Why black family businesses fail

Now. . . I was not instructed in the art of business at dinner table – though we had a dinner table, it was rare for us to sit as a family around it.

My mother, a teacher, would arrive in the afternoon and after food was made would go and sleep, I knew that the shop closed at 20:30 and would expect her husband by 21:15. After a full day with school and extramural activities, by supper time I was tired and would sit in front of the television to have my supper.

I am sure many folks shared this sort of family life, as I am sure many had a very different family life. This was mine, and despite all that - an entrepreneur was born.

Reason 1: Authoritarian view

It needs to be borne in mind that traditionally; black families are run in a particular manner – where the father as the head is the be all and end all of all things in the family.

A unique standing that is bequeath to him irrespective of ability and conduct within the family business – fundamentally there is nothing wrong with having the father as the head of the family, but as a head one needs to be accommodating of all minds in the business and family, driving the vision of the business and ensuring that a clear set of fundamentals is set up followed for both family and business.

The founder needs to convey the wishes and hopes he has for the business that each person can see themselves as an asset in the family and the business, an asset able of contributing to the growth and development of the business.

Where the line is so thin between family and business – kids need to be introduced to the daily running of the business as soon as possible. Where possible children need from a young age be able to work in the business for a fair wage price.

It is therefore essential that people be paid for work rendered and a culture of fair exchange to be encouraged in the family.

Reasons 2: Lack of vision

In any organisation, commercial, social or spiritual – a clear vision needs to be outlined with a strategy to make that vision a reality, developed.

Enterprises in the township seemed to have happened in a haphazard way, where the founder just got going and never got the time to look back and realise what he has built and where he would like to take it.

As the famous English dictum goes – ‘if you stand for nothing, you will fall for anything’. As soon as the founder hits the ground, his body not even cold – one would find that the wife and children have already started to squander the hard earned money. 

In most cases they do not even appreciate the effort it took to raise to such levels of riches – a fault that can only be attributed to the founder for not conveying the required vision and fundamentals required to govern the family and the business.

Reason 3: Nurturing a work ethic

It may sound quite ludicrous to many, but in my dealings with many entrepreneurial families – experience has shown that the work ethic and desire to prosper that exist in the first generation is seldom if ever translated to the second and successive generations.

The ‘Zenzele’ (stand up and do it yourself) family,  as I observed in my small township had at the helm – a go getter and founder of a business spanning general dealer shop, butchery, bottle store and boarding house – an impressive empire for a black family in the 80s. A man with a name like Zenzele, can only be a force to be reckoned with.

Upon the founder’s untimely passing, none of his sons had the will and ability to take over operations. Not sharing any of the father’s will to succeed or create where there was nothing, something – the very definition of any entrepreneur, no contender come to the forefront.

This phenomenon is not just confined to entrepreneurial parents and kids but most black families one finds that the drive for success is not fully translated to the next generation. Thus a good work ethic present in the parents is not adequately translated to the children and to their children.

Of course as with all things in life there are very successful families who have been able to translate the virtues of a good work ethic to successive generations.

The onus lies with the founder and spouse to lay the necessary foundation to ensure that the children are equipped with skills from a young age that will benefit them as leaders in the family business and the family in the future.