After joining forces, the two became a power couple that propelled the family business into a general dealer, eatery, butchery, liquor stores and supermarket, car dealership and filling station.
For his efforts, he has scooped several awards.
In April 2015, the Durban University of Technology awarded him with an honorary doctorate.
He has scooped various awards including the Small Business Excellence Award (2007), World Enterprise Award (2008), was a recipient of the Top 100 Companies Award: Business Times (2008), Lifetime Achievement Award and a BEE Entrepreneur Award.
Last year, he became the second person to win the Lifetime Achiever Award, which is the highest accolade in the 30-year-old Entrepreneur of the Year competition.
A memorial service for the late businessman will be held in Sandton tomorrow.
Prominent business and political figures attend Richard Maponya's memorial service
The memorial service of the late business icon Richard Maponya has begun at the Rosebank Union Church in Sandton.
The service is being attended by high profile business and political fugures who came to remember the business man whom many said his was "a life well lived".
Among those in attendance is former Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba, former First Rand CEO Sizwe Nxasana and many other leaders in business.
Maponya died on Monday morning in hospital at the age of 99. His death came not long after Ramaphosa sent him a birthday message in December.
Born in Tlhabini, a village outside Lenyenye in Limpopo, Maponya married Marina, a qualified social worker and the cousin of former president Nelson Mandela, in the 1950s.
After joining forces, the two became a power couple that propelled the family business into a general dealer, eatery, butchery, liquor stores and supermarket, car dealership and filling station.
For his efforts, he has scooped several awards.
In April 2015, the Durban University of Technology awarded him with an honorary doctorate.
He has scooped various awards including the Small Business Excellence Award (2007), World Enterprise Award (2008), was a recipient of the Top 100 Companies Award: Business Times (2008), Lifetime Achievement Award and a BEE Entrepreneur Award.
Last year, he became the second person to win the Lifetime Achiever Award, which is the highest accolade in the 30-year-old Entrepreneur of the Year competition.
A memorial service for the late businessman will be held in Sandton tomorrow.