The South African media mogul who started out with R60 and became a multi-millionaire
Media mogul and ‘Dragon’ Lebo Gunguluza is known for his business acumen and entrepreneurial zest— but his journey to the Dragon’s Den and a multi-million rand media enterprise was littered with hurdles and many setbacks.
Gunguluza was born in Elalini, New Brighton, Port Elizabeth (Gqeberha), in the 1970s in a shack right behind a funeral parlour. In one television interview, he jokingly said, “I was born in a shack, behind dead people”.
His father passed away when he was six years old, and his mother, who was a nurse, had to raise him and his two siblings on her own.
“She really struggled, but there was one thing that she always wanted us to do, and that was to be educated, so all the money that she made as a nurse, she planted it into any form of ways to educate us,” Gunguluza recalled in an interview with TrendCom TV.
He went to a rural school called Thubalethu, where there were many boycotts against the apartheid system’s Bantu Education.
“There we boycotted all the time,” which contributed to him having to repeat some of his grades.
Because of this, Gunguluza’s mother took the last bit of money saved for university education to move him and his siblings to a private school called Woodridge College. He was at Woodridge College from Grade 9 up until he finished his matric at the age of 20.
He remembered being teased about being the oldest in class and for not being able to speak English when he came to the school, but Gunguluza ended up having the last laugh.
He matriculated with flying colours, and it was around this time when he made the commitment to himself for financial success:
- By the age of 25, he must be a millionaire;
- By the age of 35, he must be a multi-millionaire;
- By the age of 45, he must be a billionaire.
“All I knew was that I don’t care what I do, but I must just make sure that I am not living the life that I had been living for the past 20 years… because I did not enjoy those years,” said Gunguluza.
Inspired by his parents’ dedication to furthering education, Gunguluza was determined to obtain a university degree, having met the minimum requirements, despite not having the funds or a bursary to cover his fees.
In 1990, he got on a bus from PE to Durban with just R60 in his pocket and the plan of enrolling for a degree at the University of Natal.
The day before classes started, Gunguluza was able to secure a loan for his studies, where he would go on to study a BCom (after switching from arts and drama)
However, his loan was only funded for three years, thus for his final year he had to look for funding elsewhere.
He approached Edgars, offering to open accounts for them for students at the university. They gave him one month, and the number of accounts that Gunguluza was able to open far exceeded their expectations.
He was hired as a training manager, which provided a salary that he used to pay for his studies. He worked at Edgars during the day and studied at night.
After university, Gunguluza started working at the SABC, where he quickly climbed the ranks from account executive to brand communications, and by the time he turned 24, he was a marketing manager at MetroFM.
By then, he was already taking care of his entire family back home and wanted to earn more money.
He was headhunted and got a relatively lucrative job with an advertising company called Herdbuoys, the country’s first black-owned advertising agency. Gunguluza worked on various high-profile accounts like that of Hush Puppies and SA Breweries, earning double his SABC salary.
While he said that he enjoyed the work, “the only challenge that I had was that I would be working from early morning to 10 pm every day. I thought that this was not right, I am working so hard every day, but the money is the same.”
This, coupled with the fact that he was 26 and had not met his goal of becoming a millionaire by 25, led him to resign from his position to “get back into focus.”
Fueled by the desire to build a business that would earn him enough to take care of his family and achieve his first big goal, he started Gunguluza Entertainment.
Faced with cash flow issues, he leveraged his talents to turn around Insomnia, a struggling nightclub in Sandton, by taking over the door operations.
This success led him to earn more in a week than he had in a month at his advertising job, marking his entry into entrepreneurship.
Gunguluza shifted to managing artists, quickly gaining popularity and earning about R100,000 per event.
In 1997, he anticipated the launch of the youth radio station YFM and secured R500,000 in airtime, organising a R4 million launch event featuring Kwaito stars.
This event, which attracted 15,000 people and netted him R1.5 million, underscored his ability to use barter and resources effectively, achieving his first million by age 27.
He then managed artists like Mandoza and Chiskop but realised this industry wasn’t stable for him.
By early 1999, financial difficulties forced him to sell his car, close accounts, and rely on family support.
This hardship taught him the importance of cash flow management and business planning, pivotal lessons that reshaped his approach.
In the same year, Gunguluza launched Corporate Fusion, a corporate communications and events company, which quickly earned over R2 million.
He then established Gunguluza Enterprises and Media (GEM) in 2002, a multimedia and events company.
However, poor management and overspending led to a financial crisis by 2004, necessitating the closure of GEM and settlement of debts.
Gunguluza recovered by acquiring Primi Piatti, a successful restaurant that restored his financial stability and reputation. However, when they separated, it eventually went to his ex-wife.
He restructured GEM, focusing on media, hospitality, technology, property, and investment, turning it into a multimillion-rand business. To expedite growth, he acquired interests in existing companies and enhanced their sales and marketing.
In 2004, Gunguluza expanded his publishing ventures with Uhuru Communications, launching Municipal Focus and other publications.
He diversified into hotels and a car hire company, aiming to control every link in the service chain. Today, he manages GEM’s numerous companies with strict hiring policies and is pursuing his R1 billion goal.
Gunguluza also co-founded the South African Black Entrepreneurs Forum (SABEF) in 2008, which supports and inspires young black entrepreneurs, growing to 30,000 members.
Additionally, he co-founded the Local Government Business Network (LGBN) to connect local government and the private sector and launched Izani Capital to support young entrepreneurs and invest in fintech.
Although the definitive figure is unknown, his net worth today is far from the R60 seen in 1990—estimated to be between R350 million and half a billion.
It’s been a tumultuous journey for the South African entrepreneur, but he’s managed to ride out the storm and steady the ship – a lesson in persistence, resilience, and getting back in spite of mistakes.
According to Gunguluza, aspiring entrepreneurs should have a long-term vision for their businesses, work hard, stay disciplined, be patient and keep believing in themselves.
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