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Case Study

Vinesh Juglal: South African serial entrepreneur

By Maury A. Peiperl and Archana Jha

8 pages

July 2010

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Reference: IMD-3-2055

Serial entrepreneur Vinesh Juglal wondered what it would be like to run Durban Computer College (DCC), the institution he had just bought. The education market in Africa was growing by leaps and bounds, and the ever-opportunistic Vinesh knew that buying a successful training enterprise could help him make the most of this market. On the other hand, Vinesh was well aware that in order to grow the institution he would need another source of financing, since his current lines were tied up in his real estate and supermarket businesses. Infrastructure was not an issue, since Vinesh had most of the fixed assets he needed to grow DCC Campus. Attracting more students would happen either by lowering fees or by offering financial aid. Vinesh had heard of many sponsoring bodies, including government programs, set up for this purpose. But these sponsors tended to give grants only to non-profit entities. What would be the best way to grow this “business”—if it could be called a business in the first place? Should he target the same return on investment as in his other businesses? More broadly, could he be successful using his previous, purely commercial approach?

Learning Objective

To experience, almost first-hand, the rapidly changing business environment in South Africa in the 1985-2010 period, through the entrepreneurial adventures of Vinesh Juglal who builds a series of enterprisees across several industries. To consider the social role of business in the context of a developing country.

Keywords

Entrepreneurship, Growth, Business Strategy, Education, Real Estate, Supermarket, General Management, Strategy

Settings

South Africa
1970-2008

Type

Field Research

Available Languages

English

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