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June 2012 www.endeavourmagazine.com

SOUTHEY: A SAFE PAIR OF HANDS

ROYAL CANIN: THE REFERENCE IN HEALTH NUTRITION FOR CATS AND DOGS

GUVON HOTELS – THE COMPLETE PACKAGE

FUCHS: SMOOTH FUNCTIONALITY WHERE OTHERS CANNOT REACH UK £4.95 CAN $14.75 USA $7.99 EUR €7.90 SA ZAR 58.00

Inspired by your success

Editor’s note Heads of Departments Editorial: Editor in Chief Daemon Sands daemonsands@littlegatepublishing.com Research: Director of Research Don Campbell doncampbell@littlegatepublishing.com Finance: Corporate Director Anthony Letchumaman anthonyl@littlegatepublishing.com Studio: Lead Designer Alina Sandu studio@littlegatepublishing.com Publisher: Stephen Warman stevewarman@littlegatepublishing.com Any enquiries or subscriptions can be sent to info@littlegatepublishing.com ENDEAVOUR MAGAZINE is published by Littlegate Publishing LTD which is a Registered Company in the United Kingdom.

Company Registration: 07657236 Registered office: 343 City Road London EC1 V1LR VAT registration number:116 776007 Littlegate Publishing Ltd The Glasshouse, Kings Lane Norwich, NR1 3PS United Kingdom

By Daemon Sands Chief Editor of Endeavour Magazine June is a prestigious time of year. If you’re in the Northern hemisphere it is the time of year when spring seems to explode with colour and hay fever sufferers give tissue retailers their second annual boom (the first coming after the 14th of February.) If you’re in the Southern Hemisphere it’s the dry season and things become far less interesting.

Summer has finally arrived at Littlegate Publishing, a measurement we put on the calendar depending on when Donnie Rust starts wearing his Bermuda shorts and I get complaints about his dancing. It also encouraged a lot of backwards-and-forwards between our three comedy writers- Donnie Rust, Jim Blythe and Rob James.

For this month we’ve searched the world over and as usual we have brought you the best of the best. We look at sporting hero Oscar Pistorius, Zenith Steel, Southey Contracting, Total Wind and Fuchs Lubricants show us the beauty of engineering and metalwork, Cape Town Transport takes us places, Coega IDZ brings it home to South Africa, Promeal and Royal Canin show us the best ways to look after man’s best friends.

We sent two of our writers to South Africa to visit Guvon Hotels (February Issue) to experience their service and hospitality first hand and it was there that they discovered the tragedy of Rhino Poaching in the country.

Littlegate Publishing Ltd does not accept responsibility for omissions or errors. The points of view expressed in articles by attributing writers and/or in advertisements included in this magazine do not necessarily represent those of the publisher.

Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental. Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained within this magazine, no legal responsibility will be accepted by the publishers for loss arising from use of information published. All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced or stored in a retrievable system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the publisher.

Copyright © Littlegate Publishing Ltd 2012

This is the first of a two part series featuring the Rhino Poaching travesty and what the few brave people have to do to keep these animals safe in their natural environment. This is not a localized problem as it’s ignorance and greed that is at the root of its problem and we’re looking to bring you the facts.

I invite you, dear reader, to partake and enjoy in this issue of the magazine.

It is an issue I hope will engage and motivate as much as it will entertain.

Kindest,

Endeavour Magazine • June 2012 • 3

Features Riu Resorts: Secret Customer Visits Clubhotel Riu Buena Vista Guvon Hotels: Let the good times roll!

18 24 Zenith Steel Fabricators: Steeling The Show 26

Royal Canin: The Reference in Health Nutrition for Cats and Dogs Cape Town Department of Transport: All Aboard!

Southey Contracting: A Safe Pair of Hands

32 38 44 Promeal: Making the Best Kind of Dog’s Dinner 52

Fuchs Lubricants: Smooth Functionality Where Others Cannot Reach Coega Industrial Development Zone: Bringing it home

56 62

“Control your own destiny or someone else will.”

Jack Welch

Articles Oscar Pistorius: Record Breaker

6 12 Under Pressure

The Impotent Rage Of The Modern Day Business Personality

14 16 Big Corporate Sickness

“If there is anything that a man can do well, I say let him do it.

Give him a chance.�

Abraham Lincoln

OSCAR PISTORIUS RECORD BREAKER

Endeavour Magazine • June 2012 • 7

Oscar Pistorius was born on 22 November 1986 without a fibula, the long, slender bone running along the outside of the leg from below the knee joint and down to the ankle, in each of his legs.

His parents, Henk and Sheila, consulted with some of the leading doctors in the world before making the heart-wrenching decision to have his legs amputated below the knee by South African orthopedic surgeon Dr. Gerry Versveld.

His parents were advised by doctors that having the amputation done before Oscar had learnt to walk would be less traumatic for him and would greatly improve his chances of mobility in later life. Six months later he received his first pair of prosthetic legs and within days he had mastered them.

Supported and encouraged by his sports-mad family, Oscar lived an active life which led to him becoming a keen sportsman during his school years. Whatever the sport, Oscar played it, with his main focus being water polo and rugby in secondary school. He also played cricket, tennis, took part in triathlons and Olympic club wrestling and was an enthusiastic boxer.

In June 2003, he shattered his knee playing rugby for Pretoria Boys High School and feared that his sporting career was over at the age of 16. On the advice of Dr. Versveld, Oscar took up track running to aid his rehabilitation and began training under the guidance of coach Ampie Louw at the Sports Science Institute at the University of Pretoria.

Proud Record Breaking Paralympian After a few months in the gym, Oscar took part in his first track session on New Year’s Day, 2004.

Three weeks later he entered a school 100 metre race on the prompting of one of his teachers and won in a time of 11.72 seconds. After the race his father looked up how Oscar’s time compared to the best in the world and Henk discovered that his 17-year-old son’s time was faster than the existing Paralympic world record of 12.20s!

In June 2004, he was given his first pair of Össur manufactured Flex-Foot Cheetahs and eight months after first stepping onto the track, the South African created a sensation in the athletics world by winning the T44 200m gold medal at the Athens Paralympics, breaking the world record with a time of 21.97s. He also returned home with a

Oscar Pistorius

bronze medal in the 100m and overnight was propelled onto front and back pages around the world.

Oscar is a proud Paralympian and believes that the Paralympic Games in London will be a high watermark for the Paralympic movement. Oscar has ambitions to continue to promote the Paralympic movement and educate and inspire people around the world about the Paralympic Games.

Spurred on by his achievements at the Paralympic Games, Oscar set his sights on competing against able-bodied athletes and, at the South African Championships in March 2005, he finished sixth in the 400m final.

His performances continued to gain attention and headlines across the world and after he had won gold in the T44 100m and 200m disciplines at the Paralympic World Cup in Manchester, England, he was invited by the IAAF to run in a Grand Prix meeting in Helsinki but was unable to attend due to school commitments.

It was at the IAAF Golden Gala event at the Olympic Stadium in Rome on 13 July 2007 that Pistorius first competed internationally against able-bodied athletes. In the ‘B’ race, he finished second across 400m in a time of 46.90s.

IAAF Ruling In November 2007, Oscar was invited to take part in a

series of scientific tests at the Cologne Sports University under the guidance of Professor of Biomechanics Dr. Peter Brüggemann in conjunction with Mr Elio Locatelli, who was responsible with the IAAF of all technical issues. After two days of tests Brüggemann reported on his findings on behalf of the IAAF. The report claimed that Pistorius was able to run at the same speed as able bodied athletes while using less energy and that his prosthetic limbs gave him an advantage over able bodied athletes.

Pistorius strongly challenged the report claiming that the tests were biased and scientifically flawed. Following an IAAF vote, Pistorius was banned from all able-bodied athletics competitions.

Pistorius employed the services of law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf to challenge the ruling via an appeal and travelled to America to take part in a series of further tests carried out at Rice University in Houston by a team of scientists including Hugh Herr, Ph.D. and Rodger Kram, Ph.D. After a two-day hearing, on 16 May 2008 the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld Oscar’s appeal and the IAAF council decision was revoked with immediate effect.

The CAS panel unanimously determined that Dr. Brüggemann only tested Oscar’s biomechanics at full-speed when he was running in a straight line (unlike a real 400m Endeavour Magazine • June 2012 •

9

Oscar Pistorius

race), that the IAAF did not consider the disadvantages that Oscar suffers at the start and acceleration phases of the race, that Dr. Brüggemann did not consider disadvantages that Oscar suffers, and that overall there was no evidence that Oscar had any net advantage over able-bodied athletes.

Pistorius’ ability to train sufficiently for Beijing had been hampered by the scientific testing and court proceedings and yet he finished third at the Spitzen Leichtathletik meeting in Lucerne with a personal best time of 46.25s - 0.70 seconds outside the Olympic qualifying time.

Pistorius concentrated on the Paralympics in Beijing and became the first athlete in history to win gold in the 100m, 200m and 400m events in the T43/T44 category, the latter in a new Paralympic record of 47.49s.

Career In Progress On 21 February 2009, Oscar suffered serious head and facial injuries in a boat accident on the Vaal River in Johannesburg. He was airlifted to hospital and was in intensive care for five days.

The accident altered his lifestyle and strengthened his focus.

He recovered from his injuries and turned his attention to continuing to break Paralympic records and working to achieve the required time for Olympic qualification.

In January 2011, a slimmer, trimmer Pistorius won three IPC Athletics World titles in New Zealand but was beaten for the first time in seven years in the 100m by American Jerome Singleton.

Oscar subsequently won the T44 400m in 47.28s and the 100m in 11.04s at the BT Paralympic World Cup in May to reassert himself as the world’s leading Paralympic sprinter.

He competed across a number of able-bodied races in the summer of 2011 and posted three times under 46 seconds but it was in Lignano, Italy, on 19 July that Oscar set a personal best of 45.07s in the 400m, attaining the World Championships and Olympic Games ‘A’ standard qualification mark.

The IAAF World Championships, Daegu On 08 August 2011 it was announced that Oscar had been included in the South African team for the IAAF World Championships in Daegu and was selected for the 400m and 4x400m relay squad.

In the heats of the 400m, Oscar finished third in a time of 45.39s, his second quickest time ever, to qualify for the semi-final.

The semi-final saw him finish eighth in his race in 46.19s.

In the heats of the 4x400m relay, Oscar ran the opening leg as the South African team advanced to the finals with a national record time of 2:59.21s. Pistorius was not selected for the final but was awarded a historic silver medal having run in the heats and so became the first ever Paralympic athlete to win a World Championship medal.

To be selected for the South African team to compete at the Olympic Games in London, Oscar must again run inside the 400m ‘A’ standard of 45.25 seconds between January and June 2012.

Oscar will also be looking to represent South Africa in the Paralympic Games to defend his T44 100m, 200m and 400m titles.

Focus, determination and hard work are the key elements to make a champion athlete but courage is the ultimate deciding factor to overcoming obstacles from unexpected corners. South Africa has a history of creating heroes and Oscar Pistorius is one of them.

Oscar Pistorius Timeline 2003 21 June Shatters his knee playing rugby for Pretoria Boys High School and is ruled out of sport for three months.

November Begins injury rehabilitation at the Sports Science Institute at the University of Pretoria under the guidance of athletics coach Ampie Louw.

February Oscar takes part in scientific tests at Rice University in Houston, USA. Research team includes Hugh Herr, Ph.D. and Rodger Kram, Ph.D. May Selected in Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World list.

2004

16 May

01 January Takes part in his first sprint session with Louw on New Year’s Day. 28 January Runs in his first competitive 100m race for Pretoria Boys High School in a time of 11.72s. The existing Paralympic world record was 12.20s.

Court of Arbitration for Sport rule in Pistorius’ favour citing that “the athlete is eligible to compete in IAAF-sanctioned events while wearing Össur Flex-Foot Cheetah® prosthesis model”.

March Improves his time further to 11.51s at an open competition at the Pilditch Stadium, Pretoria.

June Invited by family friend Chris Hatting to the US to trial Össur manufactured Flex-Foot Cheetahs for the first time.

September Wins Paralympic gold in the T44 200m in a Paralympic world record in 21.97s and wins bronze in the T44 100m final in a time of 11.16s.

2005 March Finishes sixth in the able-bodied 400m at the South African Championships.

May Wins gold in T44 100m and 200m events at the BT Paralympic World Cup in Manchester.

August Invited to attend IAAF international event in Helsinki, but declines due to school commitments. The following year is devoted to athletics training and his education.

2007 March Runs a breakthrough 400m time of 46.56s in the South African Championships. 26 March IAAF Council introduces amendment to Rule 144-2(e) regarding “technical aids” after meeting in Mobasa, Kenya.

04 April Breaks the T43 100m world record in a time 10.91s at the Nedbank Championships for the Physically Disabled, in Gauteng, South Africa.

13 July Finishes second in the Golden Gala event at the Olympic Stadium in Rome, in a time of 46.90s. IAAF installs high definition cameras around the track to analyse Pistorius’ running style.

15 July Competes at the British Grand Prix in Sheffield, but bad weather hampers his race and he finishes in a time of 47.65s.

12-13 November IAAF conducts tests with Oscar at the Cologne Sports University under the guidance of Professor of Biomechanics Dr Peter Brüggemann in conjunction with Mr Elio Locatelli, who is responsible with the IAAF of all technical issues.

09 December Receives the Helen Rollason Award at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2007, which is awarded for outstanding courage and achievement in the face of adversity.

20 December IAAF sends Pistorius report saying that he has an unfair advantage. Pistorius given until January 10 to respond.

2008 10 January Pistorius responds to IAAF report claiming that the tests were unfair and biased.

11 January IAAF Executive Council vote to ratify the decision and Pistorius is banned from all able-bodied athletics competitions.

13 February Law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf challenge the IAAF via an appeal on behalf of Oscar Pistorius.

The report states there is no evidence that Oscar has any net advantage over able-bodied athletes.

16 July Pistorius finishes third at the Spitzen Leichtathletik meeting in Lucerne with a 400m personal best time of 46.25s but 0.70s outside the Olympic qualifying time.

September Wins T44 100m, 200m & 400m Paralympic golds in Beijing, setting a new Paralympic record of 47.49s in the 400m.

2010 August Competes in the London Aviva Grand Prix, setting a new 400m T44 world record of 47.04s in the Paralympic race, before finishing 7th in the able-bodied event.

2011 January Wins gold medals in the 200m, 400m and 4x400m relay at the IPC Athletics World Championships in New Zealand, but gets the silver medal as he loses his first 100m in seven years to Jerome Singleton.

23 March Sets personal best of 45.61s to win 400m at Provincial Championships in Pretoria, inside the ‘B’ qualification standard for the Olympic Games and World Championships.

27 May Wins the T44 100m race in 11.04s and the 400m in 47.28s at the BT Paralympic World Cup 31 May Competes in the IAAF Golden Spike meet in Ostrava, running 46.19s for 400m.

11 June Runs his second fastest 400m time of 45.69s at Adidas Grand Prix in New York.

08 July Finishes fifth in time of 45.81s at the Paris Diamond League 400m event.

17 July Runs 46.65s for 400m in Padova, Italy.

19 July Wins in a time of 45.07s for 400m in Lignano, Italy to qualify for the IAAF World Championships in Daegu, South Korea.

08 August Selected for the South African IAAF World Championships team in the 400m and 4x400m relay.

28 August Runs 45.39s in the 400m heats in Daegu to qualify for the semi-final.

29 August Runs 46.19s in the semi-final and finishes the race in eighth.

01 September Runs the opening leg of the 4x400m relay as South Africa advance to the finals with a national record time of 2:59.21s.

02 September South Africa finish second in the 4x400m final but Oscar is not selected for the team. He is awarded a silver medal for his inclusion in the heats and so becomes the first Paralympic athlete to win a World Championship medal.

Endeavour Magazine • June 2012 • 11

UNDER PRESSURE

by Jim Blythe

I am writing this article on a train on my way to a meeting in a state of panic and confusion. The reason for this is that due to one of those strange things that sometimes happens to writers, I now have very little time to get this done. I had an article written – oh, it was clever, it was funny and it was, of course, gloriously written. Time, effort, love and care had gone into its creation. There was just one small problem. I had subconsciously used an idea that another writer had already done a few years before. I had read it, loved it, absorbed it into my subconscious and finally it had worked it’s way back out with my mind now convinced it had produced this idea itself. Fortunately my beloved spotted this at the eleventh hour and whilst I’m phenomenally grateful to her for stopping me inadvertently committing an act of plagiarism it has left me in a pickle. What do you do when you find yourself with an impossible deadline, especially when it’s one of your own making?

It takes me back to an event that happened a few years back. I’d like, if I may, to tell you a true story of how an organisation I once worked for came to implement the daily huddle into all its teams working life. This was an edict from on high; all teams would huddle on a daily basis. This would enable them to be clear on their goals for the day, make sure that all work was covered, make contingency plans if things were going off-plan and to share news and information. Thousands of teams across hundreds of locations would now all take 15 minutes out of each day - a huge investment if weighed across the company. An external training company were bought in at massive expensive to show managers how to get the most from huddling to improve service, morale and profit. It was a massive and high-profile initiative to fundamentally change the way we worked as teams.

Now let me tell you how it came about. And I know because I was there…

A number of reasonably senior staff members had been instructed by even more senior staff members to pull together ideas to improve our working practices. They were then to gather together on a set day and present their ideas to the said even more senior staff members who would then take on the best ideas. This wasn’t in the form of a friendly competition with the winner getting a teddy bear or a hamper or some such novelty item. There was an expectation that some really good suggestions would be presented, each more implementable than the last and for those who’s ideas were taken on serious career progression would await. Those who’s ideas weren’t, well… things were likely to be a bit less rosy shall we say! Against such a back-drop it should be no surprise that something as radical and exciting as getting teams to talk to each other for a few minutes each day should emerge is it. But the route to it doing so is a little surprising.

Let me now introduce a friend of mine, Danny. Danny isn’t really an ambitious guy and shouldn’t have found himself in a senior enough position to have been tasked with coming up with one of these ideas. How he had was a constant course of bewilderment and laughter amongst us as I cajoled him into buying me drinks on the basis that he earned a lot more money than I did. So, Danny had to come up with an idea and, quite simply, he didn’t have one. Not a clue. We knocked

about ideas over a pint or two on several evenings.

“Tap dancing penguins?” I suggested. Danny peered at me over the top of his glass.

“Why?” he asked, with a sigh.

“I would work hard every day and be a damned sight happier if I knew that the company were going to wheel out some tap-dancing penguins to entertain me.” I explained.

“Thus productivity would increase as would profit.”

Danny gave me an appraising stare. “So you seriously want me to go to the board and tell them we should implement tap-dancing penguins?” he asked.

“Hell, yeah.” I replied.

“Can I name you as the creator of this brilliant scheme so you get the credit you so richly deserve?” Danny asked.

“Hell, no” I replied.

“I think I’ll leave it then.” he said.

“Fair enough.” I replied with a shrug. Of course now, years later, we can kick ourselves as the two ‘Happy Feet’ movies about tap-dancing penguins have gone on to be blockbusters. Life can be cruel like that sometimes.

Placed in this difficult situation he did what many of us might do – he got drunk. Horribly, monstrously, falling-over and vomitingly drunk.

So, let’s move to the night before the big presentations and Danny is at a hotel in London with his colleagues all of whom have compiled brilliant presentations detailing their brilliant new ideas. And Danny still has nothing, except maybe some form of tap-dancing penguin idea but the details haven’t really been worked through. Placed in this difficult situation he did what many of us might do – he got drunk.

Horribly, monstrously, falling-over and vomitingly drunk. He woke up the next day feeling extremely ill with not only a hangover to deal with but also the approaching end to his career. Danny recognised the need for the healing gift of Lucozade and given there was a supermarket opposite the hotel he staggered over there to get some. And it was there, in the supermarket, that he saw that the staff were standing in a huddle. Puzzled by this he approached them and asked what they were doing. They explained that they huddled every day to be clear on their goals for the day, make sure that all work was covered, make contingency plans if things were going off-plan and to share news and information. And so, armed with a bottle of Lucozade and someone else’s idea Danny headed back to the hotel and saved his career.

What are we to learn from this? A few things I think.

Firstly, it’s ok to steal an idea if you work at a senior level in a large company but not if you’re a writer. Secondly, if you have a great idea like tap-dancing penguins you should do something with it before someone else does. Thirdly, there’s nothing like being under pressure to get your mind working even through the haze of a hangover. And finally, that sometimes, just occasionally, getting drunk is the answer to your problems. Not that any of this solves my immediate problem. What am I going to write this article about?

Endeavour Magazine • June 2012 • 13

BIG CORPORATION SICKNESS

by Rob James

I realise I could never be trusted to run a big corporation, ok. I want to clear that up right now. I’m irresponsible, lazy, frequently rude and always late for meetings. I don’t often pay attention when I’m in meetings and I say stupid things if I think they’ll be funny. For example, I was sat in a project meeting a couple of weeks back with a new team full of people I’ve never met before. I got sent to this project meeting by my boss to represent our team. But it’s a four hour meeting and two hours into it I couldn’t see any relevance to me or my team at all. So I zoned out a bit. Well, I say a bit, I mean totally. And so there I was in my happy place when all of a sudden the guy leading the meeting – I can’t even remember his name – says “Rob, what are you thinking?” But I have been listening for a good half an hour; I have no idea what they’ve all been talking about. So I said, because I thought it might be funny, “I was just thinking how cool it would be if I was a superhero”. The project team now think I’m an idiot, my manager is unimpressed but I’m pleased with myself because I still think it was funny. Maybe that’s just me.

My point is that I’m not fit to be the guy in charge.

I realise that and I embrace it. What I do wonder though is whether the guys in charge are any fitter to be the guys in charge than me. The reason I wonder this is that I work for a big corporation and several of my friends work for other big corporations and as we’ve talked to each other about work we’ve noticed some similar trends. These things feel like several kinds of sickness that creeps through big corps and leave the staff feeling bewildered, annoyed and fed up. So we’ve set about diagnosing a few of the most common to see if maybe a cure can be found: Organisational Attention Deficit Disorder (OADD) All of our big corps announce strategies, visions, plans, aims, objective and goals. All the staff have to sit down and listen to our leaders talk about how excited they are about said strategies, visions, plans, aims, objective and goals that will drive the business forward. Except that within a month or two OADD has struck and we have some new strategies, visions, plans, aims, objective and goals creeping in. And some of the old ones disappear. And over a course of a year all of the strategies, visions, plans, aims, objective and goals are completely different to the ones we started with. Only a cynic would believe that the strategies, visions, plans, aims, objective and goals change to reflect what we’re going to deliver so that at year end we

can say we were successful. No, this is OADD at work and no known cure has yet been found.

Premature Announc-iations Our big corps just can’t keep a secret! By the time any announcement at all reaches the shareholders, the markets or the media everyone in the company knows everything there is to know about it. This appears to be because too many of our senior leaders seem to suffer from premature announc-iations; the inability to stop themselves spouting off early to several trusted confidents who then tell everyone else.

Constant Re-Adjustment Disorder Sufferers of Constant Re-Adjustment Disorder cannot stand to leave any structure in place for more than a few months. The need to create a new organisational plan, a new structure or some new roles will drive out any desire to maintain the status quo long enough to tell if any of their constant re-adjustments have worked and enable their staff to settle into new working patterns. Where they are unable to do this sufferers will instead create new layers of governance or process instead to stave off their cravings.

Commitment Issues Ever worked for a big corp and heard an edict from on high that, for example, “we are committed to developing our staff?” We have. We’ve then seen the Learning & Development department slash from 200 staff members to 20 and the budget reduced by 66%. Now look, I don’t care if my organisation don’t want to spend any money developing me or not in the same way that I don’t care if my girlfriend really loves me or not. Just don’t tell me as I’ll only feel let down when I find out the truth.

These, my friends, are just the tip of the iceberg; there are many, many more Big Corporation Sicknesses out there that have yet to be diagnosed. Tell you what – why don’t you have a go at diagnosing a few of them yourself and send them to me here at Endeavour Magazine. Once we’ve done that we can pass them onto to someone bigger, better and wiser than us who can go about fixing them.

Someone senior would seem right wouldn’t it? Maybe we should pass them to the guys in charge of the big corporations. Oh no, hang on, this is where I came in isn’t it! That sort of poor idea just shows why I’m not fit to be the man in charge!

Endeavour Magazine • June 2012 • 15

by Jim Blythe I’ve always wanted to be a super hero. It’s why I became a journalist for an internationally recognized and much loved magazine (supportive wink to Daemon Sands) because I was under the impression that by doing so I would automatically be given some tights and cape as part of my introductory pack. (Superman and Spiderman all worked in the publishing industry).

As I am approaching thirty now and the coolness of watching the Avengers Assemble (best movie ever) by myself is unappreciated by the remainder of the audience in the cinema I have taken to justify my desire to be a super hero as part of a desire to fight for justice, defend the public need and to socially-primp vigilantism by wearing a costume.

It took a run in with a colleague to help me realize why I and everyone else in the world wants to be a super hero.

A balance of rage and non-accountability.

According to Marvel, the more super powers you possess the less accountable you are for your actions.

Today there is no place for rage in working society especially when there are companies filled with professionals with fins on their backs praying for you to accidentally bump into someone too hard in the elevator so that they can sue you for everything including the few copper pennies you have left in your sock drawer. We live in an astonishingly stressed society while having next to no release for our basic primal rage and wherever there is a release there’s someone there to record you with a video camera when you go overboard.

So instead of coming to work on a Monday with “Good

If there is no place for rage in modern day society then why do I want to go all Samuel L Jackson on your ass?

Morning” printed on your forehead so that you can just head butt people instead of having to speak to them we have to ignore the bellowing angry beast inside that wants to rip us apart and get on with our jobs.

When we were children we saw the world as a place where adults could get away with anything and some of us are still waiting for that time before calling ourselves grown up. We wished that we could, at a flip of a coin, turn green with rage and go on a rampage through a city, punching trains with our bare fists and throwing dump trucks at aeroplanes.

We wanted to be unstoppable and we wanted our anger to scare people.

The dream doesn’t leave as we grow up we just get more of a reason to want it.

But not only do most of us not have the same upper-body strength we did when we were in grade school but everything in this world costs money and we’re obsessed with the value of things. While we sometimes want to destroy the world around us we don’t want to have to pay for it and so on the most part we swallow down the anger and end up with repetitive strain injuries and a limp.

Mainstream media has tagged onto this desire inside us for gratuitous violence and bloodshed coupled with very little

THE IMPOTENT RAGE OF THE MODERN DAY BUSINESS PERSONALITY consequence. We all wanted to be Neo (The Matrix. Ie. The movie with all the overcoats and kicking) not only for being able to fly and do kung fu without the profuse sweating and groin strains, but more so for the chance to be free to beat the seven bells out of anyone who annoys us.

Today going mental isn’t an option and it requires extra mural activities to give us a chance to release our bottled up fury. Hobbies that release endorphins and physical activities like ball sports or martial arts or rugby become important as the last resource to release the adrenaline. But how many of us do sports compared to the majority of us that go home after a tough day at work and vigorously watch television?

But it won’t go away. Despite how desperately you punch the buttons on the remote and eventually it’ll tip over.

Eventually it will overflow and when it does…

You’ll feel very embarrassed.

Losing your cool and having an iffy fit will only get you ridiculed by your peers and laughed at by your superiors, to properly lose it you have to accept the chance you’ll end up with jail time and some “IMPORTANT PLEASE READ”s on your police record. Unless you’re willing to cause severe property damage, inflict some bodily harm or shoot someone - you’re only going to hurt yourself.

After watching my chief editor Daemon Sands slowly wean himself off all caffeine products by enjoying an inappropriate amount of red bush, I realized that I drink about fourteen cups of coffee before lunch. My blood is practically brown by the time it circulates my entire body and by the afternoon

if anyone talks to me I can’t respond without shouting and waving my hands and throwing things- even if it’s just to ask if I want another cup of coffee!

The world is conspiring to turn us all into front page headlines depicting wide eyed, gun wielding psychopaths that have to be shot by snipers from three blocks away.

We are born with a mental mechanism to induce rage and aggression, we fill ourselves with chemicals that stimulate these parts of our minds like caffeine and alcohol, we drive ourselves on a daily basis in a frenzy of mouth foaming anger and tension and then we are forbidden to release this in the places where we really want to.

My colleague had once again taken my coffee mug and filled it with his horrible Horlicks and sat not seven feet away from me slurping like a giraffe trying to drink from a coke bottle while playing Angry Birds on his I Phone.

My coffee mug, it’s not even a cup, it’s a mug. It’s a mug I had in South Africa, it had joined me around the world on all of my adventures and like Thor’s hammer no mere mortal should have been allowed to touch it and he was soiling it with his off-blond moustache!

Vehemently I walked home after work, replaying scenario after scenario where I took sweet revenge upon him and each one involved more screaming and more throwing of things. I got home and slammed the door, walked straight upstairs into my room and threw my phone with all my might into a pillow.

Feel my rage.

Grrrr.

Endeavour Magazine • June 2012 • 17

RIU Resorts

At Littlegate Publishing we like to think that we treat our staff very well and in celebration of the engagement of our James Martin, we sent him and his fiancé to the Tenerife resort ClubHotel Riu Buena Vista in the form of a secret customer.

Naturally, he had to do some work as well.

Tenerife. Brilliant, sunny, Canarian Tenerife. The Island of Eternal Spring, Tenerife is an island created volcanically, building up from the ocean floor 20–50 million years ago and hasn’t stopped partying since.

A British customer is a discerning customer. With sunshine being our most sought after pleasure we judge our holidays by how long we can do without wearing a shirt and to what extent our skin falls off afterwards. With its near allyear sunshine and ridiculously low chance of drizzle, Tenerife had to be our holiday destination of choice because after all I’m British!

Which resort to choose from though? So we took to the internet to search for resorts and their related reviews.

Enter ClubHotel Riu Buena Vista. Located in Adeje, this picturesque hotel/resort provides exactly what the discerning Brit, with a fiancé prone to complaining could desire. The

entire property is set up in a Spanish apartment fashion to best make use of the sunshine. With tiled floors so you don’t worry about the sand and wide French Windows opening onto verandas overlooking the two sprawling infinity pools built on two separate levels to allow maximum viewing of the scenery.

The “scenery” is of course the thing anyone comes to Tenerife for, the endless blue bowl of a sky that seems too large and the vast glassy ocean that appears too vast for the mind to comprehend.

The Staff were smartly dressed, helpful and extremely polite, willing to go the extra mile for our comfort and satisfaction. The food at the sea-viewing restaurant was spectacular and varied with a wide choice of cuisines. The meals were prepared in full view of guests to get our mouths watering and to such a high level we considered never going

SECRET CUSTOMER VISITS CLUBHOTEL RIU BUENA VISTA.

home. In addition, unlike some resorts we have visited in the past where the pool activities required the immediate escape of anyone enjoying a dip who didn’t want an inflatable dolly shoved into their hands. At ClubHotel Riu the pools are designed in such a fashion with alcoves so that I was able to bask like a whale in perfect safety in my own corner while the various pool activities took place.

Due to the nightlife in Tenerife and the affordability of the alcohol I didn’t see any of the sunrises but judging by the sublime beauty of their sunsets I can only imagine they were breath-taking.

Getting away from the stress and frantic-manic-frenzy of working life requires peace, relaxation, sunshine and being treated like a king. I will definitely be returning to ClubHotel Riu Buena Vista and I couldn’t think of a better break to celebrate my engagement.

Endeavour Magazine • June 2012 • 19

Guvon Hotels www.guvonhotels.co.za +27 11 791 1870 Written by Ken Brickell and Andrew Proctor

LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL! Endeavour Magazine • June 2012 • 21

Guvon Hotels

Here at Littlegate Publishing we pride ourselves in our understanding of our markets. This involves extensive research and on the ground experience.

In early May we sent Ken Brickell and Andrew Proctor to South Africa to experience Guvon Hotels and the legendary Big Five (The Big Five being the African Elephant, Black Rhino, Cape Buffalo, the Lion and the Leopard). The following article explores Guvon Hotels as a holiday and corporate destination however we found the visit to have an unexpected story which has left a lasting impact with all of us at Littlegate Publishing, more on that to come.

Endeavour Magazine • June 2012 • 22

Guvon’s Askari Lodge is set in the magnificent Magaliesburg Mountains, site of a famous Anglo-Boer War skirmish that took place over a hundred years ago. The lodge is only an hour and a quarter North West of Johannesburg in a blissfully malaria free area and was renamed around two and a half years ago after a series of major revamps and extensions. In over 5000 hectares of wilderness sits this 4 star centre for private family visitors, a stunning wedding venue with its own chapel, a conference/seminar and corporate team building centre and a very interesting museum of local artefacts.

Our first stop was one of the outside bar areas for a toasted sandwich and a beer, forgetting that a sandwich in Africa includes oodles of salad and chips.

In our first afternoon at Askari we walked the hotel grounds before going on a game drive. This is a major attraction for guests whether from South Africa or abroad and to accommodate there is a fleet of 4 Landrovers and a pair of vehicles that can carry up to 22 people in each. On the way to the lion enclosure we saw a kudu, an antelope native to South Africa, famous for its long spiralling horns and many other plain animals such as impalas, warthogs and rooiboks who looked at us with the mild interest of hosts addressing guests. In the lion enclosure we tracked down the lionesses and then the big male. Beautiful!

The next morning we were taken on to their Elephant Experience. This involved a viewing of the DVD about the Legendary Elephant Whisperer conservationist Lawrence Anthony. Lawrence is a renowned conservationist who recently passed away and shortly after his death two herds of wild Elephants made their way through the bush until they reached his house. Over the years Lawrence had saved many of their lives as they were formerly violently rogue elephants destined to be shot as pests until he rehabilitated them. For two days the herds loitered at Lawrence’s compound on the vast Thula game reserve and no one knows how they knew it was time to say farewell to the man they loved.

After the DVD we were treated to a slide show explaining many of the interesting physical adaptations of the elephant, e.g. how the top two vertebrae in their necks are fused together to help support the weight of the head and that on its tongue there is a large black pattern on it which is like a finger print because no two patterns are the same.

The elephant experience centres on 16 year old Damara and 18 year old Nzewe, both males who were threatened by a culling program and after some training ended up at Plumari in 2006. After becoming trusting of their new keepers they have learned several playful tricks and to interact with the guests by accepting food by hand, and thanking them with quite sloppy kisses to the head and face. This is a magical if messy experience. They also feature prominently in the wedding ceremonies held at Askari, although there is, yet, no evidence of them kissing the bride.

With the time remaining, we visited their fabulous Boer War wagon and cart exhibition which was genuinely fascinating and one visit was not enough to take it all in.

From June, the hotel has a Sunday braai (barbecue) and the entrance fee to the museum is a book that goes into their library for distribution to local people.

The food at Askari is excellent and the standard of the staff is impeccable. We were left wanting for nothing and felt like we were in a good friend’s house rather than a hotel.

Andrew enjoys a kiss from an admirer

Guvon Hotels

We moved on to Kloofzicht, their 5 Star luxury hotel and conference centre. It has three large lakes around it. One of these lakes is chartered to Bells Whisky as a corporate angling site. They hold a weekly angling competition and the grounds are well kept in front of the reception infinity pool. This looks out over a beautiful lakeside landscape.

Excellent walks can be had around these lakes. There are zebra, giraffes and blesbok around the grounds and sundown is quite spectacular. On certain mornings you will see hot air balloons taking off from the hotel car park, a breathtaking sight.

If you are looking for peace and quiet it’s a perfect place to visit. Brenda, the Company Liaison Officer was a perfect hostess to us and again, the staff are pure brilliance, as is the food. Particular mention should go to the breakfasts at both venues. Everything was scrumptious and always freshly prepared to set you up for the day.

Special thanks needs to go to Joe Loubser of Executive African Tours and Shuttles who met us at the airport and did our transfers. He was full of knowledge about the Magaliesburg area even though he is originally from Durban.

His vehicles are modern and very comfortable.

Upon every visit to South Africa there are different memories to take home and we couldn’t possibly cover all aspects. It is true to say it is a wonderous place and Guvon Hotels do everything beautifully. They offer everything to whoever comes, be it a base to explore from or a paradise to stay in.

Cuddles all round for our Ken

However, there was a dark side to the boy’s trip.

RHINO POACHING. I like to think I am knowledgeable about South Africa and I of course knew that poaching was an everyday problem but I did not expect in my wildest of nightmares to hear what I did. I cannot do the subject justice in this issue of the magazine so I have convinced the powers that be that we will come back next month to you with a full length story. Next month’s story has been born from total desperation in Africa and the need to educate people of the atrocities that the soon to be extinct Rhinos are under. I know most of you regularly read the magazine however I am asking you to make a point of reading the next issue as this horrendous situation needs addressing.

In addition to this article we have also involved Members of the UK Parliament to help and we will give you the full story next month.

Endeavour Magazine • June 2012 • 25

STEELING THE SHOW THE ZEN OF HOMES FOR THE PEOPLE Zenith Steel Fabricators Ltd www.zenithsteel.com +254 20 551874/5

Endeavour Magazine • June 2012 • 27

Zenith Steel Fabricators Ltd

An energetic innovator in product line and geographical reach, Kenya-based Zenith Steel Fabricators is now driving into East Africa’s mass housing market. The prize – social and commercial – is enormous, co-director Raheem Biviji tells Ben Walker.

A breakthrough expansion policy started seven years ago has seen Nairobi-based Zenith Steel Fabricators rise to become market leader throughout Kenya and East Africa.

Founded in 1977 as a small fabrication workshop, Zenith is a family-owned bespoke design and construction company with a project portfolio ranging from affordable housing to multi-story commissions, and a client base from industrial and religious to governmental and private.

A high commitment to quality through its ISO 9001:2008 certifications has enabled it to capture a large and expanding market – now extending into West Africa - and co-director Raheem Biviji predicts continuing growth, notably in neighbouring Tanzania.

It is a strategy in which Zenith’s most recent diversification – housing – is set to play a powerful role. Kenya, the region’s biggest economy, builds around 35,000 new housing units a year but has an annual shortfall of 150,000 units according to official statistics (with an annual 40,000 shortfall in Tanzania and Zambia respectively).

And the country’s biggest mortgage lender Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) sees demand continuing to outstrip supply even as the rising cost of construction materials shifts demand towards affordable housing.

Prices of cement and other materials have risen sharply on the back of weakness in Kenya’s shilling hammered by falling government bond yields and a global rush into the dollar stoked by fears of a possible Greek exit from the euro.

“We will see people adjust to affordable lower-cost income houses. But the demand for housing in Kenya is still exponential and cannot be fulfilled by the current supply,” says KCB’s Director of Mortgage Business Joram Kiarie.

With affordable housing both a regional social need and a business opportunity, enter the Zen House, the division of Zenith Steel Fabricators for the design and manufacture of high quality affordable housing - and specifically targeting the mass market in Kenya.

Primarily a steel frame system with insulated concrete wall panels, the Zen House is available in attractive designs and a finishing tailored to individual tastes and budget.

Set against more conventional builds, the advantages in cost and speed of construction are decisive says Raheem, 32 year old son of co-founder Abbas Biviji. “The units go up from start to finish in eight to ten weeks and are between 15% and 20% cheaper than conventional bricks and mortar constructions. These are early days but our target is forty to fifty houses a month.”

The Zen comes in two sizes, 42 sq metres – the equivalent of a compact two bed roomed bijou house - and 130 sq metres, with a choice of roofing, flooring and furniture/ soft furnishings.

The formation of the housing division in 2010 was one of a series of milestones catapulting Zenith into its premier position in East Africa. Five years earlier the structural steel division started export marketing with operations in Zambia, Tanzania and Ethiopia, later expanding first into Uganda and Malawi, and then in 2009 into West Africa.

Complementing this geographical push was a massive expansion in product range, which in 2007 saw the launch of Argonaut trailers - skeleton, flat bed, general cargo and enclosed, and adaptable to two, three, four axles, all designed, fabricated and tested in-house.

The following year - in which Zenith secured ISO certification - saw the introduction of pressed panel water tanks made from pressed steel panels and cold-formed to diamond shape providing both structural and aesthetic functions. A perfect balance between efficiency and mobility, says Raheem Biviji.

One of Zenith’s key structural type specialities are Go-downs, warehouses, often on docksides, with spans ranging from 12m to 60m to meet client demands for the open and free flow spaces that increase functional flexibility.

“The client’s specific requirements for use determine the building’s form, and, whatever the solution our most important goal is to provide a completed project with speed, economy and structural efficiency.”

Design, fabrication and erection of high rise buildings with metal decking sheets are another major division. The Zenith system - capable of reaching twenty five floors comprises steel columns and beams hoisted into place.

Steel high rise buildings have a marked advantage over conventional reinforced concrete buildings; substantially quicker construction and with no further timber shuttering needed. The reduced weight of a steel building compared with an equivalent reinforced concrete building results in a reduced reaction loads on the foundations, leading to lighter, more economical foundations.

Zenith also offers a design, fabrication and erection service of both free standing and cable stayed towers. For this highly skilled operation, towers are designed to withstand not only wind speed, but also wind-induced oscillation. “We have been responsible for many bridges from small footbridges to much larger road bridges.”

Current and recently completed projects include twelve and fourteen story buildings and – With the introduction of a tropical climate-adapted sugar beet that will boost farmers profits through

JOJA ENGINEERS Tel: 051-2211860 Fax: 212591 0727759599/0710 - 453106 Email: jojaengltd@yahoo.com

Joja Engineers Limited P.O. Box 3147 Nakuru

Endeavour Magazine • June 2012 • 29

Zenith Steel Fabricators Ltd

migration from longer-maturing sugarcane - a sugar factory in Western Kenya.

In East Africa growth is a real option. In the past, when the global economy weakened, sub-Saharan Africa fared badly. Not so in recent years. While the global economy spluttered last year, the region notched up five per cent growth – outpaced only by emerging Asia - and the IMF forecasts a broadly similar outcome this year, with subSaharan Africa growing by about 5.5 per cent.

Growth in Tanzania has been even stronger – an impressive 7.3% average in the in the four years up to 2008.

And supported by accommodative fiscal and monetary policy, and financial support from the IMF and development partners, Tanzania has emerged relatively unscathed from the impact of the global financial crisis.

Unsurprisingly Biviji expects “substantial” growth for Zenith in Tanzania. “In Kenya the housing market should expand tremendously, and while I see the Kenyan economy fading somewhat by the end of the year, Tanzania looks to be very buoyant and set to continue growing.”

And for Zenith a similar forecast. “We started with humble beginnings and have expanded to cover many sectors both in the residential and industrial markets. We are involved in a range of products and provide turnkey solutions for factories and cost-effective houses. “Our in-house design capabilities are just one distinguishing key that sets us apart, and we deliver on time and with high quality products. We plan to remain what we are – sector leaders in this part of Africa.”

Endeavour Magazine • June 2012 • 31

Royal Canin www.royalcanin.co.za +27 11 801 5000

Photograph Jean-Michel Labat

Written by Don Campbell

Photograph Yves Lanceau

THE REFERENCE IN HEALTH NUTRITION FOR CATS AND DOGS

Endeavour Magazine • June 2012 • 33

Royal Canin

It’s a rare pleasure to find a company that truly impresses and it takes a lot to do it.

They must have all the bases of strategy, employment and sustainability checked and still rise above my expectations. After I had the chance to speak with the Managing Director of Royal Canin South Africa, Frederic Desbrosses, I am pleased to say that his company has officially blown me away.

TO START WITH Pets are important to South Africans. A garden is not complete without a dog running through it chasing the sprinkler or jumping into the pool and every window sill or veranda looks empty without a cat sitting on it looking at the dog with a supercilious attitude. The pet industry in South Africa has far greater potential than in other countries with an increasing demand on top quality food products for the health of these cherished animals. Celebrating their tenth anniversary this year, Royal Canin South Africa has been setting the standards since 2002.

Royal Canin is a French brand - part of the Mars Corporation - which opened a subsidiary in South Africa in March 2001 after selling the product through an established network of distributors for several years to establish a demand. Now they are one of the major pet food companies in the country.

Initially, when coming to South Africa, Royal Canin wanted

a local brand to accelerate the growth and penetration of the market and so they bought Vet’s Choice which was a leading brand.

From the start there has been a special sort of approach to business.

“Our aim is not only to be number one in Health Nutrition, quality and food safety for cats and dogs, and the leader in volume, but also to be recognized as the reference for both.” – Frederic Desbrosses, MD, Royal Canin.

In 2003, Mr Henri Lagarde (CEO of Royal Canin at the time) and Dr. Charles Moore endeavoured to set up a natural ecological zone surrounding the Royal Canin factory in South Africa to protect and rebuild a natural, non-artificial environment. This was long before the global push for such ventures by any governments and came from a mutually felt passion for nature and to restore and protect the indigenous environment. To achieve this they approached environmental specialist John Masson, owner of Local Biodiversity Solutions in Johannesburg, who’s still heavily involved in the Ecopark today.

This practice of repair and creation has been consistent through the history of the company and has developed a culture of sustainability that is emulated and driven by the staff. For example, solar geysers on the roof produce 80% of the hot water for the administration block, paper recycling, a reduction in plastic waste and a water reclamation and recycling plant on the grounds irrigates the Ecopark so no municipal water is used. Despite this, they still strictly monitor their water and carbon footprint, energy consumption and CO2 emissions to ensure that everything is where it needs to be. Their objective is to be sustainable within one generation.

A triumph of the Ecopark comes in the form of a breeding population of the endangered African Bullfrog and a flourishing bird population that has grown from 10 species in 2003 to over 150 different species today. This is remarkable in a light industrial area.

“Sustainability is very important at Royal Canin and for Mars Corporation. When taking a long term look at sustainability, you have to take into consideration the environment, the development of sustainable raw materials and recyclable materials to develop not only the practice but an established centre of sustainability.” – Frederic Desbrosses, MD, Royal Canin.

Endeavour Magazine • June 2012 • 34

ASSOCIATES “We are developing a local talent pipeline through training, learning and development with the aim in the future to have more local management” – Frederic Desbrosses, MD, Royal Canin.

The pet industry is changing too. Ten years ago the majority of dogs in South Africa were primarily watch dogs and guard dogs aiding security, but since then times and trends have changed and there are many smaller dogs in residential estates and apartments as well as cats – all of which need precise nutritional answers for their specific needs.

“Values and passion are key criteria for our associates.

That is what Royal Canin is and must always be about, passion.” – Frederic Desbrosses, MD, Royal Canin.

The associates involved with customer relations need to understand the products and the welfare of both pet and pet owner. Recognizing that a happy and informed associate will inevitably equal a happy customer, the company ensures that every staff member is kept up to date with the latest products and training from France (the headquarters), regularly assessed through personal development programmes, online training modules and given the best tools to work with.

Having a major influence on their staff is the internal adult

Royal Canin

equipment as we believe strongly in the importance of testing and analysing every raw material, as well as finished products that pass through our factories. We check everything and reject whatever is not top quality to ensure that we are more than 100% confident in our products.

Regular audits are conducted to ensure that we fulfil every quality and food safety standard that is internationallly set by our Quality and Food Safety management team in France as well as taking into account the specific requirements of the local regulatory environment.” – Frederic Desbrosses, MD, Royal Canin.

basic education and training (ABET)that takes place.

“As part of our upliftment initiative in South Africa, we identified a need for increased numeracy and literacy skills amongst some associates who were very keen to improve their education. This led to a highly successful and continuous adult education programme amongst associates.” – Frederic Desbrosses, MD, Royal Canin.

They progress people too, promoting experienced people into managerial ranks and where necessary sending people to France or other overseas locations to work with experts and experience best practices for themselves. Collective intelligence is key to the philosophy of “the team before the individual” and the respect shown to staff is evident in the usage of the term ‘associates’ rather than ‘employees. Staff are partners in the success of the business and valued for their input and contribution.

As mentioned earlier, the industry changes, not only with the roles pets play but with technology and understanding of nutrition too. Keeping on top of these changes while maintaining quality keeps a company on top of an industry and as France creates the new products, and South Africa has its own factory which produces for the local market, Royal Canin makes sure they’re perfect for their customers.

An important note is that Royal Canin’s mission has always been quality health nutrition and food safety. This is characterised by a precise balance amongst an average of 70 different nutrients (proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, aminoacids, fatty acids, mineral salts, vitamins and trace elements).

The formulation of their animal diets corresponds to a complex nutritional puzzle whose formulation guarantees a constant nutritional formula, respecting the precise and specific nutritional needs of cats and dogs.

This places the animal at the heart of the scientific formulation process and the ingredients used are selected for the quality and benefits of the nutrients provided.

A SPECIAL APPROACH? As part of the Mars Corporation, there are 5 Principles that guide and form part of the ‘bricks and mortar’ approach at Royal Canin, these being Quality, Freedom,

“Uncompromising in favour of food safety, we have always had a laboratory in South Africa but the new laboratory was a specifically built addition, in a new wing, utilizing new training methods and acquiring new analysis

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Triple E Training, rated as one of the three most excellent Adult Education and Training Providers in South Africa, provides English, Mathematics and essential Life Skills.

Our learners are adults from all educational levels completing full qualifications or upgrading exclusive skills in order to further opportunities. 21 years’ experience has meant that we take the lead with innovative learning materials, quality facilitation, nation-wide delivery, and an unparalleled professional and hands-on approach to training. We offer business-to-business solutions that improve knowledge, skills, values and attitude, all of which are vital to an organisation’s growth and global success. We educate, enrich and truly empower South Africa.

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Efficiency, Responsibility and Mutuality. These principles have encouraged the development of Royal Canin into the company it is today. But it doesn’t explain the full extent to which the company has approached its unique growth in South Africa.

The explanation comes from the passion with which Frederic Desbrosses the managing director and all the associates face their everyday operations and challenges.

After speaking with him you get the distinct impression that he thinks big, looking at goals and targets as far away as 2020 while working smaller on day to day processes.

“Cats and dogs first,” he says, “We work with people who have passion and a love of animals like veterinarians and breeders. The founder of Royal Canin was a veterinarian and his first client was a breeder. That unique partnership with breeders and veterinarians has remained and is a very important part of our business.”

In conclusion, the quality of the products and the passion of the associates are the vital components to a company’s success. The additional elements that Royal Canin are so dedicated to including staff development, the Ecopark, their approach to growth and expansion and the responsible and passionate attitude of their people are each an individual testament to the overall design of their future. They are the model company for what the 21st century needs.

Frederic Desbrosses, MD, Royal Canin.

Local Biodiversity Solutions “John Masson, CEO of Local Biodiversity Solutions (LBS) has been appointed as the biodiversity specialist for the Ecological Green Space labelisation committee of ECOCERT Environment. LBS established a revolutionary land-use model which integrates natural biodiversity within the developed environment to extend sustainable, ecological services to the greater urban footprint. Visit the LBS website at www.localbiodiversity.com to learn more about the model.”

“Quality is a matter of survival and our 1st Principle.” –

Endeavour Magazine • May 2012 • 37

Cape Town Department of Transport www.transport.gov.za

By Chris Farnell

ALL ABOARD!

Endeavour Magazine • June 2012 • 39

Cape Town Department of Transport

We tend not to spend a lot of time thinking about how we get from A to B. But when you’ve got a city such as Cape Town, with over three million people all with places to go, giving them the infrastructure needed to keep them moving is a massive challenge.

The layout of the city makes this an even great challenger.

The way the city is laid out means that many of its citizens have a long journey ahead of them to get to work or school.

With oceans on either side of the city and the Table Mountain range in the middle there’s no more room for building roads either, which means that as the city grows, so does congestion.

Councillor Brett Herron of the Cape Town Department of Transport explains, “Like many major cities Cape Town’s population a geared towards private car usage, so we need to get the public to buy in to moving from private motor vehicles to public transport.”

On top of these challenges Cape Town also has to deal with the legacy of South Africa’s apartheid.

“Part of the legacy of apartheid is that many people are living in isolated communities. We need to connect them to the economic and social opportunities in the city. For that to happen we need transport to be affordable and efficient to make it accessible to poorer and more vulnerable communities on the outskirts of the city.”

As a Mayoral Committee Member, Councillor Herron is intimately familiar with the many complex problems faced by the city’s transport infrastructure. Fortunately a solution is on the horizon.

Endeavour Magazine • June 2012 • 40

An Exciting Opportunity However, an exciting opportunity to address these problems arose in 2009 when the South African Government passed the National Land Transport Act. Herron explains, “The act provides local governments with the authority to take responsibility for all land based transportation. It gives us an opportunity to build something similar to the integrated transport system in London, allowing us to create a single transport authority that will manage everything from licensing and regulating public transport to controlling funding for public transport subsidies and capital development projects.”

The Cape Town Department of Transport is working to do this through the City’s Integrated Transport Plan, which takes into account the needs and views of local residents and businesses to build a single, totally integrated public transport system with all modes of transport working together like a well oiled machine.

Herron is justifiably excited about the opportunities this will open up.

“Right now our transport network is rather fragmented, with different components reporting to different operators or spheres of government,” he explains. “We have a subsidised bus service, a commuter and passenger rail service that’s

Thibault Square IRT Bus Station Opening.

Deputy Mayor Ian Nielson and Mayco member for Roads and Transport Cllr Brett Heron with Marvin the MyCiti Bus mascot open the new Thibault Square Bus Station

Cape Town Department of Transport

under national government, and a planning authority rolling out another transit system. That’s three spheres of government with their own plans for our transport infrastructure, and while they aren’t working together you’re not going to get a commuter focused experience.”

Instead, the Department of Transport is working towards a unified vision for Cape Town’s public transport, and it’s easy to see Herron’s enthusiasm as he explains their plans.

“Our objective is to manage transport planning. We’re going to ensure standardisation for ticketing, fare revenue and work to apply government subsidies appropriately. As a single authority we can bring about an integrated public transport system that covers all modes of transport. As well as rail and bus travel, our system will include improvements to cycle and pedestrian infrastructure that will enable residents to connect through a transport hub. The city of Cape Town will be able to plan a network that includes all forms of transport and the ways they interconnect,” Herron says.

New Challenges Of course, change isn’t always easy. A particular challenge the new transport authority is going to face is persuading the many small minibus and cab firms throughout the city to become part of their organisation.

“For the minibus taxi operators our objective is to get them to buy into the industry transition program,” Herron tells us. “We’re giving them the choice to move from being an informal operator to being an owner and employee of

an operating company. They have the chance to exit the industry or become part of the formal transport sector. This has been really successful. We are entering into negotiations to secure twelve ear operating contracts with three operating companies, two of which have been formed by these mini bus taxi operators.”

You might imagine some reluctance from smaller businesses facing this buyout, but Herron says that this has been far from his experience.

“The small operators have the opportunity to exit the industry and that’s appealing enough because it’s a difficult industry. It’s very competitive and a very difficult way to earn a living, so we’re offering a great opportunity by offering to purchase their business. We’re working out a compensation model where we buy their vehicle and operating permit and they can leave the industry if they wish, or alternatively join a bigger company.”

The Department of Transport is planning to expand this strategy to higher density areas of the city, where Herron expects that negotiations may be more challenging, but he believes the work they have done so far will work as a flagship for the whole project.

The other major challenge that they are working to address is the inequalities that still exist in the aftermath of apartheid, such as the many black people who are living in remote areas without access to the economic empowerment resources available in the city centre.

“It requires collaboration between both transport and urban planning departments in terms of what routes we

use. We’re looking very carefully at transport orientated development that will put transport corridors into communities bringing the economic opportunities closer to where people live.”

The Road Ahead Herron’s not ready to stop here however. The big projects that are currently underway are only the initial steps in what will be a wholesale upgrade of Cape Town’s entire transport infrastructure.

“We are expected to take over the management of the bus service that’s currently operated under a provincial government authority through a company called Golden Arrow. Then we’re developing our own bus rapid transport system that’s been seeing a lot of expansion recently. We’re also looking to go into the Metro south east of the city where there’s a high demand for extra capacity and more efficient links and transport corridors,” Herron says. “The most exciting part of the project is going to be the final coming together of all these fragmented services so we can plan for more convenient and sensible connections and routes. Part of that process is to upgrade the infrastructure that exists already, including taxi stations and bus stations. We’re also initiating a program to standardise the street furniture on our transport system. Some areas have bus shelters and benches that are looking decidedly run down, so we’re going to be renovating those.”

It’s going to be a huge project, but the Cape Town Department of Transport is off to a great start.

Endeavour Magazine • June 2012 • 43

Southey Contracting www.southey.co.za +27 11 579-4600

By Chris Farnell

A SAFE PAIR OF HANDS Endeavour Magazine • June 2012 • 45

Southey Contracting

Southey Contracting has been supplying insulation and painting services to the heavy industries for almost three quarters of a century, building a solid business on its reputation for exemplary safety standards and strong investment in their staff and subcontractors.

Southey Contracting is a company with a long and distinguished history. Formed in 1939, they started out as a painting and insulation contracting company for the mining industry. In the nearly three quarters of a century since then the company has grown and evolved. Today, as part of the Southey Holding’s Group they have branches in Cape Town, Johannesburg ,Durban and Richards Bay from where they provide services including painting, thermal insulation, high pressure water blasting, thermal spray coatings and scaffolding to all the heavy industries.

With clients in the mining, power generation, petrochemical and paper and pulp industries the company is currently undergoing a period of expansion, with projects in Angola, Botswana, Ghana, Zambia, DRC and Tanzania on the go.

According the company’s manager, John Humby, the reason for the company’s success is surprisingly straight forward.

A Foundation of Safety “It’s safety,” he explains to us. “We are currently ISO 9000 compliant and working towards ISO 14000 and OHSA 18000 compliance. We have a great safety record, and we’re extremely careful about preserving that. We believe those

are one of the fundamentals of good business.”

This is an attitude that permeates to every level of the business.

“We’ve got a very proactive safety department, with an extremely capable technical director,” Humby says. “We do enormous amounts of training towards safety. We also incentivise safety performance as well as the reporting of safety incidents so we’re kept abreast of what’s going on.

We do the same thing for any reported near misses or minor incidents so we get a real picture of what’s happening. If safety is being applied throughout the contract and we meet our safety targets we reward the employees financially, and that’s been very successful. But it’s essential we make safety a priority right from the beginning. It’s not a bolt in. We pride ourselves in it.”

The company’s strict safety practices and impressive record aren’t just good for attracting customers either. A strong safety record makes Southey an appealing prospect for potential employees and contractors as well.

“Safety is a fundamental with us, which becomes an incentive which attracts people in the field. We provide valuable training to all our contract labour to ensure they have the skills we require. We assess and continue to train, which makes us attractive to contract labour.”

But safety is just one of the values that have led Southey Contracting on the road to success. To maintain their position as a dominant player in the market the company has built a foundation of solid values that are visible in everything they do.

Values to Live By This includes respect and trust for their employees and contractors, selecting, training and developing the careers of their staff constantly so that they are able to realise their full potential. It can also be seen in the company’s high standards of corporate governance, which adhere to internationally recognised levels of integrity, honesty and transparency in the way they do business.

This continues to every level of the company, where employees are held accountable for their actions, but are encouraged to take responsibility for them. This results in an environment where people aren’t afraid to admit their mistakes, but instead work quickly to find solutions for them.

Southey extends this emphasis on responsibility in the way it considers the impact its work has on the environment, and the company is engaged in continuing projects to reduce their carbon footprint.

However the company’s philosophy of responsibility, safety and accountability doesn’t mean they’re above taking risks commercially, and entrepreneurial flair is one of their touch stones. Staff are encouraged to act creatively and proactively to the challenges of their business, sometimes even if it means making mistakes.

Investing In Skill The current challenge that Southey Contracting faces is that of getting the right people, with the right skills, on board.

“Skills availability is a bit challenge,” Humby admits.

“We can retain contractors while we have lots of work, but

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Endeavour Magazine • June 2012 • 47

Southey Contracting

obviously business expands and contracts and getting skills back can be difficult.”

The company put its own training systems into place to mitigate that, ensuring not only that they’re training contractors up to a standards Southey is able to use, but also making Southey an appealing prospect for contractors looking to boost their CV. Southey also ensures that it invests in its permanent staff.

We retain our permanent staff for an average of eleven and a half years,” Humby says. “We make use of contract labour for a large percentage of our employees but our fundamental core staff is long term, with contract labour being brought in to help us manage peak business.”

As with their stellar safety record, the key to Southey’s hih staff retension is their ability to offer strong rewards.

Humby explains, “We have a very progressive and rewarding incentive scheme for our management staff. In our Johannesburg office for instance, everyone is on an incentive scheme that is related to the general performance of the whole division. This means that everyone has a personal involvement in the company, from the cleaning lady to the MD. Everyone is incentivised in one way or another.”

While they ensure staff are rewarded for hard work, Southey is also building itself a reputation for equality, and is an active propagator of Black Economic Empowerment.

They have adopted an integrated approach that allows black people to make a meaningful contribution to the company at every level.

Endeavour Magazine • June 2012 • 49

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Southey also ensures that, where possible they buy goods from suppliers with a Level 4 BEE accreditation or above, and use sub contractors and labour suppliers that are managed and owned by black people. Within the company they ensure that black people are educated, trained and mentored to ensure their advancement.

Indeed, the Southey Group as a whole has level 4 accreditation and over a quarter of its shareholders are black.

It’s been a good year for Southey, as Humby is happy to tell us.

“Over the previous year we’ve seen growth of around 15 percent for South Africa alone,” he tells us with a little pride. “We’ve done well because we’ve targeted markets that we believed there would be growth in, and that’s paid off. We foresaw the downturn in the mining industry years ago, and reacted to it then. We moved into power generation about 5 years ago and that’s going well.”

As for the future? Humby has big plans.

“While we don’t believe the South African market is entirely saturated yet, and there’s still plenty of potential here, we’re also going to be moving our sites further afield. The wider African continent is by far the biggest opportunity that exists right now, so we’re keen to follow our clients who are also expanding into that arena.”

We can’t wait to see what they do next.

“where the attitude’s different” City Air Rental was formed out of White Knight Consultants cc in February 2009. City Air Rental is a specialized compressor rental company which only uses the latest European and USA compressors that comply with the rigorous emissions, silencing and fuel saving standards adopted in those countries from 2008 onwards.

The founders Vee and Brian Shekleton were also the founders of Rand Air (28Years) before selling it to Atlas Copco of Sweden in 2000. Their vast experience enables them to select and offer for rent the latest and best compressors available together with an “attitude” which is different. They really do know and understand Customer service and have a reputation that goes before them in the Construction, Mining, Industrial painting, Pipeline services and Manufacturing industries.

City Air Rental (Pty) Ltd Tel: 011 262 2650 • Fax: 0865 380 626 www.cityair.co.za • Email: info@cityair.co.za Suite 207, Private Bag X9, Benmore Gardens, 2010 821 Pretoria Main Road (Western service road) Nearest junction Lee’s Road Wynberg (opposite Total between All-Quip and Afrox)

Their vision is to rapidly grow this new business and to specialize in meaningful long term rentals where efficiency and reliability really make a difference, saving money and time whilst building sound long term relationships.

With offices in Sandton and a Yard/Workshop in Wynberg they are ideally placed in Gauteng the “Hub” of South Africa’s massive infrastructural development.

Endeavour Magazine • June 2012 • 51

Promeal www.promeal.co.za +27 21 577 1520

By Chris Farnell

MAKING THE BEST KIND OF DOG’S DINNER

Endeavour Magazine • June 2012 • 53

Promeal Fifty odd years ago Promeal started out as a company selling animal feed to the agricultural industry. As time went on they expanded into new markets, which most companies with any longevity will do eventually, but Promeal went a step further, leaving behind their old line of products altogether.

“Around twenty years ago we moved to producing cans for pet food on a very small scale,” explains managing director Fazielah Allie. “Eventually we closed down the animal feed side of the business and focused exclusively on pet food. “ Leaving behind the line of products that your company made its name with is a bold decision, and not one many companies would make, but Allie believes it was the right one.

“At the time the price of animal feeds was quite low and our equipment was coming to the end of its life cycle,” she says. “We were faced with a choice. We could either spend money upgrading our animal feed production equipment, or we could redirect that money into building the pet food side of our business. That option looked like it would be more profitable for us, so we focused on that.”

Since then the company has built an identity around its pet food brands, and it is doing well out of it.

“Price wise we’re able to be very competitive,” Allie admits. “We’ve got very low overheads because our structure is fairly compact, so on price terms we’re able to compete even against bigger companies because they have to pay those higher overheads.”

Another reason Promeal has done well is its excellent relationships with retailers.

“Because we’re a smaller company we come across as much more approachable and flexible to retailers. Even

though we actually control an impressive share of the market we still manage to maintain that flexibility compared to competition from big companies. We’re easier to reach and we’re able to make decisions much more quickly.”

Last but not least, Allie believes Promeal’s success is down to the high quality of its products which keep retailers and customers coming back for more.

“Price wise we’re able to be very competitive,” Allie admits. “We’ve got very low overheads because our structure is fairly compact, so on price terms we’re able to compete even against bigger companies because they have to pay those higher overheads.”

A Shifting Market Of course it’s not all plain sailing, and as Promeal has grown it’s faced numerous challenges. In the current economic climate it seems pet food has been one of the first things people are cutting corners on.

“Everyone has gone through a bit of a recession, so a lot of people have gone to dry food because it’s a cheaper product. Many are even just feeding their pets with scraps from the dinner table,” Allie tells us. “We’re still seeing growth through our absolute top end products.”

As well as growing their business through high end pet food such as their Petley’s Supreme Gourmet Cat Food, the company is also growing its business through private labels for other companies.

With growth comes another challenge however- finding the right people for the business.

The shortage of skilled workers in South Africa isn’t news. It’s an issue plenty of companies in a variety of industries have struggled with. It’s a particularly painful issue for Promeal, who are currently striving to get ISO 9001 accreditation over the next two to three years. However one of the criteria for that accreditation directly relates to the skill level of the workers.

But Promeal isn’t going to let this obstacle stop them, and already they are working on new ways to achieve their goals.

“Our plan for the next five years is to upgrade both our factory facilities and staff skills. We’ll be starting from May next year and we’re hoping that by the end of 2014 we’ll be in a position to get ISO 9001 accreditation. Right now the challenge we’re addressing is getting our people to think that way.”

The main issue is IT literacy. To achieve their desired accreditation Promeal must be able to demonstrate the right level of computer skills throughout their staff.

“We need people at entry level who can work on a PC,” Allie says. “We currently have staff from supervisor level down that don’t have those skills, so we’re getting people onto a PC skills course and where they can learn how to work computers and acquire the skills we need from them.

“We’ve got our HR people to identify the staff who are

interested. Then we’re providing funding for people who want to study in a particular field or areas that are relevant to our business. We’re encouraging people to study further.”

It’s a strategy that’s paying off, and several members of the Promeal team have benefited already.

“We’ve got three guys who have applied for diplomas this year,” Allie says proudly. “Both our Maintenance Manager and our Quality Manager are studying a Project Management Course as well as, an engineer studying for an MBA.” “It’s important to offer staff a chance to advance themselves like this. If you’re stuck in a job with no prospects you’re not going to be engaged with the work,” she points out.

everyone can mix with everyone,” Allie acknowledges. “The future for our business is taking the products that are being imported right now and making them available as local produce. In my opinion we’re about 10 years behind Europe and the USA when it comes to the products available but in terms of resources there’s nothing they have that we couldn’t get hold of through imports.”

With Promeal on course to achieve new levels of accreditation, and the company’s plans to build a dry food plant to meet the demand for cheaper pet food in the current financial situation it seems like there are some exciting times on the horizon for this former animal feed company.

Sourcing the Right Materials Another challenge that Promeal has faced has been the rising price of the ingredients they use. The trouble is that in the last few years people have started to use offal as a cheap source of meat for their own cooking, so what was previously a waste product has now suddenly acquired value.

Allie says “We used to get a lot of our offal from local suppliers, but the price of it has gone up. People used to throw the offal away, but now they’ve found another market, so the price has risen. Quite a bit of the offal we use now, we import because we can get it cheaper from abroad than locally.”

Thinking Big for the Future As for the future, Promeal has big plans. Although the Petfood market is currently stagnant in South Africa, they’re starting to export their products into other markets.

“It’s easy to import and export now, it’s one global island,

Endeavour Magazine • June 2012 • 55

Fuchs Lubricants www.fuchsoil.co.za +27 11 565 9600 Written By Ben Walker

FUCHS LUBRICANTS SMOOTH FUNCTIONALITY WHERE OTHERS CANNOT REACH Endeavour Magazine • June 2012 • 57

Fuchs Lubricants

A member of leading German-based global lubricant manufacturing group, Fuchs South Africa takes on and beats the giants with a service that forefronts quality, fast delivery and customer-focus. Automotive division OEM Manager John Anderson sets out the winning strategy with Ben Walker.

Fittingly for South Africa’s leading independent sector trader in products reducing friction between moving surfaces, Fuchs Lubricants has a big reputation for delivering operational efficiency across the mining and manufacturing sectors and among Major League auto clients such as Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen.

“Customer focus backed by strong technical expertise and a very wide range of OEM-accepted and approved products, gives our customers a fantastic peace of mind,” says John Anderson, Fuchs SA’s Automotive OEM Manager.

A subsidiary of the Manheim, Germany, based parent, Fuchs SA is the ninth biggest of the company’s thirty four global production plants, and the largest non-fuel lubricant supplier in South Africa with around 8% of market share.

Sector competition is fierce. “The fuel majors produce lubricants as a by-product of their fuel-blending plants, and this makes them aggressive in trying to get market share, especially here in South Africa,” says Anderson.

“Across border the situation is less competitive with many of the majors moving out of Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and operating through agents. But while we too deal through agents in those countries, we are showing a lot of growth.”

Endeavour Magazine • June 2012 • 58

Pitched against giants like Shell, BP and Engen/Petronas, specialisation and customer-orientation are defining features of the Fuchs business. “We are a dedicated lubricants-only organisation and if we get lubricants wrong we get everything wrong. We’ve nothing to fall back on.

“The fuel major competitors ahead of us sometimes make decisions that from a lubricants perspective don’t seem to make sense. But since they have massive fuel interests they don’t appear to suffer too much as a result. But we have to make the right decisions - and with our customers very much in mind to ensure they continue to buy the very best lubricants.”

With around a thousand formulations - and between three and five pack sizes per formulation - Anderson says Fuchs range is “massively bigger and wider than our competitors, which allows us to fill more needs for any individual customer.”

The major players supply their own base oils, whereas Fuchs as a lubricants focussed organisation has to buy its raw materials in the same space. “Not being backwards integrated we are at the mercy of the markets, yet we have few if any stock-outs compared with our competitors,” says Anderson.

“I think we are a lot more customer-focussed than our bigger competitors. We place a very strong emphasis on faceto-face selling and to support this we have a substantial sales force empowered to make decisions on their own and do the right thing by the customer.”

Backing them is a strong, experienced and highly qualified technical team. “This means the customer stays happy from a technical as well as lead time and delivery perspective. And this is where we really stand head and shoulders above the half2012.pdf 1 2012/05/30 03:30:42 PM competitors ahead of us.”

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W O R L D C L A S S P R I N C I PA L S - W O R L D C L A S S P R O D U C TS - W O R L D C L A S S S E R V I C E Endeavour Magazine • June 2012 • 59

Fuchs Lubricants

Unsurprisingly, customer retention is high with attrition miniscule, a Fuchs SA characteristic replicated among its 100plus staff where the average length of service in the sales and technical teams is eighteen years. “The fuel and lubricant sector tends to have a lot of personnel movement whereas we have a lot of expertise in-house and tend to keep it. And this leads back to client retention, with the customer used to seeing the same dependable faces again and again. At the same time we take in a lot of new blood, young people who we train and mentor - another key advantage for us.”

Fuchs SA is also a career magnet for senior personnel among the big players. Anderson, fifteen years in the industry, arrived 18 months ago from Shell, and finds the customer focus enjoyable. “Being able to make a decision autonomously for the good of the customer and have it backed internally is a huge plus. Our decision making criteria is simple: ‘Was it good for customer? If it was then it was the right decision.’

“Now that is really nice when compared with the very rigid corporate frameworks of the big names, and speaking personally it’s been quite liberating coming to an organisation such as Fuchs where I have been given a lot of autonomy – and with this of course a lot of responsibility.”

Anderson’s biggest customers are Volkswagen, MercedesBenz and John Deere, and Fuchs SA has returned ten per cent plus year on year growth over the last decade. “We see this continuing in South Africa with double digit volume and revenue growth. This will be backed heavily by the global focus put on us through the OEM business, with the South African organisation part of the team that’s on this journey

of getting closer to OEMs. Fuchs puts up shop wherever the OEMs go.

To facilitate its growing customer base, last year Fuchs doubled its Johannesburg manufacturing, bottling and warehousing facilities, with new state of the art bottling lines ranging from one litre packs to drums and 1,000 litre flow bins. ”Growing into our new capacity has enabled us to take on recent parcels of business.”

The most recent was from Volkswagen following an unexpected and dramatic challenge to Fuchs resourcefulness’ and customer-focussed reputation.

“Five times in 2011 the VW business had been stocked out by their supplier, and on the afternoon of December 21st they called me and asked if I could help. They wanted two products each in its own bottle and I didn’t even have the product or the bottle size they wanted. I had a half litre and they wanted a one litre.

“The South African Christmas shutdown is like the European shutdown, nobody open for business and it was a nightmare. But two days later we managed to deliver a huge percentage of that sizeable order – making a blend, procuring new bottles, bottling and labelling all in 48 hours.

Now that blows the competitors out of the water, and in the six months since winning that business we haven’t had a single stock-out.”

Service reliability is an absolute key, says John Anderson.”

You want thirty tons this month? Then you’ll get thirty tons this month by hook or by crook. You have to deliver on a promise.”

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Endeavour Magazine • June 2012 • 61

BRINGING IT HOME Coega Industrial Development Zone www.coega.co.za +27 41 403 0400

By Jack Slater

Endeavour Magazine • June 2012 • 63

The Coega Development Corporation (CDC)

I love South Africa.

Especially the ambition in any of their projects, nothing is done in small measures and Coega Industrial Development Zone is certainly one that presses the envelope.

With the aim of creating a mass production and services environment from scratch it is a vision that has significantly contributed to not only South African development and employment but the opportunities for the country.

I had the chance to chat with Executive Manager Infrastructure Development, Hennie Van Der Kolf regarding the story of Coega IDZ and where things are going for 2012.

Situated within the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality near Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, The Coega Industrial Development Zone (IDZ) covers 110 km² of land and is a multi-billion Rand initiative industrial development complex customized for heavy, medium and light industries, adjacent to a deep water port, Port of Ngqura. The Coega Development Corporation (CDC) is the developer and operator of the zone and is responsible for the land side infrastructure while the deepwater port facility, Port of Ngqura, is developed and operated by the Transnet National Ports Authority.

The Coega IDZ is a phased development around industry clusters with Custom Secure Areas dedicated for export oriented manufacturing for companies located in the zone.

Coega offers a platform for global exports by attracting foreign and local investment in manufacturing industries. A strategic Development Framework Plan for the Coega IDZ has been developed, focusing on infrastructure development and facilities for the Core Development Area, which comprises 65 km². A number of notable companies such Ascon and HHO Africa already operate from this area.

The Coega IDZ has to date signed investments worth approximately R30 billion (US$4.1 billion) and currently has a portfolio of investments undergoing feasibility which are worth some R140 billion (US$19.2 billion), to come on stream at various stages over the next five years. These include an oil refinery, a Combined Cycle Gas Turbine Power Station, a Business Process Outsourcing Park, automotive plants, and various other investments in the logistics, chemicals and food processing sector.

Having spoken with Hennie, it’s clear that a correlating vision stimulates the progression of Coega IDZ. From the start the aim was and has been to build clusters of industrial development, attract overseas investment, stimulated exports and incubate advanced technologies. These directions contribute to the overall South African endeavour to help generate much needed industrial skills and experience in local South Africans.

Geography is a clear advantage, as investors look very positively on the fact that Ngqura is so strategically placed near the growing markets of both East and West Africa with easy travelling to and from. Ngqura, has grown in just two years to compete for the position of South Africa’s third largest container port and thanks to its ability to accept postPanamax vessels and effectively trans-ship containers on smaller ships to other African destinations.

14 industrial clusters make up Coega and create synergy between the operations and sectors. More than 24 companies have already established operations on the site, mainly South African and European however more interest is being created as the IDZ continues ahead. In fact the infrastructure is already in place for international tenants to move in and there is enough space to expand and accommodate second and third tier suppliers around the OEMs who are already there.

Interestingly, by design Coega has set itself up as a starting point for diversification i.e. By housing a major auto manufacturer and a component manufacturer it’s easier to

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Landscape & Enviromental Services 19 Amsterdam Hoek Swartkops 6210 Port Elizabeth +27 (0)41 4661694 +27 (0)82 9602099 redlin@absamail.co.za Endeavour Magazine • June 2012 • 65

Ascon Civil Engineering

Ascon is a multi-disciplinary civil engineering company which seeks to achieve success through empowerment. Ascon tends to satisfy the needs of all clients through our expert experience, service excellence, appropriate and affordable solutions.

Our primary area of operation is South Africa, Head Office is based in Port Elizabeth, with works extending to the Western Cape and Kwa Zulu Natal.

As a company we are fully committed to the equal opportunity policies and in line with the new South Africa, we continue to develop access to opportunities for all our staff and by supporting Black Economic Empowerment in South Africa 19 Jennifer Road, Bluewaterbay, Port Elizabeth, 6210

Tel 041 467 1362 Fax 041 467 2759 Fax to Email 086 551 0965 info@ascon.co.za

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We have offices in East London, Kokstad & Durban and generally provide services in most areas of the Eastern Cape & Kwazulu Natal and also provide services in the Western Cape and Gauteng for our national clients.

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The Coega Development Corporation (CDC)

spawn the development of a cluster that is fully integrated, with maximum synergy from manufacturing right through to logistics. Synergy is important within the clusters of Coega and is deeply encouraged.

Having anticipated the global wave of renewable energy activity, they’ve split themselves between on-grid equipment, from the towers and the turbines to the blades and other components and off-grid capacity custom-built for the parts of Africa where lack of network infrastructure requires standalone off grid solutions.

Industry relies heavily on human capital and creating employment is of major importance to all South African companies. Each of the growing sectors rely on human capital and it’s not enough to simply create jobs. One of South Africa’s biggest challenges today is employment creation, particularly for young people and while engineering industries have to recruit and train the appropriate crafts and trades people, business process outsourcing (BPO) can be a route to career development for the bright but inexperienced school leaver. This is a sector that employs the structurally unemployable who are the 18 to 25 year olds who may have educational qualifications but no experience and thus cannot be easily absorbed into the job market. Coega is the body that bridges the gap.

Working at the IDZ is HHO Africa, a civil engineering company who believes firmly in employee development.

With their motivated, versatile professional engineers, technologists, planners and technicians, they meet the needs of their clients, helping them to build up the infrastructure that will improve the quality of life of all who benefit from their projects. At the same time committing to the continuous development of their people through in-house training, bursaries for tertiary education and mentorship.

HHO Africa Ascon is a multi-disciplinary civil engineering company which seeks to achieve success through empowerment.

Ascon tends to satisfy the needs of all clients through their expert experience, service excellence, appropriate and affordable solutions. Our primary area of operation is South Africa where the Head Office is based in Port Elizabeth, with works extending to the Western Cape and Kwa Zulu Natal.

A company that is fully committed to the equal opportunity policies and in line with the new South Africa, developing access to opportunities for all staff and by supporting Black Economic Empowerment in South Africa In conclusion, Coega IDZ is at its essence a statement for the new South Africa, a call from country to the rest of the world proclaiming its strength and readiness. To some countries developments like this make a country the competition and a stronger competition could not exist, while others will see it as an opportunity for them to be involved.

Endeavour Magazine • June 2012 • 67