South Africa – The family of late South African business pioneer Richard Maponya is expanding his decades-old business empire into airport retail after Maponya Investment Holdings acquired a significant stake in Big Five Duty Free, one of the country’s major travel-retail operators.
According to Billionaires.Africa, the investment was concluded in October 2025, marking a new chapter for the Maponya family business more than six years after Maponya’s death in January 2020.
The value of the transaction was not disclosed. As part of the deal, Elias Phatudi Maponya, chief executive of Maponya Investment Holdings, became chairman of Big Five Duty Free.
The investment strengthened Big Five’s shareholder base and increased its broad-based black economic empowerment ownership, Moneyweb reported.
Maponya said the investment was aimed at helping transform the passenger experience at South Africa’s airports.
Broader push
“With aligned South African capital and world-class partners, we are ready to elevate this experience to the next level, making our national airports feel unmistakably ours – and genuinely world-class,” he said, according to Moneyweb.
Big Five operates at major South African airports, including O.R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, Cape Town International Airport and King Shaka International Airport in Durban. O.R. Tambo’s official facilities listing also includes Big Five Duty Free among its international-terminal retailers.
The investment fits into a broader push by the Maponya family into travel retail. Richard Maponya’s daughter, Chichi Maponya, is co-founder and executive chairperson of Africa Travel Retail, which provides travel-retail distribution, airport customer-experience and commercial advisory services.
In an interview with Global Travel Retail Magazine, Chichi revealed that her father had himself been interested in airport retail decades ago.
“My dad wanted to open a Harrods tea shop at the airport,” she said.
African products
Although that proposal was not approved, she said the family’s experience in shopping-centre development eventually helped shape its approach to airport commerce.
“Duty free in Africa is our business, and African travel industry insight is our oxygen,” Chichi said, describing the family’s ambition to promote African products and experiences to international travellers.
Richard Maponya built his business empire from humble beginnings in Soweto, starting with the Dube Hygienic Dairy in the 1950s before expanding into retail, motor dealerships, property, filling stations and other businesses. His most prominent development was Maponya Mall, which opened in Soweto in 2007 after decades of efforts to secure and develop the site.
At the time of his death at the age of 99, Maponya left an estate valued at more than R1 billion, according to the Billionaires.Africa report, with his business interests divided among his 10 children. The estate subsequently became the subject of a family dispute, including allegations by some grandchildren that executors had sidelined them.
Original retail vision
The airport-retail investment nevertheless signals the family’s continued expansion beyond the property and retail businesses that established Richard Maponya’s reputation.
Big Five’s shareholder base includes German travel-retail group Gebr. Heinemann, luxury retailer CAVI Brands, and women-owned investment groups Zithezava and Rumbi Investments. The company has said it plans to expand its airport retail footprint, strengthen regional partnerships and support South African SMEs, particularly women-owned businesses, Forbes reported.
The move effectively extends Maponya’s original retail vision into a new generation of commerce, taking a business legacy built in Soweto into one of Africa’s fastest-developing travel-retail markets.
Follow African Insider on Facebook, X and Instagram
Picture: X /@CyrilRamaphosa
For more African news, visit Africaninsider.com
Compiled by Betha Madhomu
