“Do it now; do it the best” – the man who built Dion Business stalwart and award-winning bodybuilder, Dion Friedland, 81, best known for starting the iconic and successful retailer Dion Stores, credits his parents for giving him the drive to succeed. “They were great parents, but they didn’t spoil me. I had to fight to get what I wanted. I think those are the kind of kids who succeed,” he says. From the age of 10, Friedland had an entrepreneurial spirit, digging up charms and selling them to a friend, and later sewing ties and selling them to his classmates. On his 15th birthday, he started a job at OK Bazaars, the biggest retailer in South Africa at the time, and his retail journey began. Matriculating at 16 because he’d been rapidly promoted at school, Friedland studied at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) and worked at a discount clothing store owned by his friend’s father. He later asked his boss for an extra discount on shirts, began selling them to his Wits classmates, and soon recruited multiple fellow students to sell for him too. “A guy who lived in my building worked for an electrical wholesaler and told the owner about me. He asked to meet me, and gave me a job as a rep for the company,” Friedland says. He managed to save R1 000, and used it to rent half the premises of a bicycle store in Braamfontein run by one of his customers. He called his half of the store Factory Price Distributors. With a partner, he subsequently opened a second store, and named it Rave Discount Stores, a name he soon gave to his initial shop as well. As Rave Stores grew, prominent businessman Natie Kirsh, Friedland’s cousin, bought a share in the business. “Six years later, I told him that we needed to get a big shop downtown,” Friedland says. He identified Ansteys, a department store in financial trouble as a potential opportunity. Friedland and Kirsh ultimately negotiated an amazing merger deal, putting Rave Stores into Ansteys and taking 80.5% of the shares of the public company. After making significant changes to Ansteys, Friedland sold it to Greatermans, then the second largest retail chain in South Africa, for a significant sum. “Effectively, I was retired at about 26 years old,” he says. Friedland was hounded by people seeking to do deals with him, but ultimately decided to buy a small building on Louis Botha Avenue. He concluded an R80 000 purchase deal over the phone, and called the shop Dion Stores. Here, he ruthlessly cut prices and sales soared. The industrymandated retail price maintenance, which meant they had to sell goods at the same price, Friedland says. “I said, ‘The hell with that, I’m going to cut prices.’” His electrical wholesale background meant he could buy goods on wholesale and at a discount, making this possible. He also made cash deals to maintain his low-cost offering. “We became a sensation. People would drive a hundred miles to buy a washing machine or a refrigerator from us,” he says. “Whatever prices Rave Stores – which now belonged to Greatermans – came out with, we undercut.” Greatermans therefore started a price war, which was publicised in the Sunday Times newspaper, providing great publicity for Dion Stores. Under Greatermans, Rave Stores ultimately suffered a R7 million tax loss and eventually, Friedland was asked to buy the stores back. He did so for almost nothing, wrote off the tax loss within a year, and landed up with 12 big Dion Stores. “Those 12 stores did about 20% of all large appliance and television business in the whole country,” Friedland says. “We dominated the industry, and I became a huge advertiser across different media. I was the first to use coloured advertising supplements in the Sunday Times.” He also pioneered longer shopping hours, inspired by trends he had witnessed in the United States (US) and simply paid the fines that came with being open after industry-mandated hours. “I expect perfection, which I think is another thing that made me successful,” he says. “We just had a higher standard than other people.” Friedland is also particularly proud that a number of his employees went on to become entrepreneurs themselves. “We trained people very well so they could go and start their own businesses,” he says. Yet, when the rand collapsed in 1985, Friedland sold his entire company to Kirsh, who sold to Rusfurn. Makro ultimately took over, and converted the remaining Dion Stores into Game. Friedland went on to invest his money in hedge funds. He started Magnum Funds and formed the Hedge Fund Association that today spans many countries. Friedland also has various business interests around the world. He heads up a green technology company in South Africa called Radical Waters, and has achieved success in the hotel business. A highlight in that industry was developing and selling Cap Juluca, which attracted celebrity visitors and became the top-rated hotel in the Caribbean. Also highly driven in areas beyond business, Friedland was an avid tennis player for many years. Yet after a hip replacement, he focused on bodybuilding. “It’s kept me healthy,” he says. From Mr Europe to Mr Universe, he holds more than 50 international titles in his age group. “At the end of September this year, I won two more world bodybuilding titles,” he says. Together with bodybuilding and stock market investing, travelling around the world occupies much of Friedland’s time. He and his wife divide each year between the US, South Africa, and Italy. You’ve got to be prepared to work hard, he says, when asked for advice for aspiring business owners. “Up to the age of 60, I averaged about four hours sleep during the week. If you want to succeed in business, you need to be relentless, determined, and work to overcome adversity because not everything goes right. You’ve got to be a fighter. “You’ve got to mix with people you can learn from, keep reading, and just keep growing your knowledge. You also need to teach, because if you’re going to succeed, you’ve got to teach your people how to do well. That’s one of my strengths, I can teach and motivate people to become successful.” In training his Dion Stores management team, Friedland put plastic plaques on their desks with the words: “Do it now.” “That’s my philosophy,” he says. “If you want to do something, do it now, do it to be the best, and put your heart into it.” • Dion Friedland is also nominated in the Absa Business Leadership and Eric Ellerine Entrepreneur categories Dion Friedland If you want to do something, do it now, do it to be the best, and put your heart into it. 28 Absa Business Icon Award winner “ Photo: Kęstas Pikūnas
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