2017. I got top hours at Remix. I was really, really, really Regionally or provincially, regionally and even nationally. I was at millionaire status. I was doing well.
Speaker 2:What does that mean? I?
Speaker 1:was selling the meal I was, my commission was was in the millions I was doing yeah, so you're a millionaire yourself. No, no, no, no, I was bringing that to the company. Oh, yeah, that to the company. Um, and then wow, and then, and then wow, and then, uh, I think when you make, when you bring a million commission, a million commission, that is that is millionaire, that is that you got what you call a, a millionaire status award okay but that doesn't mean I got a million.
Speaker 1:yeah, no, no, no. That's what the company got. And then, in 2018, I recorded a meeting with my bosses, with Antoinette and Melody Melody was the manager of the business. I said to them I want, I'm gonna be living, I want to start a company that is going to help people and I am not able to help people here because this is not my company. And they asked me don't I want to buy a remix franchise? I said that would be awesome, in fact, and the reasoning behind was you are buying a model that has been proven and tested and is successful because I'm going to have to abide by the laws of the mind.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So I said I want to start something where I won't have to ask for nobody's permission to do what I want to do, which is the same reason I gave to Pastor Kondlo when.
Speaker 1:I spoke to him about. I want to be able to be free to follow my heart without having to write a proposal to someone and wait for them to approve it or decline it. So and it was not nice to leave remix for both myself and for Antoinette and Melody, but it had to be that it had. Purpose was calling me and in 2018, august, we opened an office in East London, seaswim Lungwana Properties, mind you we start Congratulations. Thank you so much. Congratulations.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much.
Speaker 1:We start this business with no capital. The only money we had with my wife was 30,000 rands 30,000. That 30,000, we had to pay all of it to the lady who gave us premises to run an office.
Speaker 2:She said For rent.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for rent. She said the rent there was 6,000 rands. She said you are on the credit bureau, both of you, and legally I'm not supposed to sign a contract with people who are credit unworthy, so I can't give you this office. So I said to her can I pay for some months in advance? I was hoping that she would say, okay, pay for three months in advance. She said okay pay for five.
Speaker 1:So she needed a deposit of 6,000 rands. And no, no, no, she said pay for four months in advance. So she needed a deposit of 6,000 rands and for four months in advance. So 6, 12, 18, 24, 30,000. I said, okay, give us a second. We spoke with my wife and we said you know what, let's keep it. We paid our first payment. Let's just move this, our first payment was 30,000 bucks and that's the only money we had. We need finisher.
Speaker 1:We need to prepare the place to be a nice we need to have phones, we need to have internet, we need to have a whole lot of things. But we started. When I look back today is is you? We started that business buffet? Yeah, and we had to take that step of faith because if we did not trust God, we had all the reasons why we were not ready to start.
Speaker 1:So what did you tell? Did you get employees from day one? Yes, we employed a receptionist. And what did you tell the receptionist? We'll pay you. No, we paid her from the very first month because we had to make it happen. We had to make, we had to to negotiate with lawyers to say we've sent you these three deals, please give us an advance. Fortunately, we had a law firm that was willing to give us an advance from their own money, you know, which has a big risk for them because they didn't have money on the deal and that firm is Camberlidge Attorneys in East London. They were willing to say OK, from this deal, your commission here is going to be 15,000, but we'll give you 5,000 advance or we'll give you 10,000 advance or we will give you the 15,000.
Speaker 1:And they used their own money because the deal had no money, so they gave us their own money. They didn't even put interest on their advance, but they were helping us to stand and that helped us a lot because we were able to pay.
Speaker 1:fortunately we didn't have rent to pay for four months, but we were able to pay the receptionist, we were able to pay for their calls for the phone and we were able to buy furniture to have a desk, a boardroom. Blah, blah, blah. How I've always been interested. A lot of people like me, we know nothing about the property business, yeah, but so how does it actually work? You spoke about Commission's. So who gets Commission? What percentage is Commission? How does the principal? How does it all work?
Speaker 1:it's a commission and I'm asking because there are people that might watch this that would want to start a property business. It's a fully Commission based business. You come to me you say sell my house, and then sell my house for a million. Yeah, let's say the house is a million. You'll call me to say caesar, I hear you are in this business. I want to sell my house. I come, I evaluate, I evaluate your house, I have the expertise to evaluate. I evaluate the house and then I say, okay, your house is worth a million. Okay, I take pictures, we put it on the market, we send things to the bank for a bank approval for this buyer, the bank evaluates the house and then, voila, we have a grant, someone has bought the house and the commission ranges from anything from 5%, 6% of the purchase price, 7.5%.
Speaker 2:And that's regulated, that's regulated.
Speaker 1:That is the norm okay, it's not no no, no, they are companies that charge 10%, but we've never gone that far. The maximum we've charged is seven comma five percent, and then let's just say that house is a million. They said the commission was six percent.
Speaker 2:We get sixty thousand okay, when the of that sixty thousand when the bank pays, or, yeah, when the bank pays.
Speaker 1:We only get it when the property is registered okay and registration can take something like three months, so we don't get that money immediately when you signed no we get it only at registration, okay. So that's sixty thousand. Half of it comes to the company system properties and half go to the agent. That's okay. Is that industry norm?
Speaker 1:that is a norm, okay um, I know that, uh, there are different splits for different companies. I won't go into that. But one of the thing that we pride ourselves with as this company, susan Luna properties, is when the commission is paid. We pay the agent on the day it comes. Oh, and the reason why we can't wait for a Friday yes, a commission came on a Monday. We can't wait for a Friday because we understand that this agent who waited for this man, this agent is strictly Commission based. They don't have a basic salary, so this person can't afford to wait for Friday. We have to pay this agent immediately. And another thing that we pride ourselves with with is when Commission comes.
Speaker 1:We don't have stories hmm, when money comes, we pay your money. We kind of excuses like why because we? I was an agent.
Speaker 2:I know.
Speaker 1:I understand the desperate nature of an estate agent, yeah, so so that's a thousand fifty come. Half of it comes to us and half goes to the agent. What? What must the company do to end that 50%? We have to give a proper office, a proper office, not a profit in office and you've got lovely space yeah yeah not an office in some shit or areas we must make our agents to, to have the, the confidence and the pride to say come to 122 Cape Road.
Speaker 1:Hmm, when an agent says that to a client, oh, that is decent on the Cape Road. And when an agent says that to a client, oh, that is decent.
Speaker 2:Oh, you're in Cape Road.
Speaker 1:And as a company we must be willing to pay these high rentals here, even our office is in an upmarket place, it's not in a corner like you know, and that's deliberate. Yeah, that's deliberate because we have to use this money to plough it back on the business so that our agents have got self-confidence to say I work for Sizo Mluwa na Properties. Where are they? They are in 2 Allenby Road in Selborne.
Speaker 1:We are in 122 Cape Road in Mill Park. You know that's decent. We have to have phones that are unlimited, where agents can can call the clients so the agents don't pay for the they don't pay for the phone, so you give them the phone space we give them an office. We give them phones, we give them unlimited data and Wi-Fi. You know so, and all of these tools are important, but the most important tool is advertising. The company pays for all of that, and you've done a lot of that, particularly here in Kabeh.
Speaker 1:I promise you, we have street advertising that we pay for, but we have an account with Property 24.
Speaker 1:property 24 is not cheap oh, it's not free no no, I thought property 24 was free, you just send your stuff never. All of these things are expenses that the company incurs agents. They don't pay as an agent. They don't even pay for business cards. The company pays for their business. Everything that the agents use, everything the company pays for, and that is deliberate. That is deliberate why? Because we want to create in a conducive environment for our agent yeah, we don't want our agents to worry about costs of running their own individual business.
Speaker 1:They must just sell. The company must carry that burden. So how do you train them to sell? Let's say I want to be an agent. I come to you. What happens? We have a property secret. I cannot share it here, I can't share it here, but the property secret.
Speaker 2:I cannot say but our agents.
Speaker 1:Our agents are successful because we tell them they're really state culture. Okay, and this is where long wanna properties culture and it works. Do they sign something? No, we don't bind people. The only thing that we sign is is an employment contract. Okay, but it's it's when someone wants to leave us. We don't have things those things attached.
Speaker 1:We don't have things like you can't work for another six months when you leave us and join another company, it's fine, you're free to go. Because we believe in our product, we believe in our brand. We've got a working formula. You know. It's a working formula for our agents, a working formula for us as a brand. You know that is why we were able. We started in 2018 in in East London 2020, during COVID. We opened here. So October 2020, we opened this office. That was at the most difficult time for many businesses, but you know, when the restrictions were loosened up a bit, we came and opened this office and soon we're gonna be opening a third office in Cape Town.
Speaker 1:I won't tell you, but we are opening. We are thinking Pretoria or Cape Town, we are thinking so we are opening a third office, wow, so so what, what?
Speaker 1:what would your advice be to people that want to go into this business property business? Five key things. Okay, don't tell us your secret. Never be money-driven, okay, don't be money, don't be money-driven money will. Being money driven can make you desperate and unethical, okay, yeah. Be vision driven, yeah, but you must have a cornerstone for what you want to achieve. Our cornerstone, myself and Andy, see where which is my, my business is she also?
Speaker 2:is she the co-director? Yeah, she is silent partner.
Speaker 1:You know we are 50 50 owners. On paper, I promise you she's my wife, but on paper she owns 50 of that. That's amazing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so we are 50 50 owners our the heart of our business is our faith in God. Okay, our faith in God is the driving force. Driving force, but also the driving principle. We can't have greed, the ethics of running a business, because that is not Godly. Yeah, so I've mentioned three things. Is it three that's? You mentioned two. So I said, I said and never be driven by money then yes, okay, three. Then you said have a vision yeah you, you must never be true, but be people driven yes yeah.
Speaker 1:And then, thirdly, I said, let let the cornerstone of your business. It must have a cornerstone yes, our faith yes okay, your team is the heart of the business. They are not the objects. Okay that you use no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Your team, your team, is your business partners. If you treat your team as your subordinates, you're gonna have it, you're gonna have a problem, you're gonna have a problem. You're gonna have a problem. Your team are not your subordinates.
Speaker 1:Your team are your partners, your team are your partners. It's not a verbal position, it's a business running position. You can't make decisions without your team. You can't. You can't because without your team you can't. You can't because without your team we don't have a business. So how does the structure then work of your team? You've got agents. You've got two directors yeah, then do you have a management team? We have, we have a management team. For example, you've got a manager here, okay, okay, we've got an admin team, okay, okay, we have a, a, a branding, a branding manager for your whole business for both offices.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, he's based in East London. Full-time. Full-time yeah yeah, good time. He's the one who designs all of our brand. You know, he is the one who designs?
Speaker 1:all of our branding. You know he's the one who does all of our marketing material. And then we've got the agents Everything that we do. We must make sure that we consult our team, we discuss it as a team and we agree. If we come with an idea to the team and the team doesn't like it, we don't do it. So do you have weekly meetings where you discuss weekly? We have weekly meetings. We have both offices, both offices. We have got regular trainings. For example, we had a training today. Every time I come here we have a training but even if I don't, come, we have a capable manager here who does trainings on a weekly basis.
Speaker 1:Don't come, we have a capable manager here who does trainings on a weekly basis. Weekly basis, weekly basis, it's either training or a meeting. Okay, yeah, yeah, um, so so the fourth pillar is see and treat. See and treat your team as your partners, not as your supporting needs. I think I've mentioned four. I think the last one is be fearless.
Speaker 2:That's a nice one.
Speaker 1:You can't succeed if you allow what you don't have to be your limitation. Yeah, yeah, no, that's a nice one. You can't succeed when you focus on what you don't have, on what you need. Success comes from what you have. The problem is, we look down on what we have. You look at what you have and you're like it's not enough. In fact, it is enough. In fact, what you have is all that you need. You grow from there. People always talk we need funding.
Speaker 2:We need a room.
Speaker 1:We need this Many a times. They never get there. Most people who get funding and get it, they go down after some time. Why? Because, when you look at it, if we were to be honest, they didn't build themselves to succeed. They don't have their muscle. They got someone helping them and sometimes that is not good for success. Because you did not work this thing to happen, you didn't get the disappointments and the frustrations and the stresses of hey, the month is coming to an end, I need rent, I need to pay salaries.
Speaker 2:Have you ever felt?
Speaker 1:like that with this business, I promise you. You feel it all the time. You feel it all the time. You feel it all the time as you grow, you develop the wisdom to know how to pace yourself. You can't use business money for yourself. It's a problem. Business money is for business. Business money must do business things On yourself as a director. Use your money, you understand. Use your money. Don't use business money for you. That business won't survive. That business will not survive. You have to use business money to improve the business, not improve yourself. So be fearless. Yes, be fearless when you see me. I live by faith. We go to unfamiliar territories by faith.
Speaker 1:We enter there by faith. We say I'm going in. I don't know how it's going to pan out, but I'm going in. I may not know how it's going to pan out, but I will succeed. I will have frustrations.
Speaker 1:I will have disappointments, I will have probably fears of failure, but those fears won't restrict me. The fear is an emotion, it's not a hindrance emotion. When you feel fear, you push it aside, you just do it. Hey, that's hey. Yeah, you just do it. I'm telling you my two last questions, from the sea that the first one is when, when do you or do you switch off? When, how do you switch off, you and your wife running the business? Because I think my wife and I struggled a bit with that. Okay, in terms of, because, as co-directors now the bedroom ends up becoming the boardroom when we are in the living room then she thinks, oh, I have to, so how do you navigate that? You know you don't switch off when you do something you love. Okay, yeah, you can't switch off Because real estate is my passion. Okay, I love it. I love real estate. Real estate is me okay. When I'm at home and there is a real estate question, I have to answer it anytime. I can't switch off because it's my passion. Release, it is not my job. Hmm, release it is my life. Okay, yeah, it's not a job for me. That is why I can do it, even in a dry season. I will continue to do it. I will never stop real estate. Hmm, it's my legacy. Yeah, it's my children's inheritance. It's my legacy. It's my children's inheritance, it's my purpose, it's a tool that God has given me to change many lives.
Speaker 1:Since we started in East London, we have given opportunity to more than 65 people in Islana. That's like in three years, four years, three, four years. Here, we have given opportunity to more than 45 people. Sure, in Islana now we've got approximately 45 visit agents and here we've got approximately 25. You've got a big team? Yeah, approximately 25. We are about impact and the success of the people that we give opportunity to. When they succeed, we succeed. Yeah, it's as simple as that. When our team succeed, we succeed.
Speaker 1:My final question would be 20 years from now? Yeah, where do you see C's? We're no gonna properties. 20 years from Japan? Wow. In United States of America, in Australia, well, in Nigeria, in China, in Mozambique, I see us having an academy, a massive academy, a college where we will be training, instead, agents, property developers, construction, property management, a whole lot of things related to property architecture. Wow, the sky is the limit. We see ourselves owning hotels, owning, you know, game parks. You know, a whole real estate is is limitless. We see ourselves limitless. We see ourselves owning medical centers. That's real estate. As to who's running, it is another story, but we see ourselves owning a building called a medical center. Wow, wow, wow. That's amazing. That's amazing and I think it's highly possible with how you are handling your company presently, sir. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you, sir. What's your message to young people of South Africa? Never allow yourself to feel inadequate. Never allow yourself to feel like you don't have enough. Success blossoms from what you have from where you are.
Speaker 1:Yeah, a lot of people in the Eastern Cape they will look at, rebecca, this London. What I couldn't say hey, there is nothing money in this town. I want to go to job. Yeah, you can become awesome and super powerful and super successful from where you are. Who said for you to have a big media company, you must run it in Joburg. You can run it from here and become really really, really, really, really big.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's amazing, that's amazing, that's amazing.
