BUSINESS: COMPANY PROFILE
Mediatech’s 2019 booth put conversation and networking at the forefront with an ‘in-the-round’ format
DWR’s main offices in Honeydew
SuperSport Studios got a complete DWR makeover in 2018
The relationships that are built
The company’s product demonstration room
Starting life as a modest lighting distributor, DWR Distribution has charted an exciting path in its goal to becoming a one-stop shop for entertainment and architectural fields, discovers Becky Abel
FOR THE PAST 13 YEARS, DWR HAS PUT PEOPLE FIRST. Despite a rocky start launching the company and attaining its first brand, DWR has flourished as a South African distributor, consistently broadening its portfolio of brands to offer all-new solutions, and even going so far as to directly support the local entertainment industry through the creation of the SOS Charity. None of this would have been possible without the vision of an amazing team, headed by Duncan Riley. After 11 years of working at Electrosonic, still the South African distributor for Harman’s Martin Professional brand to this day, Riley made the decision to resign from his role as a director and set his sights on something new. His garage at home quickly became the office and, in 2006, DWR, an abbreviation of Riley’s initials, was born with help from wife Sherryn and local freelance technician Nick Britz. But everything hinged on the support of one person, Robe’s international sales director, Harry von den Stemmen. As the main rival to the Martin brand in the region, von den Stemmen
42 PRO AVL MEA Januar y–Februar y 2020
and Riley were already well acquainted. ‘Harry was our biggest competition; however, he wasn’t selling much because we were doing such a good job on the Martin side,’ jokes Riley. ‘Whenever he’d come to South Africa, we’d always make time for a drink together at the pub of rental owner Mike Jones from MJ Event Gear, even though we were competitors. Over the years, he’d asked me several times whether I would be interested in working with Robe.’ Counting on von den Stemmen’s support, Riley was working on a project for Metallica who were per forming in South Africa when he called Harry and asked if he was ready to distribute Robe. At first, von den Stemmen thought he was joking. ‘I was quite taken aback by Harry’s response. I was thinking, oh my gosh, my daughter’s just been born, I’m unemployed and I’ve got no real plan. It was a worrying time.’ After realising Riley was serious about taking on Robe, von den Stemmen invited him to the factory in the Czech Republic
to meet co-founder and CEO, Josef Valchar. The rest, as they say, is history. In the years since, DWR has been successful in helping specify Robe on all kinds of projects in South Africa, while growing to encompass 60 permanent staff members. ‘Everyone who works at DWR is a cool, sociable person that’s easy to get on with.’ This includes Riley’s partners, technical director Bruce Riley and sales director Robert Izzett. ‘Robert and my brother Bruce are two of my most important guys in the business,’ he comments. ‘DWR wouldn’t be what it is without these two, the staff and all the other people that make it work.’ As the company started to become more successful, it quickly moved to warehouse premises in Strijdompark, Randburg and is currently based in a 3,000m2 unit in LaserPark, Honeydew with additional offices in Durban and Cape Town. ‘The lighting side in the early days grew really fast and we were approached by quite a few manufacturers because word got out that we were doing a really good job,’ Riley adds. ‘We’ve associated ourselves with
