Essential Business Magazine by Essential Business

AFRICA magazine

e s s e n t i a l

June 2015 VOL 1 ED 6

MAZARS

A Service for Good

Liebherr Africa

DENEL INDUSTRIAL PROPERTIES Keeping The House In Order

Prosperous Voyage

ROFF INDUSTRIES

Quality, Service and Innovation

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EDITORS LETTER Welcome to the June issue of Essential Business. As usual, the magazine is packed with companies that continue to showcase Africa’s ability for innovation, hard work and perseverance. While our featured businesses come from quite a wide variety of industries, the common theme is again the thirst for infrastructure across the continent. From the fast-expanding maritime operations of Liebherr Africa to accountancy giant Mazars’ involvement in South Africa’s hugely prospective renewable sector, along with agriculture machinery specialists Agri-Wes’ thoughts on the changing shape of Zambia, we have a wide range of perspectives on how the African landscape is refusing to stand still. For this reason, we’ve delved into some of the facts and figures behind Africa’s infrastructure investment boom in our lead feature (see page 5). While it is clear that overseas finance is flocking to the country at a rapid rate, much, much more is needed, meaning that opportunities are rife for those willing to take the plunge. This is hugely encouraging, and goes to show that the old clichés about the region being a difficult place to do business are disappearing fast. We hope you enjoy the publication and, as ever, please feel to get in touch with your thoughts and feed.

PRODUCTION Kayen Alexander Creative Director Zain Millington Production Manager Sam Wright Editor-in-Chief Lily Bradic Associate Editor E: production@essentialbusinessmag.com

PROJECTS David Taylor Project Director E: dtaylor@essentialbusinessmag.com PROJECT MANAGERS Maria Alempic E: malempic@essentialbusinessmag.com Uzzal Hossain E: hossain@essentialbusinessmag.com Armin Dizdarevic E: armin@essentialbusinessmag.com

SALES Adam Caan Sales Director E: acaan@essentialbusinessmag.com Johan van Wyk Sales Executive E: jvanwyk@essentialbusinessmag.com

FINANCE Miah Dizer Finance Manager E: accounts@essentialbusinessmag.com

Sam Wright Editor-in-chief

Scott Jameson Operations Director E: sjames@essentialbusinessmag.com

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Africaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Private Investment Boom

Chiboni Evans, CEO: South African Electrotechnical Export Council

Joerg Friedel, Technical Manager for Product: Shell

News Round-Up

Liebherr Africa

Denel IP

Chigwell Holdings

Mazars

Prosperous Voyage

Keeping The House In Order

Designing For The Future

A Service For Good

ROFF Industries

Agri-Wes

Noordfed

Quality, Service and Innovation

Planting The Seed

Not Just Run-Of -The-Mill

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Africa's private investment boom The demand for new infrastructure across Africa is vast. As a result private investors seeking opportunities in transport, energy and power distribution are being welcomed with open arms.

ccording to a recent report by Deloitte, investment in African infrastructure mega projects — those that cost more than US$50 million — stood at US$326billion last year, a rise of 46% from the year before. Yet while these ﬁgures are impressive, they are a mere drop in the ocean compared to what is required. Back in 2009, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) estimated that

around US$8 trillion would be needed for the continent to fulﬁll its potential over the next decade, with 51% earmarked for electricity, 29% for roads and 13% for telecommunications. At the mid-point in this period, it seems certain that this will not be met. The global downturn has hit hard, while Nigeria —Africa's newly crowned largest economy — is among the exporting

nations struggling with the collapse in oil prices. Yet, in infrastructure terms at least, the outlook is certainly far from solely doom and gloom. Across the region, sovereign wealth funds from the Middle East and China are ploughing funds into transformative construction and agriculture projects, while private equity houses have stepped up their activity as they look to diversify their portfolios. At the same time, governments in countries such as South Africa, Nigeria, Uganda and Kenya are all looking to tap the private sector to bridge the infrastructure ﬁnancing deﬁcit.

The need for power

“

Africa needs electric power to fulﬁllits vast development potential,” says Jonathan Hosie, a partner in international law ﬁrm Mayer Brown's construction and engineering group. “The rule of thumb in terms of energy needs for an industrial nation is about 1MW for every thousand of its population. Taking Nigeria as an example, with a population of some 180 million, this puts the country's energy needs in the 180,000MW range.” This, he adds, illustrates both the size of the problem and the potential opportunity. “Many countries, such as Nigeria, have recognised the scale of the task and set about reforming the power generation sector in order to encourage much-needed foreign direct investment.”

On May 6, Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. (NNPC) issued a statement saying that is was now looking for foreign investment in gas infrastructure to fuel its domestic power plants, an area long neglected in the country in favour of more lucrative exports. With the US ending liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports from the country due to its own shale-fuelled glut and the naira plummeting against the dollar, the stateowned energy firm is now looking closer to home. Nigeria “need not be and must not be a victim of price drop, instead we should position to benefit from it”, the company said in a statement. "For example, we have built over 500 kilometres of gas pipelines and we are building an additional 120 kilometres currently.” This, of course, does not come cheap. As Hosie says, “power generation projects tend to be capital intensive and require investors and lenders with deep pockets”. Yet the opportunities, he adds, are not confined to those at the top end of the scale. “More modest developments may be possible with the mining of natural resources, but with commodity prices low, having good infrastructure in the vicinity of the mine is a pre-requisite. Building transport infrastructure and licensing this for multiple users is one model that may find a ready market in certain African jurisdictions.”

On the rise

Either way, this thirst for investment will not go away any time soon. By 2040, estimates have been made that Africa will require a cumulative investment of US$85 trillion by 2040, with the economy quadrupling over this period. “That level of investment and growth cannot be met by home-grown capital, even from resourcerich nations when the commodity prices head north,” says Hosie.“Africa needs a higher oil price to support growth but it also needs to 'get' the benefit of foreign direct investment.” For investors then, both the opportunities and challenges are clear. For those thinking of taking the plunge, as ever, caution is advised. “There are many factors influencing the decision to invest but, amongst the most important is to choose your country by reference to the quality of the host government,” says Hosie. “Is it stable; does it have a good track record of keeping to the rules, such as a consistent approach to the setting of tax levels, environmental permitting and a regulated energy sector?” The presence of strong bilateral investment treaties, he continues, is also highly desirable. With the scale of the funds needed though, it is only a matter of time before fresh incentives for foreign investors are introduced. At that point, this initial flurry could turn into a stampede.

South African Electrotechnical Export Council The SAEEC is a non-profit company that acts as the voice of South Africa's US$40 billion electrical engineering, information technology, telecommunications and electronics sector. Here CEO Chiboni Evans tells us about the challenges facing such as dynamic industry. Can we start with a question about the SAEEC, its goals, history? The South African Electrotechnical Export Council (SAEEC) is a public-privatepartnership between South African business and the Department of Trade and Industry (thedti). Members of the SAEEC are South African registered companies that are manufacturers and providers of products and related services from the Electrotechnical sector namely: Electrical Engineering, Electronics, Information Technology and Telecommunications The Council was founded in June 1999 and our aim is to address opportunities and issues affecting exporting companies by capitalising on our combined strength. We 9

provide a value-added and costeffective service to our members with the main focus on growing exports by identifying and facilitating opportunities, inďŹ&#x201A;uencing trade policy issues and providing operational and logistical support for our exporters. In order to provide a holistic support offering to our members and to grow the participation of South African companies in infrastructure projects across the African continent, the SAEEC has forged a grouping with ďŹ ve other Export Councils in the technology and engineering sectors. The Councils within this grouping include the Built Environment Professions Export Council, Rail Road Association, International Steel

Is the SAEEC working on any specific projects that are exciting? In 2014 the SAEEC Board of Directors and senior management made a decision to focus on supporting thedti's drive to diversify and increase the base of South African exporters. Thus, we have embarked on a program, supported by thedti to develop the Small Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) in our sector to realistically and successfully supply goods and services into large infrastructure projects. Our initial focus sector will be “Africa Power”. Because of the global focus on developing the Power Infrastructure in Africa, this sector (Power) presents great business opportunities for South African companies. The Power Africa Initiative, launched by President Obama in 2013, proposes to ensure that 70% of Africa is electriﬁed by 2030. This will require an estimated investment in Africa's Power Infrastructure projects of US$7 Billion per annum over the next 15 years.

Fabricators, Capital Equipment Export Council and Steel Tube Export Association. The SAEEC also acts as a neutral and formal gateway for public and private organisations and companies that are looking to form partnerships or source goods and services from South African companies in this sector. Additionally the SAEEC also provides an important platform on which to coordinate the export marketing efforts of the sector as well as being an ofﬁcial conduit to government to enhance strategies and policies to improve the export support environment.

We have therefore developed, and are running a specific project which is aimed at recruiting, retaining and developing Emerging Exporters in the Electrotechnical sector. Currently, 53% of the SAEEC membership are Small Medium and Micro Enterprises and 12% can be classified as emerging exporters per the South African Department of Trade and Industry definition. We intend to grow this base by recruiting and supporting sustainable SMMEs, particularly black and women owned organisations. The SMME membership although commendable at 53% is still lacking in that very few of these companies are neither majority black owned and/or women owned enterprises (BOE and/or WOE). The initial focus of the SAEEC is thus to identify those predominately BOE and WOE enterprise and develop them as emerging exporters in the Electrical Engineering /Power sub-sector of the Electrotechnical sector.

The African Utility Week (AUW) is the ﬁrst event of a series of exhibitions that the Emerging Exporters will participate in, the other proposed events are the East African Power Industry Convention (EAPIC) in August 2015 and the West Africa Power Industry Convention (WAPIC) in November 2015. Thirty six (36) SAEEC member companies including eleven (11) emerging exporters are exhibiting at Africa Utility Week 2015. The larger of our member companies exhibiting will also support and mentor our emerging exporters during this event. To increase the exposure of our member companies, especially our emerging exporters, to key decision makers from African utilities we have, with the support of our Export Promotion Directorate at thedti, also secured the participation of twelve delegates from the Power Ministries and Utilities of four African countries this year.

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The companies to be taken through this current SAEEC emerging exporter development program comprise ten companies of which 25% are women owned and four are 100% black owned. The objective of the SAEEC is to expose companies to export opportunities through technical training and proﬁling them at key events where decision makers to the West and East African Power Pools are present.

What do you see as the main challenges in the utility industry in South Africa? The challenges faced by the South African Power Utility Eskom are known to all. The Eskom challenges have a “knock on” effect on the Electrotechnical sector. However, the strain placed on our members by the constraints in our domestic environment has focussed our attention on the rest of the continent.

Anything you would like to add? South Africa should not only offer capabilities and competences of our sector to our compatriots on the African continent but also our learnings. The impact of inadequate planning for both new builds and maintenance of Power plants in South Africa has been felt by all facets of our economy. We must use the capabilities in our sector to not only stabilise the situation in South Africa but to also assist with the development of sustainable solutions for the African continent as a whole. We should therefore engage with other utilities on the continent to share our knowledge and learnings and ensure that the few (but costly) mistakes made in South Africa are avoided as the rest of the continent implements its Power Infrastructure plans.

Shell

As a leading energy company, Shell's main business activities include Retail and Commercial Fuels, Lubricants and Oils, Chemicals, Manufacturing and Upstream Exploration. Here Joerg Friedel, Technical Manager, Product Application at Shell, talks about the challenges and difficulties facing the industry.

Which products or services by your company are you most excited about currently?

What makes your company a leader in this field?

Shell's new GTL (gas to liquids) technology is being used to produce Shell Diala S4 ZXI, an inhibited transformer oil, which provides enhanced protection, extended oil life and excellent system efďŹ ciency. We are particularly impressed with its cooling performance.

Shell is the #1 global supplier of ďŹ nished lubricants (Kline 2013) and has been a supplier of transformer oils for over seventy years. Shell has been investing in Shell GTL (gas to liquids) technology since the 1970s.

We are also using the same Shell GTL (gas to liquids) technology to produce our new range of turbine oils, the Shell Turbo S4 range. 13

Any specific projects/success stories that have made a huge difference that you can share?

What in your opinion are the biggest challenges that the utility/energy industry is facing currently?

In customer trials, run by OEMs and utilities, the new Diala S4 ZX-I showed comparable or better cooling properties compared to conventional naphthenic oils. It also showed superior oxidation stability and higher voltage impulse stability. It has been fully approved by a number of OEMs.

The decentralization of power generation, combined with the cut of maintenance budgets, will be a great challenge for the future and will stress the grid and the transformer differently than in the past.

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What excites you about this industry? Which regions in Africa are you most interested in at the moment? In Africa, we have a well-established Shell presence in South Africa, Egypt and Libya, and we are also present through a joint venture, Shell and Vivo Lubricants B.V. (SVL). Together with SVL we have the expertise and people in the ďŹ eld able to respond to the emerging needs of the continent, and have the ambition to become the #1 International Oil Company in Lubricants in Africa.

The industry continues to change and is at a challenging point in its history. The commitment to investment indicated for the next few years in Africa is an exciting opportunity.

What surprises you about this industry? Despite the need to grow and adapt to the challenges in the industry, it is sometimes conservative to change.

NEWS Round-Up CONSTRUCTION East Africa's largest mall, Garden City, is set to open its doors to the public this week. Constructed on a 32 acre piece of land adjacent to the Thika Super highway in Kenya, Garden City boasts 33,000 square metres of retail space in its ďŹ rst phase alone. "Phase one of the mall is almost fully leased, and we're expecting more than 50 per cent of

our retail tenants to be ready to open with us on May 28," said Michael Turner, Director Actis, Nairobi. Meanwhile, in Rwanda, construction works on over 15km of Kigali's roads are almost complete. Affected roads include Masaka-Kabuga road, Primature-Cadillac area, Nyandungu-Masoro, and Minagri -Nyarutarama road among others.

MINING AND ENERGY After delays caused by the Ebola crisis, the construction of Liberia's Mount Coffee hydro power plant is back on track, and is predicted to be operational by December 2016. The dam, located on the River Paul, once provided power to a third of households in Montserrado Country but was severely damaged during Liberia's civil war.

In South Africa, Minister of Public Enterprises Lynne Brown refuted privatisation plans for Eskom, stating that the blackouts could be expected to continue for another three years.

FOOD AND BEVERAGE American coffee and doughnut giant Krispy Kreme announced plans this week to enter the South African market. The brand has signed a development agreement with local chain KK Doughnuts, SA and plans to bring 31 Krispy Kreme shops to South Africa within the next ﬁve years. “We have collaborated with an operator who has extensive experience in food service throughout South Africa. We're conﬁdent the brand will establish itself as the country's

premiere sweet treats provider under its leadership," said Dan Beem, Senior VP at Krispy Kreme. Meanwhile, the African food and beverages industry is gearing up for a host of conferences and workshops at Africa's Big Seven (AB7) expo 2015. The event, taking place from 21st -23rd June in Midrand, will focus on the latest industry technologies and the opportunities they represent.

MANUFACTURING Reports this week revealed that South Africa's gross domestic product slowed to just 1.3% in the ﬁrst quarter of 2015, with manufacturing falling an annualised 2.4%. The last quarter of 2014 saw a GDP of 4.1%, but struggles with the electricity crisis and a high unemployment rate are continuing to take their toll on the country's economic growth. On a brighter note, Airtel Nigeria has signed an agreement with African technology manufacturer RLG to produce handsets, tablets and power banks for future Airtel subscribers. Tosin Ilesanmi, regional director of RLG in West and Central Africa, stated that the venture could create up to 10,000 new jobs.

www.liebherr.com

Prosperous Voyages Last month, Liebherr Africa launched a new maritime centre in Durban. Essential Business spoke to Henner Rodenwoldt, Maritime Division Manager of Liebherr Africa, to find out more about the subsidiary's activities and growing influence across the continent.

arch saw the opening of Liebherr Africa's ﬁrst maritime hub in South Africa. Located just outside of Durban, the new service centre is set to offer complete service staff training in addition to sales and spares for all of its products in South Africa. With Africa being the second largest market for its parent Liebherr Group last year, the company has seen a threefold increase in mobile harbour crane deliveries from the 20132014 period, and is optimistic about meeting the on-going demands of the African market.

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“We've had a long business relationship with Transnet. They have over 60 Liebherr cranes now, including 31 ship-to-shore cranes, 13 mobile harbour cranes, and 18 rubber tyre gantry (RTG) cranes,” begins Rodenwoldt. “As a result of that good relationship, and together with the development we've seen here in Africa, we decided we would open up this maritime hub as an extended arm of the head ofﬁces in Europe.”

“

Over the last few years, we've seen that a lot of ports or shipping companies in the oil and gas sector are pushing for productivity and safety, so we looked to different industries to see how we could improve productivity on the skills front

The last few years have seen a significant increase in South Africa's infrastructure spending, with room for more growth to follow. “If you look at all the landlocked economies, they have started to thrive and develop now. That helps us, and the ports in general, to deliver the products to and from these economies,” explains Rodenwoldt. “Over the last few years, we've seen that a lot of ports or shipping companies in the oil and gas sector are pushing for productivity and safety, so we looked to different industries to see how we could improve productivity on the skills front,” he continues. “We looked at the realistic simulators of the aerospace industry, and we spent significant money, research and development (R&D) and also resources in developing simulators specifically for our products. This will drive productivity, reduce risk of damage on the machines themselves, and eliminate risk factors — and then pass these advantages on to the customers.”

Henner Rodenwoldt, Maritime Division Manager 19

The South African skills shortage has proved challenging for Liebherr Africa, but the company's solution beneﬁts both its business and the local economy. “We've started an apprenticeship programme here in South Africa, where we take on a number of apprentices each year and start training them for the next three years so we can

reduce our expat contingency and work with local people,” explains Rodenwoldt. “The crane simulators are for both operational and technical training, and we cover the whole maritime range — from ship-to-shore cranes and RTG to mobile harbour cranes and offshore cranes. It's one of the best training centres we have in our group.” In October last year, the South African government launched Operation Phakisa. The initiative aims to have government, academia, and industry working together to ﬁnd methods of reducing unemployment, and hopes to create over one million jobs by 2033. Operation Phakisa will begin by exploring the potential of South Africa's oceans — focusing on industries such as marine transport and manufacturing; offshore oil and gas; marine protection; and ﬁsh 21

farming to name just a few. “Phakisa is a very interesting initiative that will help the South African economy significantly, specifically the shipbuilding and ship repair industry,” says Rodenwoldt. “And Liebherr is very strong in this field as well, in terms of delivering cranes and infrastructure. A lot of the infrastructure that is in place here in South Africa is very old, and over the years there have been a lot of exciting new innovations in this sector. We are very happy to play our part in helping to propose possible solutions for what can be done in the shipyards in terms of innovation and progress.” Liebherr's worldwide reputation for innovation extends to its subsidiaries, with Liebherr Africa demonstrating its talent for forward-thinking designs and solutions. “We're working on a lot of innovations at the moment. One thing we're looking at is

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increasing our product portfolio, and in April 2015 we issued the world's largest mobile harbour crane, the LHM 800. It has a lifting capacity of 308 tonnes, which is 100 tonnes more than its predecessor,” says Rodenwoldt. “We've also looked at certain operations, speciﬁcally the grab operations, where we've developed the SmartGrip system.” The SmartGrip system Rodenwoldt refers to is an intelligent grabbing technology, designed to increase turnover and eliminate stress and overloads on the crane. SmartGrip technology is currently in use across the grab operations sector, and is being tested on transshipment operations in Africa. “The SmartGrip innovation has received a lot of attention, and it's something that the market has been wanting for a long time,” says Rodenwoldt. 22

“

We're working on a lot of innovations at the moment. One thing we're looking at is increasing our product portfolio, and in April 2015 we issued the world's largest mobile harbour crane, the LHM 800.

Liebherr Africa is also looking to expand into new markets, and with its order books already very full in South Africa, it certainly looks to be a busy year for the company. “Obviously the west-African market is a big market for us, and we have a very strong presence within it,” says Rodenwoldt. “This year, we're able to break into the east African market, where

traditionally our competition has been strong. We're able to deliver ship-to-shore cranes to Kenya, and we're able to deliver mobile harbour cranes to Maputo, so all from the beginning of the year we will be represented in the east African countries as well, which is very interesting.”

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www.deniprop.co.za

Keeping the house in order

Established in 2004 to centralise the management of Denel's property portfolio, Denel Industrial Properties (DeniProp) provides bespoke infrastructure solutions for both Denel's operating divisions and external tenants. General manager Rentia Geldenhuys tells us about the company's role within the Denel Group and the wider property management industry in South Africa.

enel provides turn-key solutions of defence equipment to its clients by designing, developing, integrating and supporting artillery, munitions, missiles, aerostructures, aircraft maintenance, unmanned aerial vehicle systems and optical payloads based on high-end technology. Its defence capabilities date back more than 70 years when some of Denel's ﬁrst manufacturing plants were established. “We're currently managing 11 sites in South Africa,” begins Geldenhuys. “We have different types of lease agreements, ranging from triple net leases to full leases. One of our biggest tenants is Rheinmetall Denel Munitions, which is situated mainly in the Cape region.”

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One of the toughest challenges that DeniProp has had to deal with is that of remediation. Some sites owned by the company were contaminated in the past, and the process of determining the speciﬁcs and levels of these contaminations has been a complicated one for DeniProp. “It's been a long process, and has involved talking to a lot of previous employees to get the facts,” says Geldenhuys. “But we have recently completed the remediation of the Philippi site, which is 517 hectares, and it is now ready to be sold.” Registering servitudes on title deeds have also proven to be challenging. “We've been dealing with numerous agreements that 26

were made previously in an era of trust,” says Geldenhuys. “These agreements were not in writing and they now need to be put on paper, to ensure we have access to pipelines and roads in the future.” Elsewhere,DeniPropfaces risks as a result ofa number of large properties on whichammunition is manufactured and stored. These facilities have very large explosive circles, meaning that the land surrounding them cannot be occupied. “This is not readily known to the public,” says Geldenhuys, "and some people think they can illegally occupy vacant land without realising that they are putting their lives in danger. We recently experienced problems with illegal occupations at our Philippi property and had to get a court order to remove them. Most sites owned by Denel are classiﬁed as National Key Points, which implies that the higher levels of security are enforced.”

Introduced during apartheid, the National Key Points Act is a law designed to safeguard sites of national strategic importance in South Africa. The intention of this legislation was to enable the state to compel owners of facilities that presented security risks to secure their facilities at their own cost. Despite the obscurity of the legislation, for DeniProp, it remains a very real part of their business. “We also struggle with mining rights and issuing of permits,” says Geldenhuys. "Sometimes we need to stop these being issued as some of our sites are classiﬁed as National Key Points and mining activities will affect our manufacturing processes.” At the same time, there are broader challenges to be faced. The commercial property market has recently struggled in South Africa, with a tough environment for

manufacturers exasperating the issue. According to the latest Rode's Report on the South African property market, office rentals in Sandton, the country's financial hub and premier office district, are falling — a clear sign that the sector is under severe pressure. “There's an oversupply of commercial property in South Africa. Many buildings are vacant and new ones get built on a regular basis,” says Geldenhuys. Commercial rentals in Sandton were down

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by 4% in the last quarter of 2014, yet new developments are being completed every day. The property boom has also spread to neighbouring countries such as Botswana, with Gaborone's commercial property supply also beginning to exceed demand. “My view is that the market in South Africa is currently saturated, and the older buildings remain vacant,” says Geldenhuys. “We as property managers need to look at how we can transform our buildings to become more green and efﬁcient.” 28

DeniProp is currently running the energy project for the Denel Group and has managed a saving of more than 10% per annum to date. Plans are in place to effect a further 5 to 10% saving in the next couple of years. This comes as part of a corporate rebranding of Denel, with premises being upgraded to meet a more uniform corporate standard. “This is a mammoth task, as we have the 11 sites with their own management and everyone wants to put their own stamp on the site,” says Geldenhuys. “Managing this portfolio can be a difﬁcult job, as the tenants often want to effect structural and other changes without getting prior written approval from the Landlord. This has huge implications for me as the property manager on compliance issues,” she 29

“

continues. “I am inspecting the sites as often as I can and discussing issues with my own managers, but also with the tenants to make them aware of the consequences of their actions.” DeniProp has recently introduced a helpdesk system so that all propertyrelated repairs and maintenance issues may be reported, repairs done and progress monitored, with the data being used for trend analysis and developing more effective maintenance plans and schedules. “This information assists us in evaluating certain products to ensure that whatever item we replace will be a long term solution,” says Geldenhuys. “This helps us to get the best value for money for Denel group and our tenants.” 30

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Design for the future Essential Business shines the spotlight on Chigwell Holdings, a company helping to meet the housing needs of the emerging middle class in Kenya and East Africa.

stablished in 2005, Chigwell Holdings Ltd is a property development ďŹ rm on a mission: to provide quality, contemporary homes at competitive prices. With a focus on affordable designer

housing, Chigwell has three projects under its belt: Phenom Estate, Sidai Village, and Phenom Park.

www.chigwellholdings.com 33

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Bold beginnings

The Chigwell Holdings story starts with Phenom Estate, a Sh250 million project that began in 2007. The 32-acre gated community is located behind Wilson Airport, off the main Lang'ata Road, and consists of 343 maisonettes and a fully developed community centre. According to Nirish Shah, Executive Director of Chigwell, Phenom Estate, was lead by extensive research into the needs of the target market of young professionals. The research revealed a preference for open spaces and bright, artistic finishes. This is reflected in the architectural design of the project's final phase. “Lang'ata Road has always been overlooked by developers,” said Mr. Nirish, speaking to Standard Media in 2013. “Land here is

comparatively cheaper than other suburbs in Nairobi such as Kileleshwa and Lavington. The prices will definitely shoot up after construction of the Southern Bypass, which will open up the area for more development, is finished.” The success, popularity and substantial profits from the Phenom Estate development went on to fuel Chigwell's second project: Sidai Village in Athi River. “Interestingly, the same banks which were not willing to offer us loans started making financing proposals after the completion of our first project,” Shah said in an interview with Business Daily Africa. “Many new building technologies are not received well in Kenya because they are quick and easy, and most Kenyans feel more secure with solid and secure houses,

Gaining momentum

so we try to give them the best of both worlds. Gated communities and affordable family centered homes are also well sought after in the market.” The popularity of Chigwell's developments would suggest they have got the balance just right: even the ﬁrm's slogan, “Complement your Lifestyle”, acknowledges their focus not just on quality builds but also style and design. Located on the Nairobi-Mombasa duel highway, Sidai Village is Chigwell's second gated community, and demonstrates the same dedication to providing affordable designer homes as its predecessor. Chigwell's latest residential development, Phenom Park, is yet another gated community located in the heart of Lang'ata. Just a ten-minute drive from the central business district, with classic views of the Nairobi National Park, the project comprises of urban ultramodern residential

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units, communal amenities and a commercial shopping area. The project targets the upper middle class segment, and as with all Chigwell developments, the units are stylish, spacious and contemporary, with natural light and airﬂow being integral to the design.

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Nirish Shah Executive Director Chigwell Holdings

A solid future

Kenya's growing middle class is keen to invest in housing, and Chigwell's commitment to researching and understanding its market means the ďŹ rm is well positioned to meet this demand. The ďŹ rm has partnered with a consortium of investors and purchased a 400 acre parcel of land in Limuru, a fast growing area in Kenya. The development will feature mixed projects â&#x20AC;&#x201C; both Residential & Commercial, and will adopt a selfsustaining concept. Also in planning is Phenom Square, an exciting commercial business park that will be launched soon. 37

Chigwell is also looking to diversify in coming years, and has already expressed an interest in commercial developments in the hospitality industry. Thanks to a passion for identifying the needs of its clients, and a dedication to quality and design, the outlook for Chigwell Holdings looks nothing but positive.

A Service F for Good www.mazars.co.za

Earlier this month, the South African arm of professional services firmMazars was an exhibitor in the Africa Utility Week 2015. Essential Business spoke to managing partner of the Cape Town office, Michelle Olckers, to find out what the renewable sector means to the companyand their plans to boost innovation.

rom the 11th to the 15th of May, the fifteenth annual Africa Utility Week connected power and water professionals for five days of networking, trade exhibitions and conferences in Cape Town. Among the exhibitors was the Cape Town office of Mazars, one of the world’s leading professional servicescompanies providing auditing,accountancyand business advisory services. “We’ve seen that energy, and particularly renewable energy is a huge focus in South Africaand, with

our current energy challenges, the sector is fast becoming an important stakeholder in finding a solution. Given the growth and Mazars’ expertise and capability within the sector, our involvement with the Africa Utility Week was a good opportunity to introduce our brand and different service lines to the industry. We’ve found a lot of potential new work coming from this sector, so we thought this was a great way to meet potential new clients and showcase the good work we are already doing,” says Olckers. Mazars has twelve offices in South Africa, and offers services around project financing, financial model reviews, and REIPPP bid submissions to the renewable energy sector. The bulk of the interest in these services comes from the Johannesburg and Cape Town areas, where

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the renewable energy developments are currently focused. “A Partner from our ofﬁce, specializing in renewable energy, was on hand to showcase Mazars’ services. She found it to be a great experience with fantastic exposure for our business. A lot of good contacts were potentially made from the event,” continues Olckers. Mazars’ early entrance into the renewables sector has proven to be a wise decision for the company, providing them with a head start over competitors. While this may be bringing a substantial amount of work to Mazars, it’s not without its challenges. “We’re often underestimated compared to the big four. We offer exactly the same services and have the same expertise,

qualifications and capabilities, but the big brands generally seem to dominate the market,” explains Olckers. “So I think our challenge is to really get ourselves recognised, that’s why we’re getting involved with more initiatives like the Africa Utility Week. We try to support different initiativesin specific sectors, as these show that there are different opportunities available in South Africa,” she tells us. “I think what’s happening, specifically in the audit market, is that economic pressure is causing the bigger firms to reach out into areas they didn’t previously get involved with. And it’s our aim to show why we’re able to offer those services in a better and more effective way for our clients. That’s the reason why they are with us,” says Olckers. Mazars is founded on the premise that a strong relationship between partner and client is the key to successful business. These strong relationships are then leveraged to generate more services and more leads. In addition to the relationship-building work of the partners, Mazars also benefits from having a notably young workforce that excels at bringing energy and new ideas to the company. “Probably 80% of our professionals worldwide are millennials, so we definitely have a young workforce, and we believe it’s important to listen to what they’re saying. That’s why we came up with #MazarsforGood,” she says. Launched in January this year, #MazarsforGood is an innovation challenge

designed to rally entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs between the ages of 20 and 30. The goal is to design an innovative product, service or process that can positively transform the way companies do business. “Being quite a young organisation who employs a lot of young people, we realise that innovation is at the heart of everything we do. We get challenged on a daily basis by the young people who come into our business. So we saw this as an opportunity to inspire and allow these young entrepreneurs to really show us what they’re capable of,” explains Olckers. “So we launched #MazarsforGood. They

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had to choose a category between society, business and employee, and effect change within that corporate environment. We’ve had a lot of people participate so far, and we haven’t got to the end of it yet, but it’s going to be evaluated by a jury chaired by our head of talent management at Mazars Group level. It’s a fascinating challenge and it really reflects our interest in innovation,” she says. The millennial influence can be seen clearly in Mazars’ plans for the future, with the firm set to take a more technology-based approach and launch new online portals within the next year. “We’re looking at new ways of interacting with our clients through portals so that clients feel they can access us at any time they want,” Olckers tells us. “Also the client base is changing, so we’re not just dealing with the traditional businesses, but younger entrepreneurs who are starting businesses.” 42

“We’re also branching out in terms of our service offering and have expanded quite a lot into advisory services. Being a traditional professional services ﬁrm, we started off with audits, tax and accounting, but we’re seeing that we need to offer our clients a broader range of services. We’ve put a lot more investment into tax consulting, as companies aren’t just working within one jurisdiction anymore. They’re operating across the globe, and we’re now able to assist with that.” Recovery and restructuring services have also been a big add-on for Mazars this year.

“It’s sad, but there are a lot of businesses that are struggling, and either going into liquidation or needing assistance to ensure they get out of that position,” explains Olckers. “We’re recognised in South Africa as one of the leaders in business rescue as we got in early and are offering the service with very skilled attorneys and accountants. Through the business rescue process, we can actually help businesses not go into liquidation, but rather create an opportunity to becomesomething a little bit different but hopefully still exist, thereby preserving economic viability and jobs.” 43

Michelle Olckers Managing Partner Cape Town Branch

Information at your ď&#x20AC; nger tips

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Quality, Service and Innovation www.roff.co.za

off Industries, established in 1991, have been in existence for more than 20 years and specialises in the design and construction of high quality maize milling plants. From the outset Roff have been committed to quality, service and innovation. Today, Roff does not only have a production facility that produces maize milling equipment designed to address customer needs, but also consist of a design department that enable us to do customised projects to fit in most existing buildings and meet specific customer criteria. Our product offering traditionally satisfied production capacities between 500 kg/h up to 4000 kg/h and can be operational in less than six months

from date of order. We have plants operational in South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Namibia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Zambia, Angola, Tanzania, Kenya, DRC, Eastern Europe, Syria and Belgium. With more than 85 employees, we are committed to passionately execute the one thing that makes us tick, “the sound of a milling machine starting up and running at full capacity”. At Roff our employees are one big family. We all back the brand and the product with emotion. From the detail in design right through to supporting our customers to grow their competitive advantage by making sure that extractions 46

are maximised and downtime minimised. For Roff, success lies in the success of our customers as proﬁtable business leaders in their communities. Strategically Roff Industries are aiming to be the leading role-player in the SubSaharan African market within the next ﬁve years. Therefore emphasis and investment is being placed on providing not only the product to the market, but also excellent service in terms of parts availability, technical assistance and support. Being an African manufacturer, Roff has not only an African focussed product range but also understands the unique challenges that face its customers in South Africa and neighbouring countries. Over the past 15 years we have noticed that the consumer of maize meal is looking

for a more reﬁned and a better quality product. This has led to African Milling Companies investing in more technical and high-tech equipment. In 2012 we launched a Maize Milling Plant, named the R70. The R70 Maize Milling Plant produces high quality maize meal and enables the entrepreneur to satisfy these market's needs. Since then the plant has become the company's top seller. The Roff R70 plant offers a compact mill to the entrepreneur who is looking to enter the maize meal market as well as, existing milling companies who wishes to increase their milling capacity, with an even more cost effective process. Roff's R70 enables the client to produce maize meal at an inlet capacity of 50 to 100 tons per day, depending on the conﬁguration of the mill

setup. The plant can be set up at 50 tons and easily upgraded to 100 tons per day, allowing the customer to grow into the capacity needed.

Compact to save ďŹ&#x201A;oor space and reduce installation costs, the ROFF R70 has the capacity to produce up to 30 000 tons per year, which is a potential annual turnover of R100 million;

The Roff R70 comes standard with a surge bin for maize inlet, cleaning and conditioning equipment (with a conditioning bin), de-germination, milling, sifting, conveyors, electrical panel, electrical cabling and all steel structures. Clients only need to provide the building, water point and electrical supply to the panel.

The R70 is one of the best value for money maize mills on the market, with smaller capacity options also available; To reduce installation time on site, the mills are pre-assembled in the ROFF factory; Sheet metal parts are laser-cut to ensure excellent quality; All operational equipment is installed across two levels, so that processes are visible from multiple angles. This enables the miller contact with the process and easy control of the plant;

Being able to satisfy the market needs is of utmost importance to Roff and in 2014 we concluded an agency agreement with the Italian brand Golfetto Sangati, which will enable us to provide solutions for customers with a need to produce more than 120 tonnes per day up to 720 tonnes per day. This will open new opportunities for Roff and its client base.

All components are easily reachable. The top ﬂoor is not an operational ﬂoor, but mainly used for maintenance purposes; The R70 is a proudly African mill. With the exception of a few small parts, it is manufactured in ROFF’s Kroonstad factory; and For the client’s peace of mind, the R70 is covered by an optional service contract

With a highly innovative design department we are focussing on product development and implementing new technologies constantly. We get feedback from our technical teams on a constant basis with de-briefing sessions after every project in order to improve our processes, information flow and efficiency continuously. We need to be more than just a supplier to our customers, a lifelong partner, a partner that can grow with our customers. As they become more successful in their particular markets we need to be able to satisfy the need for increased capacity or quality within our product ranges. Roff has always been and will always be the entrepreneur's best choice to partner with in the milling industry.

Planting the seed

In the last few years, agricultural chemical supplier Agri-Wes (Zambia) has recently branched out into the farming machinery market. CEO Nico De Kock tells us how the company â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and Zambia's agricultural industry as a whole â&#x20AC;&#x201D; has changed since Agri-Wes (Z) was first established.

www.agriwes.com 51

n agronomist by trade, Nico De Kock left South Africa over twenty years ago to pursue opportunities in the Zambian agricultural industry. By January 1995, he had established a base for Agri-Wes (Z) in FarmCentre Mkushi, and has been supplying agricultural chemicals and seeds to farmers ever since. “Everyone thought we were mad for going there,” he tells us. “It was a very small place with maybe thirty farmers. But since then we've grown, and Mkushi's grown, and Zambia's grown — and we did not foresee it, at that stage.” Zambia has changed dramatically over the

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past two decades, going from having virtually no infrastructure to being one of the most urbanised countries in Southern Africa. The Minister of Local Government and Housing recently predicted that the majority of people in Zambia will be living in cities and towns by 2030, and with the population also on the rise, sustainable urban development is now a serious priority. “When we ﬁrst came here, the main road was one big pothole from Luskaka,” says De Kock. “It was so bad you could barely drive. Today the roads are quite good, but the problem we've got now is that there's too much trafﬁc. The country has grown so

much and the road structure has struggled to keep up with that, but at least you can drive, albeit slowly and in heavy traffic.” Agri-Wes is a distributor for some of the most respected chemical companies in the world, including Syngenta, Villa Crop, and Arysta. In 2012, Agri-Wes branched out from chemicals and into the world of machinery and began distributing Vaderstad Verken machines and spare parts. “We got our first sale after about a year of representing them,” De Kock tells us. “It takes time to gain the confidence of the farmers.” 53

The success of the Vaderstad products prompted Agri-Wes to expand on their machinery range, and in September 2014, they became the ofﬁcial Zambian dealership for CLAAS farming machinery. “It's a major addition to our business. We've basically got two divisions now. There are a lot of challenges involved in starting a new business, so we decided to keep it as one company and run it as two divisions,” he explains. “There is already some CLAAS equipment in Zambia, but not a lot. CLAAS had quite a bad name as far as backup service is concerned. Machinery was sold in Zambia, but servicing and support were hard to come by. Most people know they're very good products but the support service was poor. It's our job to convince people

“

We get help from CLAAS Germany and we work through Kempston Agri, which is the CLAAS importer into Southern Africa,” ... “Our relationship with both of them is fairly close, and communication is pretty quick. Kempston have a representative who visits Zambia quite regularly.”

For Financial Advisory and Business SolutionsTailored to the Agricultural Industry Contact: +260 977 824 834 +260 978 002 050 +260 977 362 388 Email: feranticonsulting@gmail.com Mkushi Farm Block , Zambia

that we will be able to deliver this service.” Agri-Wes' reputation for reliability, integrity, product availability and customer service has been a point of pride for the past 20 years, and positions them as the ideal company to handle the servicing and support of CLAAS machines. “We get help from CLAAS Germany and we work through Kempston Agri, which is the CLAAS importer into Southern Africa,” says De Kock. “Our relationship with both of them is fairly close, and communication is pretty quick. Kempston have a representative who visits Zambia quite regularly.”

“

Everyone thought we were mad for going there,” ... “It was a very small place with maybe thirty farmers. But since then we've grown, and Mkushi's grown, and Zambia's grown - and we did not foresee it, at that stage.”

going to be a slow growth, and maybe that's a good thing because then we can grow with it. It's sustainable. If you get a ﬂash in the pan and sell twenty machines in one go, things can become difﬁcult.”

Machinery may be new ground for familyrun Agri-Wes, but it's a challenge they've faced responsibly. “It's been a big learning curve,” says De Kock. “Repairing machines is not an area I've got experience in, but my son is very technical-minded and he's running that division of the business.” Up next for Agri Wes is the possibility of opening a workshop in Lusaka. Most CLAAS customers are based around Lusaka and Southern Zambia, and Agri Wes already has an ofﬁce there where spare parts can be purchased. The company is also busy with an advertising campaign, designed to raise its visibility and proﬁle within the Zambian market. “Overall, things are going well. Zambia's agricultural economy is under pressure and we've got a couple of challenges — for example, we don't have big capital, which limits the number of machines we can have immediately available,” explains De Kock. “I see the business growing as people get more convinced that we are here to stay and we can deliver service. I suspect it's

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Not Just Run-of-theMill NoordfedEiendomsBeperk, a subsidiary of agricultural group NWK, has recently acquired a second milling company in KwaZulu-Natal. Essential Business looks at the company's decision and its plans for the future.

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www.noordfed.co.za

s a leading provider of agricultural services and inputs, NWK Group’s activity is vast and varied — spanning storage solutions, ﬁnancing packages, agri-economic advisory services and more. The group has over 100 years’ experience serving the South African agricultural market, with the bulk of its activity and distribution taking place in the North West Province. One example of this activity is Noordfed Ltd, a NWK subsidiary based in Lichtenburg. As a milling company that specialises in maize and wheat, Noordfed’s primary activities include the production and distribution of white maize milling products such as white maize meal, white maize rice and white maize samp for both human and animal consumption. These products are distributed to a number of established brands and long-

standing clients, including 10/10, Super Goal, HayDay, and Fat Fowl chicken feed. In February this year, Noordfedalso acquired 100% interest in Empangeni Milling, another white maize milling company based in KwaZulu-Natal. A former subsidiary of holding company Grindrod Ltd, Empangeni Milling is already well established in the KwaZulu Natal maize market. The merger remains safely within Noordfed’s area of expertise, and is as a consequence a relatively low risk endeavour for NWK Group. The venture will see NWK’s presence expand geographically into the “garden province” of South Africa. Prior to this acquisition, Noordfed’s produce was primarily distributed in the North West and 58

Gauteng, with only limited distribution in Limpopo and KwaZulu Natal — but this is now set to change.

“Empangeni Milling/Noordfed has delivered the same service as before to our client base. We foresee a seamless integration that will have no effect on orders, product availability or deliveries,” said Hendrik Roux, former CEO of Empangeni Milling. Roux has since been appointed as managerial head of Noordfed. “A modern mill, the geographic location close to the raw material, and our established market share in KwaZulu-Natal pave the way for the vision that Empangeni Milling/Noordfed has of the future — to ensure that we feed the people of South Africa with passion and with the bestquality product,” said Roux in a press release.

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Several months into the acquisition, Noordfed is already set to embark on its next project — the establishment of a Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment partner within the ﬁrm. The company is in consultation with Intshona Holdings, a black-women-owned company established to empower rural women and farmworkers in South Africa. The transaction proposed by Noordfed would be to the socio-economic beneﬁt of female workers in rural areas and farming communities. Discussions are still underway, but the project looks to be very promising indeed.

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CONTACT US TODAY PATERSON HUGHES ENGINEERING SOUTH AFRICA Phesa House, Forsdick Rd, Cnr Aberdein St & Arthur Bleksley St Roodekop, Germiston, 1401

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Post-Event Roundup African Utility Week From the 12th – 14th May, the 15th annual African Utility Week and Clean Power Africa event took place at the International Convention Centre in Cape Town, South Africa. Through a mix of exhibitions, conferences and workshops, the three-day event provided valuable networking opportunities for power and water utility professionals, from engineers to stakeholders to solution providers. Among the 250 exhibitors were Sensus, Shell, Accenture, Building Energy, and Mazars, a professional services ﬁrm we had the pleasure of speaking to this month.

The conference consisted of eight streams — metering, hydro, clean power, water, larger power users, ﬁnance and investment, transmission and distribution, and generation, each addressing industry developments and strategies. There were also three exclusive keynote and plenary sessions designed to share expertise and best practices for effective power and water supply. The 2015 African Utility Week Industry Awards were given out on the evening of the 13th May, with Kenya's KenGen winning African Power Utility of the Year and Uganda's National Water and Sewerage Corporation winning African Water Utility of the Year. African Community Project of the Year was awarded to the Bokpoort CSP project, ACWA Power.

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Automechanika From 6th – 9th May, South Africa's leading international trade fair for the automotive industry, Automechanika, connected trade visitors from the Sub-Saharan region for four days of expositions, showcasing established products and innovations.

The Innovation Awards were also announced, with Car-O-Liner's Vision2 software winning the gold certiﬁcate and AI Vision's MobilEye collision avoidance system winning the silver. The bronze certiﬁcate was awarded to Bosch for its start/stop system, which is claimed to reduce fuel usage in urban areas by up to 8%.

The product range was vast and spanned many categories, including parts and components; electronics and systems; repairs and maintenance; accessories and tuning; service station and car wash; and IT and management.

Pre-Event Roundup African EduWeek The ninth annual SABC Education African EduWeek is set to take place on 1st-2nd July, showcasing over 120 local and international education exhibitors. The expo will be held at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Johannesburg, and if last year's performance is any indication, will draw over 2000 attendees. African Eduweek brings together visitors from basic & higher education, as well as government ofďŹ cials, NGOs and NPOs, suppliers, and independent education specialists. Among exhibitors this year are Intel Education, Ambit, Netschools, BIC, Macmillan Education, and Pearson. EduWeek is divided into eight product sectors to help visitors make the most of their time at the event. These sectors are Technology, Maths and Science Equipment; Digital and Print Publishing; School Supplies, Stationery and Educational Toys; Inclusive Education; Safety and Security; Sustainability and Energy EfďŹ ciency; Services for Educational Institutions; and International Pavilions. With 20 free-to-attend education seminars and over 70 technical workshops, Africa Eduweek 2015 is not to be missed. Registrations are open now. 65

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Land Forces Africa The Land Forces Africa expo will be advancing Africa's defence and security objectives between the 6th and 7th July in the Heartfelt Arena in Thaba Tshwane, Pretoria. The conference and exhibition will span two days and see senior military ofďŹ cials, government stakeholders and industry experts come together to share their views and expertise on all matters relating to pan-African defence and security. Industry leaders will be present to discuss interoperability in Africa's multinational operations, with talks from the Eastern Africa Standby Force, Ghanaian Chief of Army Staff, Honourable Minister of Defence & Military Veterans, and UNAMID, among others.

There will also be a wide range of defence equipment available to view, operate and test â&#x20AC;&#x201D; including armoured vehicles, combat gear, communication systems, decontamination units and more. Exhibitors include Armscor, SAAB Grintek Defence, Denel SOC, and TATA Motors. Registration for visitors and exhibitors is currently open. Disaster Management Africa will be co-located with Land Forces Africa, and will provide conferences, demonstrations and workshops relating to Disaster and Emergency Management.

Africa Rail The 18th annual Africa Rail event is gearing up to take place in Johannesburg, running from the 30th June to 1st July and gathering leading rail and infrastructure speakers from around the world. For nearly 2 decades, Africa Rail has been an unrivalled platform for the continent's railways industry to learn, network and do business. Co-located with Africa Rail 2015 at the Sandton Convention Centre are:

Transport Africa Awards 2015 The 8th annual award ceremony recognising individual, operational and project excellence in the African transport sector

Africa Ports & Harbours Show 2015 The leading marketplace and meeting point for African port operators, end-users and governments 66

The Cargo Show Africa's largest transport and infrastructure show, with exhibitions from industry leaders and a VIP conference on operational efﬁciency and innovation.

Transport Security & Safety Show An exhibition and conference aimed at educating the transport sector on safety and security solutions, technology and innovations.

Manufacturing Indaba The 2nd annual Manufacturing Indaba will be held on the 29th & 30th June 2015 at Emperors Palace in Ekurhuleni, South Africa. With South Africa's economy under pressure, the manufacturing industry is facing big challenges. Manufacturing Indaba brings together business owners, industry leaders, government officials, capital providers and professional experts to discuss challenges and brainstorm solutions. 2015's theme is Localisation and The Growth Of An Advanced Manufacturing Economy, with topics from financing to energy efficiency up for discussion over a range of plenary sessions and breakaway debates. Exhibitors include Deloitte, SAPICS, Dectra, SANAS, and the DTI. 67

Aviation Festival Africa Africa's leading conference where airlines and airports from across Africa come to share insights and ideas to boost revenue and proﬁts. Aviation Festival Africa is the annual one-stop-shop for buying, learning and choosing partners.

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