THE DEAL I SHOULD HAVE WALKED AWAY FROM

In 2007, I sold 60% of my business to solve a problem I didn't actually have.

The deal made perfect sense on paper. Royal Bafokeng Holdings—a well-respected South African public company—wanted to acquire my business through their subsidiary, MOGS (Mining Oil & Gas Services).

They brought BBBEE compliance, which would unlock access to state-owned enterprises and public company contracts I couldn't touch as a non-compliant contractor. They brought financial backing. They brought market positioning.

I'd spent years building a profitable, specialized pipeline services company. This acquisition would give me access to an entirely new customer base while maintaining operational control.

From every angle, it looked like the right move.

After months of negotiation and due diligence, we closed. I celebrated.

Then I started learning what I'd actually signed up for.

What I thought I was getting

BBBEE—Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment—was South Africa's framework for forcing equity transformation. Companies needed specific ownership structures to do business with state-owned enterprises and, increasingly, with private companies that valued BBBEE compliance in their procurement decisions.

I'd been locked out of entire segments of the market because I didn't tick those boxes.

The MOGS deal solved that instantly. Their ownership structure was compliant. Their parent company had deep pockets. Their network included exactly the clients I wanted access to.

And I'd retain 40% ownership plus operational control of the business I'd built.

It seemed like leverage without sacrifice.

What I actually got

Shortly after closing, MOGS had an opportunity in Hong Kong—internally lining an existing liquid fuel pipeline using specialized technology I hadn't worked with before.

The project fascinated me. But it quickly became clear that MOGS was more investment vehicle than operating company. Four people, two part-time, none with the operational depth to execute a project of that complexity.

If the Hong Kong job was going to work, I'd have to staff it. My people. My industry contacts. My operational expertise applied to their technology and their client relationship.

We delivered. Successfully. Project completed on time, on spec.

That should have been the win. Instead, it became the template.

Where it went wrong

The Hong Kong project awakened an appetite within MOGS shareholders to revive old relationships and pursue pipeline lining opportunities across markets.

Meanwhile, back in South Africa, a major pipeline project was underway—a 26-inch, Class 900 liquid fuel line from the coast to the interior.

I had the skills. I had the resources. And now, thanks to the MOGS acquisition, I had BBBEE compliance.

We should have been a lock for significant portions of that work.

But I couldn't get anyone from MOGS or Royal Bafokeng to show up. No support lobbying for the work. No accompaniment to client meetings. No leverage of the relationships or positioning that were supposed to be the value of this partnership.

The opportunities passed. The work went elsewhere.

By then, MOGS employees had set up in my offices. Different culture. Different energy. Disruptive in ways that weren't productive.

I threw myself into supporting their pipeline lining business. Built cost estimating systems. Managed strategic sourcing. Traveled extensively—Saudi Arabia, UAE—negotiating projects, managing work, presenting at industry events.

Three years in, I looked up and realized: I owned 40% of my original business and 0% of MOGS. I'd been operating as their execution arm while my own business—the one I'd spent decades building—had been running without the focus and attention it needed.

The financials told the story. We were profitable, but not thriving. I'd been chasing someone else's strategic vision while neglecting my own.

The decision

The big picture I was seeing and the big picture MOGS shareholders were seeing weren't the same big picture.

I had to decide: keep trying to make this partnership work, or buy my business back and refocus on what I'd always been good at.

Negotiations took less than a month. I bought back the 60% at a premium—paid MOGS handsomely for the privilege of being their operations partner for three years.

It wasn't cheap. But nothing was more important than being the captain of my own ship again.

We shed some dead wood. Refocused. Became nimble and agile again.

The business recovered. We moved forward.

What I learned

The deal wasn't bad because MOGS was dishonest or incompetent. It was bad because I optimized for access to a market I didn't need as badly as I thought I did.

BBBEE compliance looked like the key to unlocking new opportunities. In reality, my business had been growing profitably for years without it. The customers I already had valued our capabilities. The markets I was operating in didn't require compliance to compete.

I chased something that looked strategic but was actually a distraction from what I was already doing well.

The irony: the three years with MOGS exposed me to technology and cross-border project execution I hadn't worked with before. That knowledge became valuable later when I pursued international opportunities on my own terms.

So the experience wasn't wasted. But it was expensive—in capital, focus, and time.

Why this matters for you

Business owners are trained to say yes to opportunities.

Partnership with a well-capitalized public company? Yes. Access to new markets? Yes. Regulatory compliance that unlocks government contracts? Yes.

All of those can be legitimate strategic moves. Or they can be distractions that pull you away from the business you've actually built.

The question isn't whether an opportunity looks good on paper.

It's whether pursuing it requires you to become something you're not, or neglect something you're already good at.

I spent three years learning that lesson. Built systems and capabilities for someone else's business model while my own business ran on autopilot.

When I bought it back and refocused, the business recovered quickly. Because the fundamentals were still sound. I'd just stopped paying attention to them.

If you're evaluating a partnership, an expansion, or a strategic pivot that looks compelling but requires significant time and focus away from your core business—that's a conversation I understand from experience.

Not from reading about it. From living through it and paying the price to learn what I should have seen earlier.