Ready to fight in area staked out by old rival

PICK n Pay has given itself five to six years to re-establish itself as South Africa’s premier retail brand. It is a tough ask, with Whitey Basson’s Shoprite and Ian Moir’s Woolworths seemingly streets ahead. But, at the age of 82, founder Raymond Ackerman is used to fighting.

He has had an almost lifelong rivalry with Checkers, the group he helped to build and took from three stores to 89 — before he was booted out.

Ackerman’s father, Gus, and three of his father’s friends started the Ackermans chain, which at that stage owned Checkers and was subsequently bought out by Greatermans. (The joke is that the name “Greatermans” was picked because the owners wanted it to be greater than Ackermans.)

“I joined Ackermans [in the 1950s]. Greatermans moved me to Joburg and my boss got ill. I said I’m 27, I can run it. They said don’t be ridiculous,” said Ackerman.

Ackerman pleaded with the board to let him go to the US to study food retailing. “After a helluva fight I got a trip to America. I went with my wife for five months and I came back and [picked] a fight with the Greatermans board. They were a department store — supermarkets were low margin, high volume and department stores were high margin, low volume.

“I became passionate about it. I’m probably passionate about everything I do. I fought and fought and fought and built an 89-store chain.”

Then, as has become corporate legend, Greatermans told him to pack up and leave.

“They said I was too difficult. It was terrible; I was petrified. I had four kids . . . I had no capital, just my income.”

Ackerman considered joining another company, but a US marketing guru, Bernard Trujillo, had made his mark on him. He said you need 90% guts and 10% capital to start a business. “If you have the guts and determination and the passion, there is always someone who will put up the money.

“I evaluated my options. It was to join another company, emigrate or go back to university. I had wanted to become a doctor and I thought I may have wanted to start my own business. Every time I did this little exercise, it came up as wanting to start my own business with no money.”

His accountant told him to get 25 shareholders in Johannesburg and he would get 25 in Cape Town. Ackerman did this and the banks gave him the rest. With the money, he bought three stores called Pick n Pay from Clicks founder Jack Goldin. “It felt fantastic . . . It all happened within a week.”

Within two years Pick n Pay listed on the JSE. By 1999, it had a greater market share than all its rivals put together. — Adele Shevel