Enterprise Africa July 2021

AFRICA

THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE FOR AFRICA’S INDUSTRY LEADERS

July 2021

www.enterprise-africa.net

US$350 Million Titanium Project Paints Perfect Picture in KZN Exclusive interview with Nyanza Light Metals CEO Donovan Chimhandamba

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:

Aranda / Defy Appliances / Sybrin / Portland Group

Let's connect the dots

We do

ideation strategy execution brand strategy brand activations the hard work research & insights emerging market strategy influencer marketing experiential solutions digital experiences virtual events

JAWBONE.CO.ZA

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 James Davey  jamesd@enterprise-africa.co.za PROJECT MANAGER Chris Wright  chrisw@enterprise-africa.co.za PROJECT MANAGER Ekwa Bikaka  ekwa@enterprise-africa.co.za PROJECT MANAGER Christina Allcock  christina@enterprise-africa.co.za PROJECT MANAGER Eleanor Sarbutt-King  eleanor@enterprise-africa.co.za SENIOR DESIGNER Liam Woodbine  liam@enterprise-africa.co.za CONTRIBUTOR CONTRIBUTOR CONTRIBUTOR CONTRIBUTOR CONTRIBUTOR CONTRIBUTOR CONTRIBUTOR

Manelesi Dumasi Karl Pietersen David Napier Timothy Reeder Colin Chinery Benjamin Southwold William Denstone

Published by Chris Bolderstone – General Manager E. chris@cmb-media.co.uk Fuel Studios, Kiln House, Pottergate, Norwich NR2 1DX +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 2021

The third wave has pushed most back into the working from home environment. The Covid crisis is here to stay. It’s a predicament but one which presents opportunities - this is the message from entrepreneurs, forward thinkers, and breeders of success.

“You can’t let a crisis go to waste,” one industry leader tells us.

“Significant growth is only found through adversity,” says another.

Perhaps now is a time that will be looked back on for innovation, originality and ingenuity in business – surely some positivity has to shine through?

For Donovan Chimhandamba, CEO of Nyanza Light Metals, 2020 and 2021 will be looked back on fondly as the time when his exciting titanium dioxide manufacturing plant began growing out of the ground at the Richards Bay IDZ. At Fisher Dugmore Financial, 2021 will be remembered as the year the company launched its own branded unit trust products, quite the achievement for a year of turmoil in markets.

Portland Group, in the Western Cape, opened a new ready-mix plant as well as a quarry in Worcester. Even when all workers were sent home, this brave business was busy investing in a fleet of new cement mixing trucks.

Steve Easton of Sanji Electronics tells us that this has been a ‘fantastic’ period for the business, with new contracts signed with major international auto brands.

Proudly South African brand Aranda is searching for export opportunities that will see its famous products sold in Europe and North America (yes, they make the blankets used in the Black Panther movie).

These companies are doing no more than searching out opportunities and making the most of them. If you’re not willing to do that, and happy to just tick over, then perhaps time is up.

Tell us how your business is changing, and the opportunities you’ve found. We’re online, as always, through LinkedIn.

Joe Forshaw EDITOR

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

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6/JAWBONE Riding the Waves Towards a New, Digital Future 14/NYANZA LIGHT METALS US$350 Million Titanium Project Paints Perfect Picture in KZN 24/DEFY APPLIANCES Defy Appliances Cooks Up New Plan for Sub-Saharan Africa Expansion 34/ASSURECLOUD – SPONSORED AssureCloud: Because Life is Precious 36/ARANDA A Celebration of African Manufacturing 42/JOHN DEERE SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA Taking on New Territories 48/PORTLAND GROUP Portland Remains Rock Solid amid Industry Trials 54/SYBRIN Digitally Transform your Business for Tomorrow 62/SANJI ELECTRONICS Intelligently Out-thinking SA’s Vehicle Villains

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CONTENTS

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68/FLSMIDTH Cleaner, Greener Building Blocks of Life 74/RAUBEX A Record-Breaking Resurgence for Raubex 80/LEMCO Turnkey Structural Steel Diversification 86/SQUARE KILOMETRE ARRAY (SKA) Extra-terrestrial Questions Require Extraordinary Machines 90/WE ARE EGG Hatching a New Reality for Local Retail 94/CHAS EVERITT Ahead of the Curve and Thriving 100/FISHER DUGMORE FINANCIAL Providing the Roadmap to Destination Wealth 106/AVIS SOUTH AFRICA SA’s First Integrated Mobility Solution From Avis 116/NAMCOR Fuelling Movement and Progress for Namibia 120/THE BEVERAGE COMPANY Essential Refreshments Keep BevCo Sparkling www.enterprise-africa.net / 5

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FOCUS ON: JAWBONE

RIDING THE WAVES TOWARDS A NEW,

DIGITAL FUTURE WHERE SOME OF THE LARGE MARKETING AGENCIES HAVE BEEN WIPED OUT OR RAGDOLLED

BY THE SMASHING WAVE THAT IS THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC, EXPERT BRAND ACTIVATION BUSINESS JAWBONE HAS ADJUSTED STRATEGY AND IS STANDING STRONG, LOOKING TO THE FUTURE. CEO SVEN REINERTSEN TELLS ENTERPRISE AFRICA ABOUT A ROLLER COASTER YEAR.

The cut off your nose to spite your face scenario plays out in marketing departments all too often.

Times are tough and marketing is quickly chopped. The one part of business strategy that is outwardly focussed on bringing in and maintaining business – driving revenue and building strength – is always the first to be cut.

According to Harvard Business Review, this process is ‘today’s equivalent of bleeding – an old-fashioned but once widespread treatment that actually reduces the patient’s ability to fight disease’.

Unfortunately, marketing is usually slashed because it is effortless – easier than redundancies or downscaling premises.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, many of the large agencies around the world have reported major stress on marketing and advertising budgets, with big-brand budgets under pressure, and knowledge around the future guesswork at best.

But research strongly suggests companies that maintain, or increase, marketing activity during recessionary periods are the those that bounce back strongly.

I HAD TO TASK SOME RISKS, MAKE SOME BOLD CALLS

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In South Africa, the industry has suffered a major downturn in spending. Industry resource MarkLives.com conducted a survey finding 84% of respondents in agreeance that the pandemic is an incredibly serious problem. Almost half of those surveyed believed the pandemic’s impact would last longer than six months, 68% predicted a decrease in spend on events, promotions or activations, while 46% predicted decreased spend on out-of-home (OOH) advertising; 36% predicted declines in print spend and 25% saw decreases on sponsorships. Importantly, almost 70% of the industry reported that their company income would decrease substantially or slightly as a result.

ROGUE WAVE Sven Reinertsen CEO of Jawbone lives by the coast in KZN, and his business has felt the crashing power of the pandemic, like a wave of negativity washing over a very successful business. As one of South Africa’s leading brand activation and experiential marketing companies, Jawbone’s clients were impacted in a major way. As expected, marketing budgets were torn up and the gathering of people was outlawed - the race was on to re-strategize to stay afloat.

“I use the rugby analogy; it’s the Springboks against the All Blacks,” he begins. “We were 45-3 down at half-time and the odds of making the comeback were very slim.

But we had to stay in the game. Get to extra time, score

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points, don’t concede. We had to take some risks, make some bold calls and change our strategy to make positive steps forward, with a focus on attack instead of defence.

Right now, we’re not winning, but we are creating space and opportunities that are changing the game. It’s more like 49-43 and we are still in the game with the clock still ticking. We are one converted try away from taking the lead, and as a winning team we know how to stay ahead and close out a game.”

When South Africa deployed one of the world’s strictest lockdowns in March 2020, the type of event utilised by Jawbone to advertise its’ client’s offerings were immediately halted. Even large-name businesses were ruthless in the way they cancelled events.

One of the country’s largest retailers contracted Jawbone to deliver a stand-out year-end function. With glitz, glam and celebration on the brief, Jawbone planned an energizing gig with a large stage to be claimed by a high-profile rock band.

Just one week before the event, Reinertsen received a Covidforced cancellation call as the retailer prioritised the safety of its employees.

At this point, many in the industry were starting to see a similar pattern.

“The second wave was incoming,” remembers Reinertsen.

“Where a lot of the industry thought that December would realise an uptick, things were still being cancelled, suppliers

FOCUS ON: JAWBONE

were committed to big events, and people were losing money as things got worse. It was a hammer blow for the industry in South Africa.

“We were forced to shift and downsize. I think it’s for the better as Jawbone will be stronger down the line. We have a pipeline and we have clients that we are speaking to. I am now talking to people about how we have changed to be more relevant and we are discussing our growth and survival strategy as one.”

To future proof the business, Jawbone is moving further into the digital arena – a space where it has experience but has never fixated.

Unfortunately, with just over one million people receiving their vaccination in South Africa, the country remains in deep water, recoding more than 5000 new cases of Covid-19 every day consistently in the first half June. Many now fear a climb back up the Alert Level lockdown scale.

“There is still the third wave that most are worried about.

I wish we had a crystal ball,” admits Reinertsen. “It looks like some things may happen but for most events, it doesn’t look good. When things turn back on, we will be able to sell Jawbone’s historic services. We have not completely pivoted, but we need to be relevant. We have to be able to service people’s needs on other platforms and in other ways. There will be a space for experiential marketing down the line but it will be more technology based.”

UNION BLACK At the start of the pandemic, as the impact on events and experiential gatherings became clear, Jawbone transitioned quickly, demonstrating the beauty of a small business decision making speed.

Reinertsen ‘cut fast and deep’ and chose a lean strategy.

Establishing Union Black as a full-service digital marketing agency, with a user-centric and data-influenced approach.

The new entity quickly went about delivering a portfolio of measurable services as a standalone agency while working in partnership with Jawbone, to drive results for brands.

“I realised that Jawbone’s future would be heavily reliant on a digital offering and we needed to merge the online and the offline. Activations and experiences are no longer going to be just physical alone; there will be a digital element to it.

So, it was either outsource and lose control and the ability to execute at a high level and high speed, or set up a digital agency. Union Black is a one-year-old business bursting with creativity and digital solutions, with its own clients, working closely with Jawbone,” explains Reinertsen.

In 2020, Union Black and Jawbone launched the Chinese cell phone brand, TECNO SPAR 5, in South Africa. Part of TRANSSION Holdings (world’s fourth largest cell phone group), TECNO and iTel are making waves in the mid to lower tier smart phone industry in developing markets and, as a result, there are more TRANSSION devices in Africa than any other brand.

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“They have done very well globally,” says Reinertsen. “It was a game changing client. We managed to launch one of their devices last year and we have another three secured for this year, with exciting growth prospects for the future.

“It has helped us play with a global brand, and it has helped us transition into that digital space which includes work with influencers, as well as a range of other digital methods. It’s strategy all the way through to execution.”

This blend of physical services through Jawbone and digital offerings from Union Black have helped both companies to pick up new business, making the most of existing relationships, while others waited to see if and how the tender market would return.

Jawbone and Union Black have collaborated on a research piece for Chester Butcheries, conducting an online audit, physical instore questionnaires as well as geotracking to analyse the movement of people and vehicles.

“As a result of transforming data into insights and validating the various layers of data, we have found a range of solutions that can be implemented tomorrow to high-level brand strategy,” says Reinertsen Jawbone is still active in the shop fitting space, working with a large retail chain, by designing and installing instore concepts for cell phones and new concepts to accelerate the launch of new devices. By adding Union Black to the mix, the 360-service portfolio is complete.

“Cell phones continue to take off in South Africa where there are more cell phones that working toilets – smartphones are the future here. I have been working in this industry for the last 14 years and some of the brands we are launching are now moving into those stores. We are also looking at self-help style kiosks in stores as the future of retail needs to become more digital as humans are replaced by technology in a natural progression,” details Reinertsen.

“A big part of it is research,” he adds. “We’ve realised that a lot of people will claim to do things but they don’t truly understand what they are doing. We have a fulltime researcher at Union Black who has a lot of tools and technology to pull data and intelligence which helps build a profile and design the user experience. At Jawbone previously, we were selling the services that we could deliver.

Now, I am going to clients and asking what their needs are and what problems we can solve for them. We can either deliver ourselves or we will collaborate with our rockstar partners and project manage.”

This allows for the retention of a certain level of control over a project, and a direct communication line with the client. In the past, the outsourcing method employed by the big agencies has left different arms of the project feeling unconnected to the body, and ultimately the vision of the brand.

“We had a seat at the table but we were often told what to do,” remembers Reinertsen. “Now, we realise that we must

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FOCUS ON: JAWBONE

be at the table from the start and have a voice strategically so we understand what the brand is trying to achieve.

“The lockdown has forced our hand. I realised if you’re not playing at the strategic level, you’re not really in the game. We would have to wait for someone else to win the work and wait for them to outsource the work to us. We are now involved from the start and we can do things better and more cost-effectively than most.”

IT WAS A GAME CHANGING CLIENT. WE MANAGED TO LAUNCH ONE OF THEIR DEVICES LAST YEAR AND WE HAVE ANOTHER TWO SECURED FOR THIS YEAR

IF YOU’RE NOT DIGITAL AND YOU CAN’T QUANTIFY WHERE EVERY SINGLE CENT IS SPENT, THEN YOU DON’T REALLY HAVE A PLACE IN THE MARKET

CHANGING TIDE Combine consistently unpredictable economic performance in South Africa pre-Covid, with the lockdowns and delays during the pandemic, and you find a very different market in the post-Covid era. Where every Rand was under the microscope before, every Cent is now forensically examined, with return on investment (ROI) being the singular demand.

“The industry has been shifting for a while,” admits Reinertsen. “We were claiming to be able to measure better than others but it was still hard to measure the physical return accurately. With digital, you know exactly who your consumer is and how they fit into your target market.

That is where the game has changed with influencers and targeted social media. It was a natural progression from the activations space – there was always going to have to be a digital element to it because of its effectiveness, measurability and cost.

“If you’re not digital and you can’t quantify where every single Cent is spent, then you don’t really have a place in the market because everyone needs bang for their buck and everyone is under pressure. There will always still be a place for physical activations but at this stage we can’t plan for an industry that comes with new rules that we don’t know enough about.”

The comprehensive experience across all market sectors was demonstrated recently in Johannesburg when Jawbone and Union Black masterminded the FNB Jo’burg Art Fair. Typically an event attended in big numbers by members of the global art community – an opportunity to view and buy unique African pieces – Covid denied the 2020 crowds the opportunity. Union Black stepped in and moved the entire event online, much to the delight of FNB and buyers and sellers involved.

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I REALISED THAT JAWBONE’S FUTURE WOULD BE HEAVILY RELIANT ON A DIGITAL OFFERING AND WE NEEDED TO MERGE THE ONLINE AND THE OFFLINE “They had confirmation of an art fair that couldn’t take place so we had to build the strategy and build the platform.

We were quoting against other people and we offered better service and a better solution. It was the biggest Teams call I’ve ever been on in my life,” Reinertsen smiles. “They wanted to make sure everything was covered and we wanted to impress them. We hope to do the same again this year. “We uploaded all the art and we had interaction from 71 countries

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around the world. We are connecting African art with the world. We had buyers from the US who could see the art on their mobile device or computer, and we also had a virtual function where you could place the art on the wall in your room to see what it would look like. It was a success as we were able to connect people that would previously have never connected with one another.

“Often, as a small agency, you need someone to give you a chance. It paid off for them and having FNB as a client is a pretty good thing for us,” he adds.

ROUNDHOUSE CUTBACK While Jawbone has navigated its way through the Covid crisis and the reductions in marketing spend, the company has also been reeling after its separation from the Iconic Collective. Back in March 2020, Reinertsen told Enterprise Africa about merging his company into the Iconic Collective – a new type of agency, made up of eight of the country’s best creative businesses.

FOCUS ON: JAWBONE

After only a short time working together, as a combination of various culture clashes as well as the shock to the market from Covid-19, Jawbone and the Iconic Collective parted ways.

“It was essentially eight businesses thrown together.

There was definitely a need for a new style of agency as the old model was and is broken. You get charged too much and you often do not get what you’ve paid for. The thought behind it and the strategy was good. There were synergies and fantastic ideas, but it perhaps happened faster than it should of. I couldn’t risk my future and the future of the business so I left on amicable terms with the plans to continue working together. Then lockdown hit.”

Officially becoming part of the group on 5 December 2019, the relationship was short-lived. Sven Reinertsen moved Jawbone out of the Sandton office and reduced numbers in the company while moving to a project management model and establishing Union Black.

“There was a lot of work lined up, but the lockdowns around the world caused many contracts to be pulled. I was in Dubai with the group in January and we were already seeing projects delayed or cancelled,” he says.

“The journey did not end – and I thought it might – but the plot thickens. It’s looking better than it was 12-months ago, put it that way.

Now working out of KZN, Reinertsen’s commitment to Jawbone sees the company maintaining its country-wide operating status, with a strong future lined up. His own schedule has changed, no longer flying into Johannesburg several times each week, allowing for closer links with external partners. This new project management focus has allowed for a continuation of the high-quality on which the Jawbone brand is built.

“A lot of agencies with massive overheads have either closed down, downsized, or sold out. A lot of what they were doing was outsourced anyway. We are project management and execution specialists and we can still roll out globally. Today, my team was installing two cell phone units, and another four tomorrow. I am in KZN, the units are manufactured in Johannesburg, and the installation is around the country. That outsourced model is something that we are used to and we have been doing it for the last two years.

“We had to go lean, but we have a pipeline for six months which is better than most in the industry,” he says.

Post-Covid, brands are still developing ideas. Local and international companies are still looking to break into the South African market, be it for the first time, or with a new product. Now, Jawbone competes digitally, with brand activations, experiential marketing, and in events. As others have fallen away, victims of the ‘too big to shift’ scenario, opportunities remain for those that truly understand clients needs.

“I am optimistic,” smiles Reinertsen. “Those that can stay alive for the next six months, when things do turn back on, there will be a definite need for their services. We have made it this far and making it over the past 12 months has been the make or break, and there’s not too many people left standing. I’ve had my doubts, and I had people close to me telling me to throw in the towel. Had I listened to them, I’d be in a world of pain.”

Much like Durban’s surfers, Jawbone is comfortable in calm waters as well as in the big swells. 2020 certainly felt more like a thunderstorm and while some found themselves caught crumbling in the rip tide, Reinertsen, Jawbone and Union Black have grasped the opportunities and are now riding the waves. This is a business with more than a decade of experience working alongside world-renowned brands and a new chapter is just beginning.

visit www.jawbone.co.za

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NYANZA LIGHT METALS

US$350 Million Titanium Project

Paints Perfect Picture in KZN PRODUCTION: Karl Pietersen

At the Richards Bay Industrial Development Zone, a major development is slowly growing out of the ground. A brand new, US$350 million, state-of-the-art titanium dioxide pigment manufacturing facility will create new jobs alongside export opportunities for South Africa.

To date, the Nyanza story is one of success. CEO Donovan Chimhandamba tells Enterprise Africa more about this ambitious and innovative idea.

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INDUSTRY FOCUS: MANUFACTURING

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A strong, enduring, and admired titanium beneficiation business is emerging from the ground in KwaZulu-Natal at the Richards Bay Industrial Development Zone (RBIDZ). The product of a decade of hard work, detailed planning, research and development, and continued positive thinking, breaking ground on this important project is a considerable milestone for the titanium mineral beneficiation industry and for the wider titanium value addition and manufacturing space in South Africa.

Across the country, conventional ilmenite ores, rutile slags and waste titanium slags are commonplace.

Waste slags, often viewed as necessary by-products from steel making processes, are often overlooked as an opportunity. But, these seemingly useless waste products can be put to good use, specifically in the making of titanium dioxide (TiO₂) pigments – the key ingredient in manufacturing of industrial coatings, paints, plastics, cosmetics, inks, dyes and a whole range of other products.

// LET’S SAY ONE OF THE BIG AUTOMAKERS HAS A NEW MODEL COMING OUT; THEY WANT A NEW PAINT THAT SHINES IN A CERTAIN WAY. THAT ALL STARTS WITH US AND IS DOWN TO A PARTICULAR PHYSICAL PROPERTY THAT IS IMPARTED

BY OUR TITANIUM PIGMENT // 16 / www.enterprise-africa.net

However, the process is far from easy, and to create high value and useful titanium products, a dedicated chemical and mineral processing facility is required to process the conventional ilmenite ores, rutile slags and waste titanium slags. This is the vision of Nyanza Light Metals.

Nyanza – a Shona (Zimbabwean) and Swahili word referring to a body of water like the sea, ocean, lake or a river – has been used as the name of the business to signify the major opportunities that come in the industry. Donovan Chimhandamba, Nyanza’s Chief Executive Officer, tells Enterprise Africa that the company is underway with the first phase of its construction program that will see a semi-production plant, engineering workshops, offices and advanced laboratory being built, all housed under what is called a Technical Services Centre and commissioned in the last quarter of 2021. The Technical Services Center will primarily be used to develop Nyanza’s products and brands jointly with the customers development center. In the second half of 2022, Nyanza will begin the second phase of its construction program which will see the full-scale manufacturing plant, capable of producing 80,000 tons of TiO₂ pigment annually built.

“We have gone through 10 years of feasibility studies,” he smiles. “We started this project from scratch in April 2011 and those studies were there to sift through the various options we could consider to get into the titanium related businesses, considering how minerally endowed with titanium mineral resources South Africa is.”

Titanium dioxide is one of the most common elements present in the earth’s crust. Found in beach sands, titanium and titanium economic minerals are heavily mined in South Africa – the world’s second largest producer of the mineral behind only Australia. Combined, the two countries produce more than 50% of titanium mineral concentrates globally.

// WE ARE MOVING AWAY FROM THE THEORETICAL AND CONCEPT DESIGNS AND INTO THE VERY FINE DETAILS FOR EXACT PRODUCTS // 10 YEARS IN THE MAKING Initially, Nyanza cultivated a partnership with Evraz Highveld Steel, formerly owned by Roman Abramovich. Waste slag from the company contained 28% titanium.

From here, Nyanza expanded its scope to look at titanium resources from other mines in South Africa, including Rio Tinto’s Richards Bay Minerals and various ilmenite mines along the KZN coast.

“At the end of the pre-feasibility study, we realised we can build a mineral processing company focussed on titanium dioxide beneficiation, producing titanium dioxide pigment.

There are also some by-products that are widely used in the chemicals industry that we will produce such aluminium sulphate, iron sulphate and gypsum,” says Chimhandamba.

This realisation was key for the company’s management team.

Previously funding the business as a concept, the confirmation that the raw material was available at scale solidified confidence.

“When we started the company, it was Arkein Capital Partners (Arkein), a private equity fund management company we owned initially with Anglo American’s Sishen Iron Ore Community Development Trust.

We were using whatever fees we were making in that business to fund the feasibility studies,” recalls Chimhandamba. “We partnered with Evraz Highveld Steel and Vanadium, and they owned the resource that we

. . .

Grinaker-LTA | T: +27 11 923 5000 | SOUTH AFRICA

INDUSTRY FOCUS: MANUFACTURING

were targeting for use in the project.

They took 20% in the company and then seeded the resource. In 2015, Evraz went into business rescue and that added to our timeline as we lost almost two years dealing with the business rescue process around the legalities of retaining the raw material in our project while they were trying to dispose of assets to the market and pay off creditors. We eventually came to a settlement and we bought some of the material and their 20% shareholding in Nyanza.

“Subsequent to the Evraz shares buyback, another private equity management company called DBF Capital Partners owned by the founders of BancABC which was later bought by Bob Diamond’s Atlas Mara.

When they sold BancABC, it held assets valued at well over US$1.8 billion. DBF started with 20% and have increased shareholding to 32% of the project while the balance of 68% is still owned by the founders through Arkein. DBF and Arkein are currently the only two shareholders.”

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GROUNDED IN PARTNERSHIP In May 2021, Chimhandamba spoke at the event launching construction of the first phase of the Nyanza Light Metals project. He lauded the shareholders and the regional and national government officials in attendance for supporting the ambitious Nyanza vision, highlighting the opportunity for Africa to become a net exporter of value-added products as opposed to exporting the basic raw materials.

“Phase One of Nyanza’s construction program is well underway, with Grinaker–LTA as the principal contractor, and expected to be complete by the last quarter of 2021. What we are now focused on is making sure Phase-Two happens within the timelines and with the quality of execution we have planned for. We are now around 60% complete with the detailed engineering and associated feasibilities for this Phase Two construction program and expect to start construction in the second quarter of 2022.” Chimhandamba says.

“I think we did a very smart thing by

strategically starting with the customer and product development centre as that will give us an edge to be closer to our customers and raw material suppliers at an earlier stage, and allow all our supply chain counterparties to grow their volumes and quality traded with us in a manageable way while we construct the rest of the chemical complex. We are also proud that we are partnering with leading service providers such as Intertek

// THE PLAYERS ARE AT THE TABLE AND AS WE COMPLETE THE WORK AND TICK OFF REQUIREMENTS ON THE GROUND, WE ARE GETTING TO A POINT WHERE WE CAN ACHIEVE FINANCIAL CLOSE //

NYANZA LIGHT METALS

Group, a FTSE 100 company listed on the London Stock Exchange and one of the world’s leading quality control companies that will manage all our laboratories, quality control and quality assurance,” Chimhandamba adds.

Identifying and acquiring customers in this market is not straightforward. Existing supply chains have been in place for many years and both quality and price are wellunderstood. This is the reason behind installing the Technical Services Centre first; so that potential clients can come and see the processes, test the material, and influence any quality parameter that they might need considering that paints and coatings of the future might have different quality and performance parameters in the future.

“We are around halfway through construction of the first phase,” confirms Chimhandamba. “The building should be complete by November 2021 and then we have another three months to install and commission the equipment which is in containers across South Africa. From

there, we will start production-runs out of the Technical Services Centre and that will be ongoing for the life of the company as we develop new products and customers. For example, if a car manufacturer wishes to launch a new car with a unique paint colour, Nyanza’s Technical Services Centre becomes instrumental in developing the new paint formulation that will deliver the colour properties that the new car maker wishes to deliver. This is the same in building paints and other industrial coatings formulations.”

The advantages of being located in the RBIDZ are very impressive. In Richards Bay, home to the Transnet-run Richards Bay Port and Richards Bay Coal Terminal, the IDZ positions tenants perfectly to take advantage of rail connections and export opportunities.

Backed by Arkein Capital Partners and DBF Capital Partners, the project is also being funded and supported through incentives from the South African government through the Department of Trade Industry and Competition as well as several other

government stakeholders. A job creator in both the short and long term, and a demonstrator of vision becoming reality, the ongoing and long-lasting Nyanza project is important for the country. Nyanza will open up South Africa to the possibilities of manufacturing other downstream but high value derivative titanium products such as titanium carbide and titanium nano powders.

“In 10-12 months, we will be complete with the detailed engineering work we are doing for Phase Two. After that, we should be in a position to go to market with tenders seeking for engineering and construction companies to supply various equipment and services. The construction period for phase two will likely be 24-30 months. For the next two and a half years, the RBIDZ Nyanza site will be a massive construction site as we build the only titanium mineral beneficiation and chemical complex in Africa,” Chimhandamba confirms.

Continues on page 22

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PERFORMANCE MINING REAGENTS Frusina is a supplier of speciality and commodity mining and mineral processing chemicals. These chemicals are backed by a highly experienced team of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineers who fully assist our customers in the optimal use of the products we supply.

www.frusinaholdings.com

FLOTATION REAGENTS The Frusina range includes flotation aids for non-sulfidic minerals as well as frothers and modifiers for numerous flotation application. Beyond the standard portfolio, the Frusina team develops tailor made collector and/or frother solutions in collaboration with customers and supports test works in laboratories, pilot plants and industrial operations.

Collectors Xanthates | Dithiophospates | Thionocarbamates Formates/Esters | Frothers | Depressants, Dispersants and Activators

FLOCCULANTS AND FILTER AIDS Frusina supplies a wide range of flocculants and coagulants to the mining and water treatment industries.

Polyacrylamides | Coagulants (monomer DADMAC, poly DADMAC) Dispesants ( homopolymer & copolymers) | Binding agents

MISCELLANEOUS CHEMICALS Ammonium chloride | Caustic soda flake and lye | Cobalt sulphate | Sodium Cyanide Hydrochloric acids | Sulphuric acids | Silver nitrate | Copper sulphate | Lead nitrate Sodium Hydrogen Sulphate | Ferric Sulphates | Tetrabromoethate | SMBS | Elemental Sulphur MgO | Ferrous Sulphate | NaHS | XS,IX resins | Smoothing agents

GRINDING MEDIA Frusina can supply a wide range of both cast and forged steel balls of all sizes for the communition plants in the mining industry. The General size range is 30mm-100mm diameter.

LABORATORY EQUIPMENT Frusina can supply all metallurgical laboratory equipment including; Laboratory size flotation machines | Laboratory rod and ball mills Crushers | Pulverizers | Pressure filters | Driers

MINE SUPPORT Steel cable safety nets | Nylon safety nets | Mining equipment | Rebar steel | Mild steel nuts Steel energy management systems | Resin anchored rock bolts | Shepherd’s crooks | Tendon straps Mechanical anchors | Mechanical shell end anchored bolts | MineCrete S3 | Pillar wrapping

SALES, SERVICE, LOGISTICS Whatever the customer’s needs are and through our wide network and highly experienced technical, research and development team we can satisfy their needs. Additionally, via our vendor management service program reagent plant engineering and localinventory stores we can establish ourselves as a full-service provider of reagents.

• • • • • • • • • • • • •

Address existing technical problems with customized, optimized blends, unique flowsheets/simulation tools Provide high level of technical support and routine testing analysis Monitoring inventories Efficient delivery services On and of-site warehousing Reagent dosing equipment engineering/maintenance On site reagent preparation Contracted chemical handling and management and workforce Performance testing and reporting Regent suite development and improvement Quarterly cost/price control and governance Electronic single invoice billing SHEQ training of customer staff on a need basis

www.frusinaholdings.com

INDUSTRY FOCUS: MANUFACTURING

Continued from page 19

FINANCIALLY STRONG On completion, the Nyanza Light Metals titanium dioxide pigment manufacturing facility will represent a US$350 million investment of confidence into South Africa. But, as always, investors are looking for more than a vote of confidence. Chimhandamba and the team of Directors and executive management (William Mathamela, Beki Moyo, Francis Dzanya, Doug Munatsi, Rob Mhishi and Ian Cameron) have displayed exceptional relationship building and project financing skills, and have been beacons for FDI into South Africa, already attracting vast institutional inflows to support the project.

“As we get towards the end of the first phase, we are starting to attract multilateral finance institutions. We have just onboarded Afreximbank, the Cairo-based institution which has availed US$2 million towards completion of the next 10-months of work,” says Chimhandamba.

“Importantly, we have also signed on Afreximbank as the Mandated Lead Arranger and coordinating bank to arrange the US$350 million to fund the

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project and Afreximbank has issued a term sheet for this with a minimum holding position of up to US$100 million, syndicating the balance with other global Investment and South African finance institutions.

“We are also busy speaking to other multilateral finance institutions on from the continent. The players are at the table and as we complete the work and tick off requirements on the ground, we are getting to a point where we can achieve financial close for the second phase construction program. It is now shorter to swim to the finish line than to turn back from where we came,” he adds.

Support from the government has been strong. At the launch event in May, the temporary structure use to house attendees was packed with regional, provincial and state officials.

Chimhandamba spoke of his excitement to continue working alongside the various departments as his dream comes to fruition. Financially, support issued by government has been transformational.

The South African government through the Department of Trade Industry and Competition has demonstrated its seriousness towards supporting mineral beneficiation projects and Nyanza is taking the lead in showcasing this strategic intent.

“In terms of funding, we got a lot of support because we are locating the project in a Special Economic Zone – Richards Bay Industrial Development Zone. When you locate here, the government helps with incentives such as contributions to feasibility studies, income tax benefits, and accelerated depreciation of assets.

We have significant support from the South African government through the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition, where they have physically provided capital and incentives.”

Ravi Pillay - MEC for The Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs stated his excitement about the project. “More than 1200 jobs are to be created during construction and more than 550

NYANZA LIGHT METALS

permanent jobs during operation. In terms of raw materials, the plant will use 320,000 tpa of sulphuric acid, 36,000 tpa of ammonium sulphate, 380,000 tpa of lime and 250,000 tpa of feed material.

Most of the raw material would require railway infrastructure closer to the site and sulphuric acid supplied. 60% of the final annual capacity will be exported to African and international markets.

“In terms of sectors of our economy - manufacturing, agro-processing, oceans economy, oil and gas, transport and logistics and several other identified sectors remain a major focus of RIBDZ. These sectors have not only proven to be relatively labour-absorbent, but also have the potential to be expanded to strategically position KwaZulu-Natal as a lead investment destination and hence contribute to achieving the vision of KZN becoming a trade gateway to Africa and the world.”

The project has already agreed tax incentives of R900 million in non-taxable revenue and R10 million in training allowances, and estimates suggest that exporting the value-added product will bring in more than $90 million annually.

FINAL STEPS Like most projects with a construction element, Covid-19 has been a factor to navigate for Donovan Chimhandamba and team. A delay more than a dead end is how the CEO views the issue, citing only lost time as the real impediment.

“We were not as badly effected as others as we are not yet in operation and we don’t have the major overheads to pay while there is no business,” he admits.

“We lost almost a year on the Technical Services Centre construction program as we were under hard lockdown and we couldn’t go out to the market on time to find and appoint the principal construction contractor. However, we used the time wisely to focus on our bankable feasibility studies with guys working from home and with that we are happy to have improved on our implementation strategy.

“Nyanza has been 10 years in the

making. We started it in April 2011 with Roman Abramovich’s Evraz Highveld Steel and Vanadium as an idea ‘at the back of a match box,’ driven by our ambitious and youthful raw imaginations and desires to be leading Africa’s industrialisation. Built from a mere concept, through feasibility studies, to construction, we have now entered another exciting phase of our journey as we convert our ideas and vision into brick and mortar.

“Our legacy is to usher in a 21st century mineral beneficiation and chemicals manufacturing company that will outlive generations to come,” he adds. “We are building a company that combines modern manufacturing technologies, innovative investment banking instruments, 4IR, use of sustainable resources for water and energy, higher ESG capital allocation

to support our climate goals and most importantly integrating the communities we operate in into our value chain.

“The men and women behind these efforts at Nyanza simply can’t hide the excitement and as part of the team, I can confirm the energy and excitement at this moment considering how Covid-19 has impacted our lives.

“Nyanza, an ocean of possibilities, represents an opportunity for South Africa to demonstrate that we as Africans can transform the continent from just being an exporter of low-value primary raw materials to becoming an exporter of value-added products,” Chimhandamba concludes.

WWW.NYANZAMETALS.COM

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DEFY APPLIANCES

Defy Appliances Cooks Up New Plan

for Sub-Saharan Africa Expansion PRODUCTION: Manelesi Dumasi

Driving a new brand purpose, underpinned by vital strategic pillars, Defy Appliances is proactively looking to drive market share across sub-Saharan Africa. CEO Evren Albaş is keen to transform the business by implementing a collaborative approach across the entire value chain.

//

Long before Covid and before today’s economic turmoil had become part of the daily discussion in South Africa, one of the country’s leading manufacturing businesses was busy planning its continental expansion. Defy Appliances, part of the Arçelik Group, has been active in South Africa for more than a century. As one of the well-known house brands in South Africa, with the strong product and technology support from Arçelik, Defy believes that it can

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be a part of the rising middle-class economy in other African countries and improve daily lives of a wide-range of consumers across the continent.

In 2017, Evren Albaş was named as the company’s new CEO. Evren who has started his career in Arçelik Group as a young mechanical engineer 27 years ago, brought an appetite to accelerate Defy’s expansion into Africa and transform this century old brand into a regional powerhouse in the appliance industry.

Arçelik owns 12 brands across consumer durables and electronics, and operates in 146 countries around the world. Apart from Defy in South Africa, another notable brand is Beko – recognised as a market leader in the UK and known as a global sponsorship partner of Barcelona FC. Defy & Beko brands are widely used in Africa to leverage penetration into certain markets and product segments with different strategies at a country level.

Defy Danskraal Warehouse

INDUSTRY FOCUS: MANUFACTURING

SUB-SAHARAN GROWTH “From the beginning of 2018, Defy started to operate as the regional headquarters of the Arçelik global export business in sub-Saharan Africa,” Albaş tells Enterprise Africa. “We are managing our business in South Africa as well as the other 34 markets in sub-Saharan Africa. From Nigeria and Ghana in the west, Ethiopia and Sudan in the east, and all the way down to the DRC, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Angola, Namibia, Botswana – these are all within our territory.”

The group has placed a major emphasis on the continent and is keen to gain a position among the industry front runners in all major markets, with a particular focus on major African economies. Where the Defy brand is not as strong as the Beko brand, the company will utilise all resources at its disposal to ensure market penetration.

“Continental expansion is very important for us,” admits Albaş. “To get Defy and Beko among the top three brands in the big African markets such as Kenya and Nigeria is a big target for us. We are doing everything to ensure we achieve this target including product strategy, strategic relationships, and good marketing.”

Currently, 80% of the product range sold into Africa – which includes washing machines, refrigerators, ovens, hobs, dishwashers, freezers and cooker hoods – is manufactured in South Africa at plants in Jacobs and Ezakheni. The balance is shipped in from Arçelik manufacturing facilities around the world.

// TO GET DEFY AND BEKO AMONG THE TOP THREE BRANDS IN THE BIG AFRICAN MARKETS SUCH AS KENYA AND NIGERIA IS A BIG TARGET FOR US // 26 / www.enterprise-africa.net

“We are organically and inorganically well-connected to the markets in Africa. For example, in South Africa we have seven sales branches across the whole country and we have local and regional teams through dealer stores who manage the day-to-day relationships. We have this across Africa too. We have 34 dealers with at least one in every sub-Saharan country. We are about to invest into an assembly line in Angola, and opening our East-Africa sales subsidiary in Nairobi, and this local presence and local connection gives us an advantage in terms of supply chain management, accessibility, and managing relationships,” details Albaş.

Over the next decade, you can expect to see product development and innovation from both the Defy and Beko brands to ensure suitability for continental operation. Clearly, sub-Saharan Africa is a very important sector for Arçelik and Defy, with the group promoting the brand that best suits the markets needs, securing market leadership.

“Based on brand awareness, which is different in each country, we will go with Defy or Beko. Due to historical business connections, Defy is wellknown in southern African nations like Zambia, Botswana and Namibia. On the west and east, we mainly promote Beko brands,” confirms Albaş.

In May, Defy announced completion and opening of its new Danskraal warehouse in Ladysmith, KZN. The R170 million investment creates 130 new jobs across 100,000m3 of space.

More than 200 trucks can be processed each day, and the location - right by the rail link to the Port of Durban and close to the Defy manufacturing plant in Ezakheni - is perfect for Defy’s push into sub-Saharan Africa.

“With the commencement of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) as of January this year, the move to enhance our capabilities to service the African continent was prioritised, and with the opening our new warehouse and distribution centre,

// WE ARE INVESTING IN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE FOR OUR SUPPLY CHAIN AND DEMAND PLANNING – WE ARE STUDYING MACHINE LEARNING ALGORITHMS TO MODEL OUR PRODUCTION DEMAND AND SALES FORECASTING // this could not have positioned us on a better footing. We look to pioneer the landscape of the African continent with superior local products, under our Defy and Beko brands to ensure a sustainable growth for the future,” says Albas.

Danskraal has been designated as a logistics development zone and is perfectly positioned to provide an efficient outlet across all of South and Southern Africa. To date, Defy has invested R642 million in the economy of the region, signalling a long-term commitment to the area.

SOLAR HYBRID In February, Defy launched a groundbreaking new fridge freezer product which makes use of traditional electricity sources as well as solar energy when possible. The Solar Hybrid product switches between power sources based on the best available supply. The statistics speak for themselves: reduction in energy cost of up to 44%, food stays frozen for 49 hours even without power (load shedding), and the cost is less than R6000 – cheaper than most alternatives. This product has been designed with Africa in mind and will be an important strategic marker

DEFY APPLIANCES

Steel and Style make for a great partnership Appliances are not only about functionality, it’s the combination of great engineering and design. Our long-standing partnership with Defy, as a key supplier, is one such combination of beauty and brawn that has stood the test of time and helps fill our homes and businesses with reliable engineering.

SCAN ME

Scan the QR code to learn more about Macsteel coil processing. www.enterprise-africa.net / 27

INDUSTRY FOCUS: MANUFACTURING

going forward. Defy is a ‘Proudly South African’ company, committed to enhancing capabilities and opportunities in South Africa and this, according to Albaş, helps differentiate the company from the rest.

“We have a real understanding of consumer market needs,” he says.

“Africa is a different market and the buying attitude is different. Economic power in terms of scale compared to the world average is different.

You have to adapt according to the consumer needs in terms of product innovations, cost structure and total cost of ownership when offering a product to consumers. Our local understanding really separates us from others.

“Defy is a South African company,” he continues. “We were established in 1905 and last year was our 115-year anniversary. As a company coming from humble beginnings, starting out producing cast iron parts, we are now producing state-of-the-art home appliances. There has been a big transformation in a country like South Africa which has had many ups and downs due to political system changes and macro-economic

and social crisis. Surviving in such an environment and bringing the business to where it is today is a great transformational story which makes us resilient. We were here 115 years ago and we will be here for many years to come. This makes a big difference and gives great confidence to our business partners when it comes to the continuity of our business.”

The first-of-its-kind solar hybrid appliance was available through 78 stores around South Africa at the end of February. A simple installation process is managed, countrywide, by a trusted Defy partner and ensures longevity. By removing the need for costly inverters and batteries, this Solar Hybrid answers an oftenasked African question, of bringing the total cost of ownership down dramatically. Defy will also soon roll out development of larger fridges and freezers to work with the Solar Hybrid system.

Acting as a leading solutions provider for the markets in which it operates is a key part of Defy’s new strategic brand pillars which Albaş will be pushing hard through 2021 and beyond.

KZN Refractories cc was established in 2001. Our customer base covers various applications from Sugar plants, Glass plants, Paper mills, Petrochemical Plants and of course Defy Appliances.

We supply and install Ceramic Fibre and High Wear products that comply with both quality and safety standards and requirements set out by our clients and by the Government.

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28 / www.enterprise-africa.net

BRAND PILLARS By re-forging the company’s brand purpose, and looking at what the company stands for as a corporate citizen and as a global operation, Defy is bringing further global strategic alignment with its brand purpose to South Africa. At a group level, Arçelik aspires to the vision of ‘Respecting the World, Respected Worldwide’. Defy, through its own brand pillars, will drive this vision in sub-Saharan Africa.

“We are trying to roll out our new brand purpose and align that with our business strategies. We are excited to spell out this purpose: Pioneering our Future Together. It resonates very well in Africa which is a continent with obvious challenges but with a great and promising future,” he says.

“Internally, we have had workshops to make it crystal clear in terms of our core, what brings us in to the office and factory every day and what makes us work hard. We write this as our brand purpose and we strategize everything around that.”

The four pillars are: Pioneering Growth, Winning Together, My Defy, and Generational Custodians. For Albaş and Defy, these pillars encompass the entire Defy operation and provide a structural framework on how to move forward.

“First, Pioneering Growth. In order to do that we are continuously coming up with innovative products and tailor-making new technologies. We have launched the world’s first solar hybrid appliance – a clear requirement on a continent which is energy scarce and where cost of living is an important parameter.

“We are supporting this by investing in manufacturing efficiency and manufacturing quality. Right now, we have a lot of transformation projects in all of our factories. For example, our cooking factory in Jacobs, Durban is undergoing a big transformation where we are investing in a lot of new technologies. We are calling this project ‘Jacobs Reborn’. It is a fascinating name for us as this factory is 115 years old.

DEFY APPLIANCES

Our company established here and is still operational here, and investing in Jacobs Reborn is meaningful for us.

“In Midrand, Johannesburg, we opened a large consumer experience centre to demonstrate all of the new product innovations to consumers.

In Kenya, we are opening a big retail laboratory in Nairobi to bring a new retail understanding to how we sell the appliances.”

Defy also continues to invest in new businesses, including small domestic appliance and ecommerce offerings to generate more revenue for the company and for business partners, building a stronger industry.

Secondly - Winning Together. “This is a very important ambition for the entire company and we are trying to create a ‘one team’ understanding with our suppliers, workers, and dealers, and this is something we have become more aware of while we were under harsh lockdown,” admits Albaş. From 26 March 2020, South Africa entered its initial period of strict lockdown due to Covid19 – one of the world’s most severe. For many businesses, this time was fraught with worry and frustration, but Defy engaged its entire employee base and business partners, ensuring continued operations as one team, with one goal. Across sub-Saharan Africa, the company ensured that every member of staff was aware of their contribution.

“We were impacted but we managed to keep our operation up and running through this understanding,” says Albaş.

The third brand pillar is My Defy.

This involves making use of the Winning Together mentality as well as a family understanding at an operations level, to support each other and grow together.

“Our aim is to create a warm cosy feeling in the hearts and minds of our staff and our business partners when we talk about Defy,” Albaş adds. Transforming supply chains, delivery models, product diversification strategies and operational thinking will help Defy to lead the industry in a new direction.

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INDUSTRY FOCUS: MANUFACTURING

// WHAT WE STAND FOR IS WHAT WE STAND ON – THERE IS NO PLANET B AND WE MUST DO ALL WE CAN TO PROTECT AND PRESERVE SO THAT FUTURE GENERATIONS WILL LIVE HERE HAPPILY AND HEALTHILY // “By implementing our brand values, internally and externally, we are involving our partners in the business – suppliers and dealers – and finding ways to express the Defy transformational message,” the CEO says.

Defy Offices

30 / www.enterprise-africa.net

“In order to do that, we are investing in breakthrough transformational projects like opening authorised service centres in South Africa so that we can accelerate our service quality. We are investing in Artificial Intelligence for our supply chain and demand planning – we are studying machine learning algorithms to model our production demand and sales forecasting. We are investing heavily in development of our R&D capabilities, going beyond the South African borders, hiring engineers from Turkey to come and work in South Africa.”

Defy will make use of the HR capabilities at Arçelik to identify suitable candidates for development programmes. Already, this scheme has taken African engineering students learning at premier Turkish educational institutions and helped them into the business to progress new product ideas.

The final brand pillar for Albaş is being Generational Custodians. “This is all about building a sustainable future,” he says. “What we stand for is what we stand on – there is no planet B and we must do all we can to protect and preserve so that future generations will live here happily and healthily.”

To better manage its footprint, Defy is increasing the use of recyclable materials in its production across almost every product group, utilising more energy efficient technology in its manufacturing facilities, and is following a range of other energy saving initiatives.

“For example, in South Africa, we started an energy efficiency awareness campaign which is mainly targeting raising awareness about importance of buying higher energy efficient appliances. We want to train as many consumers as possible on what the energy efficiency label means and how much you can

DEFY APPLIANCES

save if you buy an energy efficient appliance. If all South Africans moved up one level on the energy efficiency index, we could stop using several old generation power plants and stop using coal.”

Arçelik is the global leader on the Dow Jones sustainability index with continued sustainability efforts. It is the only appliance manufacturer to be ranked in two consecutive years.

FOR AFRICA Without a doubt, Defy has not let the Covid-19 crisis dampen its ambitions and has in fact become more determined to deliver its brand for upliftment and opportunity. For Defy, the company is more than white goods, it is more than revenue and market share, and it is more than 100-years of development.

“We have 2700 people and it’s a big workforce that we are very proud of. They connect our business with our brand purpose. We connected with people at every level and everyone knows about the strategic pillars. We are engaging everyone in the challenges and successes that we face, and we feel that everyone is well briefed in what is needed for the future.

“We also want to create more employment,” he confirms. “In my opinion, a sustainable future is not all about products saving energy and being more recyclable; we have to bring a more inclusive financial system to life in Africa. The number of jobs is limited and young people are out there looking for jobs, so if we can offer more jobs and employ more people, across all of Africa, that will be a great win. It will increase our social impact as a company and that is one of the most important objectives for us.

“There is very rich human capital – the population in sub-Saharan Africa is already over one billion people and that is expected to boom over the next 15 years. These are

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INDUSTRY FOCUS: MANUFACTURING

young, creative entrepreneurs from humble backgrounds. This brings an amazing positivity to the continent and we are very focussed on this, looking at how we can be a part of this growth with our strategy pillars.”

In March, Defy and Beko, in partnership with ATÖLYE, hosted an online event, Hack the Normal.

The concept, labelled a ‘hackathon’, surrounded bringing together people from around the continent to share ideas that can solve African problems.

Participants were encouraged to develop new products, services and business models - with potential for commercialisation. These ideas centred around existing challenges across sustainable living, healthy living and financial solutions. The event was a major success with 1038 participants, 108 teams, 709 individuals.

Top prizes, up to $5000, were taken by local innovators who will

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now receive the help and knowledge of Defy and its partners.

“We invited people from across multiple disciplines to come together to innovate new solutions to ensure a sustainable life in Africa, stimulate economic growth and improve the state of our world,” highlighted Albaş.

External relationships are also under the spotlight and will be enhanced. There was clear evidence

of the company’s desire to foster connections during the country’s closed period as a result of the pandemic.

“Our business is not just buy and sell so we have a long-term relationship with our suppliers. We are continuously developing new products and we need to provide continuous support to our customers, which requires a great process

DEFY APPLIANCES

and business alignment with our partners. We are organising strategic meetings with our suppliers annually so that we can make them part of our new designs and involve them in the strategy. We want to use their knowledge and engineering to manage our design processes in a more agile way. Although they are separate entities, they are integral to our business so we treat them as part of the company,” says Albaş.

One product that found itself among the Defy range as a result of the pandemic was a specially designed ventilator used to assist critically ill patients with breathing if they are sedated or struggling thanks to virus symptoms. Manufactured at the company’s plant in Jacobs, the Impilo – the word for ‘life’ in Zulu and Xhosa – was lauded recently for its innovation. Developed in partnership with the University of Cambridge Open Ventilator System Initiative team, the Impilo received the Royal Academy of Engineering’s President’s Special Award for Pandemic Service, as a result of efforts in manufacturing the mechanical ventilators for developing countries during the Covid-19 pandemic. The CEO praised local innovation and design teams, as well as the entire supply chain involved in bringing the lifesaving invention to the fore. Support from Arçelik, Beko, and Denel Land Systems was important and has helped to improve manufacturing methods in the country.

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Clearly, Defy as a brand, alongside its global parent, is bringing original and innovative ideas to a market that is yearning for progress. With a refreshed brand purpose and a strategic roadmap detailing how this purpose can be achieved, Defy is well positioned to grow after the difficulty faced by all in 2020.

Arçelik is a multinational household appliances manufacturer that operates in nearly 150 countries with 12 brands (Arçelik, Beko, Grundig, Blomberg, ElektraBregenz, Arctic, Leisure, Flavel, Defy, Altus, Dawlance, Voltas Beko) and employs over 35,000 people worldwide. Arçelik's global operations include sales and marketing offices in 43 countries, and 22 production facilities in eight countries.

As Europe's second largest white goods company by market share (based on volumes), Arçelik reached a

“It has been a long year but I am hoping and expecting, with the amount of science and technology in our hands now, that we can handle this and move on within this year,” Albaş concludes.

WWW.DEFY.CO.ZA

consolidated turnover of €5 billion in 2020. Arçelik's R&D and Design Centers across the globe, are home to over 1,600 researchers and hold more than 3,000 international patent applications to date. Arçelik is named the "Industry Leader" in the Durable Home Appliances category for the second year in a row in Dow Jones Sustainability Index 2020 and, in accordance with PAS 2060 Carbon Neutrality Standard, became carbon-neutral in global production plants in 2019 and 2020 fiscal years with its carbon credits.

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INDUSTRY FOCUS: FOOD & BEVERAGE

ASSURECLOUD

AssureCloud:

Because Life is Precious SPONSORED BY: AssureCloud

Trust AssureCloud, part of Safety SA, to support your business with testing, inspection, certification and training services developed over 20 years in the food and occupational health and safety sector. Now more than ever, a comprehensive approach to workplace health and safety is required and AssureCloud is perfectly positioned to assist.

//

Upholding critical and longstanding safety standards in South Africa is the difficult challenge faced by Safety SA – the powerhouse group established in 2018. “Life is precious” is the company’s mantra, and by employing some of the most advanced technologies available right now, this specialist food safety, environmental, veterinary, occupational hygiene, health and safety training, and related software group provides the most comprehensive training, testing, inspection and certification service in southern Africa.

Safety SA is made up of AssureCloud, SafetyCloud, and MetrixCloud. AssureCloud, founded in 1999 as Africon, aims to prevent illness and injury, and reduce workplace risk arising from foodrelated issues, by carrying out detailed laboratory analysis and conferring training and certification.

The company was recently rebranded, previously identified as NOSA Testing and Aspirata. Following a number

34 / www.enterprise-africa.net

of acquisitions, the brand now represents Safety SA as a leading partner for industry, accredited by the Department of Labour Approved Inspection Authority (AIA).

For Safety SA Group CEO Peter Erasmus, the growing AssureCloud business is perfectly positioned to assist in the modern environment, where workplace health and safety has been thrust into the spotlight

and where, understandably, there is a desire from the public and private sector for improved and enduring standards to be upheld.

“We make sure that if people consume it; it’s safe. We test Food Safety and the quality of products at origin, throughout the value chain as well as in the environment where food is consumed – such as in quick service restaurants,” he says.

ASSURECLOUD

“Due to the Covid-19 pandemic and increased awareness of hygiene, health and safety, the Safety SA group has seen a surge in demand for our laboratory testing and digital services, and as restrictions on movement eased, we are also seeing exponential growth in demand for workplace safety services, testing, technology and consulting,” adds Erasmus.

AssureCloud has the unique ability to carry out surface and environmental testing to detect the Coronavirus S gene specific to Covid-19, according to World Health Organization (WHO) protocols. With employers obligated to ensure a safe workplace, this service is now vital.

In June, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) confirmed South Africa is experiencing a third wave of Covid-19 infections, with Gauteng the heart of the rise in case numbers. AssureCloud is well-equipped to support companies with workplace sample testing, inspection, and training services that ensure safety and processes are clearly embedded.

Thankfully, AssureCloud brings a wide portfolio of service offerings including the country’s first Asbestos Accredited and Biotoxin Laboratories, capabilities to carry out specialised salmonella serotype testing, quality testing for the fishing export sector, quality testing focused on the dairy sector, specialised support for the poultry sector, and nutritional labelling support. To help ensure value for money, AssureCloud can also undertake thorough disinfectant

// WE MAKE SURE THAT IF PEOPLE CONSUME IT; IT’S SAFE //

efficacy testing to ensure inhouse efforts to be secure are meaningful and products are not sub-standard or worse. Combined with MetrixCloud’s EHSCloud software, these AssureCloud testing services can ensure a highly safe and successful return to full scale onsite work.

“It’s this level of support that makes AssureCloud such a vital partner in industries as diverse as food services, restaurants, agriculture, petrochemical, mining and water management, with strict quality standards and meticulous methodologies that allow us to offer a broad range of timely, reliable testing,” the company enthuses.

Delivering across the entire value chain, AssureCloud offers Farm to Fork Assurance. This promise sees the company emphasise and ensure standards at every step in the food journey.

“From the manufacturing of animal feed, to agricultural best practices, transport and storage; we track how food is handled and stored at the manufacturer and retailer, how it’s prepared in a hospitality or catering environment, and provide testing services for allergens, bacteria, and quality compliance,” the company states.

Currently, AssureCloud has a footprint across Africa and the Middle East. Regional offices include Midrand, Centurion, Cape Town, Durban, Port Elizabeth, Oudtshoorn, and Lusaka. This growing presence provides universal coverage across South Africa and brings something that often money cannot buy – peace of mind.

“We guarantee confidentiality, impartiality, competency, and responsibility.”

CONTACT: WWW.ASSURECLOUD.CO.ZA | ENQURIES@ASSURECLOUD.CO.ZA | +27 12 685 0800

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ARANDA

A Celebration of African Manufacturing PRODUCTION: Karl Pietersen

South Africa’s oldest blanket manufacturer, Aranda - a custodian of traditional African design - is on the hunt for distribution partners to help build its brands globally following a tough year in 2020.

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INDUSTRY FOCUS: MANUFACTURING

© Chris Allan Photography

//

“Last year was a really hard year,” says Marco Magni, Sales and Marketing Director at Aranda, reminiscing on 2020 and the obvious challenges that covered business.

“It put many of our plans of growth into new areas on hold and we were pretty much in survival mode. This year, we feel better but not where we were pre-Covid. Going forward, we want to carry on with all our growth plans.”

His optimism and ambition have returned after a warm start to 2021.

Aranda, one of the leading textile companies on the continent, is the manufacturer of choice for traditional blankets and throws. Combining Italian heritage with high quality African design and material, Aranda is

ready to resume its export activity on the continent.

Employing a skilled South African work force and utilising modern machinery and proven distribution channels, the company has eyes on corporate clients in the institutional space across the continent, while also rebuilding its presence in the recuperating hospitality industry.

Currently, Aranda delivers a wide range of products under various house brands including Haven & Earth, My Africa, Basotho Heritage Blankets, as well as their traditional range of blankets and shawls under the Aranda brand. The Aranda Hotel Signature Collection, which includes throws, runners, scatters and blankets, was set for full scale roll out in 2020.

// WHEN IT COMES TO SOURCING FIBRE – OUR MAIN INPUT COST – WE SOURCE OUR WOOL AND COTTON LOCALLY //

REGROW, REFRESH “We were planning to launch the Hotel Signature Collection around June or July last year but it was all put on ice because the hospitality industry was hit the hardest. We are seeing some positive news now, and we are aware of hospitality developments in Africa and in parts of the Middle East and we

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would like to get our products there,” says Magni.

“We are looking for companies and distributors who can help us network into other parts of Africa. We are looking to focus on hospitality and institutional products and we have an opportunity for companies to distribute a great product, made in Africa.”

By developing new partnerships and being proactive during a time when market conditions are tough, Aranda hopes to build on its success in South Africa and tie more of the continent into valuable relationships.

Perhaps one of the commonly underappreciated areas of strategy, distribution is an element often closely tied with success for manufacturers. It links into inventory control, costings, sales, image, competitive advantage, optimisation, growth and much more. Typically, Aranda has operated a mixed distribution model with both direct and indirect sales, but there has always been a strict focus on quality.

Those that distribute Aranda products must be knowledgeable about the range and experienced in their chosen

ARANDA

markets. For Magni, finding partners that share the Aranda culture is vital.

“We supply many institutional products,” he says. “We are able to manufacture blankets to the South African Bureau of Standards specifications and we offer a variety of products within the blanket category.

“We would like to push growth in the institutional segments in other parts of Africa. That could be in hospitality or government spec projects. Whether it’s blankets for hospitals, defence forces, police, correctional services – that is where we see growth in Africa.

“We are looking at growing our online presence from a B2C point of view, as well as B2B. What’s great about this is that you don’t need to have bricks and mortar put up everywhere. You can develop a great online store and reach customers

everywhere directly. It’s a small project of which we are in the early stages, but we see great potential,” he adds.

Like many businesses, in the postpandemic environment, every Cent must be justified and this is why partnering with distributors in Africa and setting up a digital e-commerce offering locally is an obvious choice. Setting up regional satellite offices across sub-Saharan Africa is expensive, complicated and time consuming. The Aranda strategy is more about first building a presence and then growing share.

WOVEN INTO SA For 68 years, Aranda’s work in the textile sector has been welcome in South Africa. Five generations previously, Marco Magni’s family was working from Italy’s textile heartland – Monte Retaia, Tuscany. Following destruction

of the family’s plant during World War II, a chance encounter with a military Colonel, also the Chairman of Barclays Bank SA, encouraged the Magni’s to emigrate to South Africa. In 1951, a piece of land was purchased from a farmer in Randfontein, and Rodolfo, Alberto and Giulio Magni began building their new factory. Today, a modern manufacturing facility sits on the same site, with 11 acres under roof, producing blankets, throws, shawls, and a range of other fabric products.

For Marco Magni, there is no doubt that Aranda is a South African operation with Italian roots and this heritage will continue.

“We have been around since 1953 and we are still a family-owned business. We have managed to stay relevant in the market because we have focussed on traditional products as well

Standerton Mills (Pty) Ltd

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www.enterprise-africa.net / 39

INDUSTRY FOCUS: MANUFACTURING

© Chris Allan Photography

© Chris Allan Photography

as constantly developing new products for the home fashion segment,” he says.

“Most of the products we manufacture are linked to traditional use or heritage items – that is the core of our business.

We also sell to other segments including the formal retail chain stores, independent wholesalers and retailers, the boutique retail industry, the hospitality trade, and many institutional segments. We have developed a number of house brands and we recently launched the My Africa range which is a range of throws inspired by various African cultures. It’s taking inspiration and creating a contemporary design. It’s worked really well, and we have received great interest, both locally and internationally.”

Aranda’s international appeal was buoyed in 2018 when its blankets were featured in the hugely popular Marvel movie, Black Panther. The movie was viewed as a first real attempt from Hollywood to fully embrace elements of African culture as a theme.

“We pride ourselves on being the custodians of the Basotho Heritage Blanket brands where we are the sole licensed manufacturer, a position we

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have held that for the past 30 years.

The blanket wearing tradition of the Basotho’s goes back to the late 1800s.

These blankets were featured in Black Panther and was wonderful exposure for both Aranda and Lesotho,” says Magni.

“We have recently appointed new distributors in the US who will focus on pushing our brands into the region including Basotho, My Africa, Haven & Earth, and the Aranda Hotel Signature Collection. The Signature Collection is a range of blankets, throws, scatters and runners specifically designed for large hotels and hotel groups. This is the range that we want to market into Africa and the Middle East. That will be a goal for us over the next year or two.”

Basotho blankets are renowned for their unique layouts. Various symbols, patterns, colours and a famous pin stripe are used to create bold and beautiful designs. Currently, the Basotho range is made up of Seanamarena, Kharetsa, Morena, Motlatsi, and Victoria England designs, each of which can be ordered through the Aranda webstore.

Continental expansion for the general consumer market across Aranda’s traditional ranges will remain

focussed on sub-Sahara Africa because of the diminishing need as a result of the climate further north.

“The consumption of blankets as a home item and an item of warmth is generally confined to Southern Africa where it gets cold in the winter season.

As you move further north, the climate is far more moderate throughout the seasons. There are few high lying areas where it does get cold, but our market is mainly Southern Africa,” Magni confirms.

African heritage is further woven into the business through Aranda’s more than 600 employees.

This group is vital for innovation and development of new ideas, and Magni is keen to continue building a clan culture around work so that the quality African ethos is maintained.

“I have been involved for the past 18 years and, in terms of how we run the business, we ensure the continuation of the deep-rooted family culture that was introduced by the founding members all those years ago. Generally, we have a long service history at Aranda. The average staff employment period is around 13 years – so we believe we are doing something right,” he says.

ARANDA

PROUDLY SA Not only is the manufacturing and branding around the Aranda product range focussed on South Africa, the material input is also – where possible – dedicated to a local supply chain.

Production takes place across the two facilities – Randfontein and Isithebe.

In the early days of business, Aranda concentrated on wool as its raw material but, over time, acrylic fibres have been added to the portfolio.

“Our head office, primary operations and distribution remains at our factory in Randfontein,” confirms Magni. “Here we do woollen spinning, weaving, fabric finishing, milling, cut-make-and-trim, warehousing and distribution. Our other factory, Associated Spinners, is situated in Isithebe, KwaZulu-Natal. Here we focus on course and fine count open-end spinning as well as yarn and fibre dying.

“When it comes to sourcing fibre – our main input cost – we source the majority of our wool and all our cotton locally. Acrylic fibre cannot be procured locally as there are no companies producing in South Africa.

We source acrylic fibre from Europe,

South America or the East.”

The result of this local emphasis is Aranda maintaining its status as a completely vertically integrated manufacturer. “We manufacture the complete product – from receiving the raw fibre to packaging the finished product. We are truly end-toend,” says Magni.

This meticulous dedication to empowering the value chain and achieving a very local offering is one of the key reasons behind Aranda’s success on the international stage. Buying into an African journey is very possible with this exciting business, and that is why Magni is keen to grow distribution in foreign markets.

“We have a strong export drive but that takes a huge amount of effort.

We have a distributor in Germany that services northern Europe and our aim is to gain distributor partners in other parts of the world. It’s very hard to get into markets that are far away on your own. You need to have someone who understands those markets. When you find the right partners, it works well. Price is always a factor and we are finding it difficult to get traction into Europe.”

With many companies around the world now confident of dealing with conditions brought about by the pandemic, cautious optimism seems to be the universal choice.

While 2020 was undoubtedly devastating on many fronts, 2021 is providing opportunities, although the avenues towards them may be slightly different. For Aranda, the fashion names in blankets, much of the channel expansion strategy, devised for implementation last year, can now be pursued.

As the oldest blanket manufacturer in South Africa, Aranda’s name is already stitched into the history of the country. With growth opportunities once again being chased, Aranda’s goal of becoming internationally renowned is perhaps now more achievable than it has ever been.

WWW.ARANDA.CO.ZA

www.enterprise-africa.net / 41

JOHN DEERE SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

Taking on New

Territories PRODUCTION: Timothy Reeder

John Deere is heavily invested in the future and prosperity of sub-Saharan Africa.

With its leaping deer trademark recognised worldwide and machinery backed by over 100 years of legend and experience, John Deere sub-Saharan Africa is branching out from its industry-leading agricultural position to expand its construction equipment business into a further 18 countries across southern and western Africa.

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INDUSTRY FOCUS: MANUFACTURING

//

John Deere’s arrival in South Africa is one of the happiest accidents in the country’s history. In 1878, two Prairie Queen walking plows from a foundered ship were recovered and sold at auction to George Knott of Botha’s Post, Victoria East, South Africa.

Its equipment introduced to the country through pure serendipity, John Deere eventually established a firm outpost in Africa some 40 years later, positioning it as one of the few U.S. companies doing business in South Africa at the time.

Today, it has nearly 150 employees in Africa, as well as offices in Kenya and Ghana, complementing the company’s sales branch and Regional Parts Distribution Center in South Africa.

“John Deere is a world leader in providing advanced products, technology and services for customers whose work is revolutionising agriculture and construction,” the company outlines, “those who cultivate, harvest, transform, enrich and build upon the land to meet the world’s increasing need for food, fuel, shelter and infrastructure.”

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WORLD-BEATING AGRI TECH John Deere needs no introduction in the agri world, and certainly not in Africa. Its credentials have been carefully honed and forged over 180 years of innovation and progress, and its tractors have been running for more than a century.

“Extraordinary global talent has helped us rank among the world’s best brands, most ethical companies, and greatest innovation leaders,” the company outlines.

“Farmers and technology have always been partners. We want to elevate that,” adds Margaux Ascherl, Autonomy Program Delivery Manager.

Jacques Taylor, John Deere’s Managing Director for sub-Saharan Africa sees the region as farming’s final frontier, pointing to one key statistic: the continent is home to 60% of the global total of uncultivated, arable land, meaning that of the world’s available farmland, six out of every 10 hectares sits in SSA. According to Taylor, the SSA market is split into, “small pockets of large agriculture and large pockets of small agriculture,” and key to both John Deere’s growth and overall agricultural progress is to provide technology which is adaptable

// THIS EXPANSION PROVIDES AN OPPORTUNITY FOR US TO INCREASE OUR GLOBAL FOOTPRINT IN THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY AND BUILD UPON OUR EXISTING PRESENCE IN AFRICA // to a range of situations and settings.

The aim is always the same: helping people to farm bigger and better. “Our expertise is not just iron anymore,” states Jaco Beyers, Managing Director Africa Middle East, “we are delivering agronomic solutions backed by groundbreaking technology.”

Last year, the world’s leading farm equipment maker kitted out its tractors with technology from start-up Hello Tractor, allowing farmers to hail the machines via an app and monitor the vehicles’ movements.

It is hoped that teaming up with the so-called ‘Uber of tractors’ will boost sales of its famous green and yellow machines on a continent with the world’s highest poverty rate and the least mechanised agricultural sector. “We would like to see that every farmer has access to mechanisation,” Taylor told Reuters. “The gap that we’ve identified is, how do we connect small farmers with tractor owners?”

Such opportunities exist in markets across Africa, says Hello Tractor founder Jehiel Oliver, but companies like Deere have lacked the tools to develop them.

“Nigeria alone needs 750,000 (more) tractors to be on the global average,” he said. “Our technology is a market-maker for tractor manufacturers who want to sell into those markets.”

TATA International Africa - a world-class distributor now represents the John Deere brand in Zambia

Two and half years ago, Tata International signed an agreement with Afgri Ghana to buy the distribution rights for John Deere equipment. The success and growth in selling and supporting the full line of John Deere products in Ghana as well as other African countries resulted in a new strategic decision to invest in Zambia.

Tata has operated successfully on the African continent for more than 40 years, having commenced operations in Zambia in 1977 when Tata Zambia was created, a business mainly involved in the import of Tata vehicles into the country, along with marketing and after-sales services.

“We are very proud to have been given this opportunity to represent John Deere in Zambia, the African country where we started our journey on the continent. We are also very grateful to John Deere for showing confidence in us to represent the brand in another country in Africa,” says Len Brand, CEO of Tata International Africa.

“Our initial focus will be on parts availability and swift delivery of parts to customers, as well as products fit for purpose. Our deep customer understanding and focus on delivering customer value defines the way we do business, and our resourceful team is willing to go the extra mile to deliver proficient services,” he adds.

“In addition to this award, which means a great deal to us, we have made successful inroads in winning market share as a new player in the industry, which is extremely encouraging. Our commitment to customer support through our Uptime strategy has benefited John Deere owners in Ghana and other countries in which we operate and we are looking forward to replicating this in Zambia,” adds Brand.

“Tata Africa has proven time and again that it is a leading company to be aligned to, not only as a distributor or dealer for OEMs, but also as a premium supplier and dedicated aftermarket support and service to our retail customers in Africa. We are committed to the company’s vision of building and sustaining relationships with cooperation and trust,” concludes Brand.

Tata International Africa in Zambia now sells, supports and distributes Tata truck and buses, Daewoo Trucks, Jaguar Land Rover vehicles and now proudly adds John Deere Agriculture Equipment to its offering. John Deere construction equipment will be introduced in Zambia in the third quarter of 2021.

Tata’s commitment to the John Deere brand and its customers in Africa was recently recognised by John Deere Africa Middle East when Tata’s Ghana operation was awarded John Deere Africa’s prestigious 2020 Dealer of the Year Award for the category of dealers outside the SADC region.

www.tatainternational.com | jd.zambia@tatainternational.com | Tel: +27 83 701 3164

INDUSTRY FOCUS: CONSTRUCTION

MD CHANGE We learned in October 2020 of a change in Managing Director for John Deere’s Marketing & Sales branch head office in South Africa, with Jaco Beyers appointment geared largely toward supporting dealers in growing customer productivity and profitability by leveraging the John Deere Smart Industrial strategy.

Smart Industrial focuses on both technology and equipment to help customers unlock profit at all levels of mechanisation.

“John Deere has been doing business in Africa for over 140 years and we are committed to the region,” said Jason Brantley, Director for Region 1 A&T Sales & Marketing at John Deere.

“We are excited about the

growing trends of mechanisation and technology adoption that we are seeing in Africa and the Middle East as more and more customers are experiencing the John Deere Edge in terms of value, reliability, dealer support and productivity that helps customers profitably grow their businesses.”

Having joined the company in 2004 as a Trainee Territory Manager in South Africa, Beyers will lead the company forward in the implementation, integration, and expansion of the Agricultural, Construction and Forestry (C&F) Division into the Ag and Turf channel for the African continent.

“It is not the strongest who survive, nor the smartest, but those most responsive to change,” Beyers

opens up. “For more than 180 years, John Deere has benefited from strong, decisive leaders who are dedicated to the company’s core values and I intend to ensure our values remain active and relevant.”

“How we do business is critical to our continued success,” he concluded.

AFRICA CONSTRUCTION EXPANSION John Deere announced in April its plans to conquer new territories across southern and western Africa, offering its construction line-up to 18 countries where Deere-branded products were not previously available.

In welcome news for the industry, the company now looks to transfer the skills and expertise which have made

// JOHN DEERE IS A WORLD LEADER IN PROVIDING ADVANCED PRODUCTS, TECHNOLOGY AND SERVICES FOR CUSTOMERS WHOSE WORK IS REVOLUTIONISING AGRICULTURE AND CONSTRUCTION // 46 / www.enterprise-africa.net

JOHN DEERE SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

it the agricultural dominant force to construction via its range of backhoe loaders, excavators, wheel loaders, motor graders and crawler dozers, sold and supported by independent, newly appointed John Deere dealers in countries including South Africa, Botswana, Tanzania and Sudan.

“This expansion provides an opportunity for us to increase our global footprint in the construction industry, as we build upon our existing presence in Africa and deliver our

product portfolio under the John Deere brand for the first time to these key markets,” explains Jaco Beyers.

“As we move into these new countries, we are delivering on what customers expect from the John Deere brand, from the legendary product quality and performance to the exceptional customer support and equipment technologies that we are known for around the world.”

John Deere is an increasingly prominent player in the construction

and forestry industries in many parts of Africa, and now the legendary products will be available to customers in these territories alongside the support of the brand’s worldrenowned dealer network.

“We have a deep-rooted presence in Africa in the agriculture market, and we know construction customers in these markets are eager for access to the John Deere brand and its many advantages”, rounds off Griffiths Makgate, sales manager, John Deere Construction & Forestry, John Deere Africa Middle East.

“By providing access to our highquality equipment, outstanding dealer network and parts availability, and productivity enhancing technology solutions, we can help operators in Africa increase productivity and boost their bottom lines on a daily basis.”

WWW.DEERE.COM

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PORTLAND GROUP

Portland Remains Rock Solid

amid Industry Trials PRODUCTION: Karl Pietersen

When the going gets tough, the tough get going. The Portland Group - a leading quarry, ready mix, hollow core and development business – is proving its strength in difficult times by investing heavily in growth. GM Nicol Heyns tells Enterprise Africa about managing through the pandemic and initiating material growth strategies to build the business in the future.

//

A seemingly never-ending year, forever remembered with sadness and frustration; the impact of 2020 remains ongoing.

Covid-19 wreaked havoc across the business community, and it continues to rage in South Africa. Re-entering Level 4 lockdown at the end of June, businesses are again restricted to working in a far from productive manner to help stop the spread of this unwelcome but all-too-present virus.

South Africa’s Western Cape, with

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busy Cape Town at its heart, is the second worst hit area of the country behind only Gauteng. For those active in the province, working effectively has been demanding. Ensuring safety, maintaining contracts, delivering on promises – each has become more difficult than ever before.

For Portland Group, a leading quarry and construction materials business based in Durbanville, the regular sounds of crushing, milling and machining was replaced during

lockdown with an eerie silence as employees downed tools.

The Heyns family at the helm of the business made full use of the three decades of experience under their belt to manage and mitigate.

“Covid was and is horrific,” says Group General Manager Nicol Heyns, as he looks back at the period from 28 March 2020 when a severe lockdown froze work in the construction and development space. “We sat at home having hours and hours of online

INDUSTRY FOCUS: CONSTRUCTION

meetings to strategize and work on various recovery plans for the months coming after lockdown. There were major uncertainties, from working at home, to suppliers’ shortages, not to mention the difficulties of municipal plan approvals and lack of willing buyers on the development side.

“Our main focus was based on the safety and health of our employees, suppliers and clients. We always keep a strict eye on cashflow which helped us tremendously through this period without any income. We had to juggle a few things to make sure we got everything sorted and we are proud of the courage and commitment our team showed throughout this tough time.

“We started a social media campaign to drive interest and put our name out there. We got positive

feedback and people would say to us ‘it’s great to see that you are still busy’. We are fortunate to say that we haven’t had to retrench anyone because of Covid and it was one of our first priorities to ensure that employees still received salaries throughout the hard lockdown. We are now appointing new staff with the eye on expanding the company and getting a bigger piece of the work available in the market and that is very positive for us.”

The second-generation family leader is now looking forward with an appetite for growth as the diverse Portland product range becomes more attractive with construction once again picking up. While the country’s general building space has failed to reach previously inflated heights, there

// WE GET EXCITED WHEN WE TALK ABOUT THESE THINGS. WE SIT AROUND AT BREAKFAST AND DINNER AND TALK BUSINESS. WE ALWAYS TALK ABOUT HOW WE CAN IMPROVE AND WHERE THE OPPORTUNITIES ARE. //

Heyns Family at Portland's 30 Year Celebration

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are major opportunities. The Afrimat Construction Index climbed 5.4% in the first quarter of 2021. Economists expect the second quarter to improve again, but with the length of the third wave yet unclear, predictions for 2021’s third quarter remain cloudy.

Coming out of the initial curtailment of freedoms, Portland was quickly able to rebound as vital projects continued unabated.

“We work on a three-year trade in cycle with most of our vehicles and construction machinery. At the end of 2019, we ordered 18 new ready mix trucks which were delivered right in the middle of the lockdown period. That was terrible timing with all employees being at home. After hard lockdown we were only allowed to work with 50% of our workforce for a few months that forced us to look at our efficiencies and how we could be more productive by using automation. We had to reduce the number of personnel on a shift but, by being more efficient, we managed to drive sales and utilise employees more,” says Heyns.

“We are very fortunate and grateful that everything is running ok.

PORTLAND GROUP

Sales are down, but if you look at the average over the last few months since we came back after lockdown, we have had great months and bad months. All in all, things are not too bad.”

STRONG & POSITIVE In May 2019, Portland was displaying its strength and Heyns told Enterprise Africa that there was enough work in the Western Cape to comfortably see the company through another decade.

“Since then, we have opened another two quarries. Our quarry in Durbanville was established in July 2000. This is where we crush Malmesbury Hornfels material. We opened our Saldanha (Jacobs Bay) based West Coast granite quarry in partnership with Tip Trans in November 2019. Just after the quarry started running the pandemic hit.

However, we had to push through,” he says.

“We opened another quarry with Tip Trans in Worcester which is more of a crushing plant than a quarry, but we crush river stone into the same material specification as the other quarries and sell into the Worcester, Ceres or Paarl markets.”

Portland’s ready mix division has also seen expansion with a new plant in Saldanha (Jacobs Bay) opening in 2020. Because of the industry’s closed period, this plant was not able to reach its full potential as fast as Heyns would have liked. This new plant will continue to bring the Portland guarantee of strength and workability. Alongside constructional concrete, the company also caters for decorative and special application products. While plants were closed, maintenance was the name of the game.

“Our approach was to use the time wisely; push through and do upgrades, put up new plants, maintain our equipment, and whenever the work picks up make sure we are ready,” details Heyns. “It was a good strategy and just after the hard lockdown ended, we got our maintenance guys

in, and we began building the plant on the West Coast before the work started picking up. In April 2021 we had an awesome month and we have been very busy.”

In true entrepreneurial fashion, never willing to rest on laurels, Heyns and family quickly went about establishing plans to further advance ready mix capacity. Without revealing an exact location just yet, he confirms that a major upscaling is already underway.

“We are opening up another ready mix plant around 25km from our current flagship plant. This plant will, potentially, become our new flagship plant. It’s right next to the N1 with easy access in all directions. We are very excited about this endeavour and hopefully by September it will be up and running.”

PRECAST & HOLLOW CORE The precast, hollow core concrete market has many applications and in South Africa there is a gap in the market for an experienced player to dominate. Portland uses leading precast technology as an effective alternative to poured and traditional concrete methods. Hollow core is ideal for large, uniform building projects and allows them to progress quickly.

Precast allows for largescale rollout of more detailed designs.

“With precast and hollow core, things have been going well,” says Heyns. “Portland Hollowcore has been a business where we couldn’t get to a point where we get consistency out of it. Over the years of experience on the quarrying business, we got to a point where we know what we are doing and why we do it and it created consistency

WE FOCUS ON

SUPERIOR SERVICE AND ON-TIME DELIVERY AT COMPETITIVE PRICES

Preferred Steel Suppliers to Portland

D & E Group is proud of our history, staff and track record in the Western Cape and we continue to strive for exceptional customer service and long term honest partnerships with both suppliers and customers.

www.degroup.co.za • 021 907 4700

www.enterprise-africa.net / 51

INDUSTRY FOCUS: CONSTRUCTION

– we also have this with ready mix. We know what our strong points are and we have a good idea of how to approach our challenges. Over the last few years and with Covid contributing to the challenges we had in our Precast and Hollowcore business, this division of Portland Group was in a grey and cloudy space. Covid gave us the breathing space to build up some strategies and a different way of thinking inside the business and we are now back to a point where we have consistency in our hollow core department – that is really positive for us.

“Precast is not a major item in South Africa yet and I think there are a lot of positives around precast. We have had meetings with engineers from bigname businesses about changing in-situ cast concrete in Cape Town to precast hollow core. It’s a big project and is very positive for us, even if we don’t get the project, we have delivered the positives of precast to one of the largest engineering and construction firms in the country.”

Currently, precast products in South Africa are very detailed when compared to other international markets where

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cost and standardisation are key.

Working alongside project managers, concrete specialists in the country design extremely complex products to suit different projects. Of course, this leads to challenges with pricing.

“I don’t see that in other countries,” says Heyns. “It is the norm here to work on very detailed slabs that allow for every conduit and every pipe to feed wherever it is needed. From that point of view, we have to sell the detail of the slab rather than the slab itself.

Since Covid hit, it has been tough on the industry so there is a price war in everything that you do.”

There are larger projects that are well-suited for bigger, basic, mass produced slab products. High rise buildings, housing projects, bridges, infrastructure and more are perfect markets for Portland’s products. But for Heyns it’s all about getting in at the right price.

“Best case scenario, you can install a hollow core slab for around R700 per square meter – if everything goes your way. That is very cheap – I have seen people buying tiles for more than this.

This is why we started looking more into

precast. If you can pick up a client with a vision for precast, then you are selling something special,” he says.

Currently, the company is busy with a project for a number of high profile clients where Portland is supplying floors and other concrete infrastructure.

“There is a lot of positives coming from hollow core, especially when looking at waste reductions and improvements in efficiency. In precast, concrete and steel are two of the most expensive input costs. By reducing costs and waste, there are major savings to be made if you put the effort into making it work,” explains Heyns.

“My opinion is that there is a massive gap in the market for these precast products. Over the last two or three years, we have made good appointments in our precast division.

// WITH BEING CONSISTENT IN WHAT YOU DO, YOU GET THE EDGE OVER THE COMPETITION //

PORTLAND GROUP

We have brought engineers into the company in roles where it is not necessarily required. That is helping us a lot more than we thought it would, as they just have a different way of thinking. We have been expanding our variety of products for the market. We tender on big precast projects. Since 2019 we have doubled our precast factory and we have placed an order to double to the size of the factory again.

Since 2019 to now, we have increased by 200% and that is really positive.”

DEVELOPMENT INVESTMENTS Adding another string to the Portland bow, the Heyns family added Portland Beleggings to the group in 2015. This dedicated property development business comes as a natural progression after years of involvement in general building and construction. With other group companies able to support the business, Portland Beleggings has been an area of strength for the business.

Having already completely the hugely popular 76 on the Beach and Asante developments at Blouberg beachfront, this innovative arm of the group is readying for more exciting work.

“In Blouberg, we’ve done three projects recently and the last was completed in December 2020. We are starting another development in Langebaan where we will be putting up 88 units as the Nivica lifestyle apartments. The idea is to give it a resort feel. It has a swimming pool, underroof parking, laundry facilities, and

// WE HAD TO REDUCE THE NUMBER OF PERSONNEL ON A SHIFT BUT, BY BEING MORE EFFICIENT, WE MANAGED TO DRIVE SALES AND UTILISE EMPLOYEES MORE //

amazing views across the lagoon. This is a medium-to-large-sized development and will be completed in one phase. It represents a risk for us, but we are very excited about it. We recently ran a radio ad campaign in Cape Town which have seen a lot interest on the sales side. The civil works have been completed and we should start building in September 2021,” explains Heyns.

The prime location of the Nivica Lifestyle Apartments will allow for easy access to the turquoise blue waters of the lagoon as well as the Club Mykonos Resort and Casino – regarded as one of the best family entertainment venues on the West Coast.

These projects are exciting for all involved and the company will push forward with any opportunities that arise. The second Heyns generation is especially keen on further diversification in the group and working as a close-knit family allows decisions to be made quickly.

“We love what we do – especially within our family,” admits Heyns. “With the younger generation coming in, we make each other crazy because we have an absolute passion for quarrying, ready mix and precast. We get excited when we talk about these things. We sit around at breakfast and dinner and talk business. We always talk about how we can improve and where the opportunities are. It usually starts with

a conversation, a calculator, and then a spreadsheet. This is how our vision grows. There is an appetite for risk in the younger generation and we are always looking for gaps in the market.”

Since Nico Heyns and Helenus Scholtz founded Portland Builders back in 1988, this proudly South African group has gone from strength to strength, always managing to find opportunities and positivity, even in the toughest of circumstances. In the future, this is a business that will grow, and the drive for expansion during these tough times is proof that Portland is a company with ambition.

“With being consistent in what you do, you get the edge over the competition, and you are able to take market share. We want to be a brand that clients want to buy from. Client satisfaction is our highest priority because if you have that, you know you will have sales. Efficiency and productivity are vital and focussing on those helps us a lot. We get a lot of positive feedback on our performance.

That puts us in a positive mindset when it comes to expanding the business and looking forward,” Heyns concludes.

WWW.PORTLAND.CO.ZA

www.enterprise-africa.net / 53

SYBRIN

Digitally Transform your

Business for Tomorrow PRODUCTION: Manelesi Dumasi

As one of the country’s leading digital transformation and software solutions businesses, Sybrin has been working hard over the past 18-months, helping clients to digitise as the need to be accessible has been catalysed by the pandemic. Also in the midst of an acquisition by a new group of shareholders, Sybrin has been busy. Salvatore Errera, Head of Product and Innovation talks to Enterprise Africa about this passionate, ambitious organisation. www.enterprise-africa.net / 55

INDUSTRY FOCUS: TECHNOLOGY

//

The unseen backbone of a company’s forward-facing offerings, technology stacks that sit behind the modern, digital shop window are becoming increasingly complex and expensive.

The ongoing shift that sees almost all areas of society transforming digitally – from financial services and retail, through to quick serve restaurant ordering and travel – is driving a need for reliable, proven, and consistent partners with knowledge that goes through the front and back end.

Coding, software development, programming, plugin management, content interfaces – for most, it truly is a foreign language; acronyms, digits and symbols all pulled together in a matrix of data that must be correctly navigated.

This is why is pays to team with an expert like Sybrin. Active in more than 20 countries around the world, demonstrating expertise in a large range of systems, and complementing hundreds of customer operations, this South African-headquartered innovator is a powerful partner that provides clarity.

Sybrin works towards the vision of providing a globally recognised platform, and an app store that enables digital transformation in any industry, giving customers the control, insight, and agility for a competitive advantage.

By doing so, the company will help drive growth and prosperity both internally and externally.

The Sybrin product range currently covers digital banking and payments

// WE HAVE SEEN DEMAND PICKING UP DURING 2021 AS THE NEED TO DIGITISE BECAME A REALIT Y FOR OUR CUSTOMERS // 56 / www.enterprise-africa.net

(Apex), rapid application development (Nitro), and intelligent automation (AI). Through this range, Sybrin has demonstrated its offering recently, completing exciting projects alongside high-profile clients, to drive financial inclusion on the continent.

INNOVATIVE TECH Head of Product and Innovation at Sybrin is Salvatore Errera. He tells Enterprise Africa that the company is endeavouring to help clients comply with important legislation and compliance requirements by delivering new RegTech (Regulatory Technology), SupTech (Supervisory Technology), and GRC (Governance, Risk, and Compliance) solutions.

“Within the RegTech space, we offer Know Your Customer (KYC), and Know Your Business (KYB) services as well as mobile Software Development Kits (SDKs) and web SDKs for Intelligent ID Capture and Verification, and Passive Liveness Verification. These products help a financial services provider determine the following: Is the ID document valid? Is this person alive?

Does the ID belong to the person? Is this person on sanction or politically exposed person (PEP) lists?”

Currently, these solutions are being implemented at a large insurance company in South Africa, a Pan-African Bank, and a large bank in the Philippines where feedback has been positive.

Established in 1991, Sybrin has seen societal, legislative, economic and technological transformation across the markets that it operates in. Being up-to-date and on top of a constantly changing ecosystem has become more than just desirable; it is now vital – especially after the Covid-19 pandemic where digitisation is at the forefront of minds.

“Within the SupTech space, we are currently developing a real-time fraud risk monitoring tool with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation,” says Errera.

“Key to this tool is the ability to monitor transition for fraud risk in real-time

// WE ARE ALSO CURRENTLY WORKING WITH A LARGE SOUTH AFRICAN BANK AND A JOINT VENTURE OF TWO LARGE CELLULAR OPERATORS TO PROVIDE FOREX, AND THEREFORE REMITTANCE CAPABILITY TO THE MOJALOOP SWITCH // rather than a backend operational task.

The GRC space is a new area for Sybrin, we are currently testing solutions with a few clients in Africa.”

SupTech and RegTech solutions have been thrust further into the spotlight in recent years with the explosion of digital currency trading with the likes of Bitcoin and Ethereum.

It was reported at the end of 2020 that crypto currency is ready-made for Africa, a continent where mobile money is already embraced by a young, tech-savvy population. Governments around the world are already struggling to keep up with the pace of change in this sphere, and South Africa has even started investigations into a central bank-driven digital currency.

MOJALOOP “We are also working with the Mojaloop Foundation on their low-cost open-source payment switch, which is predominantly focused on serving the non-banked and under-banked though the use of mobile payments,” says Errera. “We are also currently working with a large South African bank and a joint venture of two large cellular operators to provide forex, and

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INDUSTRY FOCUS: TECHNOLOGY

therefore remittance capability to the Mojaloop switch. This will allow SMEs and people wanting to send money home a more affordable alternative that can be run from mobile devices.

This capability can perform mobile wallet to mobile wallet transactions as well as off-network transactions via SWIFT or traditional banking, including banking to mobile wallet.”

Sybrin is also involved in the development of the second version of Mojaloop, Reference Architecture 2, where the company’s developers are engaged in the build process. Sybrin will call on all of its experience to transition

the platform across to its own payment hub, using traditional payment systems and refining business process APIs. “Sybrin was chosen by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as the prime partner to build the open-source transactional monitoring system to be used by any payment system, but in particular, Mojaloop. This is typically one of the most expensive and difficult to run components of a payment system. By making this one component open source, we bring down costs in a payment system, and therefore costs in general,” explains Errera.

Mobile money and foreign

// WE ARE CURRENTLY WORKING ON IS OUR EXPANSION INTO THE PHILIPPINES WHERE OUR INTELLIGENT ID AND LIVENESS VERIFICATION COMPONENTS ARE CURRENTLY BEING IMPLEMENTED AT ONE OF THE COUNTRY’S LARGEST BANKS // 58 / www.enterprise-africa.net

remittance are burgeoning markets in Africa with many tech experts citing the continent as the perfect example of how to solve local problems with local solutions. In April, MTN announced that it would value its mobile money business at more than $5 billion, while some predictions have suggested that the international remittance market in SA could reach R34 billion by 2023. In mobile money, investors are attracted to the growing movement of cash that utilises telco networks’ own subscriber base and offers up the ability for bolt on products, such as microinsurance, to be sold as an extra – crucially, without involvement from banks. Sybrin is wellprepared for further advancement in this space.

“One of our uniquely intelligent components over other competitors is our Passive Liveness Verification component, which allows us to verify that the person behind a remote interaction is a real person and is physically present with one simple selfie. Liveness detection works with

SYBRIN

a biometric system to measure and analyse physical characteristics and reactions to determine if a biometric sample is being captured from a living subject who is present at the point of capture. There are two methods to do this, namely, Active and Passive.

Most competitors offer Active Liveness Detection, which involves making the user perform a single or set of actions such as blinking, smiling, turning, etc. It is the slowest type of liveness detection and user interaction is compulsory which creates a poor user experience and is easier to spoof. Our Passive Liveness solution ensures frictionless user experience and verification occurs with a single selfie,” underlines Errera.

These products help clients to digitise, modernise, innovate and automate. A goal of Sybrin is to transform its client’s business into a digital, agile, intelligent enterprise of tomorrow, and by offering assistance all the way through the process, from design to build and implementation, and then ongoing maintenance, Sybrin

can provide a turnkey solution.

“We provide an end-to-end offering,” confirms Errera. “Although we can sell you just one component, there is no need to use other offerings from other vendors. From the intelligent capture of identity documents, and other required paperwork, to the automatic classification and scoring of information that is then orchestrated by our workflow processes and rules engines, we speed up processes, increase those items that need no human intervention, and configure that data for use by AI and other data science means. This is then all easily organised into our case management system for exceptions, those items are flagged for enhanced due diligence and alerts so that they can be intelligently processed.

“What makes our offerings unique is that all the components are our own IP, plus the solutions are developed using Sybrin Nitro; our own low-code development platform,” he adds, speaking of the flexibility of the current range. “The Sybrin Nitro platform is

highly configurable and allows our solutions to quickly and easily be changed for our clients’ unique needs.

The platform also allows our customers’ citizen developers to easily make changes to the solution as they see fit.”

Engineering tech solutions is no easy task. Perhaps one of the most complicated, most demanding, and most desired skillsets globally, the ability to create digital products and understand the convoluted language that comes with it is challenging.

In February, IT talent marketplace, OfferZen, released its annual report on the industry. The findings showed clearly the level of demand for qualified developers in South Africa today.

“Adopting digital tools to enable fully remote teams is making businesses antifragile,” stated Malan Joubert, OfferZen co-founder and CEO. The survey, which took the opinions of more than 3500 local developers, found that AI, Cloud, Enterprise Infrastructure, FinTech, and Cybersecurity are the key areas of growth in the near future.

www.enterprise-africa.net / 59

INDUSTRY FOCUS: TECHNOLOGY

Despite the competition in the industry, Sybrin has made a number of important appointments in the past 12-months, following an executive overhaul in 2018. In March ’21, Cameo Mbowane was appointed Head of Client Engagement and Karabo Moloko was made CEO of Sybrin SA. In June, Gerhard Malan was hired as Sybrin CFO. Salvatore Errera is confident and excited about the new-look senior team.

“Recent appointments have absolutely had an impact,” he says. “In the South African space, Karabo Moloko has already made huge contribution as CEO, both from a brand building as well as a new business perspective. The positioning and focusing of subject matter experts is making a significant difference in establishing Sybrin as a trusted advisor in our areas of focus.

In addition, having more senior staff on board shifts the quality of critical conversations in the business which always results in a positive impact.”

In the 2021 environment, where skills are hard to come by and expensive to attract, making these hires and already seeing genuine return and impact is a real coup.

“Factors such as the reality of digitisation, and increased fraud are driving the demand for solutions that Sybrin has developed over the last few years. We also need to recognise the fact that there is a shortage of good developers globally, that impacts the ability of our customers to develop these solutions themselves. Our low-code platform is well positioned to mitigate this risk faced by our customers,” says Errera.

SMOOTH COVID Perhaps one of the industries able to sidestep closure effects of the pandemic easiest, IT has largely continued intact.

Working remotely, making use of online communication technologies, and working apart while remaining closeknit already felt natural for Sybrin.

“Adapting to remote working practices was a smooth process for

60 / www.enterprise-africa.net

us. We were already very accustomed to working with and supporting our customers in Africa remotely. We also focused on developing new solutions such as our remote onboarding solutions, digital identity, and the Mojaloop Foundation payment switch offering (that improves financial inclusion) to ensure we can support our customers’ digital enablement journeys,” details Errera.

“We have seen both the demand for new solutions, as well as delays in decision making, as some of our customers reprioritised projects or delayed spending. We have seen demand picking up during 2021 as the need to digitise became a reality for our customers.”

But the changes in workplace activity, albeit relatively straightforward at Sybrin, have been eclipsed as a focus point by recent news of a transaction which will see the company bought out of the EOH Holdings and become part of an exciting new venture set up by an exhilarating new investment team.

EOH Holdings acquired Sybrin in 2013 but announced at the start of June that it would unload the company for R334.4 million. The new ownership group is made up of a global private equity fund One Thousand & One Voices Management (1K1V), South Africabased Crossfin Technology Holdings, and black economic empowerment partners led by Isaac Mophatlane (Cofounder of BCX).

For Sybrin and Errera, this transaction gives new impetus to the company. “The acquisition gives Sybrin the opportunity to grow our footprint in South Africa as well as expand our offering into markets such as the US and the UK,” he says. “From a South African perspective, there are several businesses in the Crossfin stable that provide synergies and new relationships. 1K1V brings a wealth of relationships and knowledge in the US that will provide new routes to market. In addition, Isaac has established several businesses both in

SYBRIN

Salvatore Errera, Head of Product and Innovation

SA and Africa and we will leverage his experience and relationships to grow.”

Crossfin CEO Dean Sparrow said: “We are confident in the growth opportunity of a technology-led financial services sector globally and see considerable cross-selling opportunities within Sybrin’s customer base and across the diverse African countries in which it already has a presence.”

// THE POSITIONING AND FOCUSING OF SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTS IS MAKING A SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE IN ESTABLISHING SYBRIN AS A TRUSTED ADVISOR IN OUR AREAS OF FOCUS //

This fantastic catalyst for further growth comes at the perfect time for Sybrin as it looks to boost its international appeal. Its success in South Africa is clear and the global digital revolution continues to gather pace at an incessant rate making now the perfect window for Sybrin to boom exponentially. Outside of Africa, and South Africa, the next frontier is the Philippines.

“One of the more exciting projects we are working on is our expansion into the Philippines where our Intelligent ID and Liveness Verification components are currently being implemented at one of the country’s largest banks,” explains Errera. “Also, one of the more exciting innovations for Sybrin is our Passive Liveness Verification Component, this component has just been tested for conformance against the FIDO PAI standards by an independent lab as well as ISO 30701-3. We have just received our conformance letter from the Lab, and this will allow us to easily sell and distribute the product in any region across the globe.”

In this business where a culture of creativity is cultivated, the future looks very bright. Sybrin is proving that the often-misunderstood and overlooked world of software development should not be accessible by only the richest businesses around. It should not seem alien, and should be controllable and convenient. As it takes new strides towards its vision, Sybrin continually creates opportunities by partnering with clients in a consultative manner.

“Many organisations are still limited by legacy systems that are often at the core of their operations and pose a significant challenge to achieving effective, enterprise-wide digital transformation. [Sybrin] brings our deep technical and strategic capabilities to advise, design, and accelerate our client’s digital journey,” says Karabo Moloko.

WWW.CORPORATE.SYBRIN.COM

www.enterprise-africa.net / 61

SANJI ELECTRONICS

Intelligently Out-thinking

SA’s Vehicle Villains PRODUCTION: David Napier

By partnering with Sanji Electronics, vehicle manufacturers and fitment centres are helping people protect their investments in an environment where motor crime remains an unwanted hindrance. A commitment to product innovation and ‘old school values’ are what MD Steve Easton attributes the company’s recent success to.

//

Difficult for all, navigable for some, thriving for few. 2020 and everything ever since has been an untidy and unwelcome mess thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic. Leaving even the most secure businesses in tatters, this shock to the system looks to be with us for the foreseeable.

To make things worse, as the outbreak has worn on, and businesses have been impacted beyond belief, official unemployment figures have been fuelled. The result – crime stats have rocketed. Initially, stats slowed as the tightest restrictions were enforced, but as lockdown levels dropped, criminals saw new opportunities.

Thankfully, one company that has been robust during these unpredictable times is Sanji Electronics. In December 2016, Managing Director Steve Easton told Enterprise Africa that this innovative company, known for quality service delivery, was staying ahead of the crime wave by producing state-of-the-

www.enterprise-africa.net / 63

INDUSTRY FOCUS: MANUFACTURING

// WE HAVE A VERY COMPETITIVELY-PRICED PRODUCT BUT, MORE IMPORTANTLY, A VERY RELIABLE PRODUCT // art technology that protects motorists.

“Anyone who has invested heavily in a vehicle needs to protect their investment,” he said.

Today, the company has grown, adapted and diversified and is serving new markets while continuing to protect vehicles from the country’s crooks.

According to Stats SA, almost 100,000 hijackings occurred in 2019/20.

This startling figure was amplified by the fact that just 78% of victims reported the crime to the police, a 7% decrease on the previous year. Clearly, for peace of mind, alternative solutions are needed.

Thankfully, Sanji was one of those few companies that managed to thrive over the past 18-months.

FANTASTIC YEAR “Strangely enough, it’s been a fantastic year for us,” says Easton. “We are very fortunate and I know a lot of our

64 / www.enterprise-africa.net

competition and a lot of industries here are really battling, but we’ve had a fantastic year. Our financial year runs from July to June and this year has been absolutely fantastic.”

He puts this success down to two factors: Exciting new contracts, and diversification into new sectors. Already a partner of OEMs including Hyundai, Kia, Mitsubishi and Mazda, Sanji inked a new partnership agreement with Isuzu to install custom manufactured security products onto vehicles in the Japanese company’s factory in Port Elizabeth. Isuzu Motors South Africa issued Sanji with a Certificate of Recognition, highlighting the company’s ability to deliver quality standards. This comes on top of Sanji’s already achieved ISO9001 accreditation.

“A big part of our success is our work with Isuzu with whom we have been working for many years,” says Easton.

“We work on the bakkie on a contract that we got just before Covid hit. We

started fitting in their factory in June last year and it was a challenge, right in the middle of that difficult period. We managed to do things well and that made a big difference for our numbers.”

Sanji is responsible for the supply of alarm systems and an ultrasonic sensor, all manufactured according to Isuzu internal quality basics (IQB). For Sanji, contracts like this are partnerships to be fostered in the long-term.

DIVERSIFIED STRATEGY ver the company’s history, diversification has been a key growth strategy. Starting out as Sanji Electronics in 1986 – focussed on audio and visual electronics - the company quickly grew into vehicle security. At the time, the audio/visual side of the business was big and vehicle security the up-andcoming arm of the portfolio. “It made no sense to rebrand it at that time,” says Easton.

Eventually, the vehicle security division of the business became Sanji Security and car alarms, immobilisers, and trackers continued to grow in popularity as South African crime stats surged. Today, the security division has

SANJI ELECTRONICS

been rebranded and is now back under the Sanji Electronics banner, offering up a range of specifically designed travel and security related products. “With our diverse business right now, it made sense to go back to Sanji Electronics,” confirms Easton.

In 2015, the company launched the Sanji ZX JamAlert, a product which alerts a driver if the locking signal has been jammed when the ignition is switched off and the car exited. This type of crime saw a dramatic increase in the 2000s as remote controlled central locking became common place. In 2016, the company added the popular ZX WheelAlert product to its range, a system which triggers an alarm if the cars spare wheel is tampered with. In 2017, the ZX70 MK-2-CL-J and ZX70 MK2-CL-J-NS alarm products were released and hailed as a new era in

prevention of car theft thanks to built in remote jamming technology. Later in the same year, Journey Organiser (JO) was added to make use of GPS applications and Bluetooth tech.

“When you submit your returns and claim tax, this is an electronic logbook that connects to your phone and keeps your journeys and km travelled up to date. It didn’t make sense selling it as a security product and that was a big factor in us rebranding to Sanji Electronics again,” explains Easton.

“We also developed and are now marketing the JO Corporate system for company team members administrators.

The JO Corporate will seamlessly manage, rate and incentivise your sales, technical and merchandising staff. When your employees get into a rut, it can be difficult for them to stay motivated and engaged. An incentive plan can breathe

life back into their work and help managers keep their teams engaged.

A well-designed incentive plan can help boost morale and create a positive corporate culture.

“JO Corporate gives you the power to manage, rate and incentivise your vehicle-based staff and is an intelligent system that will compare your team with simplicity and ease. The clear and straightforward JO Corporate reporting will give you a clear understanding of what is going on in the field, and it will allow you to manage and reward your staff regularly. Administrators will receive daily, weekly and monthly reports via email and can generate customised reports from the admin console at any time,” he adds.

2018 saw the launch of the JMP12, a vehicle jump starter device made with universal application in mind,

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www.enterprise-africa.net / 65

INDUSTRY FOCUS: MANUFACTURING

able to start different types of car and also charge other electronic devices.

In the last 18 months, the JMP12 and the JO have received updates to make them applicable to more vehicles and different users. The ongoing invention at Sanji comes as a result of its close relations with clients and understanding their needs. By rolling out a range of products to local market clients, Sanji has grown significantly.

“We have grown significantly, probably by around 10%,” says Easton.

“Our local market has grown exponentially and we have gained a number of local fitment centres

// IN THESE TIMES, EVERYONE IS USING COVID AS AN EXCUSE; WE DON’T DO THAT. WE ARE STILL HERE BECAUSE PEOPLE TRUST US //

66 / www.enterprise-africa.net

which is where we are very strong.

We have a very competitively-priced product but, more importantly, a very reliable product. There have been some products in South Africa that have had some technical issues. We have done extremely well by gaining some dealers that in the past have used our competition and who are now streaming over to us. Our local dealer base has grown exponentially. When things start stabilising, our numbers and sales will increase naturally,” he adds.

Sanji was closed in April and May 2020 as a result of the lockdown restrictions. “Last year was tough for us,” admits Easton. When the workforce returned, it was with certain limitations.

However, previous adjustments to the company’s infrastructure lessened the impact of the shutdown, especially for employees.

“We took some initiatives around three years ago where we had a massive building in Kyalami with two companies running out of it. One was not costeffective and we closed it,” details Easton.

“We then moved into a more suitable building and we saved money, gearing

// WE ARE VERY FORTUNATE AND I KNOW A LOT OF OUR COMPETITION AND A LOT OF INDUSTRIES HERE ARE REALLY BATTLING, BUT WE’VE HAD A FANTASTIC YEAR // up for growth. The old saying of ‘a new broom sweeps clean’ was true for us.

When we moved in here, business turned. Our staff were happier, and we could see that confidence was improved.

It felt strange being in a massive building and only occupying 75% of it.

“It’s been positive all around. We have a positive team. Sanji is privatelyowned by the Gerber Goldschmidt Group and Management, but it is run like a family business where everyone is happy.”

SANJI ELECTRONICS

POSITIVE SPARK This spark of positivity - even in the current conditions where Covid-19 remains an ongoing threat - runs throughout the business, from HQ in Midrand, across regional offices in Cape Town and Durban.

For Easton, the future is certainly bright. “Our projections for the next year is to grow by another 10%. We want to diversify and we are always looking for something new.”

Figures until the end of June underline his positivity. “We have achieved what we wanted to so far this year. We will actually likely overachieve on our goals so, under the circumstances, we are moving in the right direction. That also comes with a lot of our exports drying up because of the pandemic, so it’s all local which is great.”

Recently, in a bid to further boost the company’s international exposure, Sanji appointed a business development manager focussed on growing development in Africa. alongside geographical expansion, the produce range will also grow.

“We are busy with research and development around new products but I cannot divulge right now. We are working on a number of things.

Our core business is vehicle security and we have expanded on that.

Without giving away too much, we will be releasing some value-adding products,” Easton smiles.

This is a business that takes its position at the cutting edge of automotive security very seriously.

According to the Institute for Security Studies, crime numbers dip during lockdown level four and five, but shoot up again very quickly when restrictions are removed. Trust in police and reporting of crimes remains low, and private security companies are centred around guarding of people and homes, with vehicles a secondary priority.

OEMs, dealerships, and local fitment centres now shoulder some

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responsibility for security and Sanji has proven itself the perfect partner.

“The biggest thing is that we have been around for 36 years and it shows that we still work with old school values and principles – we stick to our word, and that is why we are still around. There are a lot of fly-by-night, come and go companies; we are sustainable, run the right way – we pay our bills on time. In these times, everyone is using Covid as an excuse; we don’t do that. We are still here because people trust us. We are a household name and quality is paramount for us – we are renowned for it. Our customer and after-sales service is first class. We are regularly complemented for it. Times are hard, people are battling with cash flow. If you buy something and you have a problem, it must be sorted very quickly.

We are recognised for reacting very quickly and that is what we have built the business on,” summates Easton.

Sanji, a B-BBEE Level 3 Contributor, continues to do all it can to help its clients and their customers to protect their assets, and use innovative electronic devices to solve common problems on South Africa’s roads. Where some have crashed as a result of the pandemic, Sanji drives forward, brining new ideas and optimism. This is without doubt a company that the country can be both proud of and thankful for.

WWW.SANJI.CO.ZA

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FLSMIDTH

Cleaner, Greener

Building Blocks of Life PRODUCTION: William Denstone

FLSmidth is an international supplier of sustainable solutions and services to the global mining and cement industries. A long and distinguished history since 1882 is heading into a greener future courtesy of MissionZero, a monumental project to enable its customers to produce cement and process minerals with zero environmental impact by 2030. www.enterprise-africa.net / 69

INDUSTRY FOCUS: ENGINEERING

//

Economic growth and urbanisation are driving increasing demand for cement and minerals in improved infrastructure, renewable energy options, electric cars and alternative energy.

“Minerals and cement are all around us,” FLSmidth points out, “and we play a key role in delivering sustainable productivity to the global mining and cement industries to support this.” The company is established around the globe and employs nearly 10,700 employees, spread across more than 60 countries.

“We are the market-leading supplier of sustainable technology, equipment, and service solutions,” FLSmidth declares. “Our core strengths and competencies are reflected in our market-leading technology, extensive product range, our ability to execute projects, and our unmatched services to mineral processing and cement plants worldwide.”

PRACTICE CHANGES PERCEPTIONS Its longevity and many years of experience is what Deon de Kock, President Sub-Saharan Africa, Middle East & South Asia, believes gives FLSmidth an enviable vantage point to see ahead of the curve and construct a brighter, greener future.

“We are a global supplier to the

mining and the cement industry,” de Kock outlines. “We’ve been in existence for over 135 years, so we have seen the signs of the times that have indicated that the green agenda, and green industrialisation, will become increasingly the reality for us and others in our space.”

The historic public perception of

Norcem Brevik Heidelberg Cement Plant

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FLSMIDTH

mining and cement is that of two major carbon culprits, he continues. “We were under real pressure in the recent past, say 10 to 15 years ago, when people viewed mining and cement as the biggest contributors to pollution and to carbon emissions.

“Interestingly, though, if you consider the increased demand for electric cars, wind turbines or battery minerals - all of which are needed for the green transition - most elements require copper, cobalt, lithium or nickel and also cement used in the foundation of huge wind turbines which of course has to be mined and produced. Most of these commodities are actually in undersupply at present due to the high demand at this critical point in the transition.

“We provide sustainable productivity solutions to our clients so that they in turn can provide the copper, the battery minerals and the cement to drive the green agenda.”

This realisation of mining and cement working hand in hand with the green drive, has caused a big change of mindset across both the public and shareholders. “The question is not whether we will process minerals or produce cement, because these are so vital to achieving the progress we all want,” de Kock affirms. “The question is how fast we can transition the industries to produce it in a sustainable and clean manner.”

ZERO CARBON DRIVE With growing populations, a larger middle class, and a transition to greener energy, the demand for cement and minerals will only increase in the next decade. “A more sustainable future requires action from the industries,” FLSmidth sets out. “With MissionZero, we take the lead in bringing these industries into a sustainable future.”

Announced in November 2019, its pioneering sustainability programme aims to provide zero-emission technology to the mining and cement

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INDUSTRY FOCUS: ENGINEERING

industry. “Of course, we have our own ambitions with regards what we want to do, purely as FLSmidth, in terms of our operations becoming carbon neutral,” de Kock says.

“MissionZero is our sustainability ambition, enabling cement and mining customers to move towards zero emissions, 100% fuel substitution and zero water waste by 2030. Mission Zero is our unique value proposition - we look at water preservation, reducing water usage and carbon emissions as well as alternative energy

and fuel sources, in order to reduce the impact on the environment. Our mission is to provide sustainable productivity solutions.”

Over its lifetime, FLSmidth has gained an unparalleled reputation around the globe for innovative thinking, highly-advanced technology and immense process knowledge across multiple industries.

“Apart from the increase in legislation and external pressure on us to drive this new agenda, from our own perspective and

Deon de Kock, President Sub-Saharan Africa, Middle East & South Asia

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ambition, we also want to utilise our technology, experience and resources to create something as important as MissionZero,” de Kock outlines.

“Our own ambitions, sense of responsibility towards the environment and sustainable productivity solutions tie in well with the obligations of mining companies and cement producers of the future.”

These impressive words have been backed by a flurry of activity on FLSmidth’s part, firstly at Heidelberg Cement’s Norcem Brevik project in Norway. As an example, to support the green transition of cement, FLSmidth is providing the necessary plant modifications and equipment allowing for downstream CO2 removal. Final commissioning is scheduled for the first half of 2024.

Carbon capture is considered to be one of the key technologies in solving the CO2 emission challenges in hard-to-abate sectors, like cement.

Heidelberg Cement’s Norcem Brevik plant is now prepared to become the first cement producer in the world to move from test into full-scale production after years of preparation together with FLSmidth and other technology providers.

Most recently FLSmidth was contracted to provide equipment to French cement producer, Vicat, at their site in France, to cut CO2 emissions by up to 16% in what is set to become Europe’s first full-scale clay calcination installation.

Replacing traditional, resourceintensive clinker is a key technology in eliminating traditional cement production’s environmental footprint, underlined Carsten Riisberg Lund, FLSmidth’s Cement Industry President. “The significance of this order cannot be underestimated; Vicat is setting a new standard for green cement in Europe.”

Carbon capture is another essential element in achieving a sustainable global cement industry,

FLSMIDTH

and FLSmidth recently partnered with UK-based Carbon8 Systems (C8S) to extend the reach of C8S’s carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) solution, already deployed by Vicat at its French plant.

“This agreement is a significant leap forward in our joint efforts to deliver on the sustainability ambitions for the global cement industry,” added Riisberg Lund. “The combination of C8S’ advanced carbonation technology and our extensive process knowledge will make a significant contribution to the cement industry’s Net Zero ambitions.”

Digitalisation is key to the success of this drive, de Kock rounds off. “The technology and products that we own, combined with digitalisation and our expertise, gives us the competitive advantage and makes us unique. The other players may have one or the other, but we have the whole package.”

DIGITAL KEY TO FUTURE “Digital is the prerequisite for two crucial success criteria – productivity and sustainability,” opines FLSmidth’s Chief Digital Officer, Mikko Tepponen. “Our MissionZero sustainability ambition is simply not achievable without digital solutions and optimisation.”

At a time when energy costs, over-capacity and new environmental regulations are major concerns to many plant owners, digitalisation presents massive opportunities for the cement industry. At Kirene in Senegal, Chinese construction giant CBMI Construction ordered the supply and engineering of three complete control systems for two existing and one new cement line, citing FLSmidth’s combination of extensive process knowledge and digital solutions that integrate across different equipment suppliers.

“This order reaffirms our strong digital expertise,” assessed Jens Adler, General Manager in Group Digital at FLSmidth. “Digitalisation is transforming

how many respond to increasing demands for emission reductions and efficiency, and is reflected in the emphasis on digital solutions as part of our MissionZero ambition.”

In Africa, meanwhile, FLSmidth has made headlines recently as the preferred provider of four large bolted thickeners, to achieve optimal water balance in a customer’s mineral processing plant.

“Most recently we have also been selected to supply six filter presses in India, for a big iron ore plant to optimise water usage, by means of water separation, preservation and recirculation,” says de Kock.

At the forefront is where FLSmidth has spent its lifetime, pioneering technology and initiatives to clean up the industry and increase productivity,

and de Kock feels that we are on the brink of halcyon days for the company.

“We are optimistic about mining prospects as a whole,” he wraps up, “as well as the growth and increased capacity that will be required on our part to support our clients in producing the commodities and cement which are very much in demand.

“Driven by urbanisation and global development propelling the need of base metals, we are seeing the dawn of a strong upward cycle for mining. It will happen, maybe not on the same scale as in 2008-2014, but it is definitely upon us.”

WWW.FLSMIDTH.COM

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RAUBEX

A Record-Breaking Resurgence for Raubex PRODUCTION: Benjamin Southwold

One of South Africa’s leading infrastructure development and construction materials supply groups, Raubex draws on nearly half a century in the heavy construction sector to continually excel as a world-class player. A record order book, multiple innovative projects coinciding with a concerted government push towards infrastructure development are all leading Raubex in its charge to become the African industry leader.

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INDUSTRY FOCUS: CONSTRUCTION

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Founded by industry legend Koos Raubenheimer in 1974, Raubex’s complete service is made possible by the complementing offerings of its three divisions - Roads, Infrastructure and Materials - combining to employ almost 8000 people across the group.

Established as an Africa-leading diversified heavy engineering company, Raubex Group’s success in infrastructure development has led to a portfolio numbering projects from road construction and rehabilitation to urban reticulation and infrastructure, construction of renewable energy facilities and mining services, including materials handling and ore beneficiation.

SIGNIFICANT SECTOR SPENDING While the SA construction industry keenly felt the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, growth of 6.1% in real terms is still forecast in 2021, a vast improvement on the 16.5% contraction in 2020.

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This has been buoyed significantly by the government announcement of a 10-year infrastructure investment plan worth ZAR2.3 trillion (US$124.7 billion), with funds pledged to the housing, energy, agriculture, transport, water and sanitation and digital infrastructure sectors.

For Raubex, despite the

understandable unease which is accompanying its future forays in this toughest of sectors, the green shoots of this promised investment make the overwhelming feeling one of opportunity.

“Government’s intention is to invest in infrastructure to get the economy moving,” CEO Rudolf Fourie

RAUBEX

told Daily Maverick, and Raubex is well-positioned to benefit as one of the few listed construction firms of scale still standing after the trials of the past 10 years.

A decade ago, Raubex was the seventh largest JSE-listed construction firm, falling outside of the so-called ‘Big Five’. Today, it, Stefanutti and WBHO are still standing.

Maintaining its investment in ‘people and plant’ during the lockdown came at a cost, but means that, crucially, the company is now poised and ready to scale up as demand increases. “Tenders for

infrastructure mega-projects are slowly coming on stream, and there are just a handful of companies that can do the work,” Chantal Marx, head of Investment Research at FNB Wealth and Investments, states of the bounteous prospects ahead. “Raubex is well positioned.”

In 2019 investment in infrastructure spending saw its first uptick for three years, and while the pandemic brought things to a temporary and, for some ruinous, standstill, the change is now noticeable for Raubex.

“We have tendered on 70 projects

// WE ARE NOT FOCUSED ON RUN-OF-THE MILL PROJECTS AND ARE KNOWN FOR OUR ABILITY TO CONSTANTLY SHIFT BOUNDARIES //

ranging in size from R50-million to R1-billion in the last four months.

Sanral is back. The big water boards are back. It looks like a clear intention by government to invest,” Fourie says, with the two major contract awards

by Sanral alone totalling a value of R2.87-billion.

RECORD ORDER BOOK “Raubex is renowned for its healthy balance sheet and strong cash flows,” Marx adds, “and this puts it in a very comfortable position.” This is crucial when it comes to the award of megaprojects, and what separates the major players from those beneath them: a balance sheet that can support hefty guarantees on the part of the contracting company.

Mercifully, Raubex’s is in rude health, with its secured order book at

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INDUSTRY FOCUS: CONSTRUCTION

unprecedented, record levels following a recovery during the second half of the financial year. Its value has rocketed by 68.9% to R17.1-billion, from the previous R10.1-billion, backed by further significant unsecured contract opportunities, tendered and pending adjudication.

The group stresses that it will participate in these projects from both a construction and material supply perspective, and the current picture is further evidence of the resilience for which it has become renowned.

Raubex’s finance costs decreased to R22 million from R34.3 million in the prior year. Cash generated from operations increased by 68.2% to R1.33 billion from R790.2 million in the previous year, before finance charges and taxation, with the strong cash generation during the year attributable to a decrease in working capital.

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The group had a net cash inflow for the year of R872.1 million, and total cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year of R1.88 billion up from R1.01 billion during the prior year.

“We are further encouraged by the good recovery that was made by the group in the second half of the year, a significant increase in tender activity and some major construction contracts that were awarded to the group,” Rudolf Fourie assessed.

“With the secured order book now at a record level, the group’s strong management team, supported by a healthy balance sheet, position Raubex well for future growth.”

PROJECTS PROGRESS AT PACE Two of Raubex’s most high-profile building projects have hit the headlines in recent months. The expertise of Raubex Building, an

integral part of the Raubex Group’s infrastructure division, has dealt a big boost to the renewal of Johannesburg’s city centre, via the refurbishment of Union Square, a 19-storey block at 80 Plein Street in the heart of the original central business district.

“The building was previously an office block, and is being repurposed for residential use,” explains Juan Jardim, senior site manager when delineating the project’s innovations and challenges. “This means the installation of considerably more walling and other infrastructure than the building was initially designed for.”

At street level, the ground floor will be used as retail space, while each of the first to 19th floors accommodates 18 residential units, ranging from bachelor flats to fourroom communal cluster units.

RAUBEX

“This project provided us with another opportunity to support local participation,” Jardim says, “with the use of local labour and to train small local businesses, mainly in carpentry, specialised walling system installation,

// WITH THE SECURED ORDER BOOK NOW AT A RECORD LEVEL, THE GROUP’S STRONG MANAGEMENT TEAM POSITION RAUBEX WELL FOR FUTURE GROWTH //

tiling, brickwork, plastering, painting and electrical work.”

Also nearing completion for Raubex Building is a high-security block in the Jewellery Manufacturing Precinct (JMP), a project of the Gauteng Growth and Development Agency (GGDA) and part of the Gauteng Industrial Development Zone (GIDZ). A key part of a mixed-use master plan incorporating industryspecific facilities for precious metal and gold beneficiation, the project has required a core team of 40 staff on site and a total complement of as many as 200 at peak time.

“We are not focused on runof-the mill projects and are known for our ability to constantly shift the boundaries on niche projects with high time constraints, difficult terrain or projects that are technically

complex,” Raubex Infrastructure says, and this success has yet again proved it true to its word. The complexity of the building, a result of both the high-security environment and the different requirements of the tenants, has demanded close collaboration and endless innovation.

“With its emphasis on security, this was certainly not a conventional project,” site manager Dwayne Nunez underlines. “Our success to date demonstrates the expertise within Raubex Building, and our ability to communicate effectively with our partners to accommodate the project’s more complex elements.”

WWW.RAUBEX.CO.ZA

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LEMCO

Turnkey Structural Steel Diversification PRODUCTION: Karl Pietersen

Laubscher Engineering and Manufacturing Company (LEMCO) is a leading family-run structural steel business, active in South Africa for more than 50 years. After a strong period of growth, the company is now diversifying and consolidating, positioning itself for a changing future in the country.

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In September 2018, one of the Western Cape’s most prominent structural steel businesses was booming. LEMCO, a family business established in 1967 by Pieter Laubscher, was busy erecting steel buildings across multiple sites, bringing its well-recognised brand of quality to customers old and new, but always with the same result – complete satisfaction.

Andries Laubscher, second generation family leader, explained that by partnering with clients on an EPC basis and simplifying the construction process, LEMCO could deliver projects at large scale, high quality, affordable cost, and with speedy turnaround.

Over the last three years, the economic climate in South Africa has deteriorated further – fuelled by the pandemic. But LEMCO has continued to position itself as the partner of choice for structural steel. At the same time, a diversification strategy has helped Andries and Pieter, the Laubscher brothers at the helm of the business, to remain happy with circumstances.

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“We have increased our footprint and we now have a 3500m2 production area. We have a 250m2 sand blasting booth, and 750m2 for paint,” Andries Laubscher tells Enterprise Africa.

The company has a portfolio of work dating back decades, listing major brands among clients. The likes of Takealot, Number Two Piggeries, Seaflower Group, GRI, Stikland Industrial Park, Apollo Air, Best Cheer Stone, GoGo Fruit, Alexandershoek Boerdery, and many more have trusted LEMCO to deliver industrial units, distribution centres, agricultural sheds and barns, shopping centres, showrooms, retail developments and more.

The Chalala pig farm from Number Two Piggeries in Malmesbury is a great demonstration of LEMCO’s abilities. Large, robust, weatherproof steel structures that cover vast tracts of land in an agricultural setting is bread and butter for the company.

LEMCO was active on a portion of this project in 2018, and it continues to expand three years on.

“The client has kept us very busy and we have probably done in excess of 45 football fields under roof. Right now, everything is finished and we are waiting for the next one. There seems to be no intention on their side of stopping so we are confident on continued involvement in future projects. We certainly deliver excellent service and great pricing, and it seems to be working,” details Andries.

Word of mouth is important in construction, and for LEMCO this has helped the business grow into sub-Saharan Africa, exporting structural steel products far and wide to country’s including Namibia and Kenya, and even Somalia.

The nature of the product from LEMCO lends itself to export. Designed to be simple for construction teams, components fit together without the need for extensive welding and complex engineering.

This concept has also been taken into the property development space by the Laubschers and is providing decent margins.

Stikland Industrial Park

INDUSTRY FOCUS: CONSTRUCTION

DEVELOPMENT “We are involved in light industrial mini units,” explains Andries. “You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to run a project like that and for us, coming from the structural steel industry, we already do a quarter of a property project’s Rand value. The rest, we manage ourselves and use subcontractors. If you take everything together, including what you pay for the land and the work we put in priced as cheap as possible, there is a good margin in it.”

Slowly, the company is building a portfolio which is helping to drive residual income and providing stability during the pandemic where work in the general construction industry was put on hold.

“We have reached a bit of a ceiling and, in terms of personnel, we reduced by around 15-20% over the past year, and I don’t see that picking up soon.

For 2020 and 2021, we sustained our growth by starting to diversify and starting to enter the property development market,” says Andries.

“Obviously, we had some declines in work but, all things considered and

compared to what I see with other contractors, we are still well off and very blessed. I do see that the market we operate in – the production of steel – is in a lot of stress. We are very blessed with the clientele and market that we service. Probably 95% of our work we do is design and supply. That gives you a little more margin as you sell a bottom line on a project, but when you tender with several other hungry companies for the same work, the guys who only work

in that market will die a slow death.

“Steel itself will always be our big cash flow generator but to sustain in the future, development will be a good avenue and that has been proven over the last three years,” he adds.

Asked whether the future holds more of a focus on the traditional structural steel business, built by the family over the past half century, or whether property development will become the core focus for

Apollo Air

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LEMCO

Alexandershoek Boerdery

LEMCO, Andries is keen on the idea of consolidation while South Africa rides out the pandemic and refocuses its attention on reviving a critically unstable economy.

“I think we will focus as a core on expanding the property development arm of the business and we will look to utilise key personnel across both sides of the business to tap both skillsets. Then, we will consolidate what we have and look to achieve the average margins we have for the past three years and we can then take that to develop property as cheaply as possible. We have kept everything we have built so far but hopefully in the future we can sell some too.

“When you start to get rental income, it become very addictive,” he adds. “In construction, you have to do something to get something. In rental, you start small and you keep building up and then you get the rental income at the month end; and then you can do another building - it becomes a snowball effect. We generate good profit if the right structural steel job comes along and we have good rental income on the property side. We will continue with this and consolidate what we have. We are a family-owned

business and so we are not forced to shoot for the moon. We are able to work hard and be comfortable.”

HIGH-PROFIT, HIGH-QUALITY Consolidation is a key strategy for most right now, with the uncertainty in the South African economy present before the pandemic seemingly shot into overdrive, businesses must ensure long-term sustainability, and this can mean a period of consolidation before revisiting long-held growth strategies and ambitions.

“We want to sustain our profit by doing less work with less people.

Rather than doing 10 projects for a mixed gross profit on each, we would rather do three large projects with bigger gross profit to maintain the same profit at the end of the year. We intend to sustain the profit quantity and not profit margin, but that can mean us facing less turnover in years to come. To achieve that, you have to throw a wide net. We have experience working around the south of Africa and so are happy to price on jobs, even they are further away from us,” says Andries.

The often-essential work carried out by LEMCO has and will continue

despite the pandemic, and with demand unabating from all industry sectors looking for a design and supply offering that is focused on quality, now is an interesting turning point in the history of the company.

Using all of the market knowledge held in the company, the decision to diversify into property development - while focussing on key, high-profit, high-quality projects - will drive LEMCO in the future as the company repositions for a post-pandemic environment. One thing is certain, quality and customer satisfaction will remain at the heart of everything this proudly South African company does.

“Structural steel is designed to be simple. That is why we like to work on EPC contracts. We can do the design and fit that design to suit our equipment.

My father always said ‘never adapt your labour force to the work, adapt your work to the labour force’. We make things simple and there is not a lot that can go wrong, that is why we have returning customers and a reputation for quality,” Andries concludes.

WWW.LEMCO.CO.ZA

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SQUARE KILOMETRE ARRAY (SKA)

Extra-terrestrial Questions Require Extraordinary Machines PRODUCTION: William Denstone

While it may seem too easy today to label something ‘life changing’, the SKA project is exactly that. One of the true great scientific advancements of our time, it is a global undertaking designed to offer an unprecedented understanding of our universe and solve some of the biggest questions in the field of astronomy. Almost 30 years in the planning, lift off is finally looming for the biggest telescope on Earth.

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What did the Universe look like when the first galaxies formed?

What exactly is ‘dark energy’?

Is it really driving apart the cosmos at an accelerating rate? Is there other life out there? All questions which have perplexed the public and scholars alike through the ages, and which could stand to finally be answered.

The unprecedented sensitivity of the SKA’s thousands of individual radio receivers combine to create the world’s largest radio telescope, a unique configuration giving it unrivalled scope in observations.

For astronomers, this means insight into the formation and evolution of the first stars and galaxies after the Big Bang, the role of cosmic magnetism, the nature of gravity and possibly even life beyond Earth.

“The scale of the SKA represents a

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huge leap forward in both engineering and research and development towards building and delivering a unique instrument,” the organisation states, “born of the ambition to explore the cosmic dawn and designed to study extreme events and reveal the hidden fabric of space.”

NEW ERA, NEW BRAND Signalling a new chapter in the SKA Project’s history, the newly born SKA Observatory (SKAO) brand was unveiled following approval by the SKAO Council in April this year. The SKAO now joins a select group of intergovernmental organisations dedicated to fundamental research, and is only the second such organisation to be dedicated to astronomy.

“The SKA Observatory will transform our understanding of the

universe by building and operating cutting-edge radio telescopes, benefitting society through collaboration and innovation,” it summates.

Following several years of intricate and groundbreaking design work, the newly created Observatory will oversee the construction and operation of two telescopes over the next decade.

These will be the two most advanced radio telescope networks on Earth and promise to answer fundamental questions about the Universe.

“SKA has reached a significant point in its journey that has already seen some incredible milestones,” states SKAO Director-General Prof. Philip Diamond, of the project that has been more than 30 years in the formulation to reach this juncture. Two decades on from the development of the original SKA brand,

SARAO MeerKAT Cluster

INDUSTRY FOCUS: SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

the project has grown monumentally in scope and ambition and gone through major changes.

“We wanted this process to be as inclusive as possible from the start, to reflect collectively on the fundamentals of our new observatory,” explains William Garnier, the SKAO’s Director of Communications of this five-year collaborative process.

“I am extremely pleased with where we landed, and feel this brand we are launching today truly reflects who we are and who we are meant to become as a global observatory.”

THE RIGHT DIRECTION “The SKA Observatory has an unprecedented opportunity to position itself as the global research infrastructure with the broadest overall impact of any currently in planning or implementation,” the organisation continues, and the appointment of its telescope directors in both Australia and South Africa sees two widely respected figures in the field become the most

senior SKAO operations representatives in the telescope host countries.

“This is a unique and exciting opportunity to establish the SKA Observatory team in Australia and help deliver the world’s next generation radio telescopes,” enthused Dr Sarah Pearce, currently Acting Chief Scientist of Australia’s national science agency CSIRO and set to head up the SKAO’s lowfrequency telescope in Australia.

SARAO MeerKAT Silhouette

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“I’m honoured to continue my work on the SKA Project in this new role, and I look forward to building a long-lasting partnership between the SKA Observatory and CSIRO.” Dr Lindsay Magnus, meanwhile, is currently Head of Operations at the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO), and now will be the director of the SKAO’s mid-frequency telescope in South Africa. “As a South African,” Magnus said, “I am proud to have been chosen to play a key role in the realisation of this iconic international scientific instrument.

I am humbled to undertake this task to transform as many lives as possible in South Africa as well as the rest of the world.”

The pair, bringing a wealth of experience and technical prowess including in managing and operating SKA precursor facilities, will establish and lead the SKAO’s operations in their respective countries as the telescope systems are distributed across several locations.

“I am delighted to welcome Dr Pearce and Dr Magnus as our SKAO telescope directors, both of whom are highly regarded professionals in our field,” says SKAO Director-General Prof. Phil Diamond.

“Their expertise on the SKA Project, deep knowledge of the telescope sites and related infrastructure, and of course their established relationships with our partner organisations in each country means they will be able to hit the ground running as we begin the Construction Phase this year.”

SQUARE KILOMETRE ARRAY (SKA)

CONSTRUCTION IS COMING Having sailed through its System Critical Design Review in December 2019, a series of independent external panels have now examined the detailed design, costing, future operations plan and business support functions of the SKA, approving its overall readiness to move from planning to construction.

On the operations side, one major independent review looked at the plan to operate and maintain the telescopes to ensure the collection, processing and delivery of data to the international science community. The second assessed the business-enabling functions needed to support the future SKA Observatory in delivering on its mission.

“Both operations reviews have shown that SKAO is as well prepared as you can be at this stage of the project for the future operation of the Observatory,” outlined Dr Andreas Kaufer, Director of Operations for the European Southern Observatory (ESO).

“The responses of the team to the review boards’ questions demonstrated a deep understanding of the issues and challenges ahead.”

Successfully navigating these reviews and audits gives extra confidence to decision-makers to approve funding for construction later this year, and to the SKA teams across the partnership, as well as the science community at large, that the project

is ready to be propelled into the stratosphere.

“I’m proud our teams were able to conduct these major reviews with such a positive outcome in the middle of a pandemic,” said Dr Lewis Ball, SKA Director of Operations. “It’s been a very intense period of a few months, but we couldn’t have delivered these results without the years of work behind it by people at the SKA Organisation.”

Dr Joseph McMullin, SKA Programme Director, concluded: “We’ve done all the planning, now it’s time to deliver.”

WWW.SKATELESCOPE.ORG

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Paul Simon and Arie Fabian

WE ARE EGG

Hatching a New Reality

for Local Retail PRODUCTION: Timothy Reeder

Bricks and mortar dead? Not a chance, says Paul Simon, whose groundbreaking platform is reimagining retail in South Africa for local creators and brands. “We are a unique, omni-channel experience that collaborates, co-creates and co-evolves,” We Are EGG proudly sets forth.

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“Retail has been in my blood for as long as I can remember,” pronounces Paul Simon, founder of We Are EGG, a fiery passion that spurred him to make his name with his original Young Designers Emporium (YDE) business at just 21.

This venture sees him continue his courtship with the world of South African clothing production and retail, and just as his vastly popular Über Flavour craft beverage brand was conceived as he waited to board a flight, Simon again took inspiration from real-world observations, this time pounding the pavements consulting for some of South Africa’s biggest shopping centre groups.

TREND SPOTTER “Even pre-Covid people were approaching for ideas and insight,” he says of the demand for his and his business partner, Arie Fabian’s, expertise, “telling us that tenancies were drying up, while e-commerce continued to cannibalise the market and brick and mortar retail was dying.

“We did a deep-dive into retail in the South African context,” he elaborates of the ensuing project, “specifically the mall environment. We walked pretty much every mall in the country and found that, firstly, there are too many in South Africa.

“Now, I am an entrepreneur, not a magician, so there is not too much that I can do about that but

what I felt was lacking from the mall environment was innovation and creativity, of which we have an abundance here in South Africa.

“Instead, on the whole, the shopping centres have chosen to approach the major listed companies each with an umbrella of brands under them, and just let to all of those stores.

Naturally, all the malls therefore look exactly the same, with the same offering. There was no creativity or innovation at all,” he observes.

BROKEN BUSINESS MODEL So broken did he feel this model to be, Simon left no ambiguity when it came to delivering his findings. “I walked into the first meeting afterwards and just

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Get Even

with dark marks & hyperpigmentation.

skoonskin.com     

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had to say to a wide-eyed audience, ‘guys, your business model is broken.

You’re blocking out innovators and creators, and basically all SMEs.’ “I posited myself as a fashion designer making t-shirts, and suddenly my product is the hottest thing in the country,” he tells us of the assembly. “I’m selling hundreds of thousands of units on Facebook and Instagram, at weekend markets and at pop-up stores, and I decide that I am now ready for the mainstream in an A-grade mall.

“I arrive to be handed a lease document I don’t understand, wherein lies the first problem. Any innovators, creators and SMEs who don’t just drop off at this stage find that the lease agreements are traditionally very onerous and one-sided.

“Covid means that you now need to sign a five to seven year lease, and lay down six months rental in advance.

Landlords are demanding shop fits to the value of millions of Rands to their exact specifications.”

Therein lies the first main cause of these exciting talents being effectively blocked out of the system.

“The second thing the data from my research showed was that rather than e-commerce cannibalising bricks and mortar, it simply needs to pivot and integrate better - the two actually work optimally together. There are numerous examples both domestically and internationally - even the forefathers of e-comm, Amazon, are now opening stores.”

// WE ARE A TRUE OMNI-CHANNEL RETAILER, OFFERING OUR PARTNERS IN BOTH THE DIGITAL AND THE BRICK AND MORTAR SPACE //

WE ARE EGG

Customer journey and experiential retail have been two things that have never been far from the tips of retail tongues since 1995 and Simon’s own first retail store. “I challenged the landlords to walk around any mall and show me someone who is creating an experience for the customer,” he says of this sorely lacking element.

“It is absolutely imperative and another thing that limits the ability of e-commerce to take over in the way that we so often hear.

“This is what I said is missing from the retail environment both locally and abroad.”

SOLUTION His meticulous process unearthed an incredible wealth of information and insight, turning the retail space on its head for those assembled, but now they naturally wanted to know - did Simon have a solution?

“Well, actually we did,” he confirms.

“It was a little unfortunate, but one of our big department stores locally in Claremont, Cape Town was going into liquidation, and I suggested that we try something that has never been done before.”

This proposal was the genesis of We Are EGG. “We showed the landlord that partnering with us and owning 50% would give a better return than from letting to tens of little independents with fairly high failure rates. We set up a platform, not just for SMEs, but for established brands as well, in an entirely new business model.”

Reinventing this wheel entails We Are EGG supplying the full retail offering to a brand - shop fitting, staff, electricity, everything - all the brand needs to provide is the product, and gone are the days of long leases to rent the spaces.

“I believe in a win-win,” Simon explains.

“Our partners can give a month’s notice to cancel if it isn’t working for them, but vice-versa too, if the brand isn’t giving us the product that the consumer wants.”

Over the 3000m2 of retail space We Are EGG proudly hosts a glorious array of from wellness, food, fashion, beauty and homeware from more than 250 partners, 82% of whom are currently local South African and SMEs. Not to omit, of course, the all-important experiential aspects like customisation bars where local South African artists create before consumers’ eyes.

A stunning centre court is proudly reserved purely for one-off creative

endeavours. “This is something completely different, that I haven’t even seen in an overseas environment,” Simon says, “these are completely personalised and impossible to take part in shopping online from begin a screen.

“We are a true omni-channel retailer, offering our partners a space in both the digital and the brick and mortar space.”

It is perhaps premature to speak yet of a ‘post-Covid’ environment, but as we do emerge We Are EGG is allowing unprecedented exposure and opportunities to creators. “We’re giving a platform into a formalised, A-grade spot in one of the top shopping centres in the country, which they never could have accessed before” Simon proudly states.

“Everything comes from an egg, and we believe that we are re-hatching retail within the South African environment,” he concludes. “We believe that this business model, and the offering that we have created, makes Egg the retail of the future.”

WWW.WEAREEGG.CO.ZA

CHAS EVERITT

Ahead of the Curve

and Thriving SPONSORED BY: Chas Everitt

Chas Everitt International property group has cemented its position as a real estate industry leader in South Africa by continuously investing in the technologies and fostering the capabilities that really proved worth during the recent tough Covid-19 lockdowns. CEO Berry Everitt tells Enterprise Africa about thriving in this important South African sector.

//

‘Luck is the residue of design’ – during the Covid pandemic, while many have searched for that bit of luck to stay afloat, true business leaders were busy making their own luck long before the March 27 lockdown. In 2016, Berry Everitt, CEO at the Chas Everitt International property group (Chas Everitt) – a leading South African real estate company – told Enterprise Africa that the company was investing heavily in new digital solutions to adapt to a new environment in which lightweight digital solutions would be imperative.

In 2017, Everitt explained that the first project had been completed and a smooth transition on to a new platform had allowed the company to become more efficient than ever.

Today, the group’s ongoing investment into technology continues to drive digitisation and enable online communication and training for franchisees, employees and customers around the country. More than just

investing in software, Chas Everitt has used it to create a complete digital eco-system that makes all the business functions performed by a traditional estate agency accessible on the smart phones and laptops of its agents.

“In a sense, Covid-19 was the catastrophe we had unconsciously been anticipating for three years,” Berry Everitt tells Enterprise Africa. “This system of ours now puts the whole real estate office right in the palm of the estate agent via a smart phone and enables them literally to work from anywhere, whether that is beside their client or in lockdown in their own home.”

TECHNOLOGY DRIVEN After banking and retail, and the onset of FinTech in almost every sphere of those industries, property is the next industry in line for a disruptive shake up, with a plethora of PropTech already available to digitize and automate various aspects of the real estate business and different types of transactions.

“The difference for us is that we have, over the past three years, integrated various technologies in the process of digitizing our entire business, and now our franchisees and agents only have to use branded office spaces where they add value to their operations. Otherwise, our AgentConnect© platform enables agents to handle every function necessary to facilitate a property sale or lease. We have recently even automated and standardized the process of obtaining and securing all client data, to ensure that we are totally compliant with the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) which is something we take very seriously,” Everitt ensures.

For the traditional estate agent, face-to-face consultations, inperson viewings, meetings to sign paperwork, and busy sales offices have largely become things of the past as a result of pandemic rules around social distancing. Chas Everitt

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INDUSTRY FOCUS: PROPERTY

was ahead of the curve and managed to conclude sales even during the initial hard lockdown.

“We were fortunate in being able to pivot really quickly because we already had the technology and digital security in place to enable remote working across the board. In addition, and very importantly, most of our agents and admin personnel were already very familiar with this technology and quick to adapt to their new working conditions. We did not experience the uncomfortable hiatus experienced by many companies when they had to scramble to put together remote working systems and then figure out how to train people and make them comfortable with using those technologies. As a result, we were able to achieve millions of Rands worth of sales for our clients and facilitate many relocations while others were unable to help.”

The figures for this industry leader back up the boasts. Founded in 1980 and growing steadily ever since, the company was able to effectively tap into a massive rise in housing demand in 2020, with many offices even achieving record sales despite the

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restrictions imposed by the pandemic.

“The luxury property sector of the local market was quite depressed prior to the onset of Covid-19, but began to improve directly after the first lockdown and has really taken off this year,” details Everitt. “In response, we have substantially strengthened our Luxury Portfolio© division and grown our sales teams in all of SA’s highest priced areas and lifestyle estates – where they are currently achieving exceptional results. In Hyde Park and Sandton, for example, our team has sold more than R400m worth of property in the past month, up from around R200m a month at the start of the year. And our Paarl Lifestyle Estates team, which covers iconic estates such as Val de Vie and Pearl Valley, has notched up almost R400m worth of homes since January.”

Clearly a rapid shift to the remote sales process was helpful for the business. All viewings were conducted virtually, using photo and video tours, during the hard lockdown. Agents were able to maintain contact with all clients and Chas Everitt’s system assisted sellers, where necessary, to capture and collate their own photos

// WE DID NOT EXPERIENCE THE UNCOMFORTABLE HIATUS EXPERIENCED

BY MANY COMPANIES WHEN THEY HAD TO SCRAMBLE TO PUT TOGETHER REMOTE WORKING SYSTEMS // and videos so sales could proceed. At every stage, protecting human health was the top priority.

“At a later stage, we were able to conduct in-person viewings, but only according to the strictest Covid-19 protocols. Prospective buyers were pre-qualified for these viewings so as not to create unnecessary risk or upheaval for sellers; they had to provide their own transport to viewings, and they had to go through health checks and agree to the protocols before being allowed on to the property,” says Everitt.

CHAS EVERITT INTERNATIONAL PROPERTY GROUP

CONTINUOUSLY DEVELOPING Thanks to consistent success in tough times, the Chas Everitt business will continue to invest in tech advancements and smart solutions across its markets. Further impending changes in the industry are coming whether agents like it or not, and Berry Everitt is not about to allow hardfought market share to be lost.

“We are continuously seeking or developing new technologies to make us a more nimble, flexible and adaptable organisation,” he states.

“Chas Everitt currently has the fastest-growing market share across South Africa – and we actually reached our 2024 targets in most areas during 2020. Obviously, there have been huge changes in the real estate landscape, some prompted by the adaptations we had to make for the Covid-19 pandemic, but also many others before lockdown and afterwards, in response to new consumer behaviours and demands.

However, we remain constant in our dedication to understanding these and continuously adapting and upgrading our technologies and skills to provide the best property experiences for our clients.”

Insight into fresh developments in the PropTech space, from the world’s most prominent agencies, filter through to South Africa as a

// WE WERE FORTUNATE IN BEING ABLE TO PIVOT REALLY QUICKLY BECAUSE WE ALREADY HAD THE TECHNOLOGY AND DIGITAL SECURITY IN PLACE TO ENABLE REMOTE WORKING ACROSS THE BOARD //

result of Chas Everitt’s prestigious affiliation with the Leading Real Estate Companies of the World© (LeadingRE) and its luxury property chapter Luxury Property International©.

“It has certainly proved extremely beneficial in the past year, as we had access to a global knowledge pool made up of the best real estate professionals around the world. This enabled us to very quickly activate the best-practice responses to Covid-19 in our own business, and also to play a leading role in the SA Property Group which devised a comprehensive set of operational guidelines for the whole industry - and was largely responsible for the estate agents being able to go back to work during Alert Level 4 instead of the originally proposed Alert Level 3,” says Everitt.

But, like any industry which sees large sums of money changing hands, trust is the number one most important factor. Building trust through faceless digital solutions can often be a challenge and many maintain that there is simply no alternative for meeting and having genuine interactions with a person. Everitt knows this thanks to his lifetime in the industry, and his view is that solutions must ensure the best of both worlds.

“We see continuous disruption in the industry – in fact we are a major disruptor. However, our purpose

is definitely not to limit human interactions but to improve them,” he says. “We have never sought to digitize agents out of the real estate business but quite the opposite: to provide technology tools that help them stay right at the centre of every transaction as their client’s most trusted property confidante and advisor-for- life.

“Fundamentally, we know that people like to do business with other people that they know and trust, and we have built a people-based company in which we honour the relationships that agents build with their own clients.”

INDUSTRY BOOM? Globally, the pandemic and subsequent restriction on freedoms have changed the property industry. The needs of those in the market have changed, technology has become a mainstay, and the nature of a good deal is shifting from transactional-only to relationship-based. Chas Everitt is a fast-mover and has taken the lead in many of these areas. The work from home trend combined with low rates, income challenges, and vast regional differences in demand thanks to varying industry successes have resulted in Chas Everitt needing to utilise all its strength.

“There have been seismic shifts in the SA property market since July 2020,” admits Everitt. “These include a huge surge in first-time homebuying,

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driven by the drastic interest rate cuts made during the hard lockdown to give consumers some relief and boost the economy. These cuts took the base mortgage lending rate to 7%, the lowest level in more than 40 years, and many thousands of people who had previously been renting took the opportunity to become homeowners.

They concentrated heavily on the R700,000 to R1.5m price bracket, in which there is now a growing shortage of properties for sale.

“In the middle-income sector,

which has previously been the mainstay of the market, activity has been heavily driven by repeat buying and semigration – mostly from the inland cities and provinces to coastal cities and country areas that buyers believe will offer them a better or different lifestyle.

This was of course facilitated by the rapid rise in remote working from home, and the realisation among many more people that they no longer need to be location-bound for work,” he adds.

Properties in the rental market were also pushed through for sale as landlords

// THERE HAVE BEEN SEISMIC SHIFTS IN THE SA PROPERTY MARKET SINCE JULY 2020 //

CEO Berry Everitt

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realised the need to offload with major challenges around achieving yields.

This played into the hands of first-time buyers or those looking to downscale.

As economic difficulty continues for the wider SA economy, rental vacancies look set to remain high which could result in more properties coming to the market for sale as owners look to cash in to protect their own future.

In June, Dr Andrew Golding of the Pam Golding Property Group explained that first time buyers in SA are typically mid-30s and are paying just over R1 million for their first home. This is a trend that looks set to continue as more and more see the opportunity to match their current rental payments on a bond.

Clearly now is a great time to buy with appetite from banks to gain longterm business and general property prices set to rise. Even with a slowing of growth likely, the market will remain highly competitive.

“In the luxury sector, prices fell 20% to 30% from already-depressed 2019 levels at the onset of the pandemic, and this prompted demand from upgrade buyers looking for value,” details Everitt.

“However, with emigration being off the cards and many homes becoming substitutes for offices and classrooms, a significant number of sellers (up to 15% in some months) then decided to withdraw their homes from the market.

This of course led to a relative shortage, anxiety among buyers– and rising prices.

“According to the FNB Property Barometer, the average home price at the bottom end of the market rose by 11.4% in 2019, and the average at the top end by 0.7%, while mortgage applications overall rose by 9%. However, the latest stats show that following 11 straight months of increases, the national rate of home price growth fell to 4.1% in May, compared to 4.6% in April – which suggests the market may now be on the brink of another big shift.”

The whole Chas Everitt team has access to the group’s own online training academy, which offers a huge array of real estate and personal development

CHAS EVERITT INTERNATIONAL PROPERTY GROUP

courses to facilitate remote learning and training now as well as remote working.

Since 1980, the business has also been expanded very much as a ‘family’ and current leadership is keen to maintain a corporate culture where agents feel a strong sense of belonging and are encouraged to build long-term careers.

COUNTRY CHAMPION Berry Everitt has been a long-term champion of South Africa and the major opportunities that the country offers. In 2016, he was buoyant about prospects in South Africa despite dire economic conditions. Today, his ambition and belief in growth is untarnished, even through challenges faced.

“I think the world is going to be surprised by the extent of SA’s recovery in the post-pandemic period, but in any case we are not reliant as a group on external market conditions to thrive.

Our focus is firmly on developing our agents and continuously strengthening our service culture to deliver exceptional value, increase market share and grow revenue.”

Meanwhile, with investors hungry for SA property coming from the continent and China, ongoing incountry development is doing all it can to stay apace.

“The number of home building plans passed in the first few months of this year is well ahead of the number passed last year, so we don’t foresee any lasting shortage going forward. What is more, developers have adjusted swiftly to the increased demand for smaller, more affordable units, with the majority of plans being passed now being for flats and townhouses,” says Everitt.

But, naturally, economic conditions must allow for participation in the industry if activity levels are to continue.

Again, Everitt is confident, using knowledge developed through the LeadingRE network to plan for peaks and troughs in the market.

“Locally, we see several major initiatives and projects already under way to help rebuild SA’s economy that

will result in employment creation and sustained demand for starter housing, especially if interest rates remain low for the next 12 to 18 months. This will have a knock-on effect in the higher income brackets where sellers and buyers will continue to move up or down the scale towards where they see value, and we will continue to adapt and adjust accordingly,” he says.

For those who a looking at South Africa as their future home, Chas Everitt is perhaps better positioned than any other to assist. This awardwinning international property group is connected to the rest of the world and can effortlessly help buyers settle.

“As the world opens up again, we are confident of our ability to provide memorable service to those who wish to emigrate elsewhere and those seeking to relocate to SA from elsewhere in the world, especially since we now have our own International Sales and Relocations

division, which works closely with our LeadingRE friends in more than 565 top brokerages across 70 countries,” says Everitt.

Albert Einstein once said: “In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.” For Berry Everitt and Chas Everitt as a whole – creators of luck - this is certainly true. Every obstacle that has been presented to the company has been overcome, every time external forces have blown headwinds the company has remained shielded.

Now, when the Covid-19 pandemic has caused many businesses to fail, Chas Everitt has adapted, survived and thrived. Clearly, this is a company built on strong foundations, where the trust of the market is kept safe, now and into the future.

WWW.CHASEVERITT.CO.ZA

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FISHER DUGMORE FINANCIAL

Providing the Roadmap to Destination Wealth PRODUCTION: Karl Pietersen

Fisher Dugmore Financial helps clients achieve financial goals. The company is growing and adding exciting new offerings to its portfolio of services. In the current environment, it pays more than ever to partner with a company that can deliver knowledge based on experience and results.

//

In the ever-changing world of wealth and financial management, the onset of the deadly Covid-19 pandemic has delivered a fresh set of challenges for those at the top of the industry to meet. In South Africa, where financial advisory practices have been extremely successful, it still feels like more could be done to help people achieve financial freedom and drive involvement from a wider segment of

society. The 2017 Old Mutual Savings & Investment Monitor found that just 13% of employed South Africans in the country’s major metros have any form of relationship with a financial advisor. In the same year, a report from Boston Consulting Group found that South Africa was one of the world’s most distrusting countries when it comes to the formal banking sector. In March 2020, when the country quickly moved into a stringent lockdown,

even those with traditionally stable incomes had the revaluate their financial position. For advisors, largely shielded from economic shocks, this resulted in a direct impact on earnings. Only the very best managed the continue unscathed.

For Dave Fisher, Director of Fisher Dugmore Financial - a boutique planning service that goes beyond just traditional financial advice – the past 18 months have been bittersweet.

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ROLLERCOASTER “There are two sides of our business,” he begins. “We deal with clients who have already amassed wealth and are just about to retire or have retired. On that side, we have grown a lot. We have a lot of new clients and a lot of new assets under management, and our clients’ portfolios have done very well.

“The other side is dealing with people who are still busy creating wealth and not yet living off their portfolios. On that side, people have been affected because of lockdowns and slowdowns in economies. People’s incomes have been impacted and some industries are still suffering.

“We are still advising those clients and taking care of their financial plan; it’s just that, in the financial services arena, our income is directly linked to the income and wealth of our clients.”

He uses the example of the South African orthopaedic surgeon. Pre-Covid, someone in this space would have a long list of patients waiting for elective surgical appointments. But as the impact of the pandemic became clear, medical personnel were ordered to halt regular activities and focus only on the

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resultant Covid-sick. Schedules were torn apart, and this is damaging for income. “They would have gone from a decent income to nothing overnight, and remaining like that for a number of months. The continued movement in and out of lockdowns exacerbates that uncertainty. The guys still need the coaching and advice but their contributions towards investments, insurance and pensions drastically decrease in the short-term.”

But, far from worried about the

future, this seasoned wealth expert is happy with the performance of his business. Shortcomings in one area have been more than balanced in others. In August 2018, Dave Fisher told Enterprise Africa that he and partner Andrew Dugmore would look for opportunities to grow the business while maintaining the boutique, family feel within the business. “Banks can offer investments and insurance etc for clients, but they don’t do it on a personal level like we do,” he said.

FISHER DUGMORE FINANCIAL

Using the close links and intimate relationships, built with clients and suppliers over many years, Fisher Dugmore has been able to develop exciting new products that have buoyed the business recently.

“In 2018 we had just started with Fisher Dugmore Securities which is our investment arm. That has expanded greatly and we have launched our own branded unit trust funds. We have a fullyfledged in-house investment team with assistance from Analytics Consulting.

We are launching our first international fund shortly where we will register our ICAV (Irish Collective Asset-management Vehicle) in Dublin. That will be handled out of Mauritius,” says Fisher.

“We have grown with a number of new certified financial planners in the business and that is great. We are still busy, we still have the clients, and business growth has been good.”

DIGITAL HANDSHAKE The major change for Fisher Dugmore to navigate, and one which financial advisors globally have been battling with, is the switch to digital communication. Face to face builds trust, meeting in the same room cements belief, a handshake breeds confidence, and looking into the eyes of the person that will manage a large sum of money on your behalf generates faith. Each element is vital in a financial decision that could impact your present and future wellbeing.

However, improvements in software have allowed for better, more reliable communication, and adding video to calls has been a game changer.

“If you asked me in 2018 if it was possible for our business to go total virtual, I would have said no,” admits Fisher. “There has been forced adoption and people embraced it. It is now the norm and people are comfortable with online instead of physical. I expect that we will get back to a physical approach but it might be a 50/50 split. We have onboarded a few clients during this time that we have never seen physically.”

The disruptive impact of FinTech is well documented in the banking sector, but communication and trust building is not something which can be easily replaced. In fact, South Africans report distrust in faceless, cashless transactions as the third largest objection to taking up a digital financial future. But in Africa, where mobile money is becoming more prevalent, there is an expectation that technology will be a main driver of financial inclusion and financial management, if not now then soon.

“Historically, when people adopt new technology, behaviour, platforms, or behavioural patterns, they never go back,” says Fisher.

“Digital is certainly more effective.

You fit a lot more in with digital meetings. Productivity is certainly improved. From a communication perspective, although we have all the

technology, face-to-face is always better.

“We will certainly look at a balance, and the great thing for our business is that we have longstanding relationships with clients because of the years of faceto-face, so it is easy to work online with them,” he adds.

DESTINATION WEALTH For Dave Fisher, the method of communication with clients, whether digital or face to face, are secondary in importance to the message delivered.

More than 30-years in the financial planning industry has helped the entrepreneur to develop a tried and tested method for improving an individual’s financial situation. He has listed the strategy in his book, published in 2020, Destination Wealth.

First and foremost is understanding financial context.

International Investment Portfolio Invest in high quality companies for more predictable investment outcomes.

Contact us on 0800 336 555 or visit www.marriott.co.za

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INDUSTRY FOCUS: FINANCE

“Your financial context explains every money decision that you’ve ever made or ever will make – to budget or not, to invest or not to invest and so forth. Our financial context sets the stage for the level of wealth that we’re comfortable with and are able to attain and, more importantly, what level of wealth we keep,” Fisher writes.

By coaching in a way that aims to improve financial context – something which everyone can achieve – Fisher Dugmore Financial has developed a reputation as more than a reseller of products and policies, but as masters of wealth navigation. In challenging times, the knowledge on offer is more valuable than ever before.

“When things are going badly, people need a shoulder to lean

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on. We are now extremely busy and our diaries are extremely full,” details Fisher. “I had a lot more appointments in 2020 compared to 2019. Online capability made it possible and we don’t have to see clients in the board rooms. Zoom, WhatsApp and Teams meant that we could fit in double the meetings and that was fortuitous because there was a massive need for people to consult with us and gain clarity and assurance in the short-term.”

By setting out the company’s map to Destination Wealth, clients are immediately on a journey, one which requires discipline but brings excitement.

“Destination Wealth has become Fisher Dugmore’s manifesto and it

speaks to the way we deal with clients.

We do a lot of life planning and we have a way we deal with clients there.

It’s about setting goals to ensure they achieve the things that are really important to them. Then there is the basic method of financial planning which is the same. We have fine tuned the idea, and we continue to fine tune it.

The book anchors our principles.”

Both Dave Fisher and Andrew Dugmore encourage clients and potential clients to read the book, which unveils secrets from the industry that are not always public knowledge.

“We ask new clients to read the book to inspire, encourage and explain the way we work. It’s a massive boost for credibility as it creates a level of understanding and allows clients to

FISHER DUGMORE FINANCIAL

understand my story. We have amazing reviews of the book from around the world so it has become a tool for the business,” admits Fisher.

BOUTIQUE BUSINESS With the onset of the fourth industrial revolution, major investments into ESG and megatrends, ongoing switches to novel FinTech solutions, and a dwindling list of people qualified to advise individuals on management of their wealth, the future is exciting for Fisher Dugmore. The ethics and care woven into the business over the years are proof that the true end goal for the business is the financial success of its clients, whatever that may look like for each individual.

“We are building the business and changing it to become more boutique. We are heading towards being the family office for people who traditionally wouldn’t qualify for the family office. Everything that we do is about our manifesto. We have invested a lot in the last three years by starting our own funds. It gives a boutique feel. We have a unique way of looking at people’s financial advice and their strategies. We continue to build costeffective, boutique solutions for our clients so they are never considered run of the mill,” says Fisher.

Right now, when Covid and a myriad of contributing factors have greyed the landscape for those in search of financial freedom, Fisher Dugmore is

open and ready to assist. Here you will receive proven, tailored, expert advice.

“It’s obviously been a hectic time.

I don’t think anyone has been spared.

Personally, we are well, our staff are well but we did lose a few clients to Covid.

The impact on the economy does filter through to us.

“We are here and we are more able than ever to offer clients a holistic view on their financial plan. We have a totally different way of doing it that brings life plans, investments plans, and financial plans all wrapped in one, in a unique way,” Fisher concludes.

WWW.FISHERDUGMORE.CO.ZA

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AVIS SOUTH AFRICA

SA’s First Integrated Mobility Solution From Avis PRODUCTION: Karl Pietersen

After starting in a whirlwind, Ramasela Ganda – CEO at Avis South Africa – has guided the business through a major storm and is now looking forward to future positivity as the company rolls out its new Integrated Mobility strategy.

//

For almost half a century, Avis has been a leading car rental business in South Africa. The door was opened to the American brand – originally established in Detroit in 1946 – when, in 1972, Federale Volksbeleggings Bpk (a Sanlam subsidiary) partnered with Avis in a joint venture to bring the brand to South Africa.

For most in the industry, the vying

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starts at the airport. Globally, car rental is an industry popular thanks to its ability to solve a problem for international travellers. South Africa, home to a normally booming tourism market, seems like a great home for the typical car rental business. More than 15 million international travellers arrived in South Africa in 2019, the majority of which are part of the car rental target audience.

But what happens when one

day the industry hits the brakes? The entire market is forced to close, and the movement of people is forced to stop? It’s the reality thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Surely for those at the helm of car rental businesses, the news that the spread of the virus was out of control, and international travel would cease, must have felt like being hit by the proverbial bus.

INDUSTRY FOCUS: AUTOMOTIVE

WELCOME! But for Ramasela Ganda, CEO at Avis South Africa – the country’s market leader - the timing could not have been worse. After just four days in the job, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that the country would enter a harsh national lockdown, with all ports of entry closed, and major uncertainty about the length of time restrictions would be in place. Around 60% of the company’s business came from tourism.

Owned by leading industrial

// IN SEPTEMBER, WHEN WE WERE SPENDING R2 BILLION BUYING FLEET, OTHERS WERE IN A DEEP COVID MINDSET; YET TO ADJUST //

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company, Barloworld, the Avis Budget Group had to act fast to avoid disaster.

Ganda, an experienced business leader, was without doubt thrown in at the deep end.

Fortunately, Avis had started planning a reorganisation of its business units, integrating car rental, leasing, and sales under one banner. The Integrated Mobility Solution – the first of its kind in South Africa - helped the company to adapt quickly to make the most of a challenging situation.

“Within Barloworld, we felt like we were at the epicentre. All the airports were closed and in the month of April, we sold no cars. It has been crazy but also very exciting. I am one of the very few people that says Covid has been horrible but good in a very sad way. There was a lot I had to do very quickly but it did provide opportunities.

It’s about embracing a challenge,” Ganda tells Enterprise Africa.

With uncertainty in tourism came the chance to assist in other sectors.

Ganda immediately went about putting

the large but dormant Avis fleet to use.

Survival became the aim of the game and the vastly experienced Chartered Accountant was quick to ensure cost containment. Smaller facilities were closed, vehicles were deployed to deliver groceries and other essential items, and on June 1 liquor deliveries pushed the fleet into overdrive.

“We were very excited,” smiles Ganda, “it gave us hope after trying a lot of different things but we knew we still had a long way to go.”

CHANGING LANES The decision-making speed, and the ability to turn plans into actions without delay saw Avis quickly take up its regular place in pole position amongst competitors. Agility and a nimble attitude is something rarely found in big business. But in this new normal there has been very little time to waste.

“As Avis, we reacted really fast. Most people were trying to figure out what was going to happen and whether it would last some time or would be a

AVIS SOUTH AFRICA

temporary thing. By the time most of them realised there was a new normal, we were very much ahead,” says Ganda.

“Many are now realising and trying to reposition but it has become difficult.

It is do or die, and most are only now looking to act.

“There are a number of things that we have done to reposition – de-fleeting at the right time and the right price, and then reinvesting back into the fleet. In September, when we were spending R2 billion buying fleet, others were in a deep Covid mindset; yet to adjust. The market was slow, so we were able to get the new cars from the manufacturers in large numbers.

People then started to look at buying and the manufacturers could not fulfil, leaving them stuck with older vehicles.

That puts us in a very good position.

The agility that we have really helped us to keep going during the tough times,” she explains.

As the cornerstone of the Southern African operation, Avis South Africa had to take quick decisions on behalf of its regional subsidiaries in markets across sub-Saharan Africa. But with each national government taking a different approach to restrictions, this was an extraordinarily difficult job. From Namibia, Botswana and Mozambique, up through Zambia to Ghana, all markets remain operational for Avis.

“We are a Southern African based company, so we do have a good footprint across the south of Africa. The restrictions were different across each country for both local and international travellers so for each country we had to deal differently. Some had harsh and extensive lockdowns, some had fewer restrictions but still focussed on travel. International travel was the main thing we had to manage, and we had to introduce a local business strategy for each market. How each country’s government reacted and how we were able to reposition our company was the key consideration. It has been a continuous process of repositioning and understanding the market. Every single

// VEHICLE MANUFACTURERS HAVE BEEN STRUGGLING TO MEET DEMAND BECAUSE THIS IS WHAT THE NEW MARKET WANTS AS A RESULT OF SOCIAL DISTANCING ON PUBLIC TRANSPORT //

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INDUSTRY FOCUS: AUTOMOTIVE

day we have our finger on the pulse,” confirms Ganda.

Away from international tourism-focussed car rental, longer term leasing and vehicles used for domestic staycations have also needed innovation from Avis. Changes in

consumer behaviour and budget have required the company to optimise its fleet and constantly adapt.

“During Covid we had to change the market mix to serve the market that we are currently in. It included offering up a smaller-sized vehicle portfolio

within our fleet because people were doing longer-term rentals and they couldn’t afford larger cars thanks to the uncertainty with jobs. Through the transition, as people became scared to fly and flights were closed, families started travelling long distance in South

MANAGING VEHICLE ASSETS IN A HIGH-RISK ENVIRONMENT Rental and leasing companies, like Avis Van Rental and Fleet Services, rely on the solutions provided by MiX Telematics to boost customer service, efficiency and safety. Avis Southern Africa has been a long-standing customer of MiX Telematics for the past 10 years, utilising the fleet management tools and industry-leading recovery services developed by MiX Telematics.

By understanding the needs of a leasing company and their end-customer, MiX Telematics has identified some key features of interest to the industry. These include: • • • • • •

Objective, transparent odometer (mileage) reporting Integration into back-end systems, through secure web and mobile applications Trip and vehicle utilization reports Driver identification Tracking and stolen vehicle recovery Vehicle error and trip reports

The reality is that vehicle and equipment rental companies need to mitigate the risk of theft to minimise asset losses. This makes keeping track of vehicles and equipment at all times a high priority. Losing just one vehicle means tens of thousands of rands of lost revenue and replacement costs. The same goes for equipment. MiX Telematics’ recovery solutions provide peace of mind that comes with knowing stolen equipment or vehicles can be recovered.

Rental fleet management software with GPS tracking can trigger alerts when assets move from one place to another.

Telematics has also improved vehicle maintenance management with automated alerts when a vehicle is due to be serviced. Reminders can also be set for regular, preventive maintenance. These features allow downtime to be scheduled which help avoid vehicles unexpectedly being out of commission and better maintenance extends the life of assets.

In addition to knowing when repairs are needed, knowing the exact amount of billable hours that equipment is in use ensures better billing accuracy. Customers are billed based on the runtime of the equipment or vehicle, eliminating the need to bill by the hour, half-day, or day, or by capturing the odometer reading when the vehicle or equipment is returned to you. GPS tracking can automate the manual process of keeping track of mileage and usage.

The MiX Fleet Manager online platform provides easy access to mileage data and engine diagnostics to optimize billing based on usage. Dashboard reports are dynamic and customisable to review and analyse data by sorting and filtering for the exact metric required.

The benefits of MiX Telematics Leasing and Rental Fleet Management Software include: • Keep track of vehicles and easily locate them • Create maintenance reminders and alerts - the ability to automate processes that ensure timely vehicle maintenance • Get accurate odometer and fuel information to streamline processes, reducing errors from manual input, and

increasing revenue capture • Lower insurance costs with collision management • Monitor battery life and engine diagnostics to avoid unexpected breakdowns • Asset protection with GPS tracking, geofencing, towing alerts, theft, and other fraud reduction tools • Proactive vehicle utilization with idle inventory exception reporting, offsite lot management, and real-time vehicle

location reporting.

MiX Telematics’ expertise in fleet management and security services adds value to Avis Southern Africa and is testament to how successful our solutions are at meeting the specific requirements of a leading vehicle rental and fleet services company.

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Say hello to MyMiX Tracking Introducing ground-breaking app-based fleet management

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Share aggregated data with insurance providers, which often reduces premiums Join thousands of MiX customers who commonly earn $5 or more back for every $1 invested

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MyMiX Tracking helps you meet dynamic fleet needs without the cost and inconvenience of installing vehicle tracking hardware in non-core fleets.

Your Fleet Management Solution Mbatha Mlambo trading (MMT) was formed in 2005 and primary focus was on cleaning of cars.

Over the years the direction of the business changed and we identified other opportunities within the value chain. MMT is 100% black owned.

As a company we focus on innovation as well as identifying the most efficient way of delivering services to all our valued customers. We are passionate about local community empowerment hence we offer opportunities to communities where our footprint is present and currently MMT staff compliment is 1050 and counting. We have operations in all nine provinces and harbour the ambition of continental expansion.

Services: • • • • • • • • • •

Fleet management Professional drivers Chauffeur drivers Managing wash bays Workshop Access control Cleaning (car wash) Office cleaning Administrators Quality control and assurance

www.mmtrading.co.za 011 492 2347 41 Shelton Avenue, Harmelia, Germiston 1428

AVIS SOUTH AFRICA

Africa using larger vehicles, specifically SUVs, so we managed to tap that market. SUVs quickly became a strong category for us. We used to offer these vehicles for our international market but we stopped during hard lockdown and we have now started to reacquire SUVs. Vehicle manufacturers have been struggling to meet demand because this is what the new market wants as a result of social distancing on public transport,” explains Ganda.

The SUV market, from a manufacturer point of view, is now seeing continued growth alongside hatchbacks and crossovers, with the traditional strong market segment of sedans facing drastic reduction.

“The beauty of the SUV market is that there have been many manufacturers that have introduced affordable models. We work with all vehicle manufacturers and we can offer brands for the luxury market and the entry level market,” adds Ganda.

For larger vehicles, those in the truck and van segments, Avis continues to hold a strong lease book with a number of major corporate clients taking up the company’s attractive commercial long-term offering. By bringing the new Integrated Mobility Solution, corporate clients will receive a much more streamlined and value adding service from Avis. Currently, the company boasts 265,000 vehicles under management.

“We integrated this strategy from October 1 and it is still very new.

Because of the lockdown restricting us, it has been slightly slower, but we have seen great progress, especially in heavy commercial. The go to market strategy has been deployed and we’ve seen uptake out of it. It’s going very well.

“From an operational point of view, they are now fully integrated and that

the only thing left is external branding and the legal entity changes – that comes with a big cost. Now, going to the market, we go out as one,” she adds.

“We see a lot of opportunities in the corporate sector on the leasing side rather than the individual customer side.

We believe that the individual customer will still present an opportunity in car rental but for leasing we see the future looking good for companies not having assets stuck in their name and rather leasing them, releasing cash to focus on their core business. That is where we see an opportunity – companies are seeing that they do not need to own cars and there is changing legislation in the country that will also provide good growth for the business,” explains Ganda.

“We want to move South Africans towards understanding the value of use rather than the value of ownership. Get us to provide you with the entire thing and you don’t have to worry. We now have a product and a service to meet every category but quality is the same throughout. How I greet an Avis client is exactly the same as how I greet a Budget client,” she adds.

EV IN SA Looking further into the future, Ramasela Ganda is very optimistic about the opportunities available for Avis.

Performing strongly during the most challenging times of all helps to position the business strongly for future growth.

In the fleet business, the company will be at the cutting edge of advancements from manufacturers.

As the use of electric vehicles becomes more widespread, Avis will monitor the situation and ensure access is available when the market requires. This obvious, imminent and major shift is more than just new vehicles – it requires infrastructure too.

// YOU HAVE TO OFFER SERVICE THAT GIVES THE CUSTOMER AN EXPERIENCE SO THEY COME BACK; NOT JUST BECAUSE YOU ARE CHEAP //

// MOST OF OUR CUSTOMERS RENT CARS AND TRAVEL LONG DISTANCES SO WE MUST ENSURE THERE IS CAPACITY TO CHARGE AT RELEVANT POINTS // “It will always be driven by the market requirement, consumer taste, consumer affordability, and market demand,” says Ganda.

“We are very close to our customers, we listen to serve the right market, and we work very closely with vehicle manufacturers to give the particular specification that meets our customer needs. We have spent a lot of time understanding our customer requirements, be it local or international – that is what we do most of the time, understand who our customer is and what their needs are. If we procure without taking their requirements into consideration – what is the financial position, where are they driving, why are they driving – we will not make the right decisions as all requirements are different.

Catering for the market through fleet planning is essential.”

In 2020, only 1500 electric cars had been purchased across the entire continent – all in South Africa. Globally, the market is dominated by the EU, China and USA but the pandemic dampened uptake in North America in particular. But in South Africa, there is no government incentive backing the purchase of electric models, like in the EU. BMW’s i3 and the Jaguar I-Pace are currently available in SA, but at the top end of the market in terms of pricing – both upwards of R1 million. Ganda is certain South Africa will embrace the electric vehicle industry when the affordability issue is addressed.

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INDUSTRY FOCUS: AUTOMOTIVE

“We have already started to see some brands starting to bring models to South Africa. Our local vehicle regulator recently participated in a show where they discussed electric vehicles. The infrastructure is still something to look at as it is essential that people can charge in the right places. Most of our customers rent cars and travel long distances so we must ensure there is capacity to charge at relevant points. That will be a challenge in the beginning. Over the years it has not been a secret that supply of energy in South Africa has been challenged and that will be a factor in this roll out. We have to make sure we can still move, and load shedding does have an impact.

We are positioning ourselves, alongside the OEMs, to make sure when it does come, we can work together to fund the recharge stations in partnership. There are a number of things we are looking at to help bring the cars into the market.

“Our market uptake will always be driven by the cost level. The initial cost of electric vehicles is a problem worldwide, but when it becomes more affordable there will definitely be an uptake in South Africa,” she adds.

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STRONG STRUCTURE At group level, Barloworld released its annual results in May and group CEO Dominic Sewela reports improvement in continuing operations’ revenue and operating profit by 13% and 44% respectively.

He says that the company’s outlook for 2021 remains positive as key markets recover, commodity prices improve, customers increase capital expenditure, and government stimulus spending supports infrastructure projects.

“We expect Covid-19 related restrictions to continue impacting on our operations in the near term, with sporadic lockdowns expected to be implemented to support efforts to curb the spread of the virus. Sales volumes in the consumer segment are expected to benefit from a reduction in economic restrictions that impacted the prior period. The used car market is expected to be strong on the back of the shortage of new cars and anticipated higher prices.”

AVIS SOUTH AFRICA

AVIS SOUTH AFRICA CEO RAMASELA GANDA

He adds that they also foresee providing quality services, and not just prices, will continue to be a driving force in the Car Rental and Leasing business.

“While we await the resumption of new normal travel patterns, we will maintain our reduced fixed cost base to ensure an agile organisation in Car Rental and Avis Fleet. Our commitment to our customers will continue while we grow our market share and sustain a lower cost to serve,” says Sewela.

Ganda welcomes support from Barloworld – where she served as an Executive in the Equipment division from 2017 to 2020 – and is confident that the structure will continue to work well in the ever-changing business environment.

“The group structure has worked over the years and continues to work very well,” she says. “Barloworld is a JSE-listed business and so governance becomes very important. As Avis we get very good support from Barloworld and it has been something which has worked very well and we feel very supported. We have group targets that we work towards. We determine the strategy as a group and

there is always alignment.”

As Avis continues to accelerate back up to top gear, ongoing change will be constant and a responsive approach to business will be required. Most of all, a clear and deep understanding of the customer will be vital to ensure the company’s industry leading market share position is not jeopardised.

LEADING THE PACK For Ganda – the first black female CEO within the Barloworld Group - the complicated start to life at Avis will continue. “On my first day, I met my team through Zoom. We had network challenges and no one was on video.

I did the entire structuring of the business on Zoom and I never set foot in the office. I don’t know if you can ever truly get to know a new role like that, but that was my entry – all while making significant changes, integrating businesses, and establishing a leadership team.

“Five of the leadership team in Avis are women. They are very powerful and strong – to survive in this environment, you have to have significant strength.

It’s been a rollercoaster of a period.

“We will learn to live with the virus and I really believe that we will maintain this position. We have moved away from the car rental market where we compete only on price – that is not sustainable and that has been proven internationally. You have to offer service that gives the customer an experience so they come back; not just because you are cheap,” she adds.

Avis is undoubtedly a leader on the road, consistently moving in the fast lane. 5000 locations in 165 countries are proof of trust placed in the brand.

But when times have been tough and economic uncertainty has been the only certainty, Avis has continued to dominate its market. History shows that those leading the industry during the most challenging times are those that thrive when the tide turns.

“International travel will come back.

We have a beautiful country for people to explore,” concludes Ganda.

WWW.AVIS.CO.ZA

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NAMCOR

Fuelling Movement

and Progress for Namibia PRODUCTION: William Denstone

National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia (NAMCOR) is the country’s state oil company, whose world-class exploration and production database and oil license blocks are some of the major factors underpinning Namibia’s hydrocarbon potential. Security of supply and tapping the abundant resources of the territory are two paramount concerns, and NAMCOR’s recent dealings are seeing it make great strides with both.

//

NAMCOR was established in 1967, since which time it has become responsible for reconnaissance, exploration and production operations both through solo pursuits and by partnering with other noteworthy industry names.

“Our vision is to be a world-class petroleum organisation providing sustainable benefits to all stakeholders,” NAMCOR declares, which it intends to fulfil by way of successful, mutually

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beneficial partnerships and offering convenience and quality products and services to its broad range of customers.

“We will meet shareholders’ expectations by running profitable and successful operations,” NAMCOR continues, “and be a responsible corporate citizen which is mindful of the community and the environment in which it operates.

“If it’s not world class, it’s probably not us.”

OIL STORAGE SCOOP Namibia’s National Oil Storage Facility was constructed by its government to safeguard security of fuel supply amidst growing demand, receiving its first fuel consignment of some 35,000 metric tons of diesel at the end of 2020. Construction of the multi-billion-dollar facility began in January 2015, and today it consists of a tanker jetty, multiple product pipelines and a terminal of seven tanks with a capacity of 75 million litres.

INDUSTRY FOCUS: ENERGY

Although the decision was taken some time ago, in 2019, that NAMCOR was to operate and maintain the facility fending off competition from several international bidders, the announcement came in March this year at the official handover ceremony as NAMCOR successfully took charge of the facility.

“NAMCOR has been appointed by the government of the Republic of Namibia to manage and operate the new state-of-the-art storage facility in Walvis Bay,” the company celebrates. “Upon completion, this will improve Namibia’s security of supply of petroleum products.”

Potentially increasing Namibia’s security of fuel supply from between seven and 10 days to 30-45 days, this storage provision is a critical lifeline in situations where the country may be unable to easily import petroleum products from the international market.

In addition to its primary function as strategic storage, the site will also serve a commercial purpose, to ensure that this valuable resource is constantly used and replenished.

“The facility will therefore not only be used for NAMCOR’s own trading purposes, but also to host other international oil-marketing companies, such as Vitol and Gunvor, Vivo and Total,

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to ensure it is utilised optimally, and that Namibia becomes a strategic gateway through which neighbouring African countries are supplied,” commented NAMCOR Chairperson Jennifer Comalie.

“This is indeed a monumental milestone in NAMCOR’s history, as we take pride in operating and maintaining this proudly Namibian petroleum infrastructure; built for Namibia and managed by competent Namibians.”

Comalie added.

NAMCOR intends to add further storage sites in strategic locations across the country, explains Immanuel Mulunga, Managing Director of NAMCOR. “The new national oil storage facilities will allow us to fully activate our downstream strategy, which involves the expansion of our storage footprint within Namibia.”

DELIVERING ON FUEL NEEDS Since its recent entry into the downstream retail sector NAMCOR has been working tirelessly on rolling out several service stations, all placed at strategic locations around the country.

The first of these arrived in the form of the NAMCOR Hosea Kutako International Airport Service Station, and paved the way for the first truly Namibian-owned service station.

The Minister of Mines and Energy, Tom Alweendo said during the opening ceremony that the development not only offers Namibian motorists a wider choice of fuel outlets to purchase from, but also provides business opportunities to Namibians as, while NAMCOR invested in the construction of the site, it will be operated by Namibian entrepreneurs.

NAMCOR has set itself the ambitious target of having at least 33 operational fuel stations by 2024, and the latest on the road to achieving this is in Windhoek, set to deliver on the nation’s refuelling needs.

NAMCOR’s expansion strategy is primed to continue to allow greater

// NAMCOR SEEKS TO DELIVER WORLDCLASS SERVICES TO THE PUBLIC THROUGH OUR STATE-OF-THE-ART SERVICE STATION INFRASTRUCTURE AND FACILITIES //

NAMCOR

swathes of the populace easier access to fuel, not only across the country but also potentially in neighbouring countries.

Currently it has five new sites currently under construction, with a further eight in development all around Namibia.

“NAMCOR continues to implement its expansion strategy across Namibia in line with the directives of our visionary leadership. As part of this priority, the company seeks to deliver world-class services to the public through our stateof-the-art service station infrastructure and facilities,” stated Mulunga.

The commercialisation of Namibia’s hydrocarbon resources is one key arm of NAMCOR’s central directive, profitably delivering petroleum products to the Namibian market.

“In so doing,” the company stresses, “ensuring security of supply of this highly sought-after global commodity.”

NOT PIPE DREAMS “NAMCOR’s primary mandate is twofold, however,” NAMCOR continues.

“The hydrocarbon exploration side of our operations tackles the search for deposits of hydrocarbons, particularly petroleum and natural gas, from the earth. It has been tasked with the herculean responsibility of exploring and harnessing the hydrocarbon potential of Namibia.”

In a history littered with successful and profitable partnerships, NAMCOR

// THIS IS A MONUMENTAL MILESTONE IN NAMCOR’S HISTORY, AS WE TAKE PRIDE IN OPERATING AND MAINTAINING THIS PROUDLY NAMIBIAN PETROLEUM INFRASTRUCTURE //

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may just have initiated its most notable to date. In a bid to unlock the vast resource potential in Namibia, NAMCOR has signed a JOA with Reconnaissance Energy Africa (ReConAfrica) to develop those of the Kavango Sedimentary Basin, Northeast Namibia.

Under the agreement, the two companies will jointly pursue an ongoing petroleum exploration program in the Kavango East and Kavango West regions of Namibia. “We understand the hydrocarbon potential of the Kavango Basin,” Mulunga expounded, “hence collaborating with an international company with both technical and financial capabilities such as ReconAfrica will unlock the discovery of commercially viable hydrocarbon reserves and thereby enhance economic development in the country.”

To date, ReconAfrica has drilled two test wells in the Namibian petroleum licence area, both of which have revealed evidence of a working conventional petroleum basin, and plans to drill an additional two wells in 2021. “In these first two wells,” ReconAfrica director Dr Jim Granath stated, “the many oil and gas shows, with such variety, is certainly remarkable. It is highly encouraging to

see clastic and thick carbonate sections which appear to have similar reservoir characteristics as observed in many other petroleum provinces.”

These further explorations will determine whether the Kavango Sedimentary Basin will yield a commercially viable petroleum reservoir, and, if so, ReconAfrica and NAMCOR could activate a 25-year Production Licence.

“We’re pleased to finalise this operating agreement, which solidifies our partnership with NAMCOR,” Scot Evans, Chief Executive Officer of ReconAfrica. “We look forward to working with NAMCOR as we jointly endeavour to unlock the potential of Namibia’s vast national resources, providing jobs, economic growth and long-term responsible resource development – which includes significant contributions to the social and environmental aspirations of the country.”

WWW.NAMCOR.COM.NA

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THE BEVERAGE COMPANY

Essential Refreshments

Keep BevCo Sparkling PRODUCTION: William Denstone

The Beverage Company (The BevCo) was founded just three years ago, but packs the punch of combining two of South Africa’s largest manufacturers and brand owners.

Bringing together important brands, infrastructure and experienced workforce, it was just the foundation required for the newly-formed BevCo to launch its own challenge on the established market order, thriving in one of the few sectors able to continue trading largely unfettered and even show signs of growth amid the chaos of recent months.

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INDUSTRY FOCUS: FOOD & BEVERAGE

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Once pegged as the country’s next big market, South Africa’s alcohol industry is now facing what Beverage Daily calls an ‘economic abyss’. Many businesses are on the brink of collapse in large part due to the repeated bans on the sale of alcohol now totalling well in excess of 100 days since March 2020.

Rising Covid-19 case numbers and increased pressure on the country’s health services have led to strict sanctions on the purchase and consumption of alcohol throughout the pandemic to date; suddenly, no longer was it permitted to sit at a bar and order a glass of wine, nor even buy beer at a store.

COVID-SAFE SECTOR With a void like this left in the overall beverage market, the soft drinks sector has been able to weather the catastrophic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on many sectors, going as far as to even achieve marginal growth of 0.7% year-on-year between 2019 and 2020, and expected to grow at a 1.5% CAGR between 2021 and 2025, according to Insight Survey’s latest South African Carbonated Soft Drinks Industry Landscape Report 2021.

There can never have been a better time than this to be classed as an essential commodity, and this billing has meant that soft drinks have been among a select group of products whose movement and availability has been unrestricted during lockdown. The classification has kept them on the shelves and in the fridges of the relatively few retailers which have remained open and sold across retail outlets, immune to the disruption and closures which have plagued so many other markets in this unprecedented epoch.

Additionally, a definite movement towards health and wellness has resulted in the emergence of nonalcoholic beverage alternatives, a trend again bolstered by the country’s Covid19-related alcohol drought.

TOP OF THE POPS Only forming in 2018, The BevCo is the product of a merger of Little Green Beverages and SoftBev, a combination which affords it a rich, staunchly South African heritage. Little Green Beverages was founded in 2006 in Robertville, Western Johannesburg and began producing a limited, select range of carbonated soft drinks in early 2006,

// OUR CUSTOMERS AND CONSUMERS SIT AT THE VERY HEART OF OUR BUSINESS // the pinnacle of which has to be the universally adored Refreshhh brand.

On sale from South Africa to Mozambique, and everywhere in between, the celebrated brand now comes in a raft of 14 flavours, in sizes from two litres to a 330ml bottle, and is continually broadened with additions like energy drinks, mixers and mineral waters.

SoftBev, meanwhile, brought to the mix over 50 years of combined industry experience. A business built on quality, independence and diversity, Softbev was the producer of South Africa’s much-loved Coo-ee and Jive brands, as well as the famous Pepsico franchise brands 7UP, Capri-Sun, Mirinda, Mountain Dew, Pepsi and Pepsi Max. With this enviable head start, which included not only this stuffed portfolio but also five excellent manufacturing plants, 1000 employees and nationwide coverage, The BevCo has wasted no time at all in becoming

Isando Johannesburg

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INDUSTRY FOCUS: FOOD & BEVERAGE

South Africa’s leading independent manufacturer and distributor of carbonated soft drinks, energy drinks, mixers and still beverages.

“Our customers and consumers sit at the very heart of our business,” the company states, “and we aim to delight them with excellent products at an excellent price and with excellent service.”

Rising to the fore over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic have been

// ALL OUR BRANDS HAVE BECOME TRUSTED HOUSEHOLD NAMES THAT ARE OF SUPERIOR QUALITY //

Natal Production Plant

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the locally-produced beverages which proliferate in South Africa, safeguarding them against distribution logistics which have been severely affected. This has suited The BevCo down to the ground, with its concerted effort to not focus solely on the established, global champions of the market but also on an array of the most beloved local heroes in South Africa.

“For us,” former CEO Michael Benjamin outlined when we spoke in 2019, “our vision has always been around promoting local heroes and global champions, and that gives us a unique capability that other beverage companies do not have. No one has the portfolio diversity that we have,” he stressed.

“Each [brand] has its own heritage and personality,” The BevCo goes on, “some formed through South

African culture and others through international influence. All our brands have become trusted household names that are of superior quality.

We strive to enhance the lives of our consumers by offering choice and variety at an affordable price.”

KEEPING THINGS FRESH Innovation can mean many things in the world of soft drinks. It is the ability to respond to sometimes sudden, and sometimes drastic, changes in the market and seize upon the opportunities such shifts present. Although important, strong retail promotions are not going to be sufficient alone to achieve the robust market growth forecast; this is also being driven by the launch of innovative carbonated soft drink products and concepts.

THE BEVERAGE COMPANY

INGREDIENT INNOVATION C

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We supply food manufacturers with quality ingredients and a wide range of additives to help create the taste, texture, performance and appearance you need for your food nutritional products. We represent leading global manufacturers & our specialists can provide you with unrivalled sales support bringing the highest quality products to market: Bakery ingredients: flavour, texture and fortification - Beverage ingredients for innovation - Confectionary: healthier & tastier alternatives to enhance your brand - Culinary solutions for sauces, dressings and prepared meals that will innovate - Dairy & Desserts: texture & functionality - Flavour & fragrance creation - Health & Sports nutrition.

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Durban: +27 31 202 0794 Email: info@savannah.co.za

Globally, this is embodied by the introduction of innovative packaging, catering to the rising demand for sustainable and eco-friendly practices.

The BevCo has always recognised the important role it has to play in South African society, actively considering and implementing initiatives which positively impact the lives of staff, their families, surrounding communities and the wider environment.

“We are committed to deliberately innovating our business, products, operations and supply chain,” the company clarifies, “so that we can reduce any negative impact on the environment and actively consider the health and well-being of the consumers of our products.”

In South Africa, as well as the impact of the Health Promotion Levy, or sugar tax, recently introduced to

www.savannah.co.za

impose a 10% levy on beverages above four grams of sugar per 10cl, more local consumers are also demanding wellness-focused beverages. This has resulted in the introduction of healthier alternatives, including reduced-sugar variants, as well as zero-calorie and fortified carbonated soft drink options.

In typical fashion, The BevCo embraced the principles of this legislation and was way ahead of the curve in adapting to it. “We were already working on our product formulas to make sure that we were compliant with legislation while still delighting our consumers with the quality, flavour and value of our beverages,” the company makes clear, pointing to the example of its hugely successful reformulation of Reboost, which tests showed the vast majority of participants to prefer over its sugar-loaded predecessor.

The perfection of this pairing of a shift towards healthier alternatives with unprecedented constraints on alcohol could almost not have been written, and is sure to keep the BevCo busy and innovating well into its sparkling future.

“Our driving mantra is about giving consumers choice,” Benjamin rounded off. “If our choices are not good enough then they will migrate and enjoy other things.” Through both conscious choice and necessity that choice is firmly in the soft drink arena now, and The BevCo has shown that it has everything needed to keep it that way as we enter the new order of post-pandemic life.

WWW.THEBEVERAGECOMPANY.CO.ZA

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PPC, STRENGTH AND LONGEVITY INTO THE FUTURE The real threat of using sub-standard cement The cement industry is seen as a good indicator of a country’s economic growth as it is the key input material in infrastructure, development and much like the rest of the modern world, the foundation of South Africa is built on this premise. Yet, according to Njombo Lekula, Managing Director of PPC RSA, sub-standard cement products are threatening the built environment industry and placing South African lives at risk. Usage of sub-standard cement has various implications that may negatively affect the sustainability of buildings and structures thereby leading to increased repair or maintenance costs, injuries and fatalities due to structural failures or collapse.

During a normal market surveillance exercise whereby competitors’ products were all tested for comparison, PPC found that some products supplied by cement producers were substandard and warranted further investigation.

In an effort to protect the greater South African cement industry and consumer, PPC appointed, Beton-Lab, a South African National Accreditation System (SANAS) accredited independent laboratory in September 2017 to

physically purchase the bags themselves in order to maintain the chain of custody and assure no interference from any outside party.

Part of the process was to take photographs of each bag (front, side, back panels and bag weights) to verify Letter of Authority (LOA) numbers, cement type and strength class. The weights of the bags were checked and the EN strength testing in accordance with SANS 50197 for 2, 7 and 28 days was performed. The South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) prescribed uncertainty of measurement allowance of 2.5% was applied when analysing the resultant data. The results show the inability to produce a consistent quality product and thwarting of standards. Alan De Kock, MD of Beton-Lab says, “As an independent laboratory our work is tightly controlled, ensuring accurate data that is in no way influenced by outside parties.”

The report was recently released and the findings were shared with the SABS and the National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications (NRCS), showing continued nonperformance of the cements tested. According to Lekula, non-conformity of strength and weights of some products ranged from 11% to

73% of the sample set. “This failure to conform to local standards not only has an impact on the structural integrity of buildings, but also poses a threat to possible damage of property and even loss of life should the walls come tumbling down.”

It was also found that most of the sub-standard cement products carry the SABS mark. The SABS stamp is a mark of regulatory approval, instilling trust in the product being sold and, if used in accordance with the instructions, will result in a structure that is robust and safe.

strength before 28 days. The durability of mortar or concrete is primarily dictated by the amount and the strength performance of the cement that is used.

Retailers, builders and construction companies are also at risk of future legal action or loss of income as selling and using these substandard products can have a negative effect on the perception consumers have of their businesses and standards.

PPC.AFRICA | 0800 236 368

It takes up to 28 days for cement to develop strength and fly ash does not start developing

It takes up to

28 DAYS

1. Total samples tested

2. Cement products sold in retail

=274

=14

4. Amount of samples failed

5. One company failure rate

= 33%

= 73%

(total of all companies)

for cement to develop the strength as indicated on the bag.

3. Retesting Products

= 31 (23%)

Duration of test period ± 2 years

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