With use of his land, Zulu marriages and the loaning of cattle, Dunn built a network of clients and contacts along the Zululand coast that allowed him to exploit the region's wealth. During the 1860s, he was involved in the trade of firearms into Zululand with the exchange of cattle for rifles via Lourenço Marques along the Zululand coast, as well as the flow of Tsonga workers to Natal for the agricultural industry, from the former. He would later be appointed as Protector of Immigrants for Zululand in 1874 by Theophilus Shepstone. Another important business income for Dunn was hunting. Organising his Zulu subjects as hunters, guides and porters, they successfully hunted for ivory, hides and skins but by 1880 game had become scarce in Zululand.