The businesswoman Sonja Smith. (Archive photo: Dawid Brand)
More than 20 years ago there was an insert on the current affairs programme Carte blanche Sonja Smith, a former bank manager who specialized in international banking, piqued her interest in the funeral industry so much that she decided to learn more about it.
She specifically remembers the shelves and bodies with the ticket around the toe.
Years later, she had the privilege of meeting the late Derek Watts, who hosted the show, during a TV interview about alternative burials.
“In 1997 I visited a funeral home in Pretoria, complete with the drawers in steel refrigerators like on TV.”
She listened with fascination as entrepreneurs go out at night when someone dies and assist the family.
“I asked permission to open one drawer. The elderly lady touched my heart; calmly, with her hands folded on her chest. And I could imagine how fulfilling it would be to assist people in such a time.”
It stuck with her and a few years later, after she moved to KwaZulu-Natal during a very difficult time in her personal life, an opportunity presented itself when she ended up next to the representative of a well-known funeral company at a school committee meeting.
As a single parent with two children to take care of, she joined the second largest branch of this group in the country as an arrangement officer in 1998.
“I worked with up to eight families a day and realized: I am now sitting on a chair that was meant for me!”
Nevertheless, her stomach sometimes turned when she walked into the coffin room opposite her office…
Three years later she and her brood were back in Pretoria where she worked at the branch of the same funeral company in Pretoria East. She then joined another funeral home in East Lynne, where affordability was a much bigger consideration for families.
Smith’s dream of doing things her own way gradually took shape, along with the realization that the industry was underrepresented in Centurion.
(Archive photo: Dawid Brand)
She and one of her colleagues broke away and rented premises in Lyttelton Road, Centurion – previously a fashion house – for their new business, Elite Funeral Services. There was also a doctor as a silent partner.
“We started without a cent in the bank, with a borrowed hearse, borrowed grave discharge machine and three borrowed coffins.”
Even before the doors were open, the first call came.
However, it was a challenge to obtain the special business rights required for such an enterprise. An angry neighbor made the world so difficult with a petition that Smith had to personally present her case to the then mayor of Tshwane, father Smangaliso Mkhatshwa and his fellow city fathers.
They accepted her pleas and the rights to the business and cold room were approved.
Sonja Smith and the late TV presenter Derek Watts. (Photo: Sonja Smith Elite Funeral Group/Facebook)
Three years later, Smith decided to do her own thing and the Sonja Smith Funeral Group was founded on March 1, 2006 on the same premises. It is now one of four undertakers in this part of Centurion with two more on the way. Residents don’t call it the “Dead Center of Centurion” for nothing.
Smith does things her way now.
“We want to make the farewell personal. If it’s an aunt who loved gardening, her straw hat and pruning shears are in the lobby.”
She went abroad to research how this could be done and also introduced other concepts, such as a green funeral, which is a bit strange for conservative South Africans. However, this is done upon request.
They recently held an evening funeral for a popular meteorologist; something special with lots of candles. One day she herself also wants to have an evening funeral with choral music, says Smith.
After just six months, the Sonja Smith Funeral Group also opened a branch in Moreleta Park in 2006 and more branches followed. However, a lot of thinking and re-thinking went into the expansion. In 2009, Sonja did a course to master the concept of franchises. However, it was only in 2015 that she was satisfied that she had the right consultants by her side with Franchise Directions and was ready to implement this model in the funeral industry.
“You pick the buyers by hand. After all, they carry my name out there.”
After 20 years, the group now consists of six franchises and four branches. With the exception of Mossel Bay, where her sister is in charge, all the offices are in and around Pretoria and Johannesburg.
The various offices build networks and make funeral arrangements. However, the cooling facilities, care of the body, formwork, administration and the performance of the service itself are done from the central service centre. The offices in Roodepoort and Mossel Bay do provide their own comprehensive services.
“I’ve had to make difficult decisions as well,” says Smith. “You have to know when you’re on the wrong train. Then you have to get off quickly, because the longer you stay on that train, the more expensive your return ticket becomes.”
The Sonja Smith trademark is also registered to protect the band.
Over two decades, Sonja and her team have built up a reliable network of doctors, pathologists, counselors and many more.
They also learned to deal with difficult situations, because “when someone dies, all the masks come off”. Sometimes you just have to excuse yourself and give the family a chance to sort things out themselves.
A funeral director must also be aware of insurance fraud and foul play.
“Over time you develop a sixth sense,” she says.
How to keep the group going when she retires is a question Smith has already begun to wonder about. Mercifully, Michael Blain, a chartered accountant with an MBA qualification, came her way as a franchise owner. She appointed him as CEO two years ago.
Smith has handed over day-to-day management to him, but is still the non-executive face of the group and can offer advice when needed.
“We have the same vision,” says Blain. “We want people to be comfortable talking about death and even before something like this happens, get advice to make sure things are in order when the day comes.”
Smith’s advice to women entrepreneurs is: “Don’t be afraid to dream big. Surround yourself with people who support you and stay true to your values.”
