HOW A TOWNSHIP BARBER BUILT A MULTI-MILLION ZAR EMPIRE

Some of Africa’s biggest businesses begin in places the business world rarely notices. For Sheldon Tatchell, it started with a chair, a pair of clippers and a township stoep in Eldorado Park.

There was no boardroom, major investor or corporate headquarters. There was simply an entrepreneur who saw an opportunity in an industry many overlooked — and decided to build something bigger.

Today, that vision has become Legends Barber, a multi-country grooming business with more than 80 stores and a workforce of roughly 800 people.

But the real story isn't the number of stores. It is what Tatchell has built behind them.

He saw that barbering could be more than a service. It could become a platform for employment, skills development, franchise ownership and entrepreneurship. That vision has helped Legends Barber expand beyond traditional grooming into franchising, training, manufacturing, mobile services and digital platforms.

But scaling a physical business across Africa comes with its own challenges — different markets, regulations, economies and consumers.

So how do you grow without losing what made the business special?

And perhaps the bigger question:

How do you build a business that becomes bigger than the founder?

Tatchell's journey offers a powerful lesson in turning an informal hustle into a structured, scalable African enterprise. His achievements have earned significant recognition, including being named Overall Entrepreneur of the Year by Business Partners Limited from more than 600 entrants.

But the awards are only part of the story.

What were the risks behind the growth? What does Tatchell believe entrepreneurs get wrong about scaling? And what happens when a founder starts building something designed to outlive him?

Those answers are revealed in an exclusive conversation with Sheldon Tatchell in the latest edition of Africa Talks Business.