A story is told of two shoe salesmen who went to a poor country to undertake due diligence because their parent company was looking to make a foray into the country. One of the salesmen sent back a telegram, saying: \u201cThere\u2019s no market here because nobody here wears shoes,\u201d and the other one sent a telegram back: \u201cI\u2019m elated because what a market \u2013 because nobody has shoes.\u201d<\/p>\n
That anecdote is reminiscent of South African billionaire Christo Wiese\u2019s story. When Wiese went to Zambia in the early 1990s to open up a clothing store, he discovered that clothing was sold on the street pavement by hawkers. There were no clothes shops in the country, and a colleague from Pep Stores with whom he had made the trip told him, \u201cYou know, we can\u2019t come and open shops here because people prefer to buy\u00a0 their clothes from hawkers,\u201d Wiese recalled during an interview with South Africa’s Leadership magazine.<\/p>\n