September 2016
INSPIRATION JUNCTION
Don ’ t despise the days of small beginnings
S tarting a business takes a lot of guts and growing it requires a lot hardwork , focus and dedication . The case study that follows is an extract from Bheki Zungu ’ s book titled “ Don ’ t Be Afraid to Try ”, which was published in 2014 . It is a story of Debonairs Pizza .
According to the case study that was published in the book titled Marketing Success Stories by Michael Can ’ t , Ricardo Machado et . al , here is how this pizza business started :
Debonairs Pizza , founded in September 1991 , was the brainchild of university students Craig Mackenzie and Andrew Harvey . Having seen the success of the pizza delivery industry in the USA , Mackenzie realized that this market in South Africa was , at that time , underdeveloped . On exploring the opportunities and discussing their proposed pizza delivery service , they were met with skepticism back home .
Regardless of this negative sentiment , they believed in their idea and started the business with their army savings , which was a sum total of approximately R6 000 .
It is clear that once McKenzie and Harvey had decided to bring about the Debonairs concept , they fixed their minds on their goal and did not allow any form of skepticism or
negative sentiment to deter them . They were ready to try out their idea , and make it work . I like the way the company name came about :
One of their buddies came up with the name Debonair by paging through the Oxford dictionary .
What is very interesting is that Mckenzie and Harvey were not even studying business studies at university when they started the business :
The business was started in Pietermaritzburg where the two were studying as full-time students . Mackenzie was a BSc Agriculture student whilst Harvey was studying law . Mackenzie ’ s brother owned a Spar supermarket in town .
This shows that people who are open to opportunities and are willing to use them can be greatly rewarded . It is not always about the background , but the willingness to take a chance on the opportunities that present themselves . The limited space at the Spar bakery also did not deter the two would-be entrepreneurs from pursuing their venture :
The Spar housed a typical supermarket bakery , which was positioned at the back of the outlet … Space was limited within the bakery and the only storage facilities available were the space on top of the oven and a small domestic fridge .
It is interesting that when Debonairs Pizza started , the entrepreneurs were introducing new things that most people were not used to at that time , for instance free delivery service by people with a unique dress code which was white shirts and bowties :
The first night of trading resulted in a total of eight pizzas ordered and delivered to suitably impressed friends around town . The next night a small pamphlet drops and more obliging friends resulted in a considerable increase in sales . From that day on , Debonairs Pizza ’ s deliveries grew exponentially .
The rest is history . Debonairs Pizza grew and grew and in 1996 it was acquired by the Steers Group ( now Famous Brands ).
Article contributed by Bheki Zungu , who has started a YouTube channel called DBA Channel , through which he provides career guidance and workplace readiness videos , promotes reading as well as profile small businesses . To view the videos , you can search for Bheki Zungu DBA Channel on YouTube or Google .
The small business that would like to be profiled through DBA Channel , can contact Bheki Zungu by sending an e-mail to sbongoz @ gmail . com
Bheki Zungu ( Programme Manager & Acting National Risk Manager – Transnet )