5 South African Businesses That Take the Longest to Make Profit Some business ideas are just a long-term game.. however the longer the wait the more money you can make. Number 5: Shopping Centres Building a mall isn’t quick money. Developers invest R500M to R2 billion and wait 8 years just to break even on their initial investment. Number 4: Gold Mining South Africa built its entire economy on gold. But from discovery to first production? That takes 15 to 20 years and over R10 billion in capital