Franchise retail star was drawn into entrepreneurial world by bold determination PEOPLE are drawn into the entrepreneurial world for many reasons. John Baladakis’s reason was one of bold determination.“I understood my self-worth and did not want to land up in a nine-to-five job where it would not be fully realised,” he says.He made his choice at the age of 24, plunging in at the deep end as one of Pick n Pay’s first supermarket franchisees.Today, through AJP Group, Baladakis and his brother Peter own seven Pick n Pay supermarkets, a like number of Pick n Pay clothing and liquor stores, two pharmacies and a BP Pick n Pay Express store. Also in the company’s fold is an extensive store and shopping centre real estate portfolio.Baladakis says he drew his inspiration from his father, Alex, a structural engineer who turned his back on the corporate world to go it alone, first as a bakery store and restaurant owner and later as the owner of a Spar supermarket.“I started work at my father’s...
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