Mzansi’s People: Valeria Mentz was born a winning entrepreneur

It’s really a challenge to describe the impression that serial entrepreneur Valerie Mentz makes when shaking hands.

She’s energetic, empathetic, kind and hints at being a tough negotiator at a boardroom table.

But, Mentz is a whole lot of fun and calls what she does for a living playing.

To her, business is creating. It’s inspiring.

At 63, the founder of Absolute Pets, Val de Vine Guest House in Stellenbosch and multiple other businesses is still building, innovating and chasing the next challenge.

It’s her calling. But it wasn’t always a walk in the park.

Valeria Mentz’s journey

Mentz’s path was littered with challenges and initially she had to step into entrepreneurship out of necessity.

After a divorce left her without financial security, she realised a regular job wouldn’t get her where she needed to be.

Determined to rewrite her story, she started working at an insurance company, quickly becoming the top regional performer.

This was just the beginning. Her next chapter took her to Canada, where she moved with her second husband, a veterinarian.

It was there that she discovered her knack for turning challenges into opportunities.

“His practice ended up in terrible debt. The manager had been stealing from us,” she said.

With no experience in business, she took over the reins, cut costs, and within nine months had paid off $300 000 (about R3.7 million) in debt.

“That’s when I realised I had a talent for running businesses,” she said.

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It was also a steep learning curve.

In 1999, Mentz returned to South Africa with her family, determined to make her mark in Mzansi.

She purchased a struggling veterinary clinic in Table View, Cape Town, and transformed it into one of the top-performing practices in the country.

“Within three months, I’d doubled the turnover,” she said.

“We were running specials and connecting with the community. It was all about creating value,” she said.

Her efforts turned the clinic into a local success story, but her entrepreneurial journey took yet another turn when her marriage ended three years later.

“I was left with nothing because everything was in his name,” she said.

Unfazed by staring over

Starting over again didn’t faze her, she said.

Mentz bought a small import business supplying baby products to a budget retailer.

At the time, the business had a modest turnover of R800 000.

“Four years later, I sold it with a turnover of R24 million,” she said.

“It was about spotting opportunities and putting in the work to grow them.”

Turning the company around and then selling it also set her up to pursue more opportunities and create other businesses from nothing.

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From retail and property development to her current passion project, Val de Vine Guest House in Stellenbosch.

Originally purchased as an investment for self-storage units, her plans had to change when zoning regulations dictated that only hospitality businesses would be allowed in the area.

What followed was a restaurant project on the property and now, she’s building a spa and a chapel.

“The guest house is often fully booked, and we’ve planted vineyards. We’ll soon be producing about 20 000 bottles of wine a year,” she said.

“It’s all coming together beautifully.” Her entrepreneurial flair has even been recognised on the global stage.

An award-winning entrepreneur

In 2011, she received the International Entrepreneur Award in New York for her ability to juggle multiple ventures successfully.

“It’s nice to be acknowledged, but for me, the real joy is in the creating,” she said.

“I look around at what I’ve built, and that’s enough for me.”

She plans on passing the baton to her son, whom she raised as a single mother for well over two decades.

He operates the restaurant at Val de Vine.

“He grew up attending my boardroom meetings and watching me build businesses. It’s in his DNA,” she said.

But Mentz is far from finished. She recently sold her second pet retail chain, Urban Tails, to a major retailer a decade after she sold her first pet franchise to the same company.

Now she is working on a high-end property development in Somerset West.

“We’re building homes that will sell for between R25-R50 million each,” she said.

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