Enterprise Africa August 2020

AFRICA

THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE FOR AFRICA’S INDUSTRY LEADERS

August 2020

www.enterprise-africa.net

Innovation Helps

Healthy Dis-Chem to Serve ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:

Tarsus / Crossfin Technology / Joe Public / HouseME

LE T’S BUIL D HE ALTH w w w. s a k h i w o.c o m mail@sakhiwo.com

Our Vision To be an outstanding leader in health infrastructure development, while meeting the needs of the client and the community.

Our Mission We are committed to excellence in design and implementation of high quality, efficient and cost-effective solutions. We aim to respond accurately to the transformation of health care infrastructure delivery by developing outstanding facilities.

Current projects SOUTH AFRICA • Cecilia Makiwane Hospital • Lilitha College of Nursing • Frere Hospital (New Oncology and ICU) • Sipetu District Hospital • Thabazimbi District Hospital • Letaba Regional Hospital • Limpopo Academic Hospital • Siloam Hospital • Eastern Cape Health Facilities Maintenance ZIMBABWE • The Avenues Woman & Child Hospital MOZAMBIQUE • Nampula General Hospital GAMBIA • Horizons Private Clinic (TA for AfDB) NAMIBIA • Otjiwarongo Referral Hospital • Ondangwa District Hospital • Khomas District Hospital • Katutura Hospital • Windhoek Central Hospital BOTSWANA • Health Facilities Maintenance

SAKHIWO – Leaders in Health Infrastructure Development.

We believe in the powerful impact of world-class healthcare.

We specialise in strategic health planning, health briefs, facility planning, architectural design, project and construction management, health technology, consultancy and advisory services related to hospital infrastructure development, commissioning and health facility maintenance management.

SAKHIWO acts as turnkey developer of hospitals on a plan, design, construct, equip and finance basis. We have pulled together some of the best expertise in South Africa for the establishment of SAKHIWO Health Solutions.

EDITOR’S LETTER

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EDITOR Joe Forshaw  joe@enterprise-africa.co.za SENIOR PROJECT MANAGER Sam Hendricks  sam@enterprise-africa.co.za SENIOR PROJECT MANAGER Tommy Atkinson  tommy@enterprise-africa.co.za PROJECT MANAGER James Davey  jamesd@enterprise-africa.co.za PROJECT MANAGER Chris Wright  chrisw@enterprise-africa.co.za PROJECT MANAGER Chris Fairhurst  chrisf@enterprise-africa.co.za FINANCE MANAGER Chloe Manning  Chloe@enterprise-africa.co.za SENIOR DESIGNER Liam Woodbine  liam@enterprise-africa.co.za CONTRIBUTOR Manelesi Dumasi CONTRIBUTOR Karl Pietersen CONTRIBUTOR David Napier CONTRIBUTOR Timothy Reeder CONTRIBUTOR Colin Chinery CONTRIBUTOR Benjamin Southwold CONTRIBUTOR William Denstone

Published by Chris Bolderstone – General Manager E. chris@cmb-media.co.uk Rouen House, Rouen Road, Norwich NR1 1RB +44 (0) 1603 855 161 E. info@cmb-media.co.uk www.cmb-media.co.uk CMB Media Group 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.

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. © CMB Media Group Ltd 2020

2020 has certainly not moved in the direction in which everyone anticipated or wanted. The fragile business environment in South Africa has been trashed by strict lockdown and now a severe outbreak of the dreaded coronavirus, and companies are doing all they can to survive in an environment that changes totally from one day to the next. Where many have fallen away, opportunities have been opened for businesses that have survived to fill the gaps.

For many, the opportunities that have popped up are just as exciting as the lockdown was grim. There are even some that have taken the bulls by the horns and have continued to drive forward with new ideas and ambitious new projects.

Crossfin Technology, a leader in South Africa’s fintech space, recently wrapped up its latest acquisition bringing yet another industry leader under its umbrella to bring even better financial payment services to its larger portfolio.

Tarsus Technology, a major player in the distribution of tech hardware and cloud-based services, has continued to build partnerships with international brands for the benefit of South Africans.

Dis-Chem has taken its role as a pharmacy and discount retailer very seriously, sourcing PPE and medicine for people all over the country, while all the time keeping its famous strategy of store openings almost on track.

All of these companies are highly active in the retail space, where the bite of lockdown has been felt so harshly with the flow of cash all but drying up.

While the past few months, and the coming months, have been and will be extremely challenging, it is clear that opportunities still exist and President Ramaphosa’s idea of using the crisis as a method to totally rebuild the economy could just be starting to show that it has potential.

Joe Forshaw EDITOR

GET IN TOUCH  +44 (0) 1603 855 161  joe@enterprise-africa.co.za www.enterprise-africa.net

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8/ DIS-CHEM Innovation Helps Healthy Dis-Chem to Serve Dis-Chem now refers to orders through its website that contain certain items as the ‘Corona-identified basket’. Hand sanitisers, disinfectant wipes, alcohol solution, masks, cold and flu medicines and immune boosters have become staple but as demand has surged, Dis-Chem has managed to continue supplying those in need.

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CONTENTS

14/ 06/NEWS: The News Snapshot INDUSTRY FOCUS: RETAIL 8/DIS-CHEM Innovation Helps Healthy Dis-Chem to Serve INDUSTRY FOCUS: FINTECH 14/CROSSFIN TECHNOLOGY Ambitious Acquisitions Assist Crossfin INDUSTRY FOCUS: TECHNOLOGY 20/TARSUS TECHNOLOGY GROUP Industry Collaboration and Engagement Vital for Success 26/SILICA Tailor Made Tech Solutions Making Investments Accessible

INDUSTRY FOCUS: MARKETING 34/JOE PUBLIC Growthn, Idean - 22 Years of Creativity INDUSTRY FOCUS: PROPERTY 42/HOUSEME The New Way to Rent & Lease in SA INDUSTRY FOCUS:FINANCE 50/IEMAS INSURANCE BROKERS Your Caring Partner, More Than Ever Before INDUSTRY FOCUS: LOGISTICS 60/SAPO SA Post Office Keeping Up With The Times

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ADVOCATE DUBE TSHIDI APPOINTED AS FSCA The Financial Services Conduct Authority (FSCA) confirms that Adv. Dube Tshidi has been appointed by Minister of Finance, Tito Mboweni, to perform the functions of the Commissioner. The designation is effective from 6 August 2020 for a threemonth period, until 5 November 2020 or until a Commissioner is appointed and assumes office, whichever occurs sooner.

CASHBUILD’S ACQUISITION MARKS STRATEGY SHIFT One of the country’s leading building supply retailers, Cashbuild, has announced it will acquire the Building Company, a subsidiary of Pepkor, for R1 billion.

The big announcement displays a new ambition from Cashbuild which has previously chosen to grow organically.

“We’ve got a strategy of growth, we want to service the whole spectrum of the market and we want to service the middle to higher (Living Standards Measure), as well,” Cashbuild CEO Werner de Jager told Fin24.

This acquisition is the most notable since the company purchased P&L Hardware for R350 million in 2016.

The acquisition of TBC includes brands such as Timber City and Buco and grows the 41-year old Cashbuild’s store base from 318 to 499.

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CONSTRUCTION OF TSOMO NGQAMAKHWE BULK WATER PIPELINE Construction of the Tsomo Ngqamakhwe bulk water pipeline in the Eastern Cape is set to commence, says the Department of Water and Sanitation.

“The Construction Unit of the Department of Water and Sanitation is rolling its sleeves, readying itself for the construction of the long awaited Tsomo Ngqamakhwe Bulk Water Pipeline,” said the Department of Water and Sanitation.

The pipeline is one of the water projects to be undertaken by the department this financial year and it is set to improve water supply to Ngqamakhwe, Butterworth and surrounding areas.

Project designs have been completed and the project engineer is on site whilst awaiting the Department of Labour to satisfy itself with all the necessary requirements needed before the commencement of any construction work.

“Upon completion of the work by the Department of Labour, the project site will be established. The Department is satisfied with the preparatory work done so far and it is

confident that the ball will get rolling as soon as all the consultative work has been completed,” it said in a statement.

To date, a site for building a reservoir has been identified, so has the road crossing and the route for village crossing.

The location where a pump station will be built has been identified and the area where the pipe will traverse along the slopes to the village has been identified.

The department has also started engagements with local project teams as well as with the social facilitation and engineering teams.

Phase 1 of the project which consists of the construction of a pump station, reservoirs and a pipeline from Tsomo Water Treatment Works to Ngqamakhwe is expected to cost approximately R481 million.

Phase 2 consists of the construction of a bulk water pipeline from Ngqamakhwe to a reservoir and the last phase will be the construction of another bulk water pipeline from the command reservoir to a water treatment works in Butterworth.

NEWS SNAPSHOT MANTASHE WELCOMES ARRIVAL OF OIL, GAS DRILL RIG Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe has welcomed the arrival of the oil and gas drill rig - DeepSea Stavanger in Cape Town. The rig has been commissioned by petroleum giant Total and its partners to drill the Luiperd prospect in Block 11B/12B off the Mossel Bay coast, Western Cape.

“The arrival of the drill rig, following the recent successful Brulpadda discovery, reaffirms confidence in South Africa as an investment destination of choice for the exploration of oil and gas. This is despite the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on economies around the world,” Mantashe said.

The rig is part of the US$400 million oil and gas exploration drilling campaign by Total, of which R1.5 billion will be spent in South Africa through the hospitality industry; off-shore services and equipment; training and contracting of local companies to support the drilling programme.

Mantashe said the investment will further enable South Africa to diversify its energy mix, as envisioned in the Integrated Resources Plan, by using all the primary energy resources that the country is endowed with, including gas.

“Government will be supporting this project by finalising the Upstream Petroleum Bill which

aims to strike a balance between the need to attract investment into this key sector of the economy, and ensuring that oil and gas activities do not happen at the expense of the environment and water resources,” Mantashe said.

The duration of the drilling campaign is expected to be between 180 and 300 days (6 and 12 months).

DeepSea Stavanger © Odfjell Drilling

NALEDI CASINO AND THE CAROUSEL CASINO TO REMAIN CLOSED South African Gamblers will be disappointed to hear that Sun International have confirmed Naledi Casino in the Free State and the Carousel Casino in the North West will not reopen after the national lockdown restrictions have been lifted.

Both properties have recorded escalating costs and declining revenues over the past few years. This, coupled with the negative economic effect of the lockdown, has left Sun International with no alternative but to close both businesses.

Sun International CEO Anthony Leeming said: “Given the unprecedented crisis that South Africa is facing we accept that the authorities had no option but to implement a country-wide lockdown to protect lives.

However, the inevitable financial burden it placed on us has impacted on our ability to continue subsidising underperforming properties. It was within this context that we took the extremely difficult decision to permanently close both properties.

“Naledi has run at a loss for several years, while the Carousel too has incurred losses for some time. We previously made every effort to turn both businesses around, but these efforts have not achieved the desired results. We are deeply saddened that we have had to take this decision at this difficult time.”

Sun International has begun the process of engaging with gaming boards, relevant unions and employees.

Naledi opened in 1989 and the Carousel opened in 1991.

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DIS-CHEM

Innovation Helps

Healthy Dis-Chem to Serve PRODUCTION: David Napier

Dis-Chem now refers to orders through its website that contain certain items as the ‘Corona-identified basket’. Hand sanitisers, disinfectant wipes, alcohol solution, masks, cold and flu medicines and immune boosters have become staple but as demand has surged, Dis-Chem has managed to continue supplying those in need.

//

As lockdown measures ease in South Africa – moving from Cyril Ramaphosa’s Level 4 to an ‘advanced Level 3’ on June 1 – more and more people get back to work in order to help the country move forward. As employers welcome people back, safety has never been of higher concern. There is now a shared responsibility – globally – for everyone to do their part to keep each other safe. In the workplace, this means safe spacing, hand sanitising, face covering, advanced cleaning, and more. If people feel sick, there is now an expectation to display responsibility and stay at home, even if it could impact you financially.

In South Africa (at time of writing) almost 2% of people who contract the virus will die. Globally, available data suggests that most people who pick up the Coronavirus suffer mild symptoms

before making a full recovery.

Nevertheless, precautions must be taken to avoid unnecessary fatalities and serious cases which strangle healthcare systems. Louw Nel, Political Analyst from independent political and economic research organisation, NKC African Economics, stated recently that South Africa’s harsh lockdown has allowed time for the health sector to get ready for what is certainly a lengthy battle against the virus.

“The lockdown has given the health sector time to prepare for the inevitable surge in infections, and the coming weeks and months will severely test the plans and contingency measures put in place during this period as South Africa gets back to work,” he said.

In the workplace and in the community, hand and respiratory

hygiene remains essential in the containment of the virus and the World Health Organisation continues to urge individuals and businesses to do everything possible to ensure cleanliness.

South Africa’s leading pharmacy and health business, Dis-Chem, has positioned its brand as the go-to supplier for everything needed to shield against and kill Coronavirus.

Founded in 1978 by Ivan and Lynette Saltzman, Dis-Chem has grown to become a Southern African powerhouse in its industry, commanding a retail network of more than 160 stores and a flourishing online business. Designed around its ‘Pharmacy First’ idea and an ‘Everyday Low Prices (EDLP)’ strategy, Dis-Chem was thriving before the pandemic and is now an essential link in South Africa’s frontline fight against it.

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INDUSTRY FOCUS: RETAIL

PRE & POST Like most businesses, looking back is now a pre and post pandemic onset activity. Pre pandemic, Dis-Chem had continued to do what it had become famous for doing for so long, growing exponentially.

For the 12 months ending 29 February 2020, the company displayed good results which it put down to good Return on Invested Capital (ROIC) and cost control. Group revenue was up 12% to R24 billion and total income increased by 9.8% to R6.8 billion. The company rolled out new stores and continued to claim market share.

CEO Ivan Saltzman was optimistic in what was already a constrained macroeconomic environment.

“The Group continues to report revenue growth ahead of market growth. Overall revenue was 12% higher at R24 billion, which was on the back of a 10% increase in revenue growth in the previous financial year. Retail revenue rose 11% to R21.8 billion with like-forlike retail sales growing 4.0%, which is

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commendable considering selling price inflation of 2.2%. Retail gross margins improved, with dispensary margins under pressure in a competitive market.”

But by the end of February the picture was about to change. By March 5, the first case of Coronavirus had been confirmed in South Africa following the initial discovery in December in China.

As the pace of change quickened,

major adjustments were required in all businesses and Dis-Chem was no different. Demand for products soared as the public hunted for hand sanitiser, face masks, medicines and more. But on 26 March President Ramaphosa announced complete lockdown for an initial period of 21 days to contain the spread of the virus. Listed as an essential business, Dis-Chem was allowed to stay open but conditions were imposed.

Saltzman’s tone changed.

“The Group approached the end of our financial year in February 2020 amid growing concerns about the rapid spread of the coronavirus and its potential impact. Since then, the world has been turned upside down by this pandemic and its devastating economic, health and social consequences,” he said.

Looking to the future, he was buoyant about post-lockdown opportunities for digital innovation and praised the business for its resilience.

“The past financial year can be characterised by the continued weak macroeconomic environment in South Africa that has severely constrained consumer spending, and which has been evident in the declining basket size and spend. I am very pleased, however, that our focus on ROIC, cost control, operational adaptability and strategic agility has provided some benefit in this extremely tough trading environment.

These factors have all, ultimately,

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INDUSTRY FOCUS: RETAIL

// THE GROUP APPROACHED THE END OF OUR FINANCIAL YEAR IN FEBRUARY 2020 AMID GROWING CONCERNS ABOUT THE RAPID SPREAD OF THE CORONAVIRUS AND ITS POTENTIAL IMPACT. SINCE THEN, THE WORLD HAS BEEN TURNED UPSIDE DOWN BY THIS PANDEMIC // resulted in Dis-Chem reporting positive results with improved market share across all our core categories.

“Overall, the COVID-19 lockdown period has seen a revolution in terms of Dis-Chem’s e-commerce programmes.

There was sales growth of 375% on these platforms during March; sales increased 262% month-on-month in April, while the first two weeks of May saw another exponential surge of 490%. Although this phenomenal growth has originated on the back of the situation presented by COVID-19, we were already leveraging our e-commerce strategy and innovation, which is led by our overall purpose of winning and retaining patients and customers. Our intent remains

// AS DIS-CHEM, WE ARE WELL PLACED TO BE PART OF THE SOLUTION //

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on increasing our store footprint, while driving secondary retail opportunities through innovation. We are, for example, enhancing customer convenience through our courier pharmacy Dis-Chem Direct and our 325 in-store, corporate and travel clinics. We also have Click and Collect in every store and we intend to continue investing in ongoing enhancements to our e-commerce platform.”

THE SHOW MUST GO ON Like all businesses, Dis-Chem has had to adapt and continue – even as many were told to stay away from stores and hold up inside – and this has resulted in invention and resourcefulness. Dis-Chem has a number of schemes which have

continued throughout the current crisis and this is testament to the size and desire of the company to be an integral player in everyday life.

In May, the Dis-Chem foundation donated 5000 blankets to people in need to help them stay warm during the winter. Dis-Chem social media channels promoted health and wellbeing tips to ensure natural immunity in people remained strong. The company partnered with other big businesses to ensure rewards schemes were available to help with purchasing. The likes of Momentum Multiply, Discovery Health, Legacy Lifestyle and more are all now onboard. Also in May, the Dis-Chem Random Acts of Kindness Movement promised three months of R150,000 donations to help Afrika Tikkun feed those in need. The Dis-Chem Foundation also partnered with FutureLife to serve 50,000 healthy meals to children in need.

Children were able to receive important vaccinations at Dis-Chem Well Baby Clinics – vital for stopping the spread of flu and other conditions. The company continued its support for the Million Comforts scheme in which businesses match the purchases of sanitary products

DIS-CHEM

and donate to underprivileged girls, helping them to stay in school. Dis-Chem was also instrumental in the construction of a new water source in Dixie, Mpumalanga where the only water came from an unsanitary river. To celebrate Mandela Day, Dis-Chem donated 6800 masks to smaller organisations that could not afford PPE to help curb the spread of Coronavirus. All the way through lockdown, Dis-Chem was steadfast in its continuation of discount products and loyalty rewards to ensure people could get what they need – not an easy task while navigating a business environment which changes daily.

Perhaps Dis-Chem was better placed than most to see out this crisis considering the nature of its activity, but the fact remains that the Coronavirus pandemic came as a totally unexpected hurdle and needed fast, efficient and effective interventions to ensure safety or staff, customers and continuation of business. All things considered, the company has done very well in all aspects as it continues to serve South Africans in a changed marketplace.

“As Dis-Chem, we are well placed to be part of the solution,” Saltzman said.

“We have the largest and most consistent clinic offering and we are expanding the service scope of our Clinic sisters as well as investing in Telemedicine technology across all our clinics to increase the reach and reduce the costs of specialist

// OUR MANY STRATEGIC ADVANTAGES WILL ENSURE THAT WE TRANSITION THROUGH THIS PERIOD AS A UNITED TEAM AND EMERGE EVEN STRONGER THAN BEFORE COVID-19 //

services for patients. I am excited about the fruition of our vision for Dis-Chem, to play a significant role in bringing affordable healthcare to the many South Africans that are in need.

“Our many strategic advantages will ensure that we transition through this period as a united team and emerge even stronger than before COVID-19.”

The next hurdle for the business to jump will be the reinstatement of the its Coronavirus drive through testing facilities in Gauteng which were taken offline and halted indefinitely because of a backlog at labs, impacting the speed of results.

“We are constantly following up with the various laboratories, but they are being forced to prioritise urgent hospital tests. The number of labs that can do the tests is limited and we are spreading our load across as many as possible. Another factor affecting the speed of testing and obtaining results is the reduced number of flights around the country, so transporting tests to the labs from outlying cities and other remote stations is delayed,” said Lizeth Kruger, Dis-Chem’s national clinic manager in a statement.

“We apologise for the delays and

assure our customers and public that we are doing everything in our power to get results to them as quickly as we can.

We will review the situation on a regular basis and will consider reopening the testing facilities once we are assured that the various labs can cope with demand. The pandemic and the rising numbers are leading to panic, and we urge consumers only to get tested if they develop symptoms,” Kruger added.

Importantly, face masks, hand sanitiser, antibacterial hand wash, virus killing cleaning products, healthy products that boost immunity, and much more continue to be made available to people through Dis-Chem through various channels to make things safer and easier for customers. Dis-Chem is changing, and like the business environment in South Africa, things are happening fast. Fortunately, this is an organisation with the means and ambition to stay up to date and in line, all the time caring for people’s health.

WWW.DISCHEM.CO.ZA

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CROSSFIN TECHNOLOGY

Ambitious Acquisitions

Assist Crossfin PRODUCTION: Manelesi Dumasi

Coronavirus lockdown in South Africa has thrown up a challenge for Crossfin Technology as the flow of money around the country has dried up. But with the easing of lockdown, as stores reopen and people become more confident stepping through the doors of retailers, this innovative fintech group has ideal solutions for all. www.enterprise-africa.net / 15

INDUSTRY FOCUS: FINTECH

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The African fintech space is a hotbed of innovation. As the continent looks for solutions to meet its very unique demands, invention and creativity have been widespread as ideas help customers across Africa to carry out all manner of financial transactions. Whether its peerto-peer payments through the likes of M-Pesa or business-to-consumer transactions through Sureswipe, Africa has proven its worth in fintech.

South Africa in particular is becoming known for its fintech ingenuity. Its financial market is advanced, its population is more knowledgeable than most in Africa when it comes to formal financial activity, and its economy is crying out for innovation that creates smoother movement of cash and builds employment opportunities in the digital world.

In 2019 some reports labelled fintech as one of South Africa’s fastest growing industry sectors, accounting for around 4-5% of FDI. As global companies from Europe, America and Australia look to take advantage of the large numbers in South Africa, and across Africa, they must first solve problems and this is why investment into local businesses to understand regional conditions has become popular.

// THIS ACQUISITION IS THE PERFECT COMPLEMENTARY FIT TO THE CROSSFIN PORTFOLIO AND FURTHER EXTENDS OUR DISTRIBUTION ‘RAILS’ IN THE PAYMENTS LANDSCAPE // 16 / www.enterprise-africa.net

It is expected that 2020 and beyond will see fintech players look at the commercial market, specifically SMEs. Strong and established structures are now in place in the digital payments space and taking advantage of business payments is the next logical step. Tyme Bank and Discovery have launched as fully digital, and Capitec signified its intentions by taking over Mercantile Bank for R3.56 billion recently. Bank Zero will soon join the market and FNB has launched its First Business Zero account, a fully digital experience for small businesses. Technology is also penetrating other markets; like property, insurance, and stokvels; and data is becoming more and more important for decision makers.

For all of these reasons, South Africa has become one of the biggest fintech destinations in Africa and the hope is that with continued growing interest and involvement, the number of unbanked in the country will fall, and those that operate outside of the country’s formal financial space will make the change and find life to be easier and more efficient.

One company with big ambitions in fintech is Crossfin Technology.

Based in Cape Town, with offices in Johannesburg and Durban, Crossfin Technology is hoping to become Africa’s leading independent Fintech group as measured by both the volume and value of transactions processed through its platforms by 2022.

This will come through “continued introduction of products, services and customers facilitating the ongoing growth of the digital commerce ecosystem,” the company says.

Established in 2017, Crossfin invests in high growth, high value companies that can benefit from the expertise in fintech that already exists across its group. Today, the Crossfin Technology portfolio processes over 134 million card and 20 million mobile-enabled payment transactions per annum with an aggregated value of over R79 billion ($5.64 billion).

// IF WE ARE TO ACCELERATE THE MIGRATION OF SOUTH AFRICAN CONSUMERS TO A CASHLESS AND FINANCIALLY INCLUSIVE SOCIETY, THE PAYMENTS INDUSTRY MUST FOCUS ON IMPROVING ACCESSIBILITY TO PAYMENT CHANNELS // The company portfolio has been growing strongly since inception and now includes a raft of different fintech businesses, all experts in their field.

Two of the most recent and notable acquisitions into the Crossfin stable include Sureswipe and TruID. In May 2019, Crossfin announced it would acquire Sureswipe – a leading card payment acceptance business with more than 8000 independent retailers using its devices – creating the largest independent payments card acquiring company in South Africa.

AMBITIOUS ACQUISITION Featured in Enterprise Africa in April 2019, MD Paul Kent explained that the company managed to start out successfully by offering better customer service and faster delivery than its rivals.

The acquisition by Crossfin resulted in the combination of three industry leaders with Innervation Pan African Payments, Emerge Mobile (under the brand iKhokha) and Sureswipe coming together to form a group with over 25,000 active clients, 50,000 active card machines over US$5 billion in transaction value processed.

Kent said of the deal: “Although the three strong brands have been

CROSSFIN TECHNOLOGY

consolidated under one entity, they will continue to operate independently within their distinctive markets. We believe each provides a distinctive client solution, but that by layering a common shared services platform across the three businesses CTS will provide merchants a ‘one-stop shop’ to help them grow their business.

“If we are to accelerate the migration of South African consumers to a cashless and financially inclusive society, the payments industry must focus on improving accessibility to payment channels and educate consumers and merchants on the true costs and dangers of cash. This new consortium looks to do just that.”

Crossfin CEO Dean Sparrow said: “We see the companies working together to address the different tiers of the South African payments market comprehensively with a value proposition that will be very beneficial to their respective clients, as well as provide sufficient resources to develop best-of-breed

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INDUSTRY FOCUS: FINTECH

technologies that can be brought to market faster than at present.”

Anton Gaylard, Co-founder and COO at Crossfin, added: “We are extremely excited to finally be working with the team at Sureswipe.

This acquisition is the perfect complementary fit to the Crossfin portfolio and further extends our distribution ‘rails’ in the payments landscape. We will continue to invest in complementary businesses to support the team as well as partner with, or invest in, other exciting fintech companies with products and services that can be distributed across our ‘rails’ and which add value to our customers and their consumers, such as our recent investments in Retail Capital and Nobuntu.”

CONTINUED GROWTH In June, amid the challenges faced by the global economy through the coronavirus pandemic, Crossfin through its Ventures arm announced

that it would acquire TruID. The move was designed to further enhance the Crossfin customer base, bringing banking and financial institutions on board by giving access to data through a unique API. TruID was established in 2017 and Gaylard said the acquisition will bring more convenience to customers.

“Their vision for enabling consumers to take control over their banking information creates immense opportunities for fintech innovation.

There are also exciting synergies with some of our other portfolio companies which we hope to explore over the coming months,” he said.

TruID’s Dmitry Drabkin said that the acquisition would help change the industry for the better.

“By giving consumers control over their own banking data, we hope to spur a new wave of customercentric innovation in the banking and financial services industry.

“Instead of providers developing

products, we believe consumers are more interested in what third-party providers can develop using our API, resulting in products that meet their specific needs.

“We expect this to change banking in the same way that ‘app stores’ changed the mobile phone landscape, by creating a platform for wide-scale innovation that will transform banking,” he said.

LOCKDOWN LIFE Following the announcement of lockdown in South Africa in March, resulting in the majority of the population asked to stay home and isolate to stem the spread of the coronavirus, a big problem was presented to Crossfin. Most stores had to cease trading and the flow of money around the country dried up. This is the very lifeblood of the Crossfin business and with few or no transactions occurring, the company had to adapt.

Crossfin acquisition

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CROSSFIN TECHNOLOGY

Crossfin management

A survey on SMEs by Retail Capital found that 85% of businesses had reported a drop in turnover because of the lockdown restriction in place in South Africa. This impacted society’s poorest first and hardest. Of course, the solution for Crossfin comes through technology.

“Crossfin’s portfolio of companies can assist by combining their extensive capabilities, expertise, functionality and knowledge to channel relief to where it’s needed most.

“Crossfin can offer a technologybased solution to roll out assistance through the effective and rapid distribution of funds, vouchers and coupons on a massive scale and to ensure that through this, help reaches those who need it, quicker and more efficiently,” the company said.

As Crossfin helps clients through the crisis, the hope is that more and more will look to the formal financial system for ease of doing business, and remain in the space in the future.

“Fintech groups are wellpositioned to support broader industry and government efforts to improve trade and transacting across the formal and informal markets.

Funds from initiatives such as the Solidarity Fund can be distributed via group company ‘rails’, for example in grocery store till lanes with appropriate payment devices.

“These same rails can be used to distribute third-party payments, vouchers and coupons, for example food vouchers given to vulnerable communities that can be redeemed using the tech that fintechs have implemented at the point of sale.

“Loans can be distributed to SMEs via the digital channels fintechs have established. Cash can be displaced through cashless payment solutions to help the most vulnerable with accessing funds without having to go to cash points.

“Payment acceptance devices such as mobile point of sale terminals

can be issued to SMEs, spaza shops and informal traders to encourage contactless and cashless payments among communities.

“There is huge potential to remake the South African financial system to better serve all communities,” said Gaylard.

As one of the continents major fintech players, and with ambitions to strengthen its position in the future, Crossfin remains staged on a robust platform. As life returns to a more normal and recognisable state, and the government eases the level of lockdown, Crossfin and its subsidiaries will be able to continue growing and delighting customers with its fantastic product and service range.

WWW.CROSSFIN.CO.ZA

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TARSUS TECHNOLOGY GROUP Industry Collaboration and Engagement

Vital for Success PRODUCTION: Karl Pietersen

Technology has been a key enabler for business during lockdown and since the onset of the pandemic. Industry leading distributor, Tarsus Technology Group has been helping South African businesses to continue operating affectively while considering what must be done to ensure its own sustainability in the longer term.

//

In May 2019, Tarsus Technology Group CEO Miles Crisp told Enterprise Africa that the pace of change in the IT sector was increasing quickly as the group looked to incorporate more cloudbased service in its offering. But with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the speed of change has been accelerated to a rate that no one could have imagined and no one has found a way to cope with.

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“Constant changes in rules and regulation mean we have to remain constantly vigilant and adjust our strategy where necessary,” said Crisp in 2019. Today, rules and regulations are important but adjustment in strategy comes from the need to stay up to date with the ‘new normal’ and cater to the needs of a market which is under pressure.

The ICT industry is feeling the effects as customers from

all sectors including consumers, governments, and businesses are faced unprecedented disruption. A total standstill in South Africa from March 23 hit SMEs hard with some unable to weather the storm.

The bigger businesses like Tarsus, have had to completely scrap most plans for 2020 and go back to the drawing board to build a fluid strategy that involves collaboration to ensure sustainability in the future.

INDUSTRY FOCUS: TECHNOLOGY

VIRUS LIFE “The last three months have seen us confront the very essence of what it means to be human. The amount of change that the Covid pandemic has put on us is unprecedented. We have never seen change like this,” said Tarsus Technology Group Strategy Director, Anton Herbst.

“We have had to also understand that all of the tensions that were already in the system, bought on by the rapid change in technology, have now been accentuated. We have had to make decisions which are almost impossible. We are trading off between keeping as many people as possible alive with the reality of impacting our real economic and financial lives, and in some cases leading to real ruin in the short-term.”

Tarsus is the leading distributor of technology products in South Africa, supplying wholesalers, retailers, service providers and more. As the lockdown hit, people stopped going to stores, people stopped going to work, investment into new technology ceased and the market was strangled.

This was a challenge for Tarsus.

“We have been in a space where we are starting to see customers

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around us – companies with fragile cash reserves and fragile cash flows or business models – being suffocated by the lack of sales bought on by the lockdown. We have also had to see people make decisions that would have normally taken years. All the timelines have been compressed and people have to make those decisions and implement them in a matter of days or weeks. What is more important now more than ever is that the customer – the end user of technology – now becomes the primary focus for all of us,” said Herbst.

His idea to help come up with a sustainable solution is total collaboration. Herbst and Tarsus as a whole are keen to come together with the entire industry – safely of course – to generate a snapshot of the sector and understand where the challenges are and how they can be addressed.

“As an ecosystem we have to come together and our primary focus should be on making sure that the solutions we provide to our customers are actually solving their problems. For that to happen we have to listen, collaborate, engage and walk in their shoes to understand the challenges they

are facing. Whether it’s the vendor partner, the wholesaler, the cloud service provider, the reseller, all of us together will have to make sure that as many of our customers as possible make it through this tough time.

“We require very specific customer solutions for each of our customers.

That is very difficult to do when you are not used to it. Our culture and leadership, ethics, and the way we live our company lives our being exposed and it is plain for everyone to see – the way we treat our people, customers, partners, colleagues – it matters more than ever.”

For companies up and down the value chain, the challenge has

// WE ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF A CRISIS THAT HAS GRIPPED OUR INDUSTRY, GRIPPED OUR COUNTRY AND GRIPPED OUR GLOBAL COMMUNITY //

TARSUS TECHNOLOGY GROUP

been different. Whether its retailers not being able to open, logistics not being able to move, service providers being restricted because of working from home conditions or wholesalers seeing dips in demand, Tarsus is looking to connect with all to form innovative and unique solutions.

“For Tarsus On Demand and Tarsus Distribution, we have gone on an intensive drive to engage with our partners and vendors and understand what they are going through and what their customers are going through so that we can listen and learn and collaborate. It has been a fascinating journey, and in most cases inspiring. Some of our customers are going through tough times but some are going through very good times because they are working hard and they are agile. By solving customer

problems as they arise, some are managing to thrive,” said Herbst.

Planning for the future is difficult and many businesses are adopting a ‘work in the now’ strategy, but Herbst – a 10-year veteran at Tarsus – is ambitious.

“Our view is to keep doing what we are doing as the situation is so fluid. The fascinating thing with the use of video conferencing and remote working is that it has been easier for us to engage quicker and we are having far more meetings than we would normally. We are getting better but we don’t have all the answers.

There is a series of things that will come from us and we will continue to work on ideas that will get us out of the pandemic and create sustainable businesses as we try and combat and overcome the virus.”

16784_PG_Ad for Enterprise Magazine 144mm x 100mm_Final.p.indd 1

COLLABORATION IS KEY Gary Pickford, CEO of Tarsus Distribution – the largest of the companies in the Tarsus Group – is also keen on the idea of collaboration. For Pickford, sharing insight and strategy across the industry is the best way forward.

“We are in the middle of a crisis that has gripped our industry, gripped our country and gripped our global community. It has happened so quickly and so many were unprepared. The Tarsus Distribution exco has been sitting together, in our work from home environments, looking at the situation and asking what scenarios do we need to look at and what do we need to put in play for the medium-term. Right now, no one has definitive answers but as an industry we need to share our

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INDUSTRY FOCUS: TECHNOLOGY

thinking and strategies so that we can best formulate scenarios that cater for all the eventualities and opportunities that are coming at us in the future. We are working very effectively remotely and we have been making sure that essential services are being supplied

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to key businesses through this period,” he said.

The industry is mixed with those that continue to do well seeing huge surges in demand and others grinding to a standstill.

“We went out to industry, to our

corporate resellers and our larger partners, and we asked them the questions so that we can form a collective opinion to understand what is going on across the country. Our resellers have been polarised into two camps. One camp has been negatively impacted as they were supplying industries that were more adversely impacted by the rapid shutdown because of Covid-19 – tourism, hospitality, conferencing. But we have another group of resellers that are providing services to hospitals, clinics, government and SAP, and they still have a pipeline of requirement that needs to be supplied in the shortterm,” said Pickford.

“We know one thing from all of the responses we have received so far – if we stand together in an ecosystem and collaborate on solutions together, we are going to have a better chance at formulating a response to what needs to be done

TARSUS TECHNOLOGY GROUP

// IF WE STAND TOGETHER IN AN ECOSYSTEM AND COLLABORATE ON SOLUTIONS TOGETHER, WE ARE GOING TO HAVE A BETTER CHANCE AT FORMULATING A RESPONSE TO WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE IN OUR INDUSTRY AND OUR CHANNEL GOING FORWARD // in our industry and our channel going forward.”

Of course, as the coming weeks and months remain uncertain, job security, in a country where joblessness is already a virus in its own right, will become vital.

“We know that times are going to be difficult and tough, but by standing together as one industry we can get invoicing happening faster, we can start generating cash sooner and, more importantly, preserve as many jobs in the industry going forward.”

STILL DELIVERING While the worry and difficulty of the pandemic has been for the excos to consider, those on the ground at Tarsus have been busy continuing to roll out vital services for clients. In July, Tarsus announced it would team up with longterm partner Microsoft to launch the tech giant’s Surface devices. Only the Pro 7 and Surface Laptop 3 will be available in South Africa to start with but the range could grow in the future. Initially, the devices will be made available through Incredible Connection and Vodacom

retail stores. Both have top of the range intel technology and both are perfect for working on the go, away from the office.

Tarsus also teamed with HP – another long-term partner – to help distribute technology to schools and learners. Desktops, laptops and tablets will all be donated to communities in need to help learners who may be unable to attend school or where schools are closed.

This is another example of Tarsus working collaboratively in order to achieve results for those in need. Who knows which direction the Covid pandemic will take us next – like technology it is ever changing. But at Tarsus, by engaging with the industry, the company is well-placed to serve its clients sustainably and successfully.

WWW.TARSUS.CO.ZA

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SILICA

Tailor Made Tech Solutions Making

Investments Accessible PRODUCTION: Silica

From starting as a software developer to becoming a unit trust third-party administrator of choice and regional market share leader, Silica has come a long way in the past 20 years. CEO Garth Smith explains more about how this inventive organisation will grow its clients further in the future.

//

For Sandton-based software and third-party administration company, Silica, 2020 looks set to be an exciting and prosperous year.

The company, owned by Investec Asset Management, is pushing an exceptional new product while planning further international expansion.

From establishment more than two decades ago as a tech/ software division of Investec Asset Management, serving the changing needs of investors and asset managers, Silica has grown to become a vital aspect in the transactional and administrative process for South Africa’s unit trusts and mutual funds.

By using technology, data, and the power of digital, Silica is driving efficiencies and costs for investments to be managed more efficiently. CEO Garth Smith tells Enterprise Africa more

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about the company’s new Graphite solution, and how it will further enhance productivity for clients.

“We had wealth managers approach us, saying they were dealing with multiple, large asset managers, who were our clients and were sending each asset manager individual instructions to be processed,” he begins. “They questioned whether there was a way to consolidate these instructions across the various asset managers for digital processing. We decided to build an interface, or a switch, where wealth managers could connect to their portfolio management systems, which would automate and streamline the execution of their instructions to the asset managers.

That is where the idea for Graphite came from.”

GRAPHITE Graphite is a system designed to integrate into the operations of asset management clients so that wealth managers and financial advisors can seamlessly access funds, speedily and cost-effectively. The technology combines with existing Silica technology and capability so that all information and instructions captured at source are executed through a single cash and application process. The performance of funds can be tracked in real-time and this allows clients to adapt their service quickly.

In 2017, Silica approached Investec Asset Management with the idea for the new product. After development and piloting, Graphite was officially launched in May 2019.

“We wanted different thinking and we adopted a strategy of assembling

SILICA CEO GARTH SMITH

INDUSTRY FOCUS: TECHNOLOGY

a team completely outside of our existing team,” details Smith. “We based the new team in Cape Town and partnered with an expert company, NML, to build the technology and integrate it into Silica. NML is still our partner on the journey.”

NEVER STANDING STILL Silica’s team is made up of industry professionals with a deep understanding of the market in which the company’s technology and innovation are put to work. Smith himself is a veteran of Stanlib, Standard Bank and Liberty Life. Embedding Silica further into the operations of its clients is important. This is why the company is always in motion and on the lookout for opportunities where improved tech and digital revolution can improve ageing systems.

Back in 2018, Silica partnered with IRESS to automate trading of unitised investments, digitising the process to lower costs for all players in the value chain – a partnership that thrives today.

“With trading volumes decreasing, some stockbrokers were looking to expand from just offering equities, to include unit trust funds. So we partnered with IRESS, using their Smarthub system to create a capability to electronically trade both equities and unit trusts via a single portfolio management system. This widens the distribution channels that are available to our asset management clients while

reducing costs,” explains Smith.

Silica has proven its ability to go beyond software development. As industry-leading experts in the trade technology space, utilising knowledge of the market, the company is continually but sustainably growing its product and service portfolio to help grow the business of its clients.

“Our team built digital KYC and digital signature capabilities which wealth managers can integrate into their front-end systems so they can transact completely electronically.

“We have registered a retirement annuity and other pre and post-tax

// WE BELIEVE THAT GRAPHITE IS A VERY UNIQUE OFFERING WITHOUT A DIRECT COMPETITOR AT THIS STAGE //

SIGNATURE BUSINESS SOLUTIONS (PTY) LTD PROUD STRATEGIC PARTNERS OF SILICA Signature Business Solutions (Pty) Ltd are proud to be the strategic partners of Silica, and through this close partnership have managed to automate many of their historic processes using the powerful iCompare platform. Through iCompare’s innovative and ground breaking technology, Signature Business Solutions have managed to not only automate but also significantly improve processes including the allocation of clients’ money.

Our solution was able to automatically reconcile client and investment transactions, both cash and non-cash, and then record thousands of financial transactions, and automatically manage the payment and receipts process, through to the bank.

Signature Business Solutions (Pty) Ltd has over 15 years’ experience in the financial services industry with some of the biggest listed financial services companies on the planet, which include but aren’t restricted to: SILICA, LIBERTY LIFE, GUARDRISK, STANDARD BANK, ABSA, DISCOVERY, VITALITY AND SANLAM Our goal is to increase the efficiency of your financial, IT and operational administration processes; with the use of the iCompare Platform. We do this by seamlessly integrating some of our existing, Data Management (ELT), Reconciliation, Transformation, Allocation, Receipt & Payment, Active Reports, and digital Sign-Off automated modules, within the iCompare Platform.

The reconciliation module is designed specifically to simplify and automate the reconciliation and settlement processes, reducing time and cost by up to 60%. The iCompare Platform automates the processes from data collection (including mapping, validation and normalizing) and aggregation through to matching and exception reporting, ensuring data accuracy.

Signatures Business Solutions iCompare Platform is an end-to-end solution that loads data through innovative digital readers, matches transactions from multiple sources at the same time, manages exceptions, resolves conflicts, generates file reports.

Then uploads files to hosts and/or interchanges. Our convenient and ease-of-use reconciliation solution reduces time and hassles of reconciling then settling through multiple network connections, which could include, SAP systems, Oracle, and other cloud services.

We are always happy to present our full suite of services to you; simply email us on info@signature.co.za or give us a call on 011 236 0620, to arrange a meeting.

28 / www.enterprise-africa.net

SILICA

products for the independent wealth management market. We see these products as building blocks for wealth managers and large financial advisors to use to expand their practices and grow their brand,” outlines Smith.

The result – a rise to the top of the industry and a strong position in terms of market share and reputation.

Currently, Silica has a majority of the unit trust third party administration market in South Africa.

“We believe that Graphite is a very unique offering without a direct competitor at this stage,” says Smith. “Some of the traditional LISP providers might see themselves as the competition but we don’t treat them as such and believe they could become clients of Graphite. We are saying that the differentiator of LISPs shouldn’t be execution, which gets

commoditised, but rather driving great client experience. If you want to commoditise, come to a place where that can be done at scale ” NEW GEOGRAPHIES Having conquered much of the South African trade technology space, the next growth frontier for Silica is abroad.

The company is already active in the UK and the Channel Islands, and Smith sees further international expansion as evident and necessary.

“There is a limit to how much you can grow in a single market. Once we are further into the Graphite product build, we will look to expand into different geographies,” he says. “We believe our strengths are that we are specialists, focussed and consistently develop a deep knowledge of the market we are servicing.

“We have around R500 billion in assets under administration outside of sub-Saharan Africa, with R200 billion of that in the UK,” he adds. “This gives us a toe hold there which keeps us relevant so we can look at increasing our presence in those markets at a future date.”

Expansion outside of South Africa will result in exposure to global best practice and world-class service providers which is beneficial for the business.

“Globally in this industry, there is huge price pressure and still much to settle after Brexit and other influences.

We have chosen a path where we have a deep understanding of what we are doing and where we can partner with our clients.” says Smith.

He confirms that more new ideas are in the pipeline but remain in the development stage while Silica decides on its medium to longer-term strategy.

If its logical, iCompare can automate it

Full Account Ownership

Local & Cloud Based Solutions

Full Visibility via Automated Dashboard

Detailed Automated Reporting 60% Increased Efficiency & Productivity

AUTO RECONCILIATION Reduction of Value at Risk

Paperless Reconciliation

Enhanced Automated Rules

High Volume Matching Between many sets of data

Digital Sign-Off

www.signaturegroup.co.za

+27 (0) 11 236 0620 • info@signature.co.za

www.enterprise-africa.net / 29

INDUSTRY FOCUS: TECHNOLOGY

SOUTH AFRICAN ROOTS An imminent change for Silica is the movement of its owner Investec Asset Management from the listed Investec group, becoming Ninety One Fund Managers – itself a listed entity on the JSE. The name Ninety One reflects the heritage of Investec Asset Management, established in 1991, and the rebrand and demerger are aimed at providing better service and outcomes for clients as an independent asset manager.

Smith, who joined Silica in 2015, details more about the initial development of the company as an answer to a call from Investec.

“Investec Asset Management needed a new registry platform for unit trusts and mutual funds. The local incumbent was not seen as adequate to take the business forward. The feeling was that there was insufficient investment in the platform and,

because of the environment at the time, there weren’t any real international players in the market,” he details.

“To get an international player in the market was expensive. So, Investec decided to develop a proprietary system in-house. In planning, they selected an analyst, Daniel Micali, who knew a lot about the business; enlisted Michael Prentice as MD, and partnered with a local software development house. This team was tasked with ‘designing software for a client registry business system for unit trusts’.

“They were successful and Investec Asset Management proposed that should they ‘onsell it to a few new clients within two years’, Investec would branch the team off into a separate company, rather than being an in-house department.

Consequently, a market-leading platform was created and Silica was

// THE WORLD IS CHANGING AT AN INCREDIBLE PACE, ALONG WITH THE EXPECTATIONS OF OUR CLIENTS. PEOPLE HAVE TO BE ADAPTABLE // established as a software company.”

After approximately five successful years, during which Silica had achieved phenomenal growth, the undeniable next step was to advance into third-party administration, a request from both local and international clients, who required not just a software solution but rather a full third party administration service.

// WE WANTED TO BE MORE THAN JUST A COMPANY WITH A STATEMENT ABOUT BEING THE BEST THIRD-PARTY ADMINISTRATOR IN THE MARKET //

30 / www.enterprise-africa.net

TECTIGHT BELIEVES IN TRUE PARTNERSHIPS BETWEEN US AND OUR CLIENTS. WE PROUDLY RETAIN ALL OF OUR CLIENTS THROUGH EXCEPTIONAL SERVICE AND INSPIRED SOLUTIONS.

INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS FOR IT INFRASTRUCTURE The Tectight Managed Service Provider (MSP) model allows clients to focus on their core business while managing their IT infrastructure on a proactive basis through a subscription model.

A fully customisable offering allows clients to:

Bundle suitable hardware, software and services

Optimise finances by removing large upfront costs

Streamline management of hardware and services

Delivering the world’s best technology, we are recognised as the 2019 Lenovo Gold Partner of the year, an IBM Gold Business Partner, and an official VMware partner.

Through this tech we specialise in Disaster Recovery (DR) services, Co-Sourcing and complete backup services.

We can handle all Backup-as-a-Service (BaaS) processes for clients, supplying all hardware, software and services, ensuring a complete backup solution so that clients do not have to worry about this time-consuming, monotonous but critical part of any business.

We are so confident in our offerings that we subject ourselves to penalties should we not perform, giving our clients piece of mind and assurance of 100% commitment at all times.

Working with Tectight as your IT partner comes with true benefits beyond industry-leading solutions. We add value by bundling project-based and ongoing support services including installation, implementation and migration services.

Tectight does not only sell IT – we ensure our clients are able to rest easy knowing that the environments we look after are covered.

Consult with Tectight today: +27 (0)10 595-3919 | info@tectight.com | www.tectight.com

INDUSTRY FOCUS: TECHNOLOGY

The Silica team returned to its shareholders to explain their findings in the market. Investec agreed and became the primary, anchor client for Silica’s thirdparty administration services. This commitment from Investec gave Silica a base from which to grow into the UK and assisted in expanding the South African client base, all while converting software clients to TPA. The next step in the Silica story was going digital, however, Silica needed a better understanding of the appetite of its clients and their customers. Once the cost and convenience of digital transacting were clear, clients were eager to partner with Silica on their digital journey.

“Asset management differs from banking. When banking online, customers transact and view bank accounts fairly regularly, unlike

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// WHILST WE DO ANTICIPATE HEADWINDS, WE ALSO BELIEVE THERE IS AMPLE OPPORTUNITY OUT THERE // investors who instead buy-in and wait and rarely view accounts or make switches. Financial advisors agree that people are quickly adapting to digital.”

Silica is firmly behind this move to digital and, despite making significant revenues from manual transactions and data capture, is ready to support clients where necessary on the journey toward digital ecosystems.

THE UNIQUE, THE SPECIAL “Four years ago, Silica decided to redefine our purpose,” says Smith.

“We wanted to be more than just a company with a statement

about being the best third-party administrator in the market. We went through a thorough process to identify our existing purpose of ‘making investments accessible’. We do that by providing our clients and asset managers, the products and services to help them grow their businesses this is a core driver for us.”

One shared factor across all successful business operations is a positive culture. This is simply a must for success. At Silica, culture has received considerable attention and it is this very culture that is the backbone of Silica’s brand message of ‘making investments accessible’.

SILICA

Like most businesses, especially tech businesses, people are at the heart of everything achieved in the past, and everything that is planned for the future. The company admits that its success is intricately tied to its people, so there is a constant focus on nurturing and developing an outstanding company culture.

To ensure the company’s innovative culture and humancentric work environment, Silica is committed to investing in upskilling its people – despite the possible outcome of employees leaving.

“We looked at our culture and drilled into the values and behaviours that supported it. A business can have a noteworthy value statement but unless it creates positive behaviours, it’s just writing on the wall. When a company digitises its business and drives automation, there is a significant impact on employees. Silica was transparent about the potential impact on jobs and created a learning culture that could better skill staff for the future of work. We established the Digital Learning Academy where our employees have access to online courses and mentors and work together to develop themselves. The academy is free for all employees and we celebrate as much when staff upskill and secure a role elsewhere, as we would when they upskill and stay with Silica,” says Smith.

“We have to take people on a journey,” adds Smith. “If we have people who are in roles that may no longer be relevant, we have to explain why, be open, and offer opportunities to reskill. The world is changing at an incredible pace, along with the expectations of our clients.

People have to be adaptable.”

This idea has been introduced to ensure a fluid mindset among the company’s 480 people – there is no chance of remaining unchanged and too comfortable.

By mid-2020 Investec Asset

Management will be Ninety One Fund Managers, Graphite will be forging ahead, Silica will have made global inroads, and new faces will have started arriving at HQ. This company is proof that the investment world is constantly in motion and is testimony to why digitising, and partnering with experts is so important. For Smith, there is no complacency.

“It’s been a hard but very rewarding journey. We are optimistic about the future but fully aware that it is not just going to happen, we have to make tough choices. If we want to build a great culture, it has to be owned by everyone and led topdown, or it will not be entrenched.

“Whilst we do anticipate headwinds, we also believe there is ample opportunity out there.”

Some of the biggest names in

the business trust Silica: FNB, Stanlib, Nedgroup Investments, Investec Asset Management, Old Mutual, Alexander Forbes Investments, Prudential Investment Managers, Capricorn Asset Management, Ashburton Investments, Sanlam and more are all running Silica systems, and all have benefitted.

Technology is the backbone of business that helps set the best apart from the rest. For Smith and the entire team at Silica, the future is certainly looking bright.

WWW.SILICA.NET

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JOE PUBLIC

Growth , Idea n

n

- 22 Years of Creativity PRODUCTION: David Napier

Leading communications and marketing agency, Joe Public, puts growth at the heart of everything it does. ‘We believe that the growth of our people is linked to the growth of our creative product, which impacts the growth of our clients, and which ultimately contributes to the growth of the country,’ the company says. Founder and CEO Gareth Leck tells Enterprise Africa about how the company has grown from three to 300, and how it will double again in the future. Here, it’s all about growth to the power of n.

//

All over the world, marketing agencies can seem like daunting places. Of course, for those that work within, this is something that they would never admit. A lot of the time they present an image of a cool, laid back, relaxed environment, where ideas can thrive.

But for the customer – especially the smaller business or the individual – marketing remains intimidating. It’s expensive and complicated, and when it comes to agencies, one industry commentator described them as ‘like yachts – underused, expensive and all the same’. For Gareth Leck, Pepe Marais and Noel Cottrell, when they started their agency in 1998, this was a stigma they wanted to escape.

34 / www.enterprise-africa.net

The three had some experience in the industry but all were entrepreneurial and wanted to bring their own ideas to the market, dominated at the time by a handful of large players.

South Africa was still a relatively young democracy and the economy was buoyant.

From the late nineties through until the late 00s, business in the country boomed.

Leck, Marais and Cottrell had started at the perfect time. The trio had also hit the right note with their model. An unconventional approach, the style was designed around the takeaway restaurant model.

“We came up with the idea of opening an agency that was very transparent and was based around a restaurant menu idea where you could walk into the office and know exactly

what an ad would cost you by looking at a menu,” Leck tells Enterprise Africa.

Nothing was pretentious, there was little jargon to contend with, and the pricing was crystal clear. It was simple, and it allowed clients - who might have previously found the marketing world challenging - to utilise the important tools on offer. At the time, advertising was predominantly focussed around print, TV and radio, and the expertise of the three founders was extremely helpful for clients.

“We knew we were not big names and we needed to do something disruptive if we wanted to do our own thing, and so we labelled the idea ‘take away advertising’. That was the launchpad for Joe Public – we all quit our jobs and it was a revolutionary idea,” remembers Leck.

Pepe Marais - Co-founder

INDUSTRY FOCUS: MARKETING

The name of the company was almost stumbled upon. It again showed the desire of the entrepreneurs to be clear and simple, and work with those who needed it most.

“We had a one-page business plan and it was linked back to the model of take away advertising – it said we want to do advertising for the man on the street or Joe public. It was about making great advertising accessible to anyone.

We had some ideas for agency names but a friend of ours pointed out Joe Public, as written in the plan, as a cool name. We also liked the fact that it had a level of simplicity. There were other agencies with very long, complicated names and we liked the fact we were different and we were just a group of guys coming in to do work for the man on the street,” laughs Leck.

He says that the company’s atmosphere and culture has remained from those early days - very down to earth. “We don’t like big egos – we think that gets in the way of business.”

The focus at Joe Public is not about

// THE MARKET STOOD UP AND WATCHED AS WE PUSHED FORWARD WITH THIS BREAKTHROUGH STYLE AND, WHILE MANY SAID IT WAS CRAZY AND WOULDN’T WORK, WE STUCK TO OUR GUNS AND WE HAD A GREAT FEW YEARS AND A LOT OF FUN IN THE EARLY YEARS AS WE BUILT OUR AGENCY // 36 / www.enterprise-africa.net

projecting an internal image to the wider industry, it is about getting the job done for the sake of clients and staff development.

“The market stood up and watched as we pushed forward with this breakthrough take-away advertising model and, while many said it was crazy and wouldn’t work, we stuck to our guns and we had a great few years and a lot of fun in the early years as we built our agency.”

GROWTHN People quickly took to the model and the agency became popular, winning Financial Mail AdFocus Emerging Agency of the year in 2000. The takeaway advertising idea had proven a success.

But Joe Public was still a young business and the company made the decision to evolve to meet the needs of its growing client base and keep up with market changes. Clients were demanding a broader range of services and wanted to develop long term relationships and not only work on one off projects. Each client had a different need and the ‘off the shelf’ approach of take away advertising needed to be tweaked.

Sticking with the restaurant theme, Joe Public became what Leck terms more of a ‘sit down advertising business’.

“The idea was to become a more traditional advertising group as we wanted to find a more sustainable business offering with retained clients and ongoing revenue streams,” he says.

Each client could now obtain a tailored quotation based on exacting needs and, because of the quality work that the agency was churning out, bigger clients were quickly on-boarded and relationships lasted. This success attracted the attention of the biggest names in the industry.

“We were approached by the IPG group which was represented by FCB in South Africa. They acquired us in 2001 and it was very interesting for us going from being start up entrepreneurs to being owned by a big listed corporate. It was a big shift

// THE BRANDS THAT ARE INVESTING IN ADVERTISING AND COMMUNICATIONS AND DOING THE MOST IMPACTFUL WORK, ARE THOSE THAT ARE CONSISTENTLY PERFORMING THE BEST IN TERMS OF SALES AND MARKET SHARE GROWTH // and ultimately did not turn out the way we wanted it to,” says Leck.

After eight years under corporate ownership, Marais and Leck decided to buy the business back from FCB, with the view of reinvigorating it as a private company. This was 2009 – not a good year for business, Joe Public was on the brink of failure. The global financial crash had all but ended a lot of corporate marketing spend and SMEs were under extreme pressure.

But, for those who see beyond negativity and identify the opportunities that always exist, even the tough times can offer up hope. During the Great Recession, which impacted organisations large and small all over the world, the very identity of Joe Public was reimagined.

“We had to do a lot of soul searching to realise what the business was about and why we come to work.

It was a tough time as we were at the start of the global economic crash. We started to work on why we existed and what was our purpose,” says Leck.

After much thought and a collaborative brainstorming process with every member of the staff at the agency, it became clear that the one word that best described Joe Public’s

INDUSTRY FOCUS: MARKETING

reason for being, was ‘growth’. Not just growth of itself as an entity, but exponential growth – growth to the power of n.

Joe Public’s ethos is now firmly rooted in the growth of its people, the growth of its clients, and growth of the country. “In 2009 we put that at the heart of the business and it has all developed from there. Over the last decade, everything we have done has been centred around our business purpose.”

This focus on growth is combined with a strict adherence to a set of values – creativity, excellence, integrity, respect, leadership, and unity, has resulted in expansion of the business, reaching heights that Leck and Marais did not expect back in the early days.

“We are now a fully fledged communications group with around 300 employees, we have five different businesses in the group, all working in specialist areas of the communications field, and as a by-product we have picked up a number of amazing accolades along the way,” states Leck

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MOST AWARDED Currently, Joe Public is busy with important work for big name clients across various industry sectors. The likes of Nedbank, Jet, Chicken Licken, SAB, Altron, and Clover among many more have trusted the agency to deliver high quality work and the result has been success all-around. For any marketing and advertising spend to be justified, there has to be measurable ROI – Joe Public is South Africa’s leader in this regard.

“SCOPEN, the global research group, assessed all of the agencies in South Africa and conducted a survey with around 200 CMOs, and we came up as the number one agency in terms of making the biggest contribution to our client’s business growth. Number one on a client’s list is ROI and so it was very nice to see the results of that survey where Joe Public was the number one agency and having an impact on client’s business results,” admits Leck.

This research makes up the largest most in-depth and up-to-date view of

the country’s marketing and agency landscape and highlights how far Joe Public has come and its undisputed position as an industry leader.

In May, at the 2019 D&AD Awards, Joe Public was recognised as the most awarded creative agency among its South African peers after it claimed a Yellow Pencil (Gold), a Graphite Pencil (Silver), a Wooden Pencil (Bronze) and three shortlists. The agency’s European partner, which is based on the original Take-Away advertising model, Joe Public Amsterdam, also won Agency of the Year.

And in September 2019, for the second year running, Joe Public United was recognised as Agency of the Year at the Loeries Awards (South Africa’s premier advertising awards). The agency won a total of 17 Loeries, including two Gold, six Silver, five Bronze and four Craft Certificate awards.

But, for Leck, winning awards has never been a goal. The entrepreneur says that accolades, like the bottom line, should be a measure of the health

JOE PUBLIC

of the product that is delivered to its clients. Winning recognition links back to the company’s purpose of achieving exponential growth.

“If you produce a very good product for your clients, a by-product of that should be recognition, just like if you run a good business you should see revenue growth and healthy bottom line growth. We like to see awards as a by-product of us delivering on our purpose. Obviously, it’s a great way to attract the best people into your business and clients want to work with agencies doing the best work. It’s important for marketing but we like to ensure awards are a by-product of the work we do every day and not the focus,” he says.

DIMINISHING AD SPEND? According to Harvard Business Review, advertising should not be managed as a discretionary variable cost and should receive consistent investment spending.

Share of market can be quickly snatched if advertising voice is dampened (CocaCola and Pepsi is the go to example), and Leck reminds of the importance of delivering, and investing in, quality product – it will result in positive results.

But there has been downward pressure on ad spend. Even with a bursting trophy cabinet, Joe Public has witnessed the challenges that come from a weak, downtrodden, untrusted economy. He is keen to point out that those who are able to maintain their marketing spend will likely achieve marketing share gains.

“An example of this is Chicken Licken. The agency has done some amazing work over the last few years with Chicken Licken and the results have been equally amazing. We’ve seen direct links with standout campaigns and having standout results.

“If you go back to our strategy about how do we grow our clients, we believe firmly that the brands that are investing in advertising and communications and doing the most impactful work, are those that are

consistently performing the best in terms of sales and market share growth.

There is plenty of evidence that shows the guys who do the best work on the creative side are those that are winning the most,” he says. In a study conducted in 2017 by McKinsey, it was proven that Cannes winning marketing companies created more value than their competitors. The study was based on Cannes award-winning companies between the years 2001 and 2016 and included the prestige of the award, the number of categories it was awarded in, the consistency of awards won over time and the number of years the company was recognised. Based on the results it was found that companies that did better at Cannes did better than their non-Cannes winning competitors with 74% of these companies achieving above-average earnings.

This is why Joe Public must provide creative products of the highest standard – if it fails, those that are spending on marketing will go elsewhere. And competition is fierce – some reports suggest there are hundreds of large and small companies operating across the country.

“With the economy, which has been flat for a number of years and continues to be so, there are some really stand out businesses that are bucking the trend.

It has been tough, but we are seeing amazing case studies where great campaigns are helping clients to win in their markets,” highlights Leck.

// WE CAME UP AS THE NUMBER ONE AGENCY IN TERMS OF MAKING THE BIGGEST CONTRIBUTION TO OUR CLIENT’S BUSINESS GROWTH // The company has recognised the need to demonstrate the impact of great campaigns and prove ROI, and so has ventured into data, analytics and technology that can bring easy to understand information to the fingertips of account managers.

“We have developed certain innovations, including growth tracker, which is a technology that takes all of our clients commercial metrics across their entire business and we can plug that in and overlay our campaign activity, including what we are doing across multiple mediums and multiple areas, and we can track, in real time, the effects of the campaign in terms of return on investment,” details Leck.

“We have been working on that for the past couple of years and it’s absolutely critical. With the economy being so tight, everyone wants to make sure they are gaining the maximum return on investment – that is definitely something we are crystal clear on - it links back to our purpose.”

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INDUSTRY FOCUS: MARKETING

2020 – FERTILE SOILS As Joe Public continues on its growth path, driving the ripple effect that grows its people, its clients, and the country, Leck is concentrating on one thing for the New Year: consistently producing world class work.

“A massive part of our strategy is about delivering really high-end product for our clients and our intention is to be doing this more and more across our existing client base and with new clients.

We are always thinking about how we do better work for our clients as that is what is going to help them grow their businesses.”

Whether its traditional mediums – print, radio and TV; or innovative new products in the online space or social media platforms, the company has developed a suite for all. Like all agencies, digital innovation is becoming increasingly important.

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“It’s no secret that a huge part of the market sits within the digital space,” reminds Leck. “The market has changed from when it was just print, radio and TV. In the UK, for example, over 60% of ad spend sits in the digital space across various platforms, and in South Africa digital ad spend is the fastest growing media category, so if we want to continue to meet our clients requirements and assist in growing them in our area of expertise, we have to constantly build capacity and continue to innovate offerings in the digital space.”

Joe Public’s digital arm is relatively young and the management team only started building it around five years ago. “It represents a decent portion of our revenue and is home to around 80 people but there is huge room for growth in that area. We are working

hard putting plans in place to build further capacity,” says Leck.

As well as portfolio expansion, the company is also ready and open to geographic development. Well-known in Johannesburg, Joe Public could use its brand strength to conquer South Africa’s other major metros. “We see opportunities in the likes of Cape Town and Durban,” suggests Leck. But the big opportunities lay in the roll out of new services that complement the company’s existing infrastructure and add to its growth mantra.

“We see growth opportunities in public relations, we think there is massive scope to grow our digital business, we are looking at media planning and buying as there is big potential there, and there are even big opportunities with research, data and analytics,” details Leck.

JOE PUBLIC

A LABOUR OF LOVE In a famous quote often picked up by marketeers, Benjamin Franklin one said: “Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing about,” and Joe Public is doing so. For more than two decades this expert communications business has honed its craft and differentiated itself through a down to earth culture and a strategy which brings quality advertising products to everyone. And it’s not done – Leck is already making plans for the next 20 years.

“We often say that the business is a labour of love. It’s been our creation and it’s our child. It’s 22 years old but there is a huge room for growth beyond 22 years old as a person so why can’t there be growth as a business. It’s not in its infancy but it’s definitely not fully potentialized as an organisation.

There really is a lot more scope and that gets us excited.

We think in the next five years we can double this business, if not more. In South Africa, the largest communication group is more than double our size and so we believe significant expansion is possible.”

Even while the South African economy remains stagnant, Joe Public is cautiously optimistic and quietly confident. According to PwC, Chief Executives in South Africa are pessimistic about the rate of global

// WE HAVE FIVE DIFFERENT BUSINESSES IN THE GROUP, ALL WORKING ACROSS DIFFERENT AREAS, AND WE HAVE PICKED UP A NUMBER OF AMAZING ACCOLADES ALONG THE WAY //

www.romancefilms.tv

ROZANNE ROCHA-GRAY EXECUTIVE PRODUCER m. +27 83 267 6884 rozanne@romancefilms.tv

economic growth with 44% believing that it will decline over the next 12 months compared to 35% in 2019.

The local economy is not expected to reach meaningful growth numbers for at least the next 12 months, but at Joe Public the only interest is growth.

“The market is what you make of it. If you have a strong brand, a good formula, and you deliver quality products, in times that are tough, you can take share. When we bought the business back in 2009, times were worse in South Africa and we managed to navigate through that. It would be naïve to say it will be easy but there is no reason why we can’t make things work. We are quite bullish. We have a South African flag flying from our building as South Africa has been good to us for the past 20 years and we certainly believe there is a good market

HELENA WOODFINE EXECUTIVE PRODUCER m. +27 83 626 0422 helena@romancefilms.tv

to be had here,” confirms Leck.

This is an agency that is not intimidating, is not daunting and is not the same as the others. Unlike the yacht comparison, Joe Public is very different, very clear with its business purpose and the importance of long-term relationships – here ideas can thrive.

“Marketing is really just about sharing your passion,” says NY Times Best Selling business author Michael Hyatt, and at the fertile soils of Joe Public in Bryanston, that has been, is, and will be very much the case.

WWW.JOEPUBLICUNITED.CO.ZA

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Co-founder and CEO - Ben Shaw

HOUSEME

The New Way

to Rent & Lease in SA PRODUCTION: David Napier

African prop-tech firm HouseME is taking the South African residential rental market by storm and has plans to expand its reach internationally when it has conquered the local market. Co-founder and CEO, Ben Shaw tells Enterprise Africa more about this exciting young business and how it has grown from nothing.

//

In 2019, Cape Town-based specialist residential rental business, HouseME, was recognised by Forbes Africa and Accenture as a top start-up, contributing in a vital way to Africa’s growth. HouseME is a prop-tech business, established in 2016, that exists to remove the hassle, cost and risk from managing long-term rentals –

both for landlords and tenants.

CEO Ben Shaw co-founded the business alongside Kyle Bradley with the goal of reducing fees charged by traditional agencies by using tech to streamline processes and create scale.

Now three years in, success has come quickly for HouseME, but it has been hard work, as Shaw tells Enterprise Africa.

“Whilst studying at UCT, I was fortunate to be part of the Allan Gray Orbis Fellowship which helps to fund students through university.

They try to identify and profile future entrepreneurial leaders and then provide them with a platform to grow their business. I came out of that pipeline with great mentorship before moving into banking,” he says.

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INDUSTRY FOCUS: PROPERTY

After completing his studies, Shaw moved into the investment banking world, working at JP Morgan Chase in the M&A team. This experience allowed the entrepreneur to learn about efficiency of markets.

While working at the bank, Shaw was renting and came to a realisation: “There was no pricing efficiency whatsoever in how to determine a rental. Neither I, the landlord, nor the agent for sure, knew what the fair price of the property was.

That could be solved – in banking you have a stock exchange where you can trade value of shares – and I thought it would make sense to apply this to rental.

That was the birth of HouseME – a pricing mechanism for rental – back in 2015.”

He approached Kyle Bradley who was working at another start up that had begun to hit the big time. Bradley had been a driving force in the team, moving that company from Cape Town to London and internationalising the product, witnessing first-hand the company go from start up, through scale up, to established business.

“By the time I approached Kyle I had already put my own money behind a very good minimum viable product (MVP), I had raised angel funding, and I had relocated back to Cape Town in order to start the business,” details Shaw.

// BY DOING THINGS MORE EFFECTIVELY, USING TECHNOLOGY, AUTOMATING, BUILDING SCALE AND USING DATA, WE ARE ABLE TO PASS ON THAT SURPLUS – USUALLY AGENT PROFIT – STRAIGHT BACK TO THE CONSUMER // 44 / www.enterprise-africa.net

ACCELERATING MOMENTUM Like any start-up, HouseME had to grind out even the smallest of results in the early days – constant focus and little reward for major efforts. But, after some helpful funding injections, the business started to gain traction.

“In 2016, we worked from home, trying to survive and trying to get into an accelerator programme,” explains Shaw. HouseME managed to secure a spot on the inaugural E-Squared Accelerator programme – a funding house that empowers South Africa’s responsible entrepreneurs to unleash their high impact potential. After graduating the programme at the end of 2016, HouseME gained seed funding and launched its MVP - a mobile app.

“Subsequent to launch, we built out a new system and platform, and we hired some great people to help; I would say the genesis of HouseME as it is today came in July 2017,” remembers Shaw.

Even after a strong introduction to the market, the founders knew their offering needed more work.

“It’s one of the least complicated times – maybe not the happiest – because everything you do translates directly to value for the business and investors love to see that kind of commitment. We were still young and fresh enough to believe we could do anything, and some days we did,” admits Shaw. “We very quickly learnt what worked in the market and what didn’t, and when we launched the MVP during the accelerator, we already knew that it wasn’t what we needed to build, it was simply used as a way to collect data on our users and understand better ways to solve their problems. When we launched in July, we had a far better product fit for what we were trying to do.”

Eventually, HouseME’s modern product was launched and the company looked to cover all aspects of the rental market, bringing vetted tenants to landlords with shared values, while taking care of all of the processes in between.

// WE CAN DELIVER PLACEMENTS THAT WE KNOW ARE EXCELLENT TENANTS AND EXCELLENT PAYERS. LIKEWISE, WE ONLY WORK WITH LANDLORDS WHERE WE HAVE BUILT A PROFILE, COMPLETED FULL VERIFICATION CHECKS AND WE CAN IDENTIFY WITH // “We manage a consolidated end-to-end property service. If you’re looking to manage a property, we can do almost anything you want,” details Shaw. “We have created consumer surplus. By using HouseME, we are multiples better than the alternative solution at the price point we offer. For example, if a landlord wants full rental management, an agency will typically charge one-month rental up front which translates to around 8.3% - ours is 2.5%. By doing things more effectively, using technology, automating, building scale and using data, we are able to pass on that surplus – usually agent profit – straight back to the consumer. That is the first paradigm – we build consumer surplus so that people love to use us and when people are with us, they want to stay.”

The quality of service delivered speaks for itself - 90% of lessors that use the HouseME system stay with the service year after year.

DEPOSITFREE™ In April 2019, HouseME launched its newest service for tenants, a product which allows for residential rental

HOUSEME

without the need to part with a large security deposit. Typically, renters will have to pull together two months’ rent as a lump sum to hand over before they receive the keys to their new home.

Shaw and Bradley realised quickly that this was one of the major hurdles in the journey of a rental tenant.

The idea is that, for a small monthly fee, HouseME will take the risk on behalf of landlord and tenant so that the process is simple and easy on both sides.

“It works well when people are moving out of one property and waiting for the return of their deposit, but they need money to pay the deposit on their new property. The tenant would take the DepositFREETM lease from HouseME on the second property and have the opportunity to pay the deposit in full when they get their deposit back from the first property,

cancelling the fee,” explains Shaw.

“The second use case is when a young professional is starting out in their first rented accommodation and they need to use their savings to buy furniture and help with moving costs.

They pay the small fee throughout the duration of their lease and they don’t ever need to come up with a big lump sum for deposit – they are happy, we are happy, and the landlord is at all times entirely covered for the risk.”

At time of launch, HouseME was the only company offering such a service across the entire continent – reinforcing its innovative nature.

“Subsequently, there are a couple of products that are similarly built but I’m not sure how well they have done.

The differentiator that people often overlook is that you have to have superb vetting and you have to be able to verify

huge data, and that is what we are focussed on.”

Shaw states that with the idea being new to Africa, a certain amount of education has been needed to ensure everyone fully understands the process, and it is also boosting presence in the market. “We have seen good traction from the landlord side and tenants,” says the CEO. “We also have agents asking to engage with us and looking to move onto the platform, so that is exciting.”

DATA POWER Using data to tailor products and services to the needs of the market is not a new thing for customer facing businesses, but doing it efficiently and effectively is now starting to pay dividends for those who have invested wisely. Often, too much importance is placed on technology when it comes to

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INDUSTRY FOCUS: PROPERTY

Kyle Bradley and Ben Shaw

digital transformation, and the data side of things is ignored. But for HouseME, both have received adequate attention and the business has thrived.

“The difference between HouseME and others is that our data forms a user profile right across the behavioural spectrum,” delineates Shaw. “We understand who you are and what you are looking for before you are in a property, once you’re in and paying, when you are up for renewal, or if you are doing something wrong; we can assist throughout the process at a much cheaper rate than any specialist provider. That is where our advantage comes at scale as the data is constantly evolving. We have around 100,000 verified profiles on our system and we can service all as we understand the needs.”

The company is now so much more than a connector of vetted tenants and landlords. HouseME works across all sectors of the industry.

“We take a property from the very

46 / www.enterprise-africa.net

beginning, right through marketing, through tenant vetting and viewing coordination, inspections, deposits, payments, reporting, invoicing, maintenance and even emergencies.

From a tenant perspective, we are an easy online application tool and we are on all the marketplaces that people are already used to dealing with. We are not disrupting behaviour but we are augmenting it and making it simpler,” explains Shaw.

It is HouseME’s data and vetting process that separates it from competition of traditional agents. And this is a strength that will only continue to grow. It is already demonstrated in the affordability matching process employed by HouseME and the likes of DepositFREETM and the rental guarantee.

“The average agency in the southern suburbs of Cape Town will screen around five tenants for every one successful placement – in other words, one in five will match the affordability criteria that the agent feels

is acceptable,” explains Shaw. “Ours is one in eight meaning we are almost 50% more rigorous in comparison to an agent equivalent. As a result, we can deliver placements that we know are excellent tenants and excellent payers. Likewise, we only work with landlords where we have built a profile, completed full verification checks and

// IF A LANDLORD WANTS FULL RENTAL MANAGEMENT, AN AGENCY WILL TYPICALLY CHARGE ONE-MONTH RENTAL UP FRONT WHICH TRANSLATES TO AROUND 8.3% - OURS IS 2.5% //

HOUSEME

we can identify with. We realise that the opportunity is not just management of rental, but management of the rental experience and anything to do with renting a property. We started with the rental guarantee where we will take the risk, and we now offer DepositFREETM for tenants.”

Of course, this type of offering is attractive to potential investors and, alongside recognition from Forbes and the Cape Town Seedstars Summit, HouseME is starting to garner attention internationally.

“We are consolidating so many verticals. There are companies in Europe that are spending massive amounts of money to build their deposit free solution, but it just happens to be one of our products. Hopefully we can reap the rewards going forward,” says Shaw.

FROM SA TO THE WORLD? After three years of hard work, HouseME now has a nationwide footprint and continues to delight its clients. Asked about the next step in the company’s growth, Shaw is certainly happy to explore international expansion, but only when the local market is secure.

“We are one strategic leap away from it,” he muses. “We have one piece of strategy to execute before we engage in that. We must dominate our local market further. We manage a good number of properties for only being three years in, but we are not yet one of the top five in the country and we want to be there before we go overseas.

That is achievable in the medium term, so probably a couple of years away.

In the next two to three years, we are actively looking at partners that could take us international. Whether its investors, portfolios that need a manager, or agents. We’ve had a couple of approaches from Europe, America, and others in Africa but we remain in a ‘wait and see’ space until we have executed locally.”

He adds that expansion for HouseME is two-pronged; volume and product range. Growth will come in the

form of acquiring new landlords and tenants (and therefore more data), and also through adding new products as demanded by the market so to continue solving problems and delighting clients to drive loyalty.

There are many considerations when expanding beyond South African border into the continent. Many try and fail, and a key is to understand the differences in each market. In just the sub-Saharan region, there are 15+ economies with different business cultures, economic climates, legal systems, and governments.

“Some African countries require four months rental as a security deposit. That means our DepositFREETM product would have to cover four times the risk compared to South Africa. Those tweaks are things that we are working on but remain a couple of years away,” details Shaw.

Growing internationally when the company is ready will also be down to the appetite of investors and the maturity of the proposed geography.

For Shaw, Africa represents a real opportunity and is first on the agenda, followed by parts of Europe before entering more established markets where competition is already rife.

BRICK BY BRICK Asked if HouseME is a vehicle for personal wealth creation for Shaw and Bradley, the CEO is clear in his reply: “We are not here because we think it’s an easy flip, we are here because we think we are solving a problem and adding value.

“There is room for a scale play in residential rental. Until someone has that dominance, we have the chance of doing it ourselves. If we are able to earn the trust of someone who is paying around 30% of their salary in rentals, it’s not a hard jump to move that to 31 or 32% by offering products which are desperately needed, and services that can be offered more effectively. If this paradigm holds, our data shows that we have the ability to make it to the top ourselves.”

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INDUSTRY FOCUS: PROPERTY

Clearly, this is not an ‘establish to sell’ situation, and the founders remain active in the day-to-day operation of the company, driving for consistent, sustainable growth with every opportunity. Going forward, further investment will be required and Shaw wants to be a case study for what is achievable in Africa.

“We are on an upward trajectory but we are reliant on growth funding to provide that,” he says. “As with any start up, your first few years are based around building a great platform and delivering a great experience. From there you see the numbers grow and that is where we are right now. We have been able to show returns for our investors but there is always more to achieve so we hope we can continue to grow this vision and be a part of the African growth story as investors back us to perform and the

strategy we come up with at the tip of Africa can be translated around the world – nothing excites us more.

“Winning recognition means that we are now able to open discussions that were previously closed to us because of what people read about us.

We are building a brand and are aware that coming from South Africa there are only a handful of tech start-ups that have actually become big success,” he adds. “Because of that, there is a perception that tech in Africa is not good enough – we have to overcome that bias every time we walk into a boardroom for a meeting. The brand recognition and exposure goes a long way in helping to bridge the gap and provide credibility for fantastic service. I believe so many South African companies could fight above their weight in developed markets, but

// WE ARE NOT DISRUPTING BEHAVIOUR BUT WE ARE AUGMENTING IT AND MAKING IT SIMPLER // 48 / www.enterprise-africa.net

often are overlooked so don’t have the opportunity to do that.”

The one element perhaps hindering faster growth for HouseME is the economic climate in South Africa. Something which has dogged businesses across many sectors, a slow economy results in slow investment and slow decision making – maybe it’s safer for a landlord to stick with the agent they know; maybe a tenant should put off upgrading their living situation.

Uncertainty leads to hesitation.

But HouseME is aware of the situation and well-placed to ride out the storm, with a large client base and high satisfaction levels.

“When you look at constraints to growth, it is certainly up there at the top of the list. We are aware of it and we are dealing with it. The market is under pressure for a number of reasons, not least the cyclicality of the property industry itself wherein there is an oversupply in the market for the first time in six or seven years.

“It is not something that

HOUSEME

// WE WERE STILL YOUNG AND FRESH ENOUGH TO BELIEVE WE COULD DO ANYTHING, AND SOME DAYS WE DID // keeps us up at night because there is nothing we can do about it, quite frankly. What we can do is continue to delight our users. Everything that we do is built around ensuring we have a great customer experience and serving them in the best way possible. By doing things differently, we have been able to earn loyalty in a market that is under pressure. In the long run, property is a very defensible market – everyone needs somewhere to live. Despite the cyclicality of supply, there will be a need for the next thirty years,” affirms Shaw.

Prominent client wins are helping to secure status for HouseME, and the

more customers that sign up, the more remain loyal, the better the service deliver gets.

“We are a very young business but we are seeing growth. In the last three or four months, this was around 30-40%,” enthuses Shaw. “We have won some massive clients – one of the most prestigious is the V&A Waterfront where we manage the entire residential portfolio. Although growth is tough and we are aware that start-ups have to pursue growth above all, we are equally cognisant that our clients are staying with us because they are delighted with our service. Because we have that customer lifetime that we can engage with, we can offer better products as we go. We offer the rental guarantee, we offer eviction coverage as we realised that was a concern for landlords, and the DepositFREE™ idea came out of that.”

Clearly, the strategy planned out and delivered by HouseME is working.

Clearly, this African prop-tech start-up is acting as an example to follow. Clearly, there is more to come.

“As we understand our users, we are able to profile them better and define their risks to pay rent. HouseME acts as an intermediary or a payment switch in the sense that tenants pay us, we hold the money in trust, and then pay the landlord who is ultimately the beneficiary. In doing so, and having built up profiles based on our data, we have realised that we are really good at this core competency – our vetting is exceptional. We have a collection rate of 99%, right across the country. As a result of that, we are able to offer guarantees on our services that others simply cannot,” concludes Shaw.

At a fraction of the cost of a traditional agency, HouseME is the modern, digital, transparent alternative, and in challenging times, an offering like this seems all the more attractive.

WWW.HOUSE.ME

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IEMAS INSURANCE BROKERS

Your Caring Partner,

More Than Ever Before PRODUCTION: Karl Pietersen

By accelerating the digitising of its product range, Iemas Insurance Brokers is doing everything in its power to reach more groups of people who could benefit from proper financial wellness advice and risk protection. Managing Director Piet Wolmarans talks to Enterprise Africa about how this historic business, one of the key divisions of Iemas Financial Services Co-operative (Iemas) is sharply focussed on the Iemas ethos of “we care” by walking the lifelong financial journey alongside its clients.

//

Iemas Insurance Brokers is a wholly owned subsidiary of Iemas Financial Services, South Africa’s leading financial services co-operative. Established as the Iscor Employee Mutual Aid Society in the 1930s, Iemas Financial Services has a long history and has been a dedicated servant to its clients through social, political, economic, and historic cultural changes.

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In the early 90s, Iemas Financial Services broke away from Iscor (now Mittal Steel). Opting to focus on its core – steel production – Iscor allowed Iemas Financial Services to become an independent entity. The name Iemas Financial Services had become so well known in the market that it was decided it would be kept but not as an acronym - as a name that associates with care for customers.

Iemas Financial Services was formed, and after more than two decades it became clear that the insurance side of the business needed its own focus. In December 2016, the Iemas Board accepted a recommendation that a new company should be formed to focus solely on providing financial advice and providing insurance solutions and thus Iemas Insurance Brokers (Proprietary) Limited (IIB) was born.

INDUSTRY FOCUS: FINANCE

“Iemas Financial Services has its own FSP license and the insurance business was originally created to secure the assets that Iemas financed such as vehicles,” details Managing Director Piet Wolmarans. “Over time, that has evolved into other classes of insurance as well.

“In April 2017, we became fully operational and I was personally involved, leading the project and getting ready all of the regulatory approvals that were needed to be in place. A lot of operational things needed to happen – we had to register the company as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Iemas Financial Services; we had to transfer all contracts from service providers at the time; we had to move over employees; and get all operational capabilities in place according to full compliance regulations required by the Financial Service Conduct Authority.”

Now a FSCA-registered member and a holder of its own FSP license, Iemas Insurance Brokers is looking to the digital future with an appetite. It offers hand-picked short-term and long-term insurance products, including car, home, life, and business lines.

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DIGITISING In February 2020, EY detailed in a research report on the industry how insurers in emerging markets are embracing a digital future. “While mobile and digital applications are targeted to specific markets, such as funeral insurance, major initiatives are transforming back-office operations to become more cost-effective and reliable,” said the EY report.

According to Oxford Economics, 37% of South African customers use their mobile phones or computers for the initial process of browsing and identifying policies. Clearly, digital R&D and investment is necessary, and Iemas Insurance Brokers is already wellpositioned in this regard.

“We have already created operational capacity in the business from a systems and operations perspective.

This includes two systems for both shortterm and long-term,” says Wolmarans.

“Since inception until now, we have signed up more than 20 product partners and have added more than 50 product variances in our environment.

“We have created an array of digital functionalities on our platform,

accessed through either our website and/or mobile app. This includes online quoting for short-term insurance and a mobile app which has a very interesting component where our members can refer friends, and we can track that and reward them. As part of our long-term insurance solutions, we have developed a digital self-serve portal for financial planning - including retirement, disability and death – so that people can go and discover for themselves. We have a total online solution for funeral, life and disability, backed by a team of advisors. Currently we are busy with the implementation of robotic enhanced processes – customers can now engage with us 24/7/365 meaning we can now provide funeral cover without any human intervention whatsoever. It pushes data through to the client; they can take up the product and we can issue the policy, without any intervention from a human. With many customers not able to interact with us during their workday, this provides a mechanism that will assist ease of access at more convenient times to our customers, which we fondly refer to as our members.

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INDUSTRY FOCUS: FINANCE

“Our team of field agents are ready to assist our members if they prefer not to transact online and they can help in a very quick, efficient and friendly manner,” he adds.

As a broker, Iemas Insurance Brokers is reliant on quality products from its partners and chooses the best insurers to work with. As the global market is changing and having to rapidly evolve its digital offering, new partners are coming on board for Iemas Insurance Brokers, and already

delivering fantastic results for members.

In May 2019, Iemas Insurance Brokers partnered with Cape Town-based Simply – an Insurtech company – to help digitise its online platform.

“It is part of our strategy to make sure that we partner with the fintechs of the world to offer clients end-to-end, online delivery. Simply is an Insurtech business that specialises in fast, simple processes and easy-to-understand products. We’ve partnered with them to deliver a flexible,

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digital solution containing life, funeral and disability in one simple combo. The Simply products work well for both individuals and domestic workers. Individuals can take cover for themselves or their domestic workers in less than 10 minutes from start to finish. If business employers want to insure their employees, they can do so in four simple steps without traditional underwriting or paperwork.

It’s very efficient and very beneficial,” states Wolmarans.

“The partnership brings together innovative life insurance products and a strong grassroots distribution network. Through this partnership, we can reach far more customers than we could independently,” says Simply CEO, Anthony Miller.

For Iemas Insurance Brokers, the platform creates ease of transacting for the client and helps to keep prices at an affordable level compared with traditional insurers.

“We have rolled it out and received feedback from the market, and we are now busy rolling out phase two of the initiative with some additional productand channel features. We are looking forward to a long-term relationship there,” confirms Wolmarans.

As innovative, new solutions come to the market, such as modular insurance where users can ‘turn on and turn off’ insurance for specific periods of time (for example, when a car is in use and when it is parked in the garage), Iemas Insurance Brokers is keeping track of developments and positioning itself to deliver what its members require - even during the COVID-19 lockdown period.

ENSURING ORGANIC GROWTH Servicing a large customer base from 29 offices around South Africa, Iemas Insurance Broker’s 145 people are always on the lookout to assist.

Though the company is now investing primarily in digital technologies, investment in new office space to support a healthy countrywide spread, should demand dictate, is certainly on the agenda for Wolmarans.

IEMAS INSURANCE BROKERS

“At the moment, our strategy is for organic and digital product growth,” he says. “We are looking at the market where there is currently widespread consolidation. There are independent brokers that may be viable for us to join forces in certain areas so we could look at that, and that would naturally come with their existing infrastructure.”

In a strained economy where GDP growth remains weak if not negative, unemployment remains high, and with the global economy facing the COVID-19 pandemic, major physical expansion is often no longer a viable option. This is why the digital roll out has become an important – and urgent growth strategy.

“We are cost conscientious, especially in this day and age, and we are pushing digitalisation to manage costs and to have instant contact with our policy holders,” Wolmarans explains.

“There will always be a balance between bricks and mortar and digital. At the moment, we are widely spread and we are where our current members want us to be. If new employer groups come on board and we need to expand, we will certainly look at it.”

Future growth of the business can be achieved through accessing new groups or communities for each product.

Currently, Iemas Insurance Brokers is strong on the short-term side in the middle to affluent income market, and strong on the long-term side in the middle to entry-level market. In the future, Wolmarans is keen to use digital assets alongside other strategies to bolster market presence in all sectors, for both short- and long-term insurance.

“We are in the middle to affluent market through our wellness hub and our digital offering where people can access our services online easily. The need that we have identified for that market is predominantly for a faceto-face distribution. We are looking at different distribution models and how we can partner with some of the product providers to deliver through new and exciting channels.

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INDUSTRY FOCUS: FINANCE

// OUR PURPOSE IS TO ASSIST OUR MEMBERS WITH THEIR FINANCIAL RISK MANAGEMENT. OUR DREAM IS TO BE THEIR PREFERRED BROKER. OUR BRAND PROMISE IS TO BE THEIR CARING PARTNER // “We foresee that in 2020 we will be in a position to roll some of this out - we are far down the road of investigating options,” he says.

INDUSTRY WITH OPPORTUNITY Unlike some developed markets, the insurance industry in South Africa – and Africa – remains relatively fertile and provides many opportunities for companies that enter with the right proposition which includes financial wellness training and education.

According to PwC, Africa’s insurance industry is largely underdeveloped, and insurance penetration levels are very low by global standards. The African insurance industry has also been in a state of continuous disruption since the 2008 global financial crisis, and growth has been sluggish.

For Wolmarans, a veteran of South Africa’s insurance industry, there is certainly more that can be done and it all starts with education.

“The market is divided in three segments. Affluent, middle, and entry

level. In general, I think the products and solutions on offer from insurers are welldefined and would suit the needs of the individual,” he says. “I think there is still a lot of education needed to inform the wider population of the benefits of these products and the different solutions that are available – and the embedded benefits to them in case of need.

“From a regulatory perspective, in the entry level the market, the regulator is doing a great job of cleaning up the market and making it more professional, ensuring proper advice is rendered to the consumer. The regulator could perhaps relax some of the current requirements at entry level to create more jobs, keep more people in the industry, and attract younger people - it has become a little cumbersome because of regulatory compliance requirements.

“The majority of vehicles on the

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IEMAS INSURANCE BROKERS

South African roads are still uninsured,” he adds. “We do not have compulsory third-party insurance and there is opportunity for expansion. The regulator and government could easily introduce compulsory third-party insurance; from a business perspective, there is a lot of room to move people who are underinsured to insured.

There is certainly appetite for product development to make insurance more accessible and more attractive.”

South Africa’s roads are not the only place where insurance has not yet realised national uptake. Currently, only 6% of the South African population is in a position to retire. Very few have appropriate savings and investments plans in place and Iemas Insurance Brokers is confident that it could assist for people to understand this and then they could reap the benefit in their later years.

“As hard as we try to ensure people understand the need for insurance, there is still the perception of it being a grudge purchase and other things coming first.

“There is massive opportunity to get out there and educate and we are heavily involved in that with our target market so that people understand the risks involved.”

But how do you go out and improve share in a growing market when faced with a raft of quality competition from both international and local businesses?

According to Wolmarans, you must be transparent and clear to customers.

“You have to clearly define your operating model and understanding the market you are operating in – be clear in what you want to do, who you want to do it with, and how you want to do it,” he says. “We are clear on our target market, our product range and our value proposition.

We try to create a value proposition around providing financial wellness throughout the lifecycle of the individual from when they leave school through to post-retirement.

We build a journey alongside our market through their lifecycle.”

For Iemas Insurance Brokers,

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INDUSTRY FOCUS: FINANCE

business is about leaving a lasting impression and caring for clients. It’s not about pushing whichever product will make and earn commissions. This is what differentiates the company from the rest.

“Commissions will come at the back end, as long as you provide quality advice and ensure there is a holistic approach for the customers so that they come back to us,” confirms Wolmarans.

DECADES DOWN, DECADES DUE After many decades of success, Iemas Insurance Brokers is not resting on its laurels and looking back at what has been achieved. There is a hunger throughout the business to impact the lives of as many people as possible,

bringing much-needed products to people around the country.

For Wolmarans, continuing to deliver in the future will come down to three elements of the business that he is confident the company has already mastered, but equally adamant that it will never stop seeking to continuously keep on improving on customer experience and continuously adapt to consumers’ ever-changing needs.

“Our key focus areas are our: products, processes, and services, for the betterment of our customers.

“We must stay abreast of best practice and develop in all key areas, but the real differentiator is that we walk the walk with our customers through good times and tough times, providing

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR PIET WOLMARANS

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// WE CEMENTED A VERY STRONG PRODUCT BASKET FROM PRIOR 2017 UNTIL NOW WHERE WE HAVE MORE THAN 20 PRODUCT PARTNERS AND MORE THAN 50 PRODUCT VARIANCES IN OUR SPACE // proper advice, even if we don’t sell a product. It’s all about building trust so that people have confidence in what we are telling them. That will remain a game changer for us – we are selling an emotional product so trust is vital. That will always be at the heart of what we do, hence our brand promise of being a caring insurance partner.”

With financial services one of the only positively contributing sectors of the economy in the final quarter of 2019 (2.7% increase within a wider 0.8% contraction), it is vital that reliable and strong businesses are allowed to thrive.

“The economy is a concern, enhanced further by the Coronavirus, and low growth impacts employment,” admits Wolmarans. “Looking at the SA economy, there are a number of public and private enterprises busy with downscaling and this has an impact on the wages of employees. Our experience is that there is less take up of new solutions because there is less disposable income, and there is a higher chance of cancellation.

We have seen our number of return debit orders increase but, at the same time, our opportunity is to make sure we put proper retention strategies in place to ensure that individuals under financial burden or stress can talk to us and we can then look at their portfolio

IEMAS INSURANCE BROKERS

and find alternatives where possible.”

The worst thing you can do, he says, is to simply cancel insurance policies leaving yourself unprotected against real risks. In the motor space, the better choice is to engage with

// THERE WILL ALWAYS BE A BALANCE BETWEEN BRICKS AND MORTAR AND DIGITAL. AT THE MOMENT, WE ARE WIDELY SPREAD AND WE ARE WHERE WE WANT TO BE //

Iemas Insurance Brokers and discuss alternative cover – perhaps moving from comprehensive to third-party.

There is always a solution, even in the toughest of times, to ensure that stakeholders are continually empowered to make sound financial decisions. This mantra will help the business to further develop its reputation for future generations.

“We’ve been around for many decades and I’m sure we will be around for many more,” insists Wolmarans.

“Our long-term vision, backed by our board and management team, is to make sure each and every member of the Co-operative is assisted with a financial wellness road map. If we can achieve that, the numbers will follow.”

This is one of the companies truly driving the roll out of proper insurance cover across the country, and

helping to ensure long-term financial independence for members. If Iemas Insurance Brokers can continue to develop the trust that Wolmarans cites as so important, the business and its members will be happy.

“Our purpose is to benefit our members and our dream is to be the preferred insurance broker by offering a 360-degree insurance solution to suit any need and pocket. As mentioned earlier, our brand promise is to be a caring partner in insurance. That is the model to which each and every employee here works to – even if you don’t sell, provide quality advice properly,” he concludes.

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SAPO

SA Post Office Keeping

Up With The Times PRODUCTION: Manelesi Dumasi & Sapo

The first post office in South Africa was opened in 1792. Is South Africa’s oldest institution evolving with the times? According to Zukiswa Ntsikeni, Group Executive: Operations, the organisation is well-equipped to continue serving South Africans whatever challenges the country may face.

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JHB International Mail Centre

INDUSTRY FOCUS: LOGISTICS

//

In a time of upheaval at one of South Africa’s most recognised institutions, the SA Post Office (Sapo) is developing a stabilisation strategy which will allow it to restructure and streamline before it advances with a growth scheme that will see it become a first-class government organisation that proudly serves the nation.

Threatened by legacy efficiency issues, public trust problems, stiff competition, capacity restrictions and now the coronavirus outbreak, Sapo is facing an uphill battle to reposition itself as the industry leader. But the business is resilient and is facing challenges head on, offering up innovation, collaboration, and cultural improvements to help overcome even the largest obstacles.

“In a fast-changing world, being well-established could easily mean being inefficient and outdated – especially if the organisation in question is a State-Owned Entity, constrained by much stricter and complicated legislation and regulations,” says Group Executive: Operations, Zukiswa Ntsikeni.

“Before the Post Office’s future plans can fly, it needs to be stabilised.

62 / www.enterprise-africa.net

We have progressed immensely along the road of stabilising operations. The future plans include launching an online e-commerce platform. It will be different from others in the sense that it focuses on small and medium enterprises in rural areas.”

But, while longer-term plans are starting to be rolled out, the issue at the forefront of most people’s minds is coronavirus. With the nation subject to movement restrictions and advice to stay at home where possible, delivery of essential mail has become more important than ever before.

Communication surrounding the best way to beat the virus has been largely digital, but physical mail will also play a part. However, there is a nervousness – both locally and globally – around all forms of human contact, even around a postman delivering mail.

Sapo is clear that all precautions are being taken and that the organisation will do everything to ensure a level of normality.

“The coronavirus has a very short life on surfaces and international mail operators have methods to eliminate possible contamination of items. Still, our employees are concerned, and

they have been issued with gloves and masks to wear when handling mail. This is available at our international sorting centres in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban. We also give workers at other, smaller sorting facilities masks and gloves,” details Ntsikeni.

Pre lockdown, Acting CEO Ivumile Nongogo was crystal clear that Sapo would do everything to ensure South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) social grants are paid.

“We are designated to provide this important national service and we are cognisant of the importance of social grants for a sizeable part of our population constituting mostly vulnerable people.

“In order to minimise transmission risks, Sapo’s retail employees will be restricted to operating beyond one meter of each other.

“Measures have also been put in place to control the distance between queueing customers, as well as providing requisite queue marshalling services during peak times in the busy branches. Hygiene improving provisions such as sanitisers, gloves and masks are being made available to retail employees.”

SAPO

All SAPO branches remained open during lockdown and 882 were designated as vital in the delivery of social grant payments. Delivery of medical supplies and other essential items through the post office system would continue but mail services, parcel deliveries and other support operations were suspended alongside the Post Office customer services contact centre which was not available. All mail collections were also completely suspended during the 21day lockdown.

COURIER AND TRANSPORT Investments into fleet, processes and culture have seen Sapo come a long way in just two years. In 2018, Sapo had a very hard time delivering its two million items per day with only 586 vehicles – that’s more than 3400 items per vehicle.

To remedy the situation, Sapo signed contracts with Avis and FleetAfrica in 2019, bringing its fleet up to 1200.

“This has drastically changed the service levels,” confirms Ntsikeni.

“In 2018, our courier volumes had dropped to just over 100,000 items per month, performing at 40% of conformance to standard. Today, we are performing at 90% conformance in the courier division.”

Fleet investments played a big part in this improvement but culture change and communication among employees has also contributed. Continuous efforts to involve staff at all levels and ensuring the realisation of the importance of Sapo work is an ongoing effort.

“We have appointed our senior managers in Operations and are finalising our area manager

recruitments. When they start in their new positions, we will see a drastic improvement in service levels.

“We have reduced the control span which was previously excessive.

Where area managers used to look after 40 or 50 branches, we now reduced it to no more than 30 allowing the manager to touch each branch at least one a month.

“At first it will be necessary to visit a branch more than once a month, later it can be reduced. Similar to the area manager positions, we recruited tellers and branch managers internally. The benefit of that is that our employees see a career opening up for themselves, and we will train and upskill those that find themselves out in the cold,” explains Ntsikeni.

Continues on page 58

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FSS, through its innovative products and services, caters to the wholesale and retail payments initiatives of leading banks, financial institutions, processors, merchants, governments and regulatory bodies.

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WHAT FSS DOES FOR THE SOUTH AFRICAN POST OFFICE Choosing the right technology partner for managing grant disbursements was extremely strategic and a matter of national importance given the impact of the social grants program on millions of South Africans.

In addition to technology-related competence, SAPO needed to be assured of the vendor’s viability in terms of financial stability, quality of support, alliances and partnerships and management performance.

SAPO selected FSS ahead of several national and international vendors because FSS fulfilled its criteria on all fronts. FSS submitted a proposal that reflected its experience as a large-scale payment processor and a seasoned partner committed to long-term success of the project throughout the contracting process.

The choice of FSS as a technology partner was determined by: • • • • •

Three decades of leadership in the payment’s domain, assuring long-term project sustainability.

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serving clients on the African Continent from its offices in Rosebank, Johannesburg.

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A prime example of FSS matching its Products, Services and Expertise to a stated Requirement, is the South African Post Office - Integrated Grants Payments System or IGPS Project.

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THE DELIVERY AND IMPACT FSS implementation expertise gained from large-scale projects for Central regulators and Tier One banks helped SAPO successfully rollout the service within a record setting five weeks. As per its requirements and agreements, SAPO commenced the issuance of the new SASSA card on 1st April 2018. without any disruption. This has helped significantly in rebuilding beneficiary trust and faith in the service. To date, SAPO and SASSA have enrolled more than 8 million beneficiaries on the new system.

SIGNIFICANT COST REDUCTIONS The Integrated Grant Payment System combining the Card Management and the Lightweight CBS modules helped SAPO offload traffic from the Core Banking System. This resulted in significant savings monthly, enabling the agency to spend its budget allocation more effectively in the future, making a meaningful difference in the lives of beneficiaries

OPTIMIZED DEVELOPMENTAL OUTCOMES FSS via its long-term partnership is successfully helping SAPO improve the efficiency of the Grants program. The successful launch of the service has helped the government to reestablish trust in the program. More importantly it is enabling the underbanked to move up the financial ladder and reduce usage of cash.

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INDUSTRY FOCUS: LOGISTICS

Continued from page 55

PROCESS IMPROVEMENT In terms of processes, Sapo has and continues to overhaul its entire system.

From local and international delivery to expedited mail to courier and transport services, all processes are being reviewed to drive improvements. The new Board, appointed in October 2019 to revive Sapo after a decade of losing money, has put profitability at the heart of everything it does.

“We have plans to implement a route optimisation system where drivers will be directed through the most costeffective routes,” details Ntsikeni. “This is a fleet management system that assigns a driver to a vehicle through a biometric system; it is allocated to a zone. When you leave the zone, or drive recklessly, the control room is notified.

“Mobile phones with the optimisation system will implement a system for electronic proof of delivery,” she adds. Currently, Sapo uses a manual

66 / www.enterprise-africa.net

system and details have to be captured after the event. The new electronic system will scan everything immediately and details will be uploaded right away via the mobile network. This information is vital for businesses to confirm that the recipient has signed for their goods.

“It will allow us to start billing quicker – great for our cash flow,” states Ntsikeni.

The system will also reduce cash in transit by allowing customers to transact in a contactless manner.

Some international parcels require the collection of cash by drivers, but Sapo is keen to eliminate this risk. In 2018, industry bodies declared the ongoing threat from criminals targeting cash in transit a national disaster. Sapo’s new system is centred around safety.

“The money will go into our bank account much quicker. It is a tap-andpin system so the card never leaves the customer’s hand, but the purchase is safeguarded through the PIN verification.

This is much safer and eliminates the risk, cost of cash and the inconvenience to the customer,” confirms Ntsikeni.

GLOBAL MAIL Another point of frustration, this time for those looking to ensure their parcels get to their destination from abroad, was the lacking tracking information available when parcels move from international transporter into South Africa. “‘Once the item is in your system, I cannot see it,’ said the customers,” admits Ntsikeni. “Those days are over.

The SA Post Office has switched to an international system - Universal Postal Union’s IPS tracking system. Items no longer get a new tracking label or new tracking number when they come into South Africa.

“The item can now be tracked seamlessly and we are able to use our employees far more productively.”

Integration internally has also improved capacity, and is allowing for parcels that arrive from international markets to be delivered more effectively.

“The Post Office used to work in separate units that shared very little,” admits Ntsikeni. “Logistics trucks would leave a mail centre with space to spare

SAPO

// BEFORE THE POST OFFICE’S FUTURE PLANS CAN FLY, IT NEEDS TO BE STABILISED. WE HAVE PROGRESSED IMMENSELY ALONG THE ROAD OF STABILISING OPERATIONS // – and then there would be incoming international mail that was left waiting for its own, dedicated transport. Now, with the integration of international and logistics departments, we make sure that transport is available universally. Where necessary, international mail drivers are also available for logistics.”

When it comes to sending items out of South Africa, yet again, there had been

serious hold ups in the past. Collaborating and partnering with South Africa’s Civil Aviation Authority has helped to ease the strain and Sapo is now a trusted service provider with the ability to clear outbound mail.

“We can detect the presence of items in parcels that are not allowed on aircraft and return that parcel to sender. We are now a regulated and licenced clearance agent. Our mail now leaves the country much quicker and we are saving money.

In fact, we can now clear mail on behalf of other service providers and charge them for it,” explains Ntsikeni.

Perhaps one of the biggest success stories has been Sapo’s ability to turn inefficient infrastructure into revenue generating capacity at the same time as helping rural South African communities.

For some time, Sapo long-haul vehicles would run various legs of journey at less than 50% capacity. “Empty space is wasted potential income,” states Ntsikeni.

Today, the sales force has managed to engage with other players in the transport and logistics markets to fill this

space. “This improves service standards on all sides and improves the bottom line.

“In remote rural areas our competitors have very little presence – the Post Office does,” reiterates Ntsikeni. “In line with the modern trend of partnerships, we have engaged our competitors here. The Post Office can collect and deliver their parcels in these remote areas for them, saving them exorbitant cost – and again benefiting the Post Office’s income.”

This collaborative approach demonstrates a new willingness to reach out and engage other companies in the country while achieving an end goal for clients. The idea was developed from a similar system which has been operating in China for some time where community stores have been put up to pool all parcels in rural areas.

FASTER, STRONGER In March, SA Post Office new Chairperson, Colleen Makhubele delivered a damming round up of the business as it stood.

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“After our appointment in October 2019, we found an organisation which has been losing money for the past decade; a qualified audit report that was not being adequately addressed; governance lapses; wasteful expenditures; a post office with no executive committee and right management to address the strategy; operational and financial risks and inefficiencies and low staff morale in almost all departments.”

Of course, this environment had resulted in inefficiencies but a strategy to reposition the business was quickly installed. Now, effective performance is measured like never before, innovation and technology adoption is encouraged at every opportunity, staff are involved in all communication, and results are showing, as Ntsikeni explains.

“Our general day-to-day performance for regular mail is consistently improving as a result of better equipment and a focus on employee communication.

Best of all, we are also improving when it comes to time sensitive Fastmail items.

The volume of Expedited Mail Service items from other countries rose by close to 20% after we introduced new measures to improve the service. In May last year, international volumes were around 500,000 per month. It is now 1.8 to two million items per month. EMS showed the same trend, from 6000 items per month to 10,000 items per month.

“We were very happy to see customer complaints drop drastically, and disappointed toward the end of 2019 when they showed a rising trend.

However, this is to be expected as mail volumes rise very much towards the end of the year as our customers order items online with a view to Christmas.”

For most companies, adopting a host of changes would then require time before tangible change is realised.

For Sapo, the interventions are already being felt, and fortunately its customers that are seeing the benefit. “The proof is in the pudding, and our customers have understood that our service has improved,” says Ntsikeni.

SAPO

DELIVERING UPSKILLING Currently, the Post Office is a large employer – home to thousands of people. Cultural improvements are high on the agenda of management and new programmes to upskill, retrain and restructure are underway.

“We’ve started the upskilling program with maintenance,” details Ntsikeni. “For example, if you are a postman, perhaps advanced in years and no longer comfortable with delivering mail through your walk, you can be trained to become a certified maintenance worker. We intend to form maintenance teams, starting in the major mail centres in the Gauteng province. We are already speaking to Human Resources in this regard and the great thing is that we can use the Unemployment Insurance Fund grant to train these people formally as artisans.”

She is happy that this delivers the correct message both internally and externally: Sapo is restructuring, but it does not want to dismiss people.

“We want to be sensible and not spend unnecessarily on contractors when we have capable people to do maintenance in-house.”

PROFITABILITY? With all of the reforms in place to take the business back to profitability, Chairperson Makhubele underlined exactly what the challenging job of management was targeted around.

“Our job is to strategically position SA Post Office and use its distribution network, warehouses and retail infrastructure as a service platform to be leveraged for profitability, innovation, service delivery and of course to enhance its universal social obligations,” she said.

At the same time, Sapo holds the vision of being the trusted exchange channel of service delivery in South Africa respected for relevance, reliability, reach and resilience.

So how will South African’s benefit from a new digital, efficiency, and people focussed strategy? The launch of the new online ecommerce

Vredefort Post Office

platform is one great example.

“Maybe you manufacture and sell curios to tourists in a remote village,” proposes Ntsikeni. “For the first time, you can now advertise your goods online, receive your orders through our system, and send them off for delivery from your local post office.”

Perhaps you require delivery of essential medication? “We deliver for the Department of Health to selected post offices. We plan to extend this service further, and we are planning to offer some exciting, and essential, services at our post office branches on behalf of Home Affairs.”

For South African drivers, Sapo has become an important tool. “The Post Office also sees itself as front office for government,” says Ntsikeni. “South Africans can already pay their car licence at selected post offices in seven out of the nine provinces. We will expand this success story even further – each financial year, more than three million motorists renew their car licences at a post office.”

Of course, efficient payment of SASSA will remain a priority. “Every month, more than 11 million South Africans

receive grant payments on time. Since the Post Office took over payment of SASSA grants, there was no month that beneficiaries were not paid. We wish to assure all South Africans that this social obligation will never change,” said Makhubele in March.

This new strategy, new structure, new focus and new optimism is propped up by two outstanding characteristics: more than 1500 branches all over South Africa, and an established reputation as part of society.

“As our network covers all of South Africa, there is sure to be a post office near you – an advantage we plan to use to the full,” says Ntsikeni.

Despite the issues that are sure to arise from the growing coronavirus pandemic, Sapo is there to serve the needs of South Africa and will continue to do so in a faster, better and more sustainable manner.

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