Born-and-raised in Durban, South Africa, with a passion for people, Murray has developed a socially conscious property business that uplifts entrepreneurs and communities across the globe. By age thirty, and with the help of an incredible team, he built a R500-million shopping centre portfolio with additional private equity investments generating a combined annual revenue of R250-million.
In 2015, Murray founded GOOD, a company which empowers entrepreneurs through a unique retail platform to help grow their start-ups into sustainable success stories. Each GOOD location is designed to create an immersive and experiential shopping experience for its surrounding community. The next phase of their growth will see them rolling out GOOD locations in South Africa, the UK and abroad, as well as launching our E-Commerce platform in 2019.
Having grown up in a humble home, Murray is especially passionate about mentoring young business owners with limited resources.
Please describe your leadership style.
For me, leadership starts with our people. Focus on recruiting the best talent, then inspire people to reach their full potential. Establish a clear vision and then empower the team to lead the company’s future growth. Leadership is also about courage. It’s the courage to take on a big challenge, to do what no one else will, to question the status quo, confront a difficult situation, and to not give up.
Your top tip to beat procrastination?
To realize that GOOD is better then perfect and having a proper understanding that procrastination suffocates progress and progress is what’s required to create results.
Favourite getaway destination?
Anywhere quiet that my wife and I can sneak off to that involves a good book and delicious morning coffee.
Who or what inspires you?
People who are driven by causes greater then themselves that have a positive impact on the world around us.
Your one wish for South Africa?
That we might find a way to alleviate the levels of unemployment and poverty which exists across the country through entrepreneurship.
What five pieces of advice would you give to aspiring young business starters?
Understand that you have to love what you do more then anything in this world because being the road is filled with challenges that need to be over come and if you don’t love your craft they will be that much harder to overcome.
Patience is a prerequisite to enduring success. Things don’t happen over night. Don’t expect them too.
Great companies are built by great people. Make sure you surround yourself with them.
Always err on the side of optimism. There are always a million reasons not to do things but great entrepreneurs find a way.
I don’t believe in work/life balance as a start up work/life balance implies spending equal time on both and that’s not possible when you are building a company. Rather find work-life harmony where you understand the task at hand and are prepared to put in the hours to achieve it but at the same time not at the sacrifice of your personal or home life. Harmony between both is paramount because EVERYTHING is connected.
What is the one thing most people don’t know about you?
If never became an entrepreneur I would have become a teacher.
What would you do with an extra hour in your day?
Spend it in silence.
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