Mary Elizabeth Johnson: Creating a business
By Kim Spurr

lizabeth Johnson (MBA '98) lives in a tiny seaside community in South Africa, on a mountainside overlooking the beach and bordering Cape Point Nature Reserve. The whales inhabit the bay for half the year, and wild animals are almost always visible in the nature preserve.

But it is in the nearby vineyards that Johnson has found her niche - she owns Cin Cin (cheers in Italian), her own business, providing consulting to the South African wine industry. Based out of Stellenbosch, she consults on marketing issues to new and established wine producers and exporters, analyzing clients' brands, evaluating market opportunities and recommending strategic directions. The emerging wine industry in South Africa - the sixth largest producer of wine in the world - is highly dynamic.

While getting her bachelor's in political science from UNC-Chapel Hill, Johnson spent a year studying in southern France. But she decided when she graduated that she wanted her next overseas challenge to be in an environment completely foreign to her.

"I worked as an English teacher for a women's group on the Namibian-Angolan border for one year," she said. "For the next two years, I worked with nonprofit organizations in Southern Africa. During that time, I had developed a keen interest in marketing and I believed that an MBA would give me the exposure and academic training that I needed to develop those skills."

After earning her MBA at Kenan-Flagler, she worked briefly for a global Internet travel agency in Capetown before working as a brand executive for one of the largest wine producers in South Africa.

"I developed a passion for wine while living in France. It's a fun but seriously competitive industry, full of interesting people," Johnson said. "And it's a global industry with new competitors emerging from all corners of the world."

She decided to take the valuable industry experience she had gained to launch her own consulting business and become her own boss in October 2000.

"It's very satisfying working for myself and getting the variety of experiences that come from working with different companies and brands in various stages of development," she said. "I find the opportunities incredibly stimulating."

What challenges has she faced working in a developing country?

"Women are just emerging into leadership and management positions in South Africa," she said. "The upside is that South Africa is a very maverick country. It's the Wild West. If you have an idea, you can implement it here."