Fuhr started his career as a singer and music shop assistant in the 70s, before joining his brother to start South Africa’s equivalent of K-Mart (later SuperMart and now JetMart) with no experience, but a keen sense of adventure and an inability to turn down a dare. From there he moved into race relations and, later, beauty.
His unconventional resume eventually resulted in 200 salons, 3500 employees, 180-plus franchisees, and half a million loyalty club members all devoted to the Sorbet brand.
Here are his 5 tips for business success:
1. To manage people effectively, you need to understand the social, economic and political environment in which they are living.
It’s important to take cognisance of the external environment your staff live in because it has impact inside the business. Issues of race, religion and culture are as relevant in today’s workplace as they were in the South Africa’s politically fraught 70s and have an enormous impact on productivity. “We wonder why South Africa isn’t up there in the productivity stakes we come up against other countries, it’s quite clear we haven’t been able to address this melting pot of diversity in this country,” Fuhr says.
2. Don’t go into business to make money.
If your business is just about making money, it’s not customer-centric, which means you’ll cut costs on things that are important to people. Rather go into business to serve the needs and wants of people, If you do that well the money will come.
3. Do something different
“Sameness is a disease,” says Fuhr. “When people tell me it can’t be done, that really spurs me on, that’s an exciting challenge.”
“All I was trying to do [with Sorbet] was to find every differentiator in the market. From the name, to the look and feel, to the branding and staffing. I realised that culture at the end would be the real differentiator, never copy a culture.”
4. Ignorance can be wisdom
“I’ve always enjoyed coming into a business or an industry with fresh eyes, because you’re not contaminated by the conventional wisdom of what works and what doesn’t, you just come in with what your gut tells you,” says Fuhr. “When I started Sorbet, I tried not to ask too many questions. I decided if I’m going to do this, I’m going to blunder in and make it happen. Whatever was out there, I was going to do it differently.”
5. Be intuitive, be courageous, be determined and don’t be afraid to fail.
“Intuition is essentially knowing that something is right, even though you don’t have the proof that it will work.”
“[To be an entrepreneur] you need to be able to vasbyt, even when you want to throw in the towel.”
“You need to know that you’re in it for the long haul and have the determination to see it through over time.”
“You can’t be afraid to fail,” says Fuhr.
