From $20 to $300 million. Ramachandran Ottapathu arrived in Botswana with $20 to march across Africa to become a retail king. Ottapathu is the head of Choppies, Botswana’s biggest retailer, with a turnover in 2015 of $533 million. Today, Choppies runs 170 stores across Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
Herman Mashaba started out as a travelling crockery salesman. Limited by the Group Areas Act he saw a gap in business and created Black Like Me, the only black hair care company in the country. From selling his products from the boot of his car, his personal wealth now sits at $100 million. A remarkable way to come from a small village called Hammanskraal in Gauteng.
On any given day, you can find Mike Lawrie sitting on the patio with a cup of tea in his hand or watering his plants. His wife, Christine, plays scrabble on Fridays. He prefers to dress in khaki shorts and a cotton shirt in the summer heat. This is the 75-year-old who brought the internet to Africa, making it possible for kids, and their parents, to watch movies, play games and surf the World Wide Web from their homes.
