The birth of GEM Group of Companies:

The Gem Group was founded by Lebo Gunguluza - now Group Chairman who recognized the need for business to business media opportunities with special focus on the private sector, and the fact that this market segment was broader and diverse.

He used his experience primarily from SABC, as well as other media and advertising related organisations that he worked for, to launch his first company that sold media space in publishing and corporate events. The company was named Corporate Fusion, a corporate communication and events management company. Within 18 months, this company that was run from a townhouse with a single telephone line was generating over R2 Million. Gunguluza formed another company called GIDE, a youth development and career guidance development company in partnership with his brother who also joined the growing group of companies. A year later the turnover had doubled, and Gunguluza decided to move into proper offices and register Gunguluza Enterprises and Media, known today as the Gem Group, which was established to overlook the new divisions and growing group of companies.

The GEM (Gunguluza Enterprises & Media) Group of Companies was later established as a multimedia and communication company with seven business channels namely: a television production company; a training and development company; a publishing company which produced amongst other publications a country-wide student newspaper called Campus Times; an events company that launched the Eastern Cape Awards, the South African Education Awards, the Soweto Awards and a number of major conferences.

Gem Group of Companies further established new companies in the media and hospitality space and forming further partnerships. The Group further partnered with Uhuru Communications, the publishers of SAA's Sawubona magazine, who also publish an arts & recreation magazine called Rootz and a campus publication Student Choice. The Group solidified its partnership by successfully launching a new publication called Municipal Focus, which covers the business of Local Government with a nationwide distribution to municipalities and government departments.

The Group recently with its interest in Uhuru launched a number of new titles namely The Public Sector Manager, Loocha Magazine as well as the Metro FM Magazine. Gunguluza also took on an active role as a commercial director of Uhuru Publishing to set up the Johannesburg and further extend the Uhuru publishing footprint in South Africa and Africa. His interest in Uhuru sees the Group launching a new division called GovNet, which specialises in Government Publishing and Communication. Gunguluza heads that division as CEO.

The Group has further acquired interest and joint ventured in a number of ground breaking initiatives, including the Car Rental and Passenger Transportation space, where it has acquired an interest in Pastranscor, a Passenger Transportation Corporation which provided extensive passenger transportation solutions during the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup, and to date we are providing transportation solutions during COP17 for Climate Change. The Group has also partnered with three entrepreneurial hotel groups to grow its hotel interest in South Africa and the African Continent. We are proud of our partnership with the Singer Group, with its 5 Hotels, the Premier Hotels with its 12 Hotels and the Moloko Group with its three hotels, which gives the Gem Group a portfolio of 20 hotels countrywide to work with. The Group has further joint ventured with the Singer Group to establish Izani Travel and Hospitality to provide packaged travel and hospitality solutions, with a travel agency division powered by Embassy Travel.

The Gem Group is also involved in a R1,2-billion development deal in the Free State, as well as a camp near Sun City worth R5-million and the Africa hall of Fame Project worth R5 Billion near OR Tambo Airport, the first leg of the project has already kicked off with the 4 Star Hotel to the tune of R135-million, which is due for completion in 15 months. The Group is currently finalizing a deal to acquire a R200-million broadcast studio in Johannesburg to venture further into broadcasting. To date the group has learnt a great deal about partnerships, and believes it should not reinvent the wheel, but learn and build on opportunities that already exist. The Group is headed by seven Directors of which four are family members and three are professional advisors to the Group. Every Quarter the group hosts its 20 associate directors to discuss opportunities and direction of the group, as well as potential partners.

The Group Chairman's Achievements and Contributions: Mr Lebo Gunguluza was honoured with Africa Heritage Youth Entrepreneur Award for his dedication and contributions to the South African society. He was recently honoured by the Millionaires Club with the Leadership Award in May 2010, and also received the Bethesda Business Award for his contribution to the development of Entrepreneurship in South Africa. He is the co-founder and President of the South African Black Entrepreneurs Forum (SABEF), a section 21 organisation established to promote, inspire and grow entrepreneurship in the black communities as the source of poverty alleviation, job creation and economic growth in South Africa. He is also the co-founder and Chairman of the Local Government Business Network (LGBN), a voluntary organisation established to promote the relationship between Local Government and the private sector.

Today 10 years later, Gunguluza heads up the Gem Group of Companies as an integrated media, communications and hospitality group that offers holistic media communication, broadcasting and hospitality solutions to its clients. He continues to share his entrepreneurial successes and failures through radio and television interviews and special sessions that are meant to empower and motivate entrepreneurs and employees of big corporations. This has further assisted the South African Black Entrepreneurs Forum (SABEF) reach a breakthrough membership of over 30 000 supporters, who are aspiring entrepreneurs, emerging or established entrepreneurs.