Technicolour

T E C H N I C O LO U R

TECHNICOLOUR

Bloemfontein Body Shop

Still in Pole Position After 25 Years PRODUCTION: Manelesi Dumasi

Damian Esterhuizen joined the family auto repair business as a youngster and - with the help of an expert team - has helped to mastermind its growth, realising significant expansion over the past quarter century. Today, Technicolour repairs vehicles for players and staff at the region’s major sports clubs as well as a host of other customers. Esterhuizen is planning expansion out of the Free State and into KZN and the Eastern Cape, before looking into Uganda and Botswana.

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‘Is your battered car bruising your ego?’ asks Technicolour, Bloemfontein’s premier autobody repair centre. If the answer is anything but no, you can rely on this award-winning business to help.

From dent removal and accident repair through to diagnostic measuring, wheel and tyre repair, spray painting, and polishing, Technicolour has honed its craft to become critical in ensuring the ongoing performance and health of its client’s vehicles.

Founded in 1994, Technicolour

is celebrating its 25th anniversary, an achievement which very few companies manage to reach. But instead of looking back at its past, Managing Director Damian Esterhuizen is looking forward, planning an expansion strategy that will see Technicolour launch new services and grow in new provinces.

“The first thing that we are targeting is expansion in Kimberley, which is around 150km west of our head office,” he tells Enterprise Africa.

“There is a lot of opportunity there as we have a large client base there

already. Around 20% of the cars that we fix here in Bloemfontein are from Kimberley. We are starting to facilitate deals where we adopt other workshops like ours and we teach them how to operate businesses in the same way we do, creating a partnership.”

This franchise-type model allows Technicolour to sidestep the investment of large start-up capital and inherit existing client bases. Esterhuizen is also happy that this model does not risk employment in competitor organisations. “For us to set up facilities

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INDUSTRY FOCUS: AUTOMOTIVE

// WE ENSURE WE ARE ALWAYS THOUGHT ABOUT SHOULD ANYTHING GO WRONG WITH THE CAR // and separate businesses would result in the closure of existing businesses and us taking staff members, and that is not what we want to do.”

Esterhuizen, who has been involved in the family-run business since he was a child, is also keen to

see Technicolour expand in the south and east, with plans for partnerships in East London and Margate where he has already identified ‘potential suitors’. Growth at home in Bloemfontein is also important and the company will continue to search for suitable businesses to strike deals with in the market where it is industryleader. “We will make moves one at a time rather than spreading ourselves too thin. The bigger metros are very saturated – there are thousands of companies competing which makes the margins very poor. We would prefer to stay out of those markets

where we can,” says Esterhuizen.

Technicolour even has plans for expansion outside of South Africa and Esterhuizen sees potential in Uganda and Botswana, where his partnership model could offer great assistance for local businesses. “We have a business partner who has identified opportunities in Uganda and Botswana. We have a lot of enquiries about our business model from those two countries but first we want to ensure we are well-established in South Africa. We would certainly be interested in getting into Africa as there is money to be made there,” he says.

Jacques Strydom Boerdery Proudly Supporting Technicolour  admin@jsboerdery.co.za

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051 430 1011

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PO Box 1035, Bloemfontein, 9300

TECHNICOLOUR

CERAMIC PRO As well as delivering traditional services that have helped build Technicolour’s name over the past 25 years, the company has started offering a new service which can help to protect vehicles even further.

Ceramic Pro is a paint protection product that can be added to vehicles and guard against scratches, dust, weather, and many more potential hazards. Technicolour is currently the only autobody shop, across all regions where it is present, to supply this valuable product.

“We brought it into the company around four months ago – a ceramic nano-coating that we apply to cars after repairs,” explains Esterhuizen.

“It locks in the work and protects from UV, small scratches, rain, dust, tar and other elements. We’ve launched it as an upsell product on all cars that we

fix. Currently we fix around 250 cars each month and we are looking for the next thing for our clients to maintain the look of their cars. We are launching with Toyota and Mercedes-Benz in Bloemfontein, where the coating will be sold as an option on new cars. Only we can do this coating in our province and if the car is in an accident, it drives business to our shops as it will have to be with us to be recoated.

“As of November 1st, we have someone at the Toyota dealership and the product will be offered to clients on all new vehicles sold. We are already doing around 35 cars each month and that is impressive as it is not a cheap product, costing R10-20,000.”

By introducing products like Ceramic Pro to add to its impressive service portfolio, Technicolour is ensuring its name is always at the industry’s forefront for anyone with

vehicle upkeep in mind. This is managed through always delivering for the customer, says Esterhuizen.

“The problem in our industry is that only 30% of the vehicles on the road are insured and the cost of repair is very high. That means the competition for insurance work in our industry is big. We have gone a different route and focussed on the client and the service the client can get from us, not only for repairing a vehicle but also looking after a vehicle.

We teach clients how to wash their car, we sell the soap, we coat the paint with Ceramic Pro, and we ensure we are always thought about should anything go wrong with the car. We are actively out there, always looking for business – that is the only way to survive. The result is that we have had gradual sustained growth that I could never complain about.”

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INDUSTRY FOCUS: AUTOMOTIVE

// WE ARE ACTIVELY OUT THERE, ALWAYS LOOKING FOR BUSINESS – THAT IS THE ONLY WAY TO SURVIVE // HISTORICALLY PROBLEM SOLVING The growth Technicolour has achieved has been remarkable considering the company’s founding. Esterhuizen’s father founded the business in his garage as more of a hobby-project without major funding or backing.

Today, Technicolour is recognised for a quality approach to everything it does.

“My father worked for a paint supply company and he provided products to this type of business,” explains Esterhuizen. “He spent a lot of the time around similar companies and at one point he got tired of working for a boss and he started his business inside our garage at home.

I was involved since I was around 10 years old and we worked from the

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garage for about two or three years before we expanded and gained more work and needed a premises.”

Before getting involved in the car market, Technicolour was known for expertise with motorcycles and smaller vehicles. Eventually, the focus switched to cars.

“We opened our new facility and focussed on the dealership market as dealership vehicles, especially second hand, were not well looked after at the time. We entered the market by providing a high-quality service for second hand vehicles so that when they got to the showroom they looked fantastic and sold quicker. We offered a range of services from spray painting, polishing, and

minor repairs. We built on that by creating relationships with insurance companies and gaining manufacturer approvals, and the business grew.”

In 2015, Technicolour was named ‘Top Regional Panel Beater’ at the Discovery Insure Partner Awards.

In 2016, the company was named the winner at the Auto Body Repair Centre awards for Mercedes Benz; and in 2017 gained first place in recognition of outstanding service delivery by Telesure.

Esterhuizen has taken all that Technicolour does well and is using the lessons learned to drive business by helping others.

“A side project for us is consulting in businesses that are

TECHNICOLOUR

not in our industry and might be in trouble because they are out of control. We go in and offer support and education when it comes to controlling business,” he says.

“One of the main problems we have in the country is that entrepreneurs are very scarce.

Not many people start their own businesses and those that do have little knowledge or experience and businesses often fail – that is a big problem for us. In our industry, we have hundreds of shops opening and closing, and with our plan we hope to facilitate growth for small, ownermanaged businesses so they can learn how to grow their businesses and run them effectively. We believe that we can then create a network of businesses using our model and those businesses can then go on and help others, brining benefits to everyone in the chain.”

This approach has been widely welcomed by partner companies and local communities where Technicolour involvement has resulted in the sustainable performance of existing businesses.

“We learn from other businesses and we take our skills from this business and share them with others.

It’s all about keeping us sustainable in the future. It creates a nice network for us and positions us as a company that helps its local community and invests in its growth,” says Esterhuizen.

FUTURE PROOFING Looking to the future, Esterhuizen is not resting on laurels and will certainly not be allowing economic worry or political turmoil to impact on Technicolour’s path.

“We don’t wait on business and wait for clients to approach us. I don’t share the views on negativity in the economy – I see it as opportunity as there are problems to solve. We are solution seekers and we try and solve problems for a wide variety of people,” he says.

// WE ARE SOLUTION SEEKERS AND WE TRY AND SOLVE PROBLEMS FOR A WIDE VARIETY OF PEOPLE // The Director is well-versed in economic highs and lows and has, for a quarter century, seen his business ride the waves. “It has been tough and the future will be different with a lot of Chinese auto business coming into the market. There is a lot of opportunity if things are done right but we will wait and see how things progress over the next two years.”

Continued success will be driven by the companies highly-skilled workforce. Technicolour is proud to say it only employs the best panel beaters and paint specialists, and creates an environment where staff are allowed to make decisions that help solve problems. This empowered approach has resulted in a high level of loyalty.

“I try and create an environment of growth as I have found that when people are growing they don’t leave,” details Esterhuizen. “When people are well trained and they stagnate, then they tend to leave.

Our business model over the past few years has been based on the Toyota business model where we focus on continuous improvement daily and we understand that a percentage

improvement per week means a 52% increase over a year. We like smaller, incremental improvements rather than trying to fix everything all at once. Because we do that, we have consistent learning and consistent involvement of the staff where they are involved with problems and come up with solutions – they have a lot of say in our processes. We have three staff members who have been here for more than 20 years and several others with more than 15 years’ experience.”

This experience drives customer retention and builds a brand that is recognised for excellence. From the 7000m2 centre in Bloemfontein, Technicolour looks set to become one of the country’s most widely respected body shops, and with Esterhuizen sharing business knowledge and expertise with others, the South African driver should never be too far from a skilled shop. ‘Is the luxury glow beginning to fade?’

– not at Technicolour.

WWW.TECHNICOLOUR.CO.ZA

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