Chamunorwa Nathan P. Dzvova, GM of Tau Family Holdings trading as Yise Group and CEO of Yise Trucking, takes us through the important aspects of this ever-growing and successful entity.
Tau Family Holdings trading as Yise Group was founded in 2013 as an Yise Group, under the chairmanship of Muzi Kunene III, the son of Coca-Cola business magnet, Zanosi Kunene, who is also one of the Kunene Bros Holdings (KBH) founders.
In its infancy stage, the Yise Group primarily invested in equities in McDonald’s USA, listed companies, the London Stock Exchange, Bank of China, and JP Morgan, amongst others. A few years later, the Yise Group became the hub of six other Yise companies, namely: Yise Fund, Yise Motoring, Yise Tyres, Yise Properties, Yise Farming, and the newest addition, Yise Trucking. As a way to give back, since inception, the Yise Group has been helping young entrepreneurs to expand their business ventures, especially in the motoring and media industries, by giving them projects to help them boost their businesses and image. In a bid to gain a better understanding of the operations, BBQ sat down with Chamunorwa Nathan P. Dzvova, the General Manager (GM) of Tau Family Holdings trading as Yise Group and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Yise Trucking, for a chat.
A sustainable enterprise
Despite the uncertain economic times in South Africa in 2024, Dzvova is optimistic that the Yise Group will be able to prosper by strategically targeting certain areas and new regions. He explains: “From a business perspective, I feel 2024 is going to be a great year for us as Yise Group to expand into the southern African region and globally. I’m so excited to explore new business ventures and grow the companies at hand. “Our main goal is to grow all our companies into power houses in the different industries we operate in, as well as being more proactive in all the industries we are currently operating in.
We also want to expand our Yise Properties portfolio by acquiring more properties to buy, sell, and lease out.” Building better and healthier relationships business-wise is also a key goal for Dzvova, while enriching their marketing and advertising departments to move with the latest trends and technologies is a must. Sustainability as a means to satisfy clients and investors is vital for an entity such as the Yise Group. Dzvova believes that the Yise Group is able to provide all clients and investors with a high degree of safety, and this is down to their thorough research and dedication to all ventures they enter into.
“I can say we are safe for investors in terms of dividends and we also operate in safer industries or lines of service as in livestock farming for meat purposes, property and logistics, which are constant income generators. We have a strong, efficient, well-oiled operational foundation and team,” Dzvova insists.
“Our leadership team is not afraid to face growth head-on, nor do we invest or engage in businesses we do not understand. We always offer the best service; no job is too small for us to go all out, while consistency in our service delivery is there for all to see.
“Our entity is already doing well based on the 2023 turnover and the investments made, so that makes us outstanding to our clients and investors.”
While things are going well for the Yise Group, as is the reality in business, there is always room for growth. In terms of there being room for improvement for the Yise Group, Dzvova explains: “We want to be quicker to identify gaps that can be advantageous to our entity, while we are determined to provide a 5-star globally-recognised service at Tau Hotel, a wing under Yise Properties.” All flourishing entities have one major facet in common with each other: the way in which they enrich the lives of those around them.
For the Yise Group, it is the Siyanda Kunene Invitational, which is a charity organisation and an annual car event founded in memory of the late Siyanda Kunene, which donates annually to different charities in monetary and kind, the latest one for being Leratong Joy for One Children’s Home. “We also have other lined up charity projects to come this year to sponsor less privileged children with school shoes and sanitary pads for the teenage girls who can’t afford them. This will be in partnership with Agape Family Global Ministry and Rise and Shine InterD Ministry, which are led by my wife and I,” Dzvova, who is also a Minister of the Word of God, says.
The art of business
“Consistency and focus are the key to greater results.” Those words from Dzvova ring so true, especially when you consider the current climate we find ourselves in. That consistency and focus, Dzvova believes, is not found in abundance in South Africa, and are key to overcoming the obstacles which many face in the cutthroat world of business. “I am not one who likes to focus on obstacles as a setback, but always have an eye to foresee an opportunity to do better against so-called obstacles. Yise Group has thrived against many business obstacles along the years to a point that we no longer feel the impact of any if there are any as far as Yise Group is concerned and myself as an individual,” Dzvova says. “The business world globally faces many obstacles, but I believe that the greatest obstacle any business can face and that can bring it to its knees is a workforce that lacks consistency and focus. For businesses to begin to operate consistently, they need to build a focused workforce.”
As previously discussed, sustainability is so important to success. So, why do some business people fall short when it comes to creating sustainable operations?
For Dzvova, it comes down to six key aspects:
- Lack of planning before implementing or engaging on an idea.
- Lack of consistency or a coherent system in place to have a solid operations team
- Lack of money Yise Group.
- Lack of operational capabilities.
- Lack of planning before implementation and a lack of risk management.
- Lack of a well-trained operations team.
- Armed with a wealth of business knowledge and a determination to continue providing success, Dzvova is ready to tackle 2024 and make it the best year yet for all the arms of the Yise Group.
But what does the future hold for Dzvova as an individual and what is he hoping to leave as a legacy at the Yise Group?
Again, the answer is simple: a sustainable, successful entity.
“I would like my legacy to be a leadership and operations team that is well equipped in the vast knowledge imparted upon them, to run with the vision of the entity. No greater legacy one can ever leave for any entity than knowledge passed on to the next generation of leaders and operations team.”
“I have a favorite saying that I use in both the circular and spiritual platforms, which I would like many entities to adopt and run with in their workspaces: ‘Focus on what matters’,” Dzvova concludes.
Yise Trucking was founded in July 2023 with two rental 34-ton hose ‘n trailers with the aim of transporting coal from Mpumalanga to Richards Bay. A few months later in September 2023, the business managed to buy, for cash, their first hose tractor, a MAN TGS 27.440 from MAN Centurion, and a CIMC 34-ton super link side tipper trailer from Truck Plantation in the Vaal, also for cash. “We stopped the rentals as there was not much profit coming back to us after all expenses (rental fee, salaries, services, diesel, etc.) paid. We also pulled the Mpumalanga to Richards Bay route to a local, shorter, more lucrative route, Exxaro to Highveld. We pushed along this route and in November 2023 we managed to purchase our second hose tractor, a MAN TGS 27.440 from MAN Centurion and an AFRIT 34-ton super link side tipper trailer. I can say Yise Trucking is doing very well and we are looking to get more fleet this year,” Dzvova says.
