BUSINESS BRAINS
PORTRAITS IN SUCCESS
Ian Fuhr success
The sweet taste of Sorbet’s
A WHILE BACK, I WAS TAXIED THROUGH THE GROTtiest areas of Lagos, Nigeria. My client was
researching beauty parlours in this more24-hour-city-than-New York City. We
hopped puddles of raw sewerage, sticking
out like tweety birds in a coal mine, as we
peeked through windows of backdoor salons, where Lagosian women with technicolour nails and fire-red lipstick chatted as
they were being plucked, pulled, painted
and frizzed. But, who cares, this isn’t
about me, this is about Ian Fuhr.
Leaving university mid-degree to sing in
cocktail bars floored his folks, but it was a
passion and love for music that landed
him at Gallo Records. After 18 months
flipping through vinyl LPs, he departed,
leaving behind his first and only experience clocking time.
Fuhr’s sheltered Jewish upbringing dodging matzah balls didn’t exactly expose him
to the realities of apartheid South Africa. It
was only when he landed himself in a management position at Kmart, a consumer
goods company he and his brother established, that he was touched by South Africa’s ills. He had his work cut out for him, naively managing a complement of staff who
were expected to be productive and ethical,
yet simultaneously suffering the dramas of
a cruel regime. Launch, a learning curve.
Meanwhile, music in the racks of Kmart
introduced Ian to two popular artists, Letta Mbulu and Caiphus Semenye. Cementing a relationship with these two exiled
stars, he was granted the distribution
rights of their tunes in South Africa. This
led to Fuhr establishing a record label,
Moonshine. Flogging the label in ’85, he
returned to Kmart.
On his return, using Kmart as a test
tube for mending walls, he developed programmes to assist in bridging the disparities of the black staff within the work environment – promoting blacks into man-
30 JEWISH LIFE
ISSUE 82
WITH A LION’S COURAGE AND A DUNG BEETLE’S
DETERMINATION, HE LEANED IN.
agement was unique for the times. This
experience heaved him into creating a race
relations company called Labour Link
Consultancy. After a seven-year itch, Ian
returned to the newly named Super Mart,
which the brothers Fuhr had primed for
disposal to Edcon in 2002/2003.
Super Mart was Ian’s springboard. He
activated the opportunities presented to
him. I don’t know what defines an entrepreneur, but Ian’s case presents a study.
Not dictated to by degrees or predetermined paths, not straitjacketed by the lure
of loot nor the sniff of success, not afraid to
fail, not afraid to explore, Fuhr tried, that’s
all he did. “Life is what happens while
you’re busy making plans.” Relying on a pioneer’s recipe of intuition, courage and determination, following the paths which led
to other paths which led to further paths,
Ian created the doors to opportunity. For
Ian, as an explorer and a pioneer, there are
no road maps, or evidence for the journeys
he takes. A fighting entrepreneur paves the
path, draws the map, engineers his own
highway, his own trajectory through investigation, research and will.
Ian discusses intuition, for it hints that
something is inherently right, but there is
no evidence to prove such courage, as there
will always be obstacles and challenges.
Thirdly, without determination, you won’t
be able to see your venture through to completion. And this is coupled with a naive
confidence that it’ll all be okay.
Drawing on his life’s experience, his relationships, his visions, his efforts and his intuition, he kick-started his next adventure.
While lying on a massage table, chatting to
the masseuse with an ear close to the
ground, the opportunity presented itself.
Sorbet, not a two-scoop, but a chain of
beauty stores.
Telling me he’s not got the face for the
cover of a magazine, at first he didn’t think
beauty to be a great idea. But having the
itch for diving into existing, established
markets, to upset apple carts, Ian heeded
his intuition, and the masseuses coaxing.
Through investigation, he determined the
fragmented industry had no multi-unit
chain. This was his opening. And so, with a
lion’s courage and a dung beetle’s determination, he leaned in. With sufficient cash
from the Edcon deal, he went on a buying
rampage, picking up independent beauty
salons, spinning pumpkins into chariots.
And so Sorbet came to be.
Sorbet has given Fuhr the opportunity
to greet thousands of guests, to influence
them positively, to turn them chipper. Today, Sorbet numbers 117 stores and continues on the march.
I remember cruising down Grant Avenue
in 2005, listening to Sheryl Crow, thinking
about a new ice-cream store that had arrived, alas. That year, 200 were launched.
This isn’t about me, this is Ian’s story.
Best start-up tip: Differe ntiate yourself.
Don’t be an also-ran doing the same thing
expecting different results. Sorbet differs in
all its aspects – its branding, its marketing,
its remuneration packages. Be different.
Best advice: His dad, founder of Russel
and Co, which started Joshua Doore, was a
staunch believer in customer service and
the importance of refunding and guaranteeing. “Make people happy at any cost.”
Best advice to give: Don’t go into
business to make money; identify a
need, serve the need and if it’s done
well, success will follow.
Best read: Steve Jobs biography
Inspired by: Robbie Brozin JL
PHOTOGRAPH: SUPPLIED
BY DAN CHAITOWITZ