Renowned international businessman and chairperson of The Foschini Group, Michael Lewis, was born into a multigenerational business legacy. He was named for his grandfather, Meyer Lewis, who died two years before he was born. Lewis’s father, Stanley, told him Meyer’s story. “It started in the traditional way that so many Jewish family stories in South Africa do – with my grandfather’s escape from Latvia,” Lewis says. Smuggled through Europe into England, he eventually sailed south and settled in Cape Town. Meyer, who was around 16 at the time, began working as a hawker, selling small supplies to make a living. He eventually found customers in rural areas, and when some couldn’t afford to pay him, they traded lamps, tables, and other items, which was how he learned about furniture. He later purchased a business called Woodstock Auction Mart, which he eventually turned into a furniture shop called M Lewis and Company. “From there, he developed the business, and it became Lewis Stores.” Lewis’s uncles, and later his father, worked in the business. “Lewis Stores offered credit, and my father went with my grandfather to collect the money,” Lewis says. “Here, he learned a lot about reading people, how to judge personalities, and about human compassion. That informed a huge part of his character. I remember hearing those stories. Growing up in a household where the idea of success went hand in hand with compassion had a big influence on me.” Stanley tragically lost both his brothers in 1950 within six weeks of one another. By this time, a large British retail business had taken a strategic interest in Lewis Stores, and it later took control of the company. Stanley felt the business had lost its “people culture”, and decided to leave and establish something of his own. In 1957, he identified an opportunity in Foschini, then a small public company, and slowly gained control of what ultimately became known as The Foschini Group. Lewis was born in 1959, and says he had his first business conversation with his father at the age of six. From then on, they would visit stores together. “As I grew older, I would watch him talk to managers and customers, looking at what he tried to impart. From 12 years old, I sat in meetings with him.” When the time came to forge his own path, Lewis felt a tremendous pull to his father and to what he was trying to achieve. “I was very taken with him as an individual, as a Jew, from a Zionistic point of view. He was a wonderful person to grow up around because there was so much to him.” Yet, while he believes it was a great privilege to growing up in a family business, Lewis says it made his path less straightforward. “In a family business, the colleagues who you eventually interact with see you as the boss’s son, and it’s difficult to break that perception. It’s a process that happens only over time as you demonstrate who you are. Also, though doors are opened for you, you’ve still got to walk through them. In so doing, you have to find a way of existing outside of the framework of your sponsor, who in this case was my dad.” That’s why, after joining the navy for two years and then studying economics and politics at the University of Cape Town, Lewis grabbed an opportunity to work for an Edinburgh-based investment company. He later moved with the company to London. “While I stayed close to my dad and was very conscious of what he was doing, I was able to function outside of the family network and be my own person,” he says. “I enjoyed that independence, and the work enabled me to develop a set of financial analysis and investment skills that I still use today. It prepared me for the challenge that eventually came in 1987, namely how to continue to build and oversee this big business in South Africa while ensuring that we expanded it domestically and internationally.” When a now experienced Lewis joined his father to accomplish these goals, he brought a new level of self-confidence. “My dad turned 65, and decided to spend more time in England, and he set up an investment office. I watched how he was continuing to chair and control the business in South Africa, while simultaneously expanding internationally, which to this day, is something I’m still engaged in.” In addition to chairing The Foschini Group, Lewis also chairs his Australian luggage, fashion, and accessory retail business, Strand, now operating beyond Australia. “It’s 100% owned by the family, and I’ve been intimately involved in its development and internationalisation,” he says. He also looks after his family’s investments. Lewis says his enduring drive comes from the knowledge that his father “entrusted and trusted” him to build a story larger than both of them. It’s a story that ultimately benefits society through the people the family’s businesses employ. Though Lewis says he feels a family obligation to keep writing this story, he also enjoys what he does immensely. “It’s managing the people, the strategy, and the financing, the challenge that comes with trying to develop something that will endure. I also strongly relate to consumer-facing businesses, creating or developing brands and trying to segment customers, while also stepping up to the ongoing digital challenge.” Like his father before him, Lewis knows the value of those with whom he works. “What distinguishes successful businesses from unsuccessful ones is generally people,” he says. It’s how people manage and develop the assets of a business that counts, he says, as well as the relationships they form. Lewis says prioritising people is equally important in one’s personal life. “You need to be part of something bigger than yourself, whether it be community, shul, business, philanthropy, or small acts of kindness. This makes you more than you otherwise would be, and gives you a level of fulfilment that’s otherwise hard to achieve. “People won’t remember what you do with your life from a business achievement or material perspective, they will remember what it was like to encounter you,” he says. “Encountering someone is a bigger concept than just meeting them.” It’s about the impact they make on you. “In the end, if someone asks what it was like to encounter you and it’s positively answered, you’ve lived your life well.” Lewis hopes to leave such a legacy. in honour of Helen Suzman 12 Retail icon creates a legacy Michael Lewis “ People won’t remember what you do with your life from a business achievement or material perspective, they will remember what it was like to encounter you. kirsh family lifetime achievement Award winner
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