Khanyi Dhlomo built a publishing company and then a luxury retail business, which look like unrelated ventures and are not. Both sell to the same customer, and the media business created the audience, the brand credibility and the advertiser relationships that made the retail venture possible. That sequence is the lesson worth taking.
Her media company launched a set of lifestyle titles aimed at a specific readership and later took on international magazine licences, while a separate venture opened high-end department stores in Johannesburg.
Build the audience before the thing you sell them
A publisher knows precisely who its readers are, what they buy and what they aspire to, because that is the information it sells to advertisers. Using that knowledge to launch a retail offer aimed at the same people reverses the usual order: most retailers open a shop and then look for customers. Owners of any audience-based business should ask what that audience would buy directly.
Licensing an established brand buys recognition and imposes constraints
Taking on international titles brings a name readers already know, editorial standards and a template that works, at the cost of licence fees and limits on what you can change. It is a franchise relationship in publishing form, and it suits an operator with distribution and sales capability who does not need to build a brand from nothing.
Retail is a different business from media
Media is a working capital business with low stock. Luxury retail ties up substantial capital in inventory that may not sell, in premises with long leases, at margins sensitive to currency movements. A founder moving between them should expect the cash flow characteristics to be entirely different, which is where most cross-sector expansions get into difficulty.
Serving an underserved segment well is the durable position
Both ventures were built on the observation that a growing, affluent segment was being addressed poorly or not at all. That gap has been the basis of most successful South African consumer businesses of the past two decades, and identifying one in your own market is more valuable than any general strategy.
Choosing ownership over a corporate career
Dhlomo has been explicit that she declined corporate roles because she judged the impact of creating jobs and building businesses to be greater. For an owner weighing the same choice, the honest version is that ownership offers control and upside in exchange for income volatility and personal risk. Everything published in either business also falls under the standards administered by the Advertising Regulatory Board, which is part of what a media owner takes on.
Frequently asked questions
Why does a publisher move into retail?
Because it already knows who its audience is and what they buy, which reverses the usual order where a retailer opens first and looks for customers afterwards.
What does licensing an international title involve?
A recognised name, editorial standards and a proven template, in exchange for licence fees and limits on what can be changed locally.
How does retail differ from media commercially?
Retail ties up capital in stock and long leases with currency-sensitive margins, while media is a lower-stock working capital business. The cash flow profiles are entirely different.
What made both ventures work?
Identifying a growing, affluent segment that existing businesses were serving poorly, which has underpinned most successful South African consumer businesses.
What is the trade-off in choosing ownership over a corporate role?
Control and upside in exchange for income volatility and personal financial risk.
Further reading
Originally published in July 2017. Updated September 2026 to draw out the sequence connecting the media and retail ventures rather than listing achievements.
