Up from apartheid, Soweto millionaire a role model

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - When Richard Maponya did well as a clothes salesman, his white boss could not promote him under the rules of apartheid. So the boss offered instead to sell Maponya damaged clothes for cheap. Maponya resold the clothes after work and on weekends, and earned enough to go into business himself. Today, the 81-year-old owns supermarkets and car dealerships, as well as the biggest mall in Soweto. Maponya is the most prominent in a small club of early black businesspeople who have proved what an important role black entrepreneurship can play in building South Africa. Yet his success also stands out for how rare it is in a country where a quarter of the work force, most of it black, is unemployed, and most blacks still struggle in poverty 14 years after white rule ended. "The role models coming to the... [read full story]