KZN Invest 7

KZN

INVEST

NOVEMBER 2019

Belts & Bikinis And a host of other exports giving KZN the edge

CONNECT COMMUNICATE COLLABORATE

Big Business

New Chamber boss speaks out about dreaded business forums

Books

A legacy business is gaining new currency on the streets of Durban

New City Heartline

MANUFACTURING SPECIAL

ISSUE 07

Splendid

Check out Hugh Bland’s amazing travels around the beautiful province

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The city of Durban (eThekwini Municipality) is South Africa’s second most important economic region

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Extensive first-world road, rail, sea and air

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CITY THAT’S

GEARED FOR GROWTH A truly smart city, Durban, KZN, South Africa seamlessly combines an innovative business environment with an exciting, contemporary lifestyle.

Connecting continents, here you will find Africa’s busiest port, the top ranking conferencing city and the home to the continent’s very first Aerotropolis. Boasting world-class infrastructure, manufacturing and industrial concentration that is constantly evolving, isn’t it time to join this progressive society rich in investment opportunities? …We can help you make it happen, now.

web: Invest.durban

Dube TradePort and King Shaka International Airport - 60year Master Plan - driving growth of aerotropolis, or airport city 0 01 00 1

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Rated in top 5 ‘Quality of Living’ cities in Africa and Middle East by Mercer Consulting in 2015

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W H AT ’ S I N S I D E

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Big business: share, or else

Firing on all cylinders ... well, not yet

A suitable man

Durban Chamber president Nigel Ward’s vision for business

Challenges facing KZN manufacturing

Sbonelo Mbatha shares his secrets of success

20 The currency of books The value of books on the future

24 KZN’s saucy little devils A taste for business

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Building a national brand

Soundwaves tap into the soul

Chris Tyson: making a success of the property market

Plugging into community radio

W H AT ’ S I N S I D E

KZN

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INVEST

EDITOR Greg ArdŽ PRODUCTION EDITOR Lorna King DESIGNER Kyle Griffin ADVERTISING Gaylene Diedericks 081 707 6313 GENERAL MANAGER Doody Adams CONTRIBUTORS Shirley le Guern Shelley Seid Illa Thompson Matthew Hattingh

Copyright: All material in this issue is subject to copyright and belongs to Famous Publishing unless otherwise indicated.

No part of the material may be quoted, photocopied, reproduced or stored by an electronic system without prior written permission from Famous Publishing.

Disclaimer: While every effort is taken to ensure the accuracy of the contents of this publication, neither the authors nor the publisher will bear any responsibility for the consequences of any actions based on information contained herein. Neither do they endorse any products/ services advertised herein.

Material which appears under ‘Advertorial’ is paid for.

COVER: JUST IN TIME FOR SUMMER, DURBAN’S NEW PROMENADE IS READY.

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34 Social duty Firms give back, big time

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Published by Famous Publishing, 52 Mahogany Road, Mahogany Ridge, Westmead, Durban, 3610.

031 714 4700 www.famouspublishing.co.za Printed by Novus Print KwaZulu-Natal

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Saving lives

Burnt out?

The NSRI’s new vessel for serving KZN

Protect your health –but still stay fired up

Removing the phobia from xenophobia

Anything but bland

Bubbling over with joy

Experts share their views

Hugh Bland’s passion for KZN

Two icons take Durban by storm

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NOVEMBER 2019

D E V E LO P M E N T

D E V E LO P M E N T

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DURBAN’S EXTENDED PROMENADE PROMISES TO BE A CITY HEARTLINE, MAKING NEW CONNECTIONS BETWEEN RESIDENTS. THE CHALLENGE, PLANNERS SAY, IS TO MAKE ADDITIONAL CHANGES TO DEEPEN THE CONNECTIONS – SEE ED’S LETTER ON PAGE 6.

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NOVEMBER 2019

ED’S LETTER

Building bridges for a DIVIDED LAND

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eaders of this illustrious rag will have gathered that I exist in a curious space, a schizophrenic state fluctuating between hope and despair. A tad melodramatic perhaps: life is a mixed bag, but the tension between what the good people do versus the looting and incompetence arising out of the lost years, is compelling.

A mature society is one where the wealth disparity isn’t as extreme, where people are connected and can plan more comfortably, where their homes and investments – however modest or grand – are more secure.

I was in Johannesburg last month for the launch of another business innovation from FNB and I hope this doesn’t come across as gush because I was genuinely impressed. Mike Vacy-Lyle, FNB Business CEO, announced a digital no account fee. He said the bank has one million business customers and there are more than four million sole proprietors in the country.

The offering includes a free SIM card, airtime and QR code for businesses to process cashless sales.

And, here’s the kicker: in the development of this suite of products the bank

realised it wasn’t only credit that customers were after, it is knowledge. The desire for knowledge is bidirectional. In the financial year to June 2019, FNB Business reached more than R40-billion in digital lending to SME lenders on the back of harnessing customer data that meant the bank understood its clients better and scored their credit applications faster.

They also realised their clients needed business tutoring, so they came up with an additional offering on the bank’s app named “Fundaba”. It’s a clever play on the words “fun, indaba and fundi” and comprises videos, podcasts, quizzes and tools for customers to learn about running a business.

FNB, probably out of goodwill and enlightened self-interest, wants to

help more South Africans become self-reliant.

There are thousands of entrepreneurs, corporate managers, faith-based and civil society leaders (and even some politicians) trying their best to kick-start the economy. We have to become a thinking nation, a people that craves learning, something not helped by state capture that has bred legions of laggards and

ED’S LETTER

ABOVE: MICHAEL VACY-LYLE, FNB BUSINESS CEO. BELOW: THE PROMENADE EXTENSION.

louts with a bad case of entitlement.

Anyway, I was struck at the FNB press conference at how the private sector (often justifiably routed for its rapacious greed) is playing a critical role in extending services the government ought to.

It’s apparently sometimes 10 times easier, for example, to get your passport or ID renewed

through FNB than through the blundering mess that is Home Affairs.

In this edition, there are a host of great reads that talk to the vibrancy of business and civil society in KZN. They are essentially an attempt to help us bridge a divided land.

There is a great interview with the new Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry president, Toyota’s

Nigel Ward, and an insightful look at KZN’s manufacturing sector. It is, like many other sectors, taking a pounding, but there are magnificent pockets of resilience.

The industrious people featured in ensuing pages are making a buck out of everything from belts to bikinis and employing hundreds of people. We also have a feature dedicated to giving. It is a heartening read and an antidote to the often overwhelming narrative of a mercenary society sans care.

Finally, we have dedicated the cover to a great picture of Durban’s extended promenade. And we’ve done it without a specific story inside the magazine. This is so for two reasons. First, I refer to it in this column as part of the bridge-building metaphor.

Second, the facts about the extension are widely known. It cost the city a whopping R380-million and extends the promenade by almost one kilometre to about eight kilometres from Blue Lagoon to the harbour mouth.

The promenade, like the ICC, uShaka, Moses Mabhida and other big-ticket public investments, represent a huge opportunity and a challenge: we need to sweat those assets for the benefit of many. They are gems that must fuel tourism.

But they should also spark meaningful engagement around how we spend scarce resources.

I attended an exhibition at the Durban City Hall recently to celebrate the impact of enabling architecture, in this case, a steel walkway spanning a major interchange in Warwick Avenue. It was fascinating to hear how much revenue was unlocked for traders by this simple and inexpensive

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construction. An architect speaking at the event harnessed the feelings of many there when he challenged the city to use its money more wisely, to make decisions that facilitate trade and wider social engagement. He said (with not too much exaggeration on my part, I hope) that the city ought to rip up the tar all the way down Pixley kaSeme (formerly West) Street and create a pedestrian walkway running from Warwick Junction to the beachfront. Don’t just think fancy boulevard, think a more connected city.

The promenade and a new, tree-lined pedestrian arterial could create linkages we need to make, and some of these are included in thought-provoking stories on community radio stations, booksellers, and xenophobia, also featured in this magazine.

Back to where I started.

This edition hosts some compelling ideas and encouragement to trump the worry that so often weighs us down.

gregarde@gmail.com

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NOVEMBER 2019

G U E ST CO LU M N

Nigel Ward, the new president of the Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry says the tide has to lift all ships, writes Matthew Hattingh

C

ast your mind back to June 2, 2016 and Willies Mchunu, barely a week into the job as premier of KwaZuluNatal, vowed tough action against business forums accused of mafia tactics on building sites. “We assure you that with co-operation from the private sector, they can be crushed overnight.

We will be there,” he told guests at the launch of a big uMhlanga hotel development.

Nearly three-and-a-half years later and the new broom has grown old and gone while the forums he threatened are looking as restive as ever.

What does the Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry think should be done?

Well, certainly not more war talk. Nigel Ward, who was inaugurated as president of the Chamber in

entrepreneurs “but no one is giving them jobs; no one is prepared to do business (with them).”

It’s a problem that finds a parallel in an imbalance Ward recognises in the Chamber itself.

“There has been a big shift to focusing on SMMEs, but not the corporates in Durban,” he says, noting that perhaps 90% of the Chamber’s 3 200 members are small businesses.

“It’s just not sustainable.

We want to get the right balance. I’m not saying the course (the Chamber) took is wrong. It is important to have a really strong SMME sector. But frankly speaking, these people have no access to business to get off the ground.”

Ward, who squeezed in an early morning interview with KZN Invest ahead of his day job as Toyota SA’s executive vice president for manufacturing and

August, believes the business and political establishment are reaping the whirlwind.

“Why do we have forums creating anarchy?” he says.

“Very simple … the reason is pure frustration.” Over the past six or seven years, considerable effort has been put into developing young

support, sees his Chamber role as providing strategic direction. But, he has also committed himself to personally calling on 20 Durban corporates that the Chamber has identified.

“I am hoping to attract the big industries back to the table. We have started

Big business: SHARE, or ELSE “I am hoping to attract the big industries back to the table. We have started to engage”

to engage – I will meet them one-on-one – and if I can create the critical mass through this, 20 will become 40 and slowly the pendulum will shift.”

In the week before this interview, the Chamber hosted a meeting with President Cyril Ramaphosa.

G U E ST CO LU M N

It was a chance for business leaders to get the ear of the man at the top, to talk about the problems they are facing.

Ward says it’s these kinds of high-level engagements that the Chamber wants to use to attract corporate members back. “We had two big significant corporates asking to be members,” says Ward after the Ramaphosa meeting.

The Chamber will remain relevant, he says, if it can bring business and government leaders together to solve problems.

It made little sense for lots of businesses to individually try to meet Durban’s mayor.

“Every big business had the same problems. It’s about getting strategic knowledge and intent and presenting to the city. If we pool the clever ideas we can come up with better solutions.”

“We can be part of the problem, not throwing stones. We have to be honest if we are going to make inroads; we can’t just rely on the city or provincial government. Corporates have to put their hands up and be part of the solution.”

This includes addressing the perennial question of how to attract investors to the province, which Ward says should rather be a discussion

ABOVE: NIGEL WARD, THE NEW PRESIDENT OF THE DURBAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY.

Considerable effort has been put into developing young entrepreneurs “but no one is giving them jobs; no one is prepared to do business (with them)”

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about what we are doing to retain existing investors.

He rattles off a list of familiar woes – “people say nothing works; the port is dysfunctional; the city isn’t clean; services are not delivered”– and then makes the point that by engaging with the right people collectively, business can help sort these things out and provide “a compelling business case to be in the province”.

Returning to the subject of developing small enterprises and addressing the frustrations of business forums, Ward stresses the need for corporates to get involved. In his inaugural speech to the Chamber, Ward spoke about introducing twinning arrangements to lift small businesses.

Large corporates like Toyota tended to have their traditional suppliers, but these must take on emerging companies and “share”.

The 57-year-old has spent his entire working life with the Japanese auto giant, starting out as a team member in the welding plant in 1982, and is steeped in its culture. Toyota is justly famous for Kaizen, a business philosophy of making small, continuous improvement, and on the day before this interview, Ward brought the entire Chamber management team to the plant for a lookround to see if there were lessons they could borrow.

The company’s number one philosophy is respect, says Ward. “We must respect them and that they have a role to play in the economy,” he says, alluding to the forums. “It’s about access and opportunity.”

At the end of his two-year term with the Chamber, Ward says he will have failed if big business has not done more.

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M A N U FA C T U R I N G

Firing on all CYLINDERS ... well, not yet

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Advanced manufacturing is at the heart of a sophisticated economy, which is why KZN INVEST visited a handful of factories to get to grips with the challenges they are facing, writes Shirley Le Guern

roduction using labour, machines and tools has to be slick, which is why KZN’s factories – from giants like Toyota to small and medium-sized entrepreneurial endeavours – are a good indicator of the health of the province’s economy.

South Africa relies too heavily on imports. According to research outfit, South African Market Insights, manufacturing contributes 13,5% to GDP, down from around 22% in the early 1990s. And we are under-utilising 18% of our manufacturing capacity, which is why the government, private sector and labour unions have to work together to get factories firing on all cylinders.

Manufacturing, from huge plants like Sumitomo Rubber in Ladysmith to a washing line manufacturer at Dube TradePort, have to operate at full efficiency.

There are many examples of manufacturing failures and successes.

This year Sumitomo, for example, won awards for exports out of its R1-billion plant and was named KZN Investor of the Year by the province.

At the time, Riaz Haffejee, CEO of Sumitomo, described the achievement in a tough economic climate as particularly rewarding. Despite the tough conditions in the domestic market, Sumitomo had ramped up production.

Another coup for KZN was landing the R1-billion plus Mara smartphone manufacturing plant at Dube TradePort.

The manufacturing environment

in KZN is particularly challenging at present, and manufacturing to export is even more difficult. Yet, these are the major producers of tomorrow and the much-needed future job creators.

The South African Reserve Bank says the manufacturing sector’s real output decreased sharply during the first quarter of 2019, following fairly brisk increases in the preceding three quarters of 2018.

The real Gross Value Added, which measures the value of goods and services produced in an area, industry or sector, contracted by 8,8% in the first quarter of 2019 and deducted 1,1% from overall GDP growth.

Pressure came from electricity

outages, higher input prices (especially fuel) and a weak demand based on reduced consumers spending power.

When you add the fact that demand for manufactured exports weakened due to global trade wars, it comes as no surprise that business confidence within the local manufacturing sector remains low.

However, the old adage of doing well during tough times still applies.

Despite stories of doom and gloom, there are pockets of excellence where passionate entrepreneurs are still able to deliver a sound performance despite turbulence from competing cheap imports, ever-climbing costs and a volatile rand.

M A N U FA C T U R I N G

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hen Leon Buhr started his business in April 2001 in a small 115m² mini-factory, he had five employees, a few machines, some materials and a single order from a local retail chain.

Today the managing director of belt manufacturer, Equator – The Belt Factory, employs 92 people and has the capacity to produce more than a million belts a year at its 3 500m² factory in New Germany.

As South Africa’s leading belt manufacturer, Equator supplies more than 20 large retail chains and their subsidiaries throughout Africa, over 500 independents and exports to America and Australia.

Buhr, who started his business in the wake of the virtual implosion of the textile, clothing, footwear and leather sectors during the 90s, has courageously created what he describes as “a place of craft and science”.

The craft in a belt is the design, use of materials, the buckle and the overall aesthetic and functionality, while the science is in understanding consumer behaviour, changing tastes and new developments in raw materials and sustainability. Equator lives in the space where these work together for a better end product.

Buhr says establishing a solid business is about maintaining a balance, increasing efficiency and driving up productivity and sustainability. As a result, the import side of the business is shrinking while local manufacture and exports are growing.

The factory is well on its way to being four-star rated

by South Africa’s Green Building Council, despite

A belter of a SUCCESS story Tenacity and keeping a keen eye on global trends has catapulted this KZN manufacturer into another league, writes Shirley Le Guern being located in one of the city’s oldest and grimiest industrial areas.

“If something is not sustainable or renewable, then it is pointless in the long run. Inherently, I have an aversion to rampant, throw-away consumerism and I abhor waste and believe that the way we are consuming is damaging. For me, a circular economy and carbon neutrality must be end goals.”

Buhr has come a long way since knocking on one of South Africa’s largest

clothing retailer’s doors, and was turned away because his product was not up to spec. He returned with an 18-point list of shortfalls determined to focus on, and corrected each and every one. Quality became a priority and today his products hold their own internationally.

His growth between 2003 and 2007 was steep, allowing Buhr to build working capital in an under-capitalised business.

In 2009, Equator was approached by jeans giant

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Levis to manufacture for them and, again, he and his team worked hard to take the factory up a notch to meet their standards.

But the major turning point came in 2012 when Buhr was approached by the world’s largest men’s accessories company, Randa. By 2013, Equator – The Belt Factory, was officially an African affiliate of the 110-year-old company which delivers 60 million units globally and has offices in 11 countries across five continents.

Buhr says local employees now travel to Randa’s international offices for specialist training. Equator also benefits from Randa’s technical expertise, extensive research and consumer-behaviour data that tracks and understands changing global consumer tastes, evolving distribution channels, innovation in raw materials and the need for ever-increasing speed-tomarket.

It is this that Buhr uses to build strong relationships with local retail giants, providing sound analytical data and insights.

But growing a relatively small local market where the average South African male buys a belt every 12 years is going to be difficult.

The average American, on the other hand, buys a new belt every three years.

That means greater focus on growing exports as well as increasing its reach into Africa.

Buhr also intends pursuing micro trends that are fast becoming macro trends internationally – demand for products made in sustainable factories from plant-based or recycled materials as opposed to fossil-fuel based polyurethane products which are the current alternatives to animal-based products.

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M A N U FA C T U R I N G

“That meant moving to Dube at the height of the nine lost years when negativity about new investment was at its greatest. Everyone said we were crazy, but that is what we did,” Frost recalls.

The R100-million investment in the building and equipment was just the beginning. Retailers began to source previously imported items from the company. At present, Retractaline has 90% of the local washing line market but just 20% of the large ironing board market.

The Retractaline brand dates back to 1985 when Frost’s predecessor patented the original design. After seven years in the corporate world, Frost, then 30, bought the company from the then owner who was planning to emigrate.

Since then he has expanded and developed the range from one to over 70 products, and reversed engineered manufacturing processes to 100% inhouse production of every component

Exports lift WASHLINE MAKER Dube TradePort has proved a boon for a KZN manufacturer, writes Shirley Le Guern

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n the five years since Retractaline moved to the Dube TradePort, it has more than trebled turnover and created 125 full-time jobs for employees who have been upskilled in the use of sophisticated manufacturing equipment.

Now, managing director, Chris Frost, is contemplating expanding the factory to accommodate growth in exports, which is presently just meeting local market demand and has the company operating at near full capacity.

With product bound for Amazon warehouses in both the UK and the US at the beginning of 2020, the need for more rapid expansion could come far sooner than anticipated.

The leap in output which saw Retractaline become one of the very first manufacturing operations to put down roots at Dube TradePort in 2014 marked a major turning point for a company that started in 1985 in a

180m² mini-factory in New Germany with a single employee. Today Frost says that employee is the production manager of a 8 000m² facility at Dube TradePort.

Retractaline has always enjoyed strong local brand support from major local retailers. But, a shift to retail outlets buying cheap generic knock-offs from China prompted a re-assessment of the company’s business model.

“That was a huge threat to our business. We could have responded in two ways – walked away, shut down and done something else, or reengineered the business to make those cheaper generic products locally in addition to our core brand. That way, we got to protect our market and we had an opportunity to make a positive contribution to the economy through job creation and upskilling, earning foreign exchange through exports and keeping revenue in the country.

and sub-assembly.

Even though it is still early days for exports, the company has supplied numerous international markets, and supplied into Africa.

Retractaline is also evolving along with its customers.

“We currently see traditional bricks and mortar retailers slowing, but are well-positioned to take advantage of the e-commerce tsunami that is changing the dynamics governing the balance of power in the retail industry. Currently, e-commerce is just 1% in this country and 30% in the US but it is growing exponentially and is predicted to be our largest revenue stream. This is good news for smaller manufacturers and consumers as it brings an increase in the range of products offered while simultaneously lowering prices and offering convenience. We have positioned ourselves to leverage off that.”

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The path to PROSPERITY Manufacturing is nothing without a ready route to market, writes Shirley Le Guern

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e are now being viewed as a potential competitor to the big multinationals and are beginning to take market share. Right now, as a small to medium business, you have the best opportunity to be successful if you have secure distribution channels and a quality product. There are definitely opportunities.

There’s never been a better time to be in business,” says Ryan Naicker, founder and CEO of RN Liquids which develops and produces personal care brand, First Class Products. He has seen the dip in the economy force consumers to explore new brands and discover that they offer both value and affordability.

He’s on the brink of launching product on to shelves at Clicks SA and already supplies Massmart, independent retailers and wholesalers across South Africa as well as in Senegal, Botswana, Mauritius, Zambia, Namibia, Swaziland and Mozambique.

But the journey hasn’t been an easy one. Naicker says he fell in love with sales and brands when he was just 15 and had a temporary job at Classic Eyes at the Pavilion.

While still balancing this job and tertiary studies, he also ran a small toilet paper business, selling to

boutique hotels and bed and breakfasts. When he decided to diversify and begin sourcing hazardous waste bags to sell to hospitals, he crossed paths with the man who became his mentor.

Mike Maziya, the cofounder of Verigreen, which makes Supa Mama plastic refuse bags, took on this impressionable 21-year-old with the proviso that he’d start his own manufacturing business by the age of 27.

During the six-year interlude, Naicker says he learnt a great deal about leadership and product development and built up a valuable network of potential retail customers.

In 2015, when it was time

to go out on his own, he headed off to China and the world’s largest product fair to both identify a potential product range and begin to devise a business plan.

But the massive array of products was mind-boggling and the fact that most were already in South Africa narrowed the possibilities.

A chance meeting with a businessman in Botswana saw him explore the health and beauty sector and consider developing an aspirational personal care brand. This became First Class Products.

“I believe that we buy a feeling. No one wants to fly economy, they want to fly first class. So, I wanted to create an affordable brand

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with a top-end look and feel.”

Contract cosmetics manufacturer, Zeta Laboratories in New Germany, initially handled all manufacturing while he focused on marketing and distribution.

By the end of 2015, Arrow Cash & Carry began stocking his product, volumes began growing, and he realised it was time to start manufacturing product for himself.

He set up a small mixing and filling facility in the basement of a building in Westmead and employed and trained eight local women to make and pack the product, largely by hand.

However, a break-in at the end of 2016 saw him lose all the stock, creating a financial dilemma, but by March 2017, all was back up and running again.

Two years ago, getting the product on shelves at mainstream retail chains wasn’t a priority. Instead, he focused on building cash flow and achieving break-even manufacturing volumes by securing a pipeline of sales.

Good referrals saw him growing nationally into the Western and Eastern Cape and Gauteng. He worked with wholesalers in each region to act as a base or hub to grow his business.

Potential orders from outside South Africa posed more of a problem. But, the wholesalers he had worked with to grow nationally provided a solution in sharing container space.

Naicker also began expanding his product range, adding a range of herbal hair foods and moisturising petroleum jelly. He is now planning to expand the factory and add a range of body moisturising creams to the Frist Class Product range, followed by tissue oils.

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M A N U FA C T U R I N G

Since 2008, Magic Bikinis has glistened onstage at many international and national competitions in North America, Europe, Australia, as well as here at home.

Fleur, with her diploma in Fashion Design and Technology from the Natal Techikon (now DUT), decided in 2004 that life in the corporate world was stifling her creativity and decided to start her own design business. With a passion for fine couture, she custommade wedding gowns and matric dance dresses – anything that achieved the precision that fine detail requires.

She also began creating adult party costumes which led to young bikini competitor, Tamryn Jackson, asking her to make a bikini for an upcoming show. “I had never made a bikini,” says Fleur. “I had no idea how to tastefully expose as much flesh as possible without it looking obscene!” Jackson – a star in the local fitness industry – went

Working her MAGIC With an eye for detail, Katherine Fleur’s Magic Bikinis have taken the world by storm, writes Shelley Seid

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veryone needs a bit of magic in their lives.

Katherine Fleur’s comes in the form of bespoke bikinis embellished with sparkles and spangles, glittering crystals and dazzling diamantes – in fact the name of her business says it all – Magic Bikinis.

Fleur has conquered a particularly unique market, designing and creating bikinis that are an indispensable part of women’s physique and fitness competitions. These athletic events have rocketed in popularity over the last couple of decades with women across the globe taking part in fitness and figure competitions. With their taut physiques they rock the stage, presenting toned muscles to the judges, decked out in high heels, perfect make-up, nails and hair, and wearing spectacular bikinis.

on to win that and a slew of future competitions, always in a Magic Bikini.

“It’s very glamorous,” says Fleur, who this year travelled to Dallas to attend the industry’s biggest international championship. “You have to look your best in order to compete. Ironically, it is a very girly world, where even the most muscular competitors are encouraged to have long hair. It is a very pampered way to do sport.”

Fleur has had a lot of success through sponsoring up-and-coming athletes, including American Stephanie Ayala, who today is a two-times WBFF Pro Fitness Model World Champion, a fitness and social media icon, and a fitness coach.

“When she contacted us she was already a seasoned athlete but hadn’t yet won a competition. She opened many doors for us, recommending us to other competitors and to her fitness clients.

She sends us at least 25 clients a year.

Magic Bikinis sell well locally, in the UK, Finland, Norway and elsewhere, with some trainers using the business to fit out their entire team. However Fleur estimates that over a third of her sales and the bulk of her income is from the USA where a bespoke bikini sells for, on average, between 500 and 600 dollars.

Making each bikini is a timeconsuming process. “Every element of the costume is imported, and there is a huge amount of labour involved as the crystals are attached individually by hand. It’s a long process. Each garment goes through six or seven pairs of hands before it reaches the client.

Fleur is as savvy as she is creative.

About five years ago she introduced a range of body products that include spray tan, pre-tan exfoliators, bikini glue, body contour oil and muscle glaze.

Soon to be introduced is a Magic Bikini detergent specifically for sensitive bikini fabric.

Her advice to small businesses looking to spread their wings? Focus on local first; don’t be afraid to sponsor; and remember there is a big world out there. “I can get a bikini to Sydney in three days. We really do live in a global village.”

She adds that social media, specifically Instagram, is a great marketing tool.

“Above all it’s about relationships.

We have ongoing relationships with our clients. These women trust us with their dreams; they all have stories to tell, they have all fought their demons.

We walk the journey with them.”

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ENTREPRENEUR

A SUITABLE man Service station czar Sbonelo Mbatha shares the secrets of success with Matthew Hattingh, and how to button up a deal that fits

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ou want R3 000 for this jacket?” Sbonelo Mbatha asks, taking hold of the lapel of the natty maroon Zara blazer he’s wearing.

“What about R2 000?” he says, continuing the haggling session with a make-believe clothing store clerk.

“I just love to negotiate,” Mbatha says.

We’re in a cafe in La Lucia, Durban, overlooking a half-empty parking lot on a grey afternoon, and Mbatha’s disposition couldn’t be brighter as we chat about negotiating and the lessons he’s learnt in business.

“Know what you are worth. When it comes to the numbers you must have an idea … and be prepared to walk away,” he says, stressing the importance of negotiating face to face so you can get a sense of the person.

Mbatha should know – he learnt the long, hard way and understands how building relationships matter.

Born in the rural South Coast, he started his working life as a pump jockey after completing a cost and management accounting diploma and was unable to find work in the field.

“At the end of the boot camp, some candidates say, ‘No thanks!’ But this is for the best as it can head off a lot of heartache,” says Mbatha That was in 2001, but Mbatha stuck to it, earning a promotion to merchandiser, cashier and then back-office administrator before hard work and customer rapport opened doors, which took him first to Pietermaritzburg and later Pretoria as a manager.

He enrolled in a BP entrepreneurship programme from August 2005 to December 2006 and a year later bought his first service station.

Today, now 42, he owns or co-owns nine service stations, employs about 300 people, and recently launched PetroCONNECT, a company whose services include helping other black entrepreneurs get into the industry.

It leverages on the relationships Mbatha and business partner Mark Harper have forged with fuel companies and financiers and provides the rookie service station owners with mentoring and back-ofhouse technical support to make a success of things.

While Mbatha sips on a cup of hot lemon and honey, he tells me he has just come from a meeting with PetroCONNECT’s banking partners.

ENTREPRENEUR

“We did a lot of groundwork – us, Nedbank and BP. It’s taken a long time, a lot of money, a lot of work,” he says.

For the past two years the partners have been in the service station brokerage business.

There are “not many” black service station owners, he says, but there’s considerable interest matched by an anxiety among fuel companies to broaden black participation.

“Almost every day my PA is inundated with calls,” he says. Some would-be buyers are retired and have

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pension payouts they are keen to invest; others are in the corporate world and want to start their own business.

Financing the deal is a big part of it. A service station can go for in excess of R10-million, and banks will typically loan 50% of that figure and expect repayments over five years.

PetroCONNECT was working with Nedbank to secure easier terms, but due diligence needs to be done too.

For example, are any changes to roads near the petrol station planned? And a fair valuation must be reached – one that satisfies the seller while not saddling the buyer with repayments he or she will struggle to meet.

But before any money changes hands, there’s the not inconsequential question of whether the buyer should be buying in the first place.

PetroCONNECT has run a series of workshops around the country on the prizes and pitfalls of the business, and the lessons learnt are revealing.

“There are a lot of myths around service stations,” says Mbatha offering this example he often hears from aspirants: “I just want a business that can run itself.”

PetroCONNECT sets about crushing that old chestnut with two weeks of on-site training.

“We show you the reality,” says Mbatha, “It’s practical. You get up at 6 o’clock to change shifts. You don’t have a Sunday or Monday. We put you through the process. At the end of the boot camp, some candidates say, ‘No thanks!’ But this is for the best as it can head off a lot of heartache,” says Mbatha.

There is a high failure rate among small businesses in general and “mentorship has been lacking” in the service station sector, in particular.

“Jesus got one in 12 wrong; if we get one in 12 wrong, we would have done well, but we need to minimise it as best as we can,” he says.

WE’VE ALREADY TOUCHED ON NEGOTIATION, BUT WHAT OTHER ADVICE DOES MBATHA HAVE FOR PEOPLE IN BUSINESS? He offers the following top tips: 1. Know what you know.

2. Know what you don’t know.

3. Know who knows what you need to know.

4. Follow your passion.

5. Know your numbers.

Point one, says Mbatha, is borne out by research.

You are more likely to make a success of a business if it’s in a field you already know. This does not mean you can’t make a success of a business in an unfamiliar sector – only that you may have to work harder. “You are going to have to pay your school fees and they may be Harvard fees.”

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LEFT: MARK HARPER AND SBONELO MBATHA.

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Knowing what you don’t know, or put differently, understanding your limitations, guides you in who you employ. Hire people who can make up for the skills you lack. Similarly, don’t go into business partnerships with people who are like you or have the same skill sets – “it’s basically just duplicating yourself”.

On that score, he notes that he and Harper are cut from “totally different” cloth. In the beginning he even doubted it could work, but has come to realise that “when you have people with diverse opinions, it’s a good thing”. But be prepared for frank talk and agreeing to disagree.

The third point is about finding mentors – not necessarily from the same sector – but someone who can offer wise counsel and be a sounding board.

The importance of following one’s passion is not a new idea, but Mbatha has an interesting take here.

Many people fool themselves into thinking they want to emulate others in business but really only want to emulate the material rewards they receive.

“Don’t fall in love with what people have and think you love what they do … you will be frustrated.”

As to knowing your numbers, Mbatha believes every businessman must have a basic grasp of finances. It’s fine to employ book-keepers and accountants, but make the effort, he says, to understand gross profit, turnover and expenses and what it means for your business and the implications for cash-flow.

Sound advice – but what makes the man himself tick?

Mbatha, who is married to Zinhle Mbatha (the couple has three children, Sazi, 13, and two girls Nolwazi, 11, and Khwezi 9) says a fear of poverty gets him up in the morning.

But it’s not only about security and material comforts, well-cut jackets and that kind of thing.

“I don’t want to die and be remembered for what I had but for what I did.”

He mentions matter-of-factly that he has helped pay the university fees of “close to 20 people” and believes in giving people opportunities, integral to his Christian faith.

There are “not many” black service station owners, he says, but there’s considerable interest matched by an anxiety among fuel companies to broaden black participation

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BOOKS

The currency of BOOKS Do we still read? Do books still have an intrinsic value, or have they been replaced by our fixation with devices, sound bites and moving images? Illa Thompson explores whether only diehards value printed books

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fter a spell of being threatened as a by-product of progress, books, like vinyl, appear to be finding their place in the sun again, a new-found nostalgic respectability offering a respite from the endless white noise that consumes us.

According to the Cultural Observatory, between 5% and 30% of contemporary parents read to children – or sing to them or tell them stories. It goes without saying that most children won’t be familiar with reading and creative literacy. Another staggering statistic is that almost 60% of South Africans don’t have a single book in their home.

And Durban is a proud UNESCO City of Literature.

New books are a luxury item to many – their purchase a rare treat that involves research and planning; checking out reviews and budgeting accordingly. The flip side of this is that with people moving, relocating and downsizing, there is a supply of affordable secondhand books via charity shops, community fetes and informal vendors.

“People are reading more than we realise,” confirms Kiru Naidoo, Director of Durban’s monthly Book

Fair. “The written word is increasingly coming out on fresh platforms which are making available free full-length books. Of course, printed books will always retain a certain magic.

Our experience at the first Sunday’s Durban Book Fair at Mitchell Park is that people are still reading, writing and buying books.”

Independent book promoter, Cedric Sissing, says despite retail sales of new books being up 2,2% for the second quarter of 2019, bookshops continue to find overheads eroding profits, particularly mall bookshops, as they compete with online retailers and e-books.

Non-fiction still hugely outsells fiction. Of the top

20 bestsellers for August 2019, 17 were non-fiction and only three were fiction.

University textbook sales have also been severely negatively affected in 2019

by NSFAS changing their policy to giving students their textbook allowances instead of giving the money directly to the bookshops.

“That said, when you see the number of people flocking to the myriad book fairs across the country,

and to very regular book launches, the sales of books is looking healthy.”

Anivesh Singh from Hashtag Books says there is an abundance of cellphone shops, bottle stores and fast food outlets, but one doesn’t easily find book shops. He argues that the biggest challenge to growing the book buying public is accessibility, perhaps more so than affordability. “We need disruptive marketing

BOOKS

ABOVE: JJ MADWE AND RICHARD NZIMA, TWO OF THE VENDORS WITH THE DENIS HURLEY CENTRE’S STREET BOOKSELLER PROJECT. FAR LEFT: ANIVESH SINGH, HASHTAG BOOKS. LEFT: SOME MEMBERS OF THE LOST IN TRANSLATION BOOK CLUB – PENNY COMBRINK, MARIE THERON, SHARON MOWAT AND RICHARD SALMON. RIGHT: KIRU NAIDOO, AUTHOR, COMMUNITY ACTIVIST, AND DIRECTOR OF THE DURBAN BOOK FAIR. FAR RIGHT: CEDRIC SISSING HAS DEDICATED HIS PROFESSIONAL LIFE TO PROMOTING BOOKS AND READING.

and to create our own distribution networks. One needs to take the books to the people. For example, recipe books should be sold in supermarkets and spice shops; rom-coms in hairdressers; dance books in dance studios.”

“The manufacture of books has changed dramatically, and continues to change with the advances in technology allowing for small print-runs at costeffective prices. In turn this has created a tsunami of

self-publishing as authors rebel against the business model of big publishers,” says Sissing.

Kiru Naidoo says smaller publishers are bringing out a slew of micro-histories, biographies and heritage stories that are firing the imagination.

Counter-intuitively perhaps, e-readers only account for around 10% of book sales. After an initial

flurry of interest, readers have by and large returned to print, other than when travelling. Jacques Pauw’s The President’s Keepers sold 197 000 copies of which just over 13% were e-books.

An exciting Durban initiative is the Denis Hurley Street Book Sellers project which provides work for formerly homeless people since June last year. The project started out selling newspapers, but took an interesting diversion into the sale of books. Anivesh Singh and Kiru Naidoo from Durban’s Book Fair at Mitchell Park sourced surplus, pre-owned and donated books, and the DHC’s Street Book Seller project was established. It has enabled 10 formerly homeless people to sell books at events, malls, places of worship and on the city streets, and provides both affordable books and work for unemployed people, transforming books from luxury items to impulse buys, with units selling for the price of a cup of coffee.

The DHC’s Street Book Seller project was the only KZN finalist among 2 000 applicants nationwide at the SAB Foundation Awards recently. It came with a R400 000 award which DHC Director, Raymond Perrier, said he hoped would be matched by business donations.

“The award goes a long way to helping us reach our goal of 100 homeless booksellers. The centre intends to run a competition to find the most innovative ways to modify shopping trolleys to become portable pop-up book stands. We will also need to purchase a vehicle to transport vendors and books.”

At the end of October 2019 it will be two years since Durban was awarded

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UNESCO City of Literature status – the first African city to be honoured, but Perrier is not convinced this has influenced the city’s marketing.

The city has literary festivals rooted in the Centre for Creative Arts on UKZN campus: Poetry Africa and Time of the Writer – the brainchild of Breyten Breytenbach. There is also ARTiculate Africa Book Fair, and this year the Durban Literary Festival was masterminded by Ike’s Jo Rushby and Ashwin Desai, Darryl David and others.

Sissing, who has spent 42 years promoting books, says removing VAT on books would sell more books and make self-published books cheaper.

“Maintaining current adult book readers is important and needs to continue to be nurtured through book fairs, launches and direct personal marketing. To create more readers, literacy programmes in pre-school and junior primary need to be more widespread and most importantly, parents of children need to get back to reading themselves and reading to their children as that’s where the germination of readers begins.”

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In Durban for business or leisure? Hop aboard the Ricksha Bus for a scenic three-hour overview of Durban’s major attractions. Explore rich history of traditional Zulu culture in the Valley of the 1000 Hills or visit a local township and experience the unique Durban lifestyle.

F T A

Durban’s sub-tropical climate is ideal for surfing the country’s best waves all year round, lounge on the golden beach, cycle or walk on the promenade, grab a bite to eat, fish, snorkel, scuba dive, canoe or kite surf on Durban’s ocean playground.

F t a

Email:info@visitdurban.travel

Tel: 031 322 4164

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Discover Durban #durbanhasmore

From adrenaline-fueled adventures to family-orientated activities, Durban offers something for everyone. Take a guided tour of Inanda, where the late former President Nelson Mandela chose to vote in South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994.

Fall in love once again. Take a walk in one of Durban’s parks, where you will truly experience love happiness that makes Durban the must visit destination. Pack your picnic basket, meet up with friends or simple just go and unwind in our parks to experience tranquility that comes with nature and the warmth of the people of Durban.

www.visitdurban.travel

@dbntourism

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ENTREPRENEURS

KZN’S saucy little DEVILS

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or tens of thousands of local cooks, Maharaja’s is synonymous with Indianstyle sauces, spices and marinades. The young company that has been in operation for only six years and has entrenched itself in KZN, is a force to be reckoned with in Gauteng – and is launching in the Seychelles. The little engine driving this massive operation is Stanger born peri-peri princess Elaine Pillay, a woman with more punch than her famous sauce.

French food critic Grimod de la Reynière once said, “A well-made sauce will make even an elephant or a grandfather palatable”.

Sauces liven up every culture: dressing up something simple, hiding the humdrum, moistening food and entertaining the eye.

From chakalaka to chutney, pesto to pan sauce or peri-peri, it would be a drab table with no sauce.

Shelley Seid spoke to three local producers who have customers salivating for more

When she and her husband moved to the Hillcrest area almost a decade ago, they found they couldn’t get a decent range of Indian spices, and would have to trek all the way down to Durban to get what they needed. “Right,” thought Pillay, “why don’t we start something here?” They approached their local Waterfall Spar with the idea of installing a spice bar in the supermarket – and Spar jumped at the opportunity.

“It was 2013, the year that Waterfall Spar had won Spar of the Year,” says Pillay, “and this meant that other

Spar retailers came to visit to see how winner’s worked. We started getting calls from these retailers, telling us how much they loved our spice bar and asking us to set one up for them.”

Before she knew it, Maharaja’s were in seven stores. Pillay was still employed elsewhere and would spend her weekends training and visiting her staff. By 2015 she had no choice but to move the business into suitable factory premises, move herself into the business full-time, and head up sales.

Maharaja’s range of sauces, named

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G-Force, comprises extra hot, hot, mild, creamy peri-peri – the hands-down best seller – and garlic and lemon.

Pillay moved into sauce production to satisfy her own culinary needs.

“We loved Nando’s sauce and would typically go through bottles of the stuff, but it was really quite expensive so I said to myself, ‘Hang on, besides a glass bottle and a lovely label, surely the contents can’t be that expensive to reproduce?’. We were in contact with a food technologist who had developed amazing recipes but had no marketing plan, so we bought his recipes, did a bit of fiddling and tweaking, and began making the sauces manually in big pots on our stove, using a funnel to fill the bottles.”

Not only was it an expensive process, but it also led to Pillay’s greatest learning curve. “We had no idea that when emulsifying sauces they have to be kept at a certain temperature.

We were pouring hot sauces into our containers, which you should never

Maharaja’s has a policy of never saying “no” to any of their retail customers.

“If a shop says it’s their birthday and they need us to do this or that, we happily comply do. It was fine through winter but in summer the bottles started exploding.”

All through December she kept getting phone calls with reports of exploding bottles. “I got to the point where I didn’t want to answer the phone but I had to face the music.”

This was, she says, her first real experience of the importance of customer service. She responded to each and every call, cleaned ceilings, mopped floors and went the extra mile. “And I stopped all production and got advice from a laboratory, bought machinery that would keep the sauces at the correct temperature, and we were up and running.”

The creamy peri-peri is the most popular sauce. “Indians buy it as an extra dip after having already spiced their food, whereas black and white people buy it to have some heat while avoiding ring sting.”

Maharaja’s is expanding into the

marinade market, but up till now the business has had an average 30% growth year on year. “We began with one outlet. We now have 60 in KZN, 25 in Johannesburg and two in Umtata.”

Pillay says the core tenets of the business are quality products and customer service. If a product is not good enough people talk. “Social media can be a harsh place but we have nothing to hide. I personally speak to

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consumers. They are given my phone number and can phone me at any time.”

Maharaja’s has a policy of never saying “no” to any of their retail customers. “If a shop says it’s their birthday and they need us to do this or that, we happily comply. We walk the journey with them.”

For Pillay, she is on call 24/7. “No one is going to treat your business the way you do.”

HOLDING OUT AN OLIVE BRANCH Romesco Olives, with its appetising array of marinated olives as well as pestos, tapenades and chutneys, has been a familiar and well-loved Howick-based business for many years. Aside from its own outlet, the company supplies olive products to delis, stores and markets around the country.

Founder and owner Claire Blezard was passionate about anything olive – in fact, her title, CEO stood for “Chief Eater of Olives”.

When Claire was tragically killed in a car accident earlier this year, one of the many locals devastated by the news was farmer Charmaine van Rensburg. Van Rensburg and her husband had

NOVEMBER 2019

moved to a smallholding near Karkloof to farm livestock which they supply directly to her son’s Pietermaritzburg butchery, The Real Meat Company.

“I was in the butchery when a customer came in, looked at our extensive range of Romesco products, and asked if we had heard the tragic news. We were shocked.”

Van Rensburg loved the product range so much that she approached Claire’s partner, Leibrandt Naude, and asked what was going to happen to the business. “I said that if he decided to put it on the market, I would be honoured to take it on.”

In February this year, Van Rensburg became

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the new owner of Romesco Olives. It was trial by fire, she says. “I spent many late nights figuring out how to coordinate stock supplies, to sort out how best to use the space and get to know the suppliers.”

Thankfully the staff and Naude were behind her all the way. Naude also got Van Rensburg out of a particularly sticky spot when she received an order of unpitted olives for stuffing and the olives were too big for her pitter. “He hand-made me a new pitter – I don’t know what I would have done otherwise.”

Van Rensburg is running Romesco according to the old adage, “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it”. But, she has added to the range and responded to demand.

She brought some of Claire’s old recipes back and is busy with a new range of balsamic vinegar and infused olive oils.

Van Rensburg is Romesco’s number one fan. “Our biggest seller is the signature Romesco pesto and my best treat is an ovenbaked mushroom and pepper Kiev covered in a thick layer of Romesco pesto, a shaving of Parmesan and then blitzed under the grill.

Sublime!”

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FLAVOUR OF THE MONTH Fantastic Flavours in Cornubia, north of Durban, produces containers of sauces ready for delivery to restaurants and takeaways around the country.

This 550m² halal-certified factory began trading less than two years ago and now supplies sauces – mayo, mustard, moneygland, ranch, peri-peri, soy, salad dressing, chilli, chimichurri and chutney – to four major restaurant franchises and a number of smaller food outlets.

The business is the brainchild of co-directors Shaun Goldie and Andrew Fraser. While Goldie’s background is in the hospitality trade – he has worked in the sauce and spice industry for over 12 years – Fraser is an architect. The duo have also brought a 40-year veteran and certified food taster on board in

“International standards are very high. There are no grey areas in this game – it’s either right or wrong.” There have been mostly hits but also the occasional miss. They made a lemon-flavoured sweet chilli sauce which was, Goldie says, “the most awful thing I have ever tasted” but on the other hand, they have created a barbeque sauce which is the best he’s ever tasted

addition to their own quality control.

Goldie says quality is paramount.

A mediocre steak with a good sauce becomes a good dish – not the other way around.

“International standards are very high. There are no grey areas in this game – it’s either right or wrong.”

There have been mostly hits but also the occasional miss. They made a lemon-flavoured sweet chilli sauce which was, Goldie says, “the most awful thing I have ever tasted” but on the other hand, they have created a barbeque sauce which is the best he’s ever tasted.

Developing Fantastic Flavours has been a never-ending job keeping up with changing trends or responding to customer needs. “We are about to launch a sugar-free syrup range through Dis-Chem stores, specially created for the bodybuilder market.”

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AFRICA’S LEADING Convention Centre

THE DURBAN INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION CENTRE (DURBAN ICC) IS A WORLD-CLASS FACILITY, RENOWNED FOR ITS HIGH STANDARDS OF SERVICE EXCELLENCE AND HAS SUCCESSFULLY STAGED SOME THE WORLD’S MOST PRESTIGIOUS AND COMPLEX EVENTS.

The Durban ICC is a versatile venue of enormous dimensions, flexible enough to meet any need, no matter how extraordinary. The Centre offers the largest column-free, multipurpose event space on the African continent.

International and national conventions, exhibitions, sporting events, concerts and special occasions of every kind can be accommodated. Flexibility and versatility are key factors in the design of this state-of-the-art, technologydriven Centre.

This multi-award winning Centre has been voted “Africa’s Leading Meetings and Conference Centre” by the World Travel Awards no fewer than 17 times in 18 years. The Durban ICC prides itself on being leading venue for meetings, business events, conferences and exhibitions on the African continent. However, this is not their own opinion, but rather the overwhelming feedback received from their clients who have voted it in the top 1% of Convention Centres worldwide, as well as “Africa’s Leading Meetings and Convention Centre” no fewer than 17 times! . The centre is rated as a five-star venue by the

Tourism Grading Council of South Africa.

The Durban ICC’s track-record of successfully staging prestigious international events speaks for itself. The Durban ICC’s successful staging of both the largest (International AIDS Conference 2016 - attended by 22 000 delegates) and second-largest (COP-17 in 2011 - attended by 15 000 delegates) conferences ever held on the African continent, is testament to the Durban ICC’s service excellence. The 27th World Economic Forum on Africa (WEFA) was hosted in May 2017 and attracted over a 1,000 delegates from over a hundred different countries, including several African leaders and an impressive list of global speakers.

The Durban ICC also hosted the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Telecom World 2018 which was attended by approximately 8000 delegates including tech SMEs, policy makers, investors, corporates and digital innovators. Most recently the Centre hosted the Forbes Woman Africa - Leading Women Summit 2019 which brought together influential women from across industries and professions.

The Durban ICC’s highly experienced and friendly team will ensure that your event is seamlessly executed giving you complete peace

DURBAN ICC FAST FACTS • • • • • • •

Located in Durban, known as South Africa’s entertainment “playground”.

Durban International Convention Centre (Durban ICC) comprised of the Durban ICC Arena and the Durban Exhibition Centre.

Voted “Africa’s Leading Meetings and Conference Centre” by the World Travel Awards no fewer than 17 times in 18 years and continuously strives to deliver excellent service Largest flat floor, column-free multi-purpose event space in Africa.

Maximum capacity at the Convention Centre: 5000 delegates over 7000 sqm/in combination with the Exhibition Centre: 10,000 people.

Ranked in the world’s Top 15 Convention Centres by the International Association of Congress Centres (AIPC).

The Centre is located 30-minutes from the King Shaka International Airport and over 3,600 Hotel rooms are within a 10-minute walk of the Centre.

of mind. Providing exceptional customer service remains the heartbeat of the Durban ICC, striving to ensure that every delegate who walks through the five-star facility has a memorable experience.

Delegates visiting the Centre can look forward to superb standards of culinary excellence and hospitality. As part of the Durban ICC’s gourmet evolution over the past 21 years in the industry, they are completely reinventing their culinary offering in order to showcase some of Durban’s authentic African Cuisines. Furthermore a wide range of new innovative packages have been designed to meet the unique needs of each target market, at the best possible rates.

The Durban ICC offers you first-world convenience and a proudly African meetings experience. The Centre is fully Wi-Fi enabled and connectivity is complimentary to its delegates and guests. The Centre is located 30-minutes from the King Shaka International Airport and over 3,600 Hotel rooms are within a 10-minute walk of the Centre.

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P R O P E RT Y

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yson is a keen advocate for KZN and his passion for the province is part of the bedrock of his success. That said, at the beginning of 2019 he upped sticks and headed for the hinterland. So how has his relocation to Johannesburg impacted the business?

You started out as a uniquely KZN brand. At what point did you realise you needed to spread your wings nationally?

We had always planned this. We wanted our expansion into Gauteng and the Western Cape to coincide with our 10th anniversary, and we opened in Johannesburg and Cape Town simultaneously. That was five years ago and we can confidently say we have been a national company since then.

Building a national BRAND

Regarded as something of a trailblazer in the world of KZN real estate, Chris Tyson started out in 2005 in an office in Morningside, and now has 400 agents in three cities. Shirley Le Guern spoke to him What sparked your move to Johannesburg?

It’s our biggest growth point and 60% of all property transactions in the country happen in Gauteng.

It was also the market that was the most depressed and difficult and we knew this was where we needed to

make the most effort. That way, we knew the region would grow in the same way as our other regions.

The Johannesburg office is now doubling in size every year, so we see 100% growth both in staff and income. I decided to position myself where I’m needed most.

What did you learn in KZN that equipped you for your move?

We’ve never had the luxury of growing the brand in a good market.

We started in 2005 and, two years after that, we were faced with our worst financial crunch. Our

turnover dropped to 6% of our normal turnover.

In 2008, we had to make a conscious choice between reinvesting in the business or not spending any money.

We decided to reinvest heavily, knowing that most markets are cyclical. Unlike now, at that time we knew this was a global problem and not something unique to South Africa. That meant the cycle would turn and it did improve – albeit very slowly. During that time we managed to keep our overheads very low.

Although we have invested to set ourselves up, we have done the same when expanding.

What is different between your three markets?

They are all very different. Hard work and determination have helped the KZN team buck the trend in a flat market, recording 12% growth. It is very well established and has weathered the storm, outperforming other regions to a large degree.

In Johannesburg, we have seen Fourways and Sandton perform exceptionally well of late. When we arrived in Cape Town it was experiencing a mini-boom.

But, over the last year or so that has begun to taper off, especially at the upper end of the market. We treated Cape Town very differently from Johannesburg and Durban by creating a platform for younger, aspiring agents.

What do you miss about not being in Durban?

My family is still based in Durban so being away from them is tough. But I am able to put my head down and focus, which allows me to do more than my head office role. I find myself driving sales with the management team. It is hard work but that makes the sacrifice worth it.

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CO M M U N I T Y R A D I O

SOUNDWAVES tap into the soul Community radio stations are an indicator of the vibrancy of a place.

Illa Thompson plugged into them

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evin MinterBrown talks fast. Ideas gush. It is 9am and I catch him at the end of his early morning shift. He woke at 4.30am and has done a three-hour stint on-air so his mind is in top gear and mine is waking up.

In our tech-savvy, device-focused age with a fixation on the visual, do community radio stations still have a place in our media landscape.

“This is not our job; it is our passion! Being part of a community radio is a daily struggle. We are not funded by any government structure so are entirely privately supported through goodwill. But we keep going ’cos a microphone is a powerful thing when plugged into a whole city.”

Minter-Brown is the driving force and breakfast show anchor behind Durban’s community radio darling – DYR. He is a career radio practitioner and airwaves activist and DYR is one of about 30 nichemarket community radio stations in KZN operating on FM frequencies and audio streaming, with varying levels of success.

The fortunes of many

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FAR LEFT: KEVIN MINTER-BROWN IS THE DRIVING FORCE AND BREAKFAST SHOW ANCHOR BEHIND DURBAN’S COMMUNITY RADIO DARLING – DYR. LEFT: RAJISH LUTCHMAN SAYS RADIO HINDVANI PROMOTES HINDI CULTURE AND IS STAFFED BY VOLUNTEER PRESENTERS. BELOW: ATHENKOSI BALISO ON DYR.

stations fluctuate depending on their financial viability and access to technical innovation – in particular to transmitters.

Collectively, it is quite possible that they jointly have a more targeted loyal and proactive listenership than their more commercial counterparts – although it is difficult to gauge as research is sadly lacking.

Commercial stations can afford to commission research and threadbare stats don’t help the smaller stations in their quest to lure advertisers.

“Community stations have a huge advantage as we are not beholden to anyone. We have a localised footprint, but we

need to find innovative ways to activate alternative revenue streams.”

Minter-Brown is researching an international back-a-buddy crowd funding scheme for the smart creative, Patreon.com, to build the sustainability of the station.

Community radio stations like DYR can cultivate fun environments and offer a platform for bright young talents to pursue their dreams. On most stations, presenters don’t get paid.

Occasionally they receive a stipend, most often not.

They do it for the thrill and experience.

Willie Mgcina, KZN deputy chairperson of the National Community Radio Forum,

“South Africa is overshadowed by unemployment and poor placement of graduates, so community radio is a key platform for in-service training to kickstart a career” –Willie Mgcina considers this to be one of the biggest opportunities of the medium: “South Africa is overshadowed by unemployment and poor placement of graduates,

so community radio is a key platform for in-service training to kick-start a career – be it in media, broadcasting, journalism, PR, admin or on the technical side. Public Works should place more graduates in community radio so that they can access funding grants.

It should be considered as a training college for commercial radio.”

Radio Hindvani – which promotes Hindi culture – is also staffed by volunteer presenters. Hindvani’s Rajish Lutchman says their licence determines that the station present 50% of our content in Hindi and 50% in English.

“Increasingly not everyone is fluent in Hindi, so finding good presenters can be a

»

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challenge. We have a mix of presenters – from home executives to doctors – all doing it because they love it. They contribute differing aptitudes, skills, energy and preparation levels.”

Community stations talk directly to listeners who are clearly demarcated along language, faith, cultural, age, and geographical lines as well as music preferences.

Sometimes this means audiences “are smarter and expect more out of us,” says Minter-Brown. But it also means community radio stations can be “chaotic, unpredictable, amateurish, unpretentious and authentic”.

Community stations support unsigned musos and provide an important platform for people to launch themselves.

Lutchman takes this role seriously. “The South African Indian market doesn’t have a well-defined local music industry.

Several of our local artists think that because they can sing in the bathroom, they

CO M M U N I T Y R A D I O

can be on the airwaves.

But that’s not enough. We have a responsibility to play more of a role in educating the music industry about standards and quality.

We are creating a second studio for music production to do just that, as our commitment to supporting local Indian music.”

“We keep going ’cos a microphone is a powerful thing when plugged into a whole city” – Kevin Minter-Brown A common thread is the challenging business model – many stations are battling to make ends meet, and many stations beholden to SOE Sentech for rental of antennas. The community radio collective owes something like R16-million to Sentech in rental arrears, meaning many cannot afford to pay monthly bills.

ABOVE: LUCKY CELE, A PRESENTER ON VIBE FM. BELOW: PENNY NTULI FROM DYR.

Coupled with the financial burden, is regular blind spots in broadcasting, resulting in inconsistency in transmission which is a bugbear to most stations.

Boosters are costly, which impacts on advertising commitment to the stations.

“We live with changing technology. Recently a huge mixer was replaced by something the size of a ruler!

We are also dependent on Telkom – especially for outdoor broadcasts, so when copper wires gets stolen, we have huge challenges,” says Lutchman.

There are about 200 community radio stations countrywide, and about four million people listen to community radio in KZN.

Mgcina says: “If you want to talk to people just on the South Coast, you can do that, or just in Umlazi, you can do that too. Community radio is the best and most direct medium. There are lots of reasons community stations are preferable, and it’s a pity the government is slow to buy into this. Government should be a major client.

And for any businessperson it is obviously the right thing to do.”

Minter-Brown says challenge doesn’t deter community radio stations: “For the past three-anda-half years I have been getting up every morning at 4.30am – for free. We love the hustle and the hunger.

We can’t let it go now.”

*

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C

NOVEMBER 2019

SI wasn’t invented by South African companies post1994 and nor is it confined to Mandela Day. And while some cynics might view it as a do-good box-ticking exercise or superficial brand building, it is viewed by many as a long term effort at sustainable upliftment.

Various researchers regard it as an attempt by companies to constructively contribute towards the communities in which they operate and on which they rely.

The United Nations Industrial Development Organization says the common functions of CSI are broad and cover responsible sourcing, employee, vendor, customer and community engagement, adherence to labour standards, environmental management, anticorruption measures, upholding social equity and other human rights and conserving resources.

In South Africa, where needs are pressing, companies are often the victims of the social problems that their CSI policies seek to address.

For example, poor education leads to the very skills shortages that crimp growth.

However, while local CSI initiatives initially began with simple handouts, the concept has evolved.

Companies are committed to teaching communities survival skills while also injecting a healthy dose of accountability into the mix.

The trailblazer here was undoubtedly the Mr Price Group’s Red Cap Foundation, which has carefully targeted specific projects on a long-term basis. It also relies on partnerships and

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

readily admits that it can’t single-handedly solve the country’s most pressing challenges. Instead, there’s a far greater chance of success if it works with likeminded organisations.

“We also don’t just fund programmes, we co-create them. This means we work closely with our expert implementation partners to find viable solutions which they then activate on the ground,” the Foundation says.

LIV Thokomala, which is supported by FMCG giant, Unilever, takes a similar approach. The LIV model provides long-term cluster foster care where orphaned and vulnerable children are placed in a family environment with a trained foster mother and are educated.

Although fundraising campaigns and support programmes rely on individuals, businesses and local churches, the organisation also reaches out to business who

Social

DUTY

Corporate Social Investment (CSI) is an essential part of doing business in KZN and scores of businesses are doing incredible good works, writes Shirley Le Guern can offer internships or permanent employment for graduates.

A recipient of frequent CSI spend is Gift of the Givers. The KZN headquartered group has filled another CSI gap – creating a joint initiative

that allows companies without sufficient resources to set up their own to make a difference.

Gift of the Givers is the largest disaster response NGO on the African continent. Since 1992, it has delivered life-saving

aid in the form of search and rescue teams, medical personnel, medical equipment, medical supplies, medicines, vaccines, anti-malarial medication, high energy and protein supplements, food and water to millions of people in 43 countries, including South Africa.

TWO RANDER CAMPAIGN Our Rotary club is debating what our role is in these changing times. Voluntary service organisations pride themselves on making a difference in their communities by offering “Time and Treasure”.

It can be highly successful, such as

Issue 07

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Rotary International’s drive to rid the world of polio. The disease is now limited to a few countries.

Philanthropists Bill Gates and Bono work with Rotary because they know their donations go to people in need and not on fancy offices.

However, like many other organisations, Rotary at club level has the challenge of attracting new members.

The “online” generation find it convenient to give to charity through crowdfunding apps on the web. People also lead busy lives. To accommodate these lifestyle changes Rotary successfully launched online Rotary clubs, called eClubs, with members anywhere in the world.

In the real world, our club meets for breakfast every week. Using the skills of our members, we identify needs and try to make a difference. We have fun, invite guest speakers and respond to appeals.

These include education projects, providing water to communities, emergency relief, developing leadership skills and fostering entrepreneurship.

One of our initiatives is called the “Two Rander”.

We have developed a warm relationship with the shoppers at Windermere Centre. Several times a year we put up our banners outside Checkers and engage shoppers.

We offer them a R2 coin, attached to a slip of paper with the Rotary logo. It explains we are collecting non-perishable items for distribution to communities in need. These include oldage homes, orphanages, the homeless and for disaster relief.

Shoppers are asked to use the R2 coin towards

buying a non-perishable item to put into the trolleys we have outside the store entrance. People are very generous. Most will donate a tin of food, bag of rice or maize meal. It is humbling when folk who don’t have much themselves, give to others in need. The Two Rander campaign works.

Our most recent drive gave out about R800 in R2 coins.

Within a few hours we had five big trolley loads of donations, worth several thousand rand. Most people give the R2 coins back and

add a cash donation.

The items were donated to two retirement homes where the elderly have little money for food after paying rent. Also, an inner-city outreach programme that feeds the homeless and an NGO that looks after orphans. In this case, by offering our time and “treasure” we made a difference, however small, in the lives of several hundred people.

by Deon Delport, a member of the Rotary Club of Durban Umhlatuzana.

*

NOVBEMBER 2019

35

TAFTA Tafta is an organisation legend for its stellar work helping the elderly.

It has 14 facilities reaching approximately 10 000 elders within their homes and in the KZN community. Many of them would not survive without Tafta’s assistance.

Every year Tafta spends about R95,5-million, R21-million of which has to be raised through donations. Tafta has 163 paid staff and a council of 12 volunteers, all of whom are leaders in business.

*

THE ROBIN HOOD FOUNDATION

The Robin Hood Foundation was founded 14 years ago by Durban businesswoman and motivational speaker Cindy Norcott.

A few weeks after the birth of her second daughter, she sat up one night feeling grateful for the successes she had achieved in her life, and wondered how she could give back by helping those in need, how many poor babies could she clothe just with the babygro’s her daughter had already grown out of. She emailed all her friends and Love the Babies was soon established which led to the creation of Robin Hood trustees Pat Horrmann and Liesl Kriegisch.

The charity has since grown into a spectacular success and helped hundreds of thousands of people.

It is run by Norcott in her position as founder and chair with co-ordinator and marketing whizz

Kim Griffith Jones and scores of volunteers who are tireless campaigners for the poor.

The organisation keeps its overheads as low as possible to ensure funds make a difference in the community. It has a single full-time employee and trustees all act for free and everything they source is from donations.

In 2017 Robin Hood ran over 160 projects and one event alone reached over 25 000 recipients.

They’ve hosted pop-up restaurants in various rural communities, for poor pensioners who are served meals by volunteers. Their “Mahala Markets” give the elderly in rural communities an opportunity to shop for free with donations of clothing and other items.

Giving is a gift, says Griffith Jones, who is constantly in awe of the kindness and generosity of residents of KZN. Since its modest beginnings Robin Hood has touched an estimated 100 000 lives having distributed baby clothes, educational equipment, uniforms and stationery for orphaned and vulnerable children, fed grandmothers, built a house, two self-sustainable creches and refurbished a primary school for 700 learners in rural Ntshongweni, among other projects.

“Giving is not conditional. We take what we are offered and we act as custodians of that. We’ve been blessed over the years with the support of big guns like ARB, CHEP, Bata and Rodel Finance, and thanks to them and many other businesses and individuals we’ve been able to help.”

Impressive numbers are one thing, Griffith Jones says, but it is the engagement that is humbling and gratifying.

“It re-humanises us in the digital age.

Sometimes I have to take a bit of time out at an event, because I’m just left bawling. They are not sad tears, it is just overwhelming to see what we can achieve when we all connect and work together for the greater good.

*

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NSRI

The NSRI in KZN was recently gifted a new vessel to breach surging seas and save more lives, writes Matthew Hattingh

F

rench flair, up-to-date technology and an historic seafaring name have come together in the form of a new search and rescue vessel now based in Durban Harbour.

The Alick Rennie – which officially entered into service at a blessing service at the National Sea Rescue Institute’s Station 5 – is part of a programme to replace the NSRI’s ageing fleet.

The 14,85m-long French designed and built ORC 140 class vessel will not only allow the rescue organisation and its 1 261 volunteers to extend its range and survivor carrying capacity, but it will also be better equipped to take on medical evacuations and mass rescue incidents.

The Alick Rennie, named for a scion of the famous Durban shipping family, will increase the endurance of NSRI crew further out to sea.

The R19-million vessel has the latest electronic navigation and communication equipment and is selfrighting, a boon for her crew and those they rescue.

She was brought to Cape Town from France earlier this year by NSRI partner Safmarine for no charge along with her sister craft, the Donna Nicholas, aboard the Maersk Tukang.

Saving LIVES

ABOVE: MARGIE FIRTH, WHO REPRESENTED THE RENNIE FAMILY, WITH DURBAN STATION COMMANDER ANDRE FLETCHER AT THE BLESSING OF ALICK RENNIE.

The Alick Rennie had been built to completion at Bernard Shipyard in France, and the Donna Nicholas arrived as a hull, deck and bulkheads to be completed in Cape Town.

The plan is for Two Oceans Marine Manufacturing to build a further eight ORC 140s in South Africa, providing a fillip for the local boat building industry and creating jobs.

Mark Hughes, NSRI operations director, told guests at the blessing that the ORC 140 design had proved its worth over the past 20 years as pilot and search and rescue vessels in rough seas.

He said the design, by Pantocarene Naval architects, had been improved during this time and had been adopted in a number of countries.

The French Société Nationale de Sauvetage en Mer operate 30 ORC 140s and some 16m versions too.

The NSRI was effectively founded in 1967 and relies entirely on donations, sponsorships and bequests to cover its annual running costs of about R112-million, and every year on average its volunteers risk their lives to save 1600 lives.

*

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Trade & Investment KwaZuluNatal is a South African trade and inward investment promotion agency (IPA) established to promote the province as a premier investment destination and to facilitate trade by assisting local companies to access international markets.

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TIKZN

Trade & Investment House, 1 Arundel Close Kingsmead Office Park, Durban, 4001, South Africa +27 (0) 31 368 9600 info@tikzn.co.za

Y O U R K N O W L E D G E PA R T N E R I N B U S I N E S S MANDATE SERVICES Trade & Investment KwaZulu-Natal is a South African trade and inward investment promotion agency established to:

Promote, brand and market the province of KwaZulu-Natal as an investment destination

Facilitate trade by assisting local companies to access international markets

Identify, develop and package investment opportunities in KwaZulu-Natal

Provide a professional service to all clientele

Retain and expand trade and export activities

Link opportunities to the developmental needs of the KwaZulu-Natal community

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In close proximity and within easy access to South Africa’s two largest ports, Durban and Richards Bay, and King Shaka International Airport for air cargo Access to the large labour pool Diverse cultures Gateway to other African countries World-class transport and telecommunications infrastructure Investment and export incentive schemes Mature manufacturing base Idyllic climate

GROWING THE PROVINCE THROUGH FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT AND EXPORT TRADE The agency is equipped with the professional expertise and experience, as well as national and international networks geared to maintaining and growing KwaZulu-Natal’s competitive advantage as a premier investment destination and leader in export trade.

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Q: You say that most people can largely insulate themselves from health related stress, apart from unexpected life traumas. How? A: Stress occurs when a person cannot handle the numerous tasks associated with their responsibilities effectively, timeously and with success. Disruptions and distractions aggravate, leading to a day spent mostly in crisis control.

The Prefrontal Cortex, the executive centre of the brain that deals with prioritising, planning, decision making and executing tasks, works most efficiently when it uses one neural pathway at a time, associated with the physical movement required to execute a task (eg, making a telephone call or conducting a meeting). When the Prefrontal Cortex is called upon to switch from one neural pathway to another in rapid succession (as happens in crisis control), stress, mental exhaustion and incomplete tasks are the outcome – creating a very disjointed work day.

Through my research on how the brain functions under stress, I have formulated a programme called The Brain’s Time Secret – a productivityenhancing set of tools based on neuroscience and aligned to the workstyle/ habits and division of labour in the workplace.

Q: What’s the secret?

A: Numerous responsibilities generate a continuous stream of tasks. Some tasks occur daily, weekly or monthly.

Attempting to remember these tasks (task lists) and executing them timeously – amid distractions and crises – is what generates the ever spiralling stress cycle. No one can manage time – you can only manage tasks. And if this task management

H E A LT H

Burnt OUT?

Executives and entrepreneurs easily run the risk of burnout. KZN INVEST spoke to Durban based nutritional and stress expert, Dr Rajen Cooppan about how busy business people can better protect their health is not aligned to how your brain actually functions – serious dysfunctional symptoms begin to occur. Time management techniques don’t work.

The secret is to align your numerous tasks to how the Prefrontal Cortex functions.

Q: Your course covers “power thinking”. What is that?

A: The Brain’s Time Secret teaches, coaches and mentors two powerful tools called the Mini Day and Power Thinking. This training occurs over two days. Fine tuning and applying it to your field of work is achieved via mentorship at intervals.

Q: We are told diet and exercise reduce stress.

How true is this?

A: Neuro-nutrition

is critical for the brain’s functioning and performance. The brain requires 21 different neuro-nutrients on a daily basis. A deficiency in just one can lead to mental and emotional dysfunctions.

Consistent exercise is crucial for ensuring the arterial circulation and hence oxygenation to the brain.

Lack of exercise can lead to a sluggish brain function.

Q: Give an example of a patient you have brought back from burnout.

A: A CEO consulted with me two years ago. He was in a downward spiral. He was hypertensive, short and snappy with his staff, had tension headaches and was moody and irritable. His company medical check did not show any imbalances

in his blood and all other investigations were deemed normal. He was told to manage his stress better. In my consultation with him, it became clear that due to his numerous responsibilities and delivering to shareholders, he was almost always managing crises, dealing with interruptions, working longer hours and often feeling overwhelmed.

His relationships were unsatisfactory. He showed many signs of a chronic stress disorder, and could not manage the ever increasing tasks that were appearing on his desk every day. Therapeutically, I started the patient on a concentrated 21 spectrum neuro-nutrient, increased his amino acid supply through his diet, and put him on two adaptogenic stress buffers to down regulate his adrenal glands.

He joined our two-day Brain Time Secret Programme and learnt brain based efficiency habits. That reduced stress and gave him control over his time and workload. He turned his life around in four months, with exceptionally rewarding personal and company benefits. The new brain-based habits he learnt and the nutritional care of his brain and overall health gave him the outcomes he was desperately seeking.

Dr Rajen Cooppan is a medical doctor based in Durban, who qualified as a general practitioner in 1979 and then went on to get a doctorate in medicine and to specialise in nutritional medicine. He developed The Brain’s Time Secret 28 years ago and runs the programme in South Africa, Australia, UK and Europe. His 40-year career in medicine has seen him advising the governments of South Africa and Australia on matters relating to Natural Medicine.

*

DURBAN’S AIR CARGO BUSINESS IS TAKING OFF Increased international air connectivity and Special Economic Zone (SEZ) status being conferred on Dube TradePort is proving a business boon for Dube Cargo Terminal, with air cargo throughput growing at an average of 30% per annum.

contributed to a swing in imports versus exports. At inception in 2010, imports reflected 75% of the Cargo Terminal’s business. Today, 60% of cargo throughput is based on imports, while exports top 40%, from a base of 25%.

Commenting, Mr Ricardo Isaac, Manager, Dube Cargo Terminal said: “With seven international carriers, supplemented by local airlines, flying directly from Durban, coupled with exceptional business development in Dube TradeZone, the volume of air cargo handled by Dube Cargo Terminal is showing unprecedented growth, in spite of prevailing economic conditions. Without question, the impact of the SEZ, coupled with increased direct air connectivity into international markets, is proving to have a phenomenal impact on cargo growth.”

Companies establishing here, such as Samsung, Yangtze Optics Africa (YOA) Cable (Pty) Ltd and Endless Summer, are increasingly exporting product to a number of destinations abroad. And it’s not just Dube TradePort-based businesses contributing to export growth.

In 2010 the facility handled on average of 5 000 tons of international cargo per annum. Today that figure stands at around 15 200 tons, an over 200% increase.

Since achieving Special Economic Zone status, Dube TradePort has attracted considerable investor interest, filling Dube TradeZone 1 and prompting the development of Dube TradeZone 2. Investors, representing a spectrum of industry-types and matching with targeted priority sectors, are eagerly basing themselves adjacent to the King Shaka International Airport, ensuring speed to market, while benefiting from an incentive package, including preferential corporate tax, import duty rebates, VAT exemption and an enhanced 12i tax incentive.

“Businesses are increasingly basing themselves here because it’s cost-effective, they can maximise business efficiencies and - with available direct international air connectivity - they can move product directly from source to market from within a customscontrolled area. It’s about speed to market,” Mr Isaac said. Business growth in Dube TradePort has also

“We transport containers of apparel from a large fashion retailer’s Hammarsdale distribution point, via Dube AiRoad, to the Cargo Terminal, which are then flown out. A major supermarket chain also uses our facility to export product to the Seychelles, whilst a local flower producer, with bases in the Midlands and Zululand, utilises our central location to export flowers to European markets. This is just the tip of the iceberg,” said Mr Isaac.

on driving efficiencies and maintaining high service levels to airlines and customers. We’re proud to have maintained a service rating of over 97% with our customer airlines and have an enviable reputation, based on consistent professional performance,” Mr Isaac stressed.

The state-of-the-art Dube Cargo Terminal is also equipped to world-class standards, offering exceptional facilities - and the requisite capacity - to handle any airfreight for commercial airlines and the charter freight service environments alike.

“We have worked in the charter arena most successfully, evidenced by recent logistical support we provided the US Airforce, which saw repeated flights, using a C-130 Hercules, airlifting over 200 tons of food aid to cyclone-hit Mozambique. This is a business sector in which we excel and we are intent on further promoting our charter abilities,” Mr Isaac said.

He added: “The flattening import/export split and overall increase in airfreight is indicative of KwaZuluNatal’s hitherto largely untapped market potential for the uplift of airfreight and reflects the province’s emergence as an active participant in the global economy. Our forecast indicates continued growth going forward as local businesses, shippers and freight forwarders continue utilising more of the available capacity airlines offer.”

As KwaZulu-Natal is home to South Africa’s second largest manufacturing sector - and has the second highest export propensity - Dube Cargo Terminal’s geographic location is massively strategic.

“We are ideally positioned as a springboard for exporting locally-manufactured goods, from across the province, into Africa and beyond. We also focus

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V E G A TA L K S

An Afrikaans song referenced by African immigrants in a Catholic homeless centre where some of the biggest donors are Muslim seemed a fitting place to discuss new ways of ridding KZN of xenophobia, writes Illa Thompson

A

frikaans singer Laurika Rauch had a hit single in 1979 with Kinders van die Wind, the upshot of which was that we are all Children of the Wind. And mention of the song was a poetic end to the recent Vega Talks hosted at the Denis Hurley Centre.

The lively conversation was brought to a fitting end by Durban court-interpreter and bibliophile, Thabani Madonsela.

Participants gathered to consider how to change the master narrative about foreigners in our province. It was a robust engagement and one that politicians, faith leaders, media and educators ought to have.

Madonsela was one of three conversation leaders. A Clark Kent character with spectacles and a buff frame, he regularly works out at George Campbell Gym. At first blush, a gym would be the last place you’d expect to

be a haven of cultural tolerance. But Madonsela said George Campbell Gym in Point Road was a wonderful mix of locals and foreigners, free of toxic masculinity or Zulu chauvinism. “Once you get to know each other by name, irrational fear diminishes.”

Madonsela was joined by PhD candidate, Aron Hagos Tesfai, an Eritrean national in sunshine-yellow T-shirt and Afro-print rods whose approach to the topic was deeply rooted in his own research and readings; and fellow court interpreter, articulate and thoughtful Jean Madel Butoke from Burundi.

As the candidates introduced themselves it emerged that contrary to popular belief, most foreigners came to South Africa out of necessity, not to steal South African jobs.

Madonsela explained the isiZulu sentiment: “Umuntu akalahlwa”. It means humans can’t reject one another.

Removing the phobia from

XENOPHOBIA

“We don’t give up on another human being, whatever hue or race or country.” A graduate from thenNatal University, Madonsela worked in development training before becoming a court interpreter.

Butoke hasn’t lived for more than five consecutive years in his birth country of Burundi. Politics there has put him in exile here for the last 12 years. He thought it important for people to understand why foreigners end up here: as refugees, economic migrants or asylum seekers.

“Of course, there are some foreigners involved in wrong activities, but innocent people are being attacked who aren’t involved at all.”

Ultimately it was up to the courts to decide who was worthy of being

V E G A TA L K S

granted asylum, not individuals.

Butoke started out as a car-guard before being able to study further and became a court interpreter. Generally, politicians tarnish foreigners who, Butoke said, simply want to work in the field they are qualified, but can seldom get the paperwork they need. “That is discrimination.”

Said Tesfai: “I have lived knowing fear. In our country, the liberators became the colonisers and we have been in a dictatorship for 30 years. Ours is an authoritarian state with no democratic institutions. I had to escape. I had to either run or be shot. I have worked as a shop keeper while studying.”

Discussion moderator, Vega Durban head Naretha Pretorius, said some South Africans were challenging the dominating, mostly negative “master narrative” around foreigners. They wanted to create an alternate, positive one, rooted in success-based stories focusing on good prospects rather than fear of the other.

After two hours of thoughtful discussion, participants agreed that xenophobia is a two-way street: migrants

ABOVE: FROM LEFT, JEAN MADEL BUTOKE, NARETHA PRETORIUS, THABANI MADONSELA, AND ARON HAGOS TESFAI.

fear of South Africans and vice versa.

Numbers talk: Although stats aren’t necessarily the whole truth – according to eThekwini Municipality’s 2018 IDP only 0,4% of Durban’s population are not originally South Africans. In a city of 3,7 million – that means formally 14 800 documented foreigners.

Madonsela said xenophobia was relatively new in South Africa: “We love people from other parts of Africa; it was hip to speak Swahili and read African authors pre-1994. Violence rooted in the ANC-IFP conflict has left an ugly mark,” and it morphed into easy intolerance of foreigners.

Politicians scapegoated foreigners and painted them all with one brush, allowing the all too easy story of fear and loathing to be perpetuated.

Madonsela explained the importance of cultural factors. The Zulu word “khuleka” is when a visitor stands at the homestead gate and shouts the clan name as a mark of respect. If this ritual

Issue 07

NOVEMBER 2019

43

were symbolically observed by leaders, then foreigners could be formally introduced to locals and they would be welcomed. “You welcome the visitor; the visitor doesn’t welcome themselves.”

The fear of the unknown is natural but as we hear each other’s stories so the fear diminishes – be it in a formal workshop or on street corners. The idea was mooted that foreigners could volunteer as presenters on community radio to amplify these conversations on the airwaves and purge ignorance and distrust through ongoing dialogue.

Dialogue builds societies, and locals and foreigners – many suffering social disharmonies, moral degeneration, poverty, and poor accountability – crave transparency. This would also help banish petty jealousy, issues of entitlement as to who belongs where and who owns what.

Dialogue would also help businesses, local and foreignrun, to collaborate and foster the entrepreneurial culture needed to beat the high unemployment rate.

We are all but children of the wind.

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P H OTO G R A P H Y

Anything H but BLAND Hugh Bland is a photographer with a passion for KZN’s landscapes. He spoke to Shelley Seid

ugh Bland was born in Zimbabwe but has lived most of his life in Durban. He has had a lifelong passion for heritage and photography which has led him to travel extensively around South Africa.

His online heritage site, KwaZulu-Natal: A Photographic and Historical Record, (www.kznpr. co.za) holds over 75 000 images and is the most comprehensive image-based

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P H OTO G R A P H Y

record of KwaZulu-Natal in existence. Bland also has another travel website – www.thetravellingcamera. co.za – that houses his African travel images.

In 2017 he did the photography for the book, Farmhouses Of Old Natal edited by Jacqueline Kalley, and in 2019 he published The Trappist Missions – KwaZulu-Natal’s Forgotten Treasure.

What led to your passion for documenting the past? I grew up on farm

in Matabeleland, Zimbabwe, close to the Danan’ombe Monument, which we then knew as the Dhlo-Dhlo Ruins. It was a fascinating heritage area, and as kids we would scratch around in the area, and visit the bushman paintings. I think my interest began there.

What was your first photographic project? I started my website, KwaZulu Natal: A Photographic and Historical Record, in 2011 and later my website The Travelling Camera. I

was concerned that a lot of heritage buildings had been destroyed whether by wilful neglect, destruction, the passing of time or progress.

I’ve still got thousands of images to load on to both websites!

Earlier this year you published The Trappist Missions, a book focusing on the establishment of the 22 Trappist missions scattered throughout KZN. It has been described as “one man’s joyous journey through a rich visual

»

NOVEMBER 2019

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TOP LEFT TO RIGHT: DURBAN HARBOUR; BLOOD RIVER MONUMENT. BOTTOM LEFT TO RIGHT: UMHLANGA ROCKS; ADDINGTON CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL; DURBAN’S WORLD WAR CENOTAPH.

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NOVEMBER 2019

legacy”. What led you to undertake this project?

On my travels around the province, I kept bumping into these monasteries, yet I know nothing about them.

My interest was piqued and so I started reading about Austrian Trappist monk Franz Pfanner, who founded the Mariannhill Monastery in 1882. There was a considerable amount written about him and the missions, but not a single publication covering all 22 missions, and certainly not

P H OTO G R A P H Y

a photographic record. The book focuses on the beauty of the architecture, stainedglass windows, murals and objets d’art relating to each mission.

How long did the project take to complete?

About two years in total.

Although I had visited many of the missions I had to return to take images that would be good enough to publish. I had a great deal of help from Robert Brusse, one of South Africa’s leading conservation architects

who had worked on the restoration of the Centocow Mission Church near Ixopo.

He wrote the forward for the book.

Your favourite photographic moment?

I think it was probably my shoot of the closed Addington Children’s Hospital. It had been closed for 20 years when I first went in. I thought it was amazing. When you see something derelict and crumbling it has a certain beauty and evokes

an emotional response. I felt the same when I did a photoshoot of the old St Anne’s sanatorium – derelict, overgrown, yet still beautiful.

The oddest image you have recorded? It must be the grave of Yalu, the “faithful dog” of British General Buller, who was in South Africa for the duration of the Boer War. The gravestone lies alongside one of the old farmhouses that was used as a billet by the British. I

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P H OTO G R A P H Y

couldn’t help thinking that the faith shown by the dog was not reciprocated as Buller left South Africa in 1902, and the faithful dog only died in 1907!

What projects are currently in the pipeline?

I am almost finished a book on Addington Children’s Hospital, which is more about the artwork and the artists who decorated the walls of the hospital.

I’m also busy on another project called “Town and Country” and I have just

finished photographing the artworks of acclaimed sculptor Mary Stainbank.

The museum in Kenneth Stainbank Nature Reserve that houses her work had a break-in a while ago and many of her bronzes were stolen. At least there will now be a visual record of her remaining works of art.

Why do you continue doing what you do?

There are projects being undertaken to preserve different facets of our past, but, in my opinion, not

enough. Since I started eight years ago quite a few things have disappeared – Clairwood Racecourse for example, and the beautiful Nottingham Road Railway Station that was burnt down. I can’t stop change but I can record what was there – so that in decades to come people can look back at these images and stories and see what went before.

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For more information and copies of his books email hughbland031@gmail.com

NOVEMBER 2019

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TOP LEFT TO RIGHT: VILLA UMVOTI; BOTHA HOUSE; MARIA RATCHITZ TRAPPIST MISSION. BOTTOM LEFT TO RIGHT: KAALVOET VROU MONUMENT; THE OLD PRISON IN DURBAN CBD; DURBAN HARBOUR MOUTH.

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J U ST LO V I N ’ K Z N

Let’s drink to the marriage of two glamorous icons: Durban’s iconic luxury hotel, the Beverly Hills, and the world’s largest producers of champagne, Moët & Chandon.

The hotel is the first in the country to house an exclusive Moët & Chandon champagne bar. Shelley Seid was there, quaffing it back

T

he bar, which has been quietly operational for the past few weeks, is set to have its formal launch soon, and according to GM, John Aritho, it’s been a project in the works for a while.

“The Beverly Hills is 55 years old, Moët & Chandon is marking its 150th year. We are both well established, sophisticated brands that recognise everyone’s need to take time to celebrate,” says Aritho.

The bar – perfectly located

in the Elements restaurant – is a marvellous spot with magnificent views of the ocean, and is set to put Durban firmly on the map.

The Beverley Hills and Moët & Chandon held a champagne weekend last month in honour of World Champagne Day, and Aritho and his team took the celebration to the next level with themed events where the bubbly flowed, the sun shone and beautiful people partied.

Aritho says the events were oversubscribed. “We had to close the doors. Everyone

Bubbling over WITH JOY

ABOVE: AMINE GHANEM, MOËT & CHANDON’S WINE QUALITY MANAGER, WITH JOHN ARITHO, GM OF THE BEVERLY HILLS.

was dressed to the hilt and we sold well over 700 bottles of champagne. Durban people have a real need for a venue with a celebratory vibe where they can express themselves in style.”

One of the highlights of the weekend was a visit from Amine Ghanem, Moët & Chandon’s wine quality manager. It was the first trip to Durban for Ghanem, and, Aritho says, he fell in love with the city.

“He wants to bring his family here for a visit. He has visited over 65 countries and said this was one of his favourites.”

Interestingly, Ghanem said more Moët is consumed in South Africa than in France.

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TICKLED PINK A bottle of Moët & Chandon champagne is opened every second around the globe.

About 30 million bottles of Moet & Chandon are produced annually.

Moët & Chandon is the bestselling champagne in South Africa.

And to burst your bubble…

There is a lot of debate over the pronunciation of the brand – the ‘t’ in Moët is not silent. Founder Claude Moët was of Dutch ancestry so the champagne is pronounced “Mo-Wett”, and not “Mo-Way”.

Guiding your business The local lawyers with a global presence angelaclark@ eversheds-sutherland.co.za T: 031-9400501

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