Oct26

Issue

49

ISSUE 49

Renewable energy, cast in SA steel

ArcelorMittal SA has announced that it will increase capacity at its plate mill in Vanderbijlpark to cope with increasing demand from South Africa’s emerging wind-tower manufacturing sector. The company talks to IndustrySA about the importance of steel to the growing renewables industry…

Steval Engineering

Bidvest TMS Group

Harnessing African energy

Quality service, with the Bidvest stamp

Bigfoot Express

Volvo Trucks SA

“Big or small, we haul ‘em all”

Leadership changes for trucking giant

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EDITOR’S PAGE

EDITOR Joe Forshaw SUB-EDITOR Harriet Pattison WRITERS Colin Chinery Tim Hands Roland Douglas Christian Jordan Helen Lake RESEARCH DIRECTOR Chris Bolderstone PROJECT MANAGERS Ajuanne Payne Ravi Valentino Hal Hutchison ADVERTISING SALES SALES DIRECTOR Andy Williams SALES MANAGER Mark Leonard SALES EXECUTIVE Holly Graham STUDIO STUDIO DIRECTOR Martyn Oakley DESIGNER Harvey Tarlton ACCOUNTS Mike Molloy, Jane Reeder ECP LTD MANAGING DIRECTOR David Hodgson OPERATIONS DIRECTOR Chris Bolderstone FINANCE DIRECTOR Scott Warman 2a Ardney Rise, Norwich, Norfolk, NR3 3QH, United Kingdom If you would like more information about ways in which IndustrySA can promote your business please call +44 1603 411568 or email info@industrysa.com East Coast Promotions Ltd does not accept responsibility for omissions or errors. The points of view expressed in articles by attributing writers and/or in advertisements included in this magazine do not necessarily represent those of the publisher. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental. Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained within this magazine, no legal responsibility will be accepted by the publishers for loss arising from use of information published. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or stored in a retrievable system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the publisher. © East Coast Promotions Ltd 2014

Welcome to issue forty nine...

One thing that is vitally important to the South African economy is the price of steel. As with any country, steel is in high demand; it is required for almost everything. Think about your daily life, even if you’re not involved in the steel industry, you’re going to use products and services that require steel all the time.

After the fire at ArcelorMittal’s Vanderbijlpark works last year, the price of steel quickly increased and imports from places like Malaysia and Brazil went up and this is never a good thing. Firstly, imports often don’t have the quality of locally produced material; secondly, importing puts South African jobs at risk and finally, project progress is slowed down thanks to long waits for steel to arrive from the other side of the world.

And this is a problem that has since subsided somewhat but never truly disappears. Although global demand for steel and steelcontaining products has increased by 25% since 2009, according to reports, and of course this has the opposite effect, pushing prices up and again putting jobs and projects at risk.

Fortunately, the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of South Africa (Seifsa) says that South Africa’s steel and engineering sectors are likely to yield better growth in 2014 than last year when the sector only saw 2% growth and produced output estimated at R335-billion.

This is all important for anybody who deals in steel and this month we speak to a handful of companies that will be directly affected by the price of steel. ArcelorMittal SA’s renewable energy project division, Efficient Engineering, Steval Engineering, Volvo Trucks SA, John Thompson, Jurgens Ci and Bidvest TMS Group are all featured and all talk about the importance of steel to their operations as well as telling us how they have positioned themselves as industry leaders in their respective markets.

If you have been impacted by fluctuations in the price of steel, or any raw material, get in touch and tell us your story @industry_sa

Joe Forshaw

editor@ecp-ltd.com

PAGE 3

CONTENTS

3 EDITOR’S PAGE Raw material prices are always a concern

6 NEWS All that’s happening in South Africa

14 EnTREPRENEUR Helping others to grow

16 Innovation Lighting up a world of opportunities

18 Dragons’ Den Do you dare enter the den?

24 Tim Horwood An inspirational and creative director

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74

CONTENTS

28 ArcelorMittal SA Renewables cast in steel

68 Two-a-day Group A jewel in the Elgin

36 Montigny Investments The tree musketeers

74 Bidvest TMS Group A mix designed to work together

42 Jurgens Ci

82 Efficient Engineering

Keeping tourism in SA

The experts in heavy

52 Steval Engineering

86 Bidvest Protea Coin

Energy holders

Guarding the industry’s top spot

56 Bigfoot Express

90 John Thompson

Taking the big step across the border

60 years of boiler manufacture

62 Volvo Trucks SA Marketing, driven by quality

COMPANY REPORTS

68

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NEWS All that’s happening in South Africa

Winners of Nat Nakasa competition congratulated Cabinet has congratulated the winners of the inaugural essay competition on the life of Nat Nakasa, a prominent journalist whose remains returned to South Africa after 50 years on 19 August 2014.

“This initiative by the Department of Arts and Culture reminds our young generation about our struggle for freedom and exposes them to the history of writing and journalism in South Africa,” Acting Cabinet spokesperson Phumla Williams said in a statement following Cabinet’s regular meeting.

She said the journalism students Sbongakonke Mbatha, Qiniso Mbili and Nkamogeleng Lebeloane each won an internship placement and a laptop.

Another category was the learners’ debate which reflected on the achievements attained through Freedom and Democracy.

Competition objectives included creating awareness on the role of journalists during the liberation struggle in South Africa.

The winners Mfundo Radebe, Dumisa Nzama, Danielle Dallas, Olivia Habonimana, Faith Marthinussen and Cebisa Ncube each won a laptop.

The remains of Nat Nakasa were reburied on 13 September at Heroes Acre in Durban. The remains was successfully repatriated and brought back from New York on 19 August, by a team led by Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa.

Speaking at the reburial service of Nakasa, held at the Durban City Hall, Minister Mthethwa said the forced departure of Nakasa for Harvard University in America tells

PAGE 6

the story of where South Africa comes from.

He said it evokes the memories of many members of the Sophiatown Renaissance, who were forced to go into exile because of political repression that followed the Sharpeville Massacre of 1960.

He described Nakasa as someone who was a nation builder and an agent of social cohesion before this became a buzzword.

The self-acclaimed Native of Nowhere was born in Chesterville, Durban in 1937. He worked for Ilanga laseNatal, Drum Magazine, Golden City Post and the Rand Daily Mail. He founded The Classic in 1963 with the intention of publishing ‘African Writing of merit’.

Nakasa left the country in 1964 on a one way exit permit after he was awarded a prestigious Nieman Fellowship to study at Harvard University in the USA. He committed suicide in July 1965 by jumping from a window of a high-rise building. This was out of frustration at the thought not being able to come back home. He was buried at the Ferncliff Cemetery in upstate New York.

At the time of his death, the late Nakasa was a student and also working as a journalist in the UK. The Department of Arts and Culture said Nakasa’s homecoming after 50 years of forced exile has a significant meaning to the people of South Africa in this twentieth celebration of freedom, “as he wrote eloquently about an ideal South Africa that would be democratic, non-racial and socially cohesive.”

NEWS

11,000 trees to create urban forest Ekurhuleni Metro celebrated Arbor in September by planting 11, 000 trees in 101 wards to help eliminate the effects of climate change.

Every September, South Africa celebrates the month through activities aligned with tourism and the green environment, which is why the month is regarded as both Tourism and Arbor month.

This year, Ekurhuleni launched a campaign called ‘11 000 Trees in 11 Minutes in 101 Wards’. The campaign was held in Reiger Park on 12th and 13th September, where planting and environmental awareness activities took place.

Ekurhuleni Metro said in a statement that by the end of September, 11, 000 trees will be planted throughout the city to create an urban forest.

“Arbor month is celebrated annually, with the aim of highlighting the importance of trees and encouraging South Africans to become environmental activists, by taking part in greening initiatives,” the municipality added.

The campaign started at Geppetto Pre-school at 10am on Friday 12th and ended at Lakeside Primary School in Reiger Park at 11am on Saturday 13th.

Arts and Culture commits R3b for new libraries Government is to spend R3 billion on building libraries in communities with limited access to these facilities.

This was announced by the Deputy Minister of Arts and Culture, Rejoice Mabudafhasi, during a visit to Greenside Primary School in Polokwane as part of National Book Week on Friday 5th September.

“The Department of Arts and Culture will invest R3 billion in library infrastructure over a period of three years.

“We will build libraries in communities that have limited access or do not have access at all to these facilities, and upgrade other existing structures,” said the Deputy Minister.

She said that by building library infrastructure, the department was laying the foundation for a thriving

reading culture.

“Buildings do not go to the people. People must come to the buildings. This is where initiatives like National Book Week are most crucially needed,” said the Deputy Minister.

The department initiated National Book Week to promote access to books and contribute towards the creation of a reading and writing society.

The South African Book Development Council commissioned a study to assess the reading habits of adult South Africans and found that only 14% of South Africans are active book readers.

It also found that only 5% of parents read to their children and 51% of households in South Africa did not have a single book in their home.

PAGE 7

NEWS All that’s happening in South Africa

EPWP to create 6 million jobs Six million job opportunities are expected to be created through Phase 3 of the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) by 2019, the Department of Public Works has announced.

EPWP Phase 3, which has already started creating jobs in April, will be officially launched in October this year, and priority is given to the vulnerable, poor and unemployed people.

The department said of the six million job opportunities to be created, a significant amount will be given to women, youth and people with disabilities.

Public Works envisaged that the programme will create 3.5 million jobs in the first three years, starting in the 2014/15 financial year, and 2.5 million between 2017 and 2019.

The department’s Deputy Minister Jeremy Cronin outlined the implementation of the EPWP Phase 3 before the Public Works Portfolio Committee in Parliament and said the job opportunities will be created through Infrastructure, Environment and Culture, Social, and Non-state Sectors.

“South Africa has been a global pioneer in Public Employment Programmes (PEPs) on a large scale such as in the environmental services, through sub-programmes like Working for Water, Working on Fire, and Working for Wetlands, with major positive impact on communities , people and Parks and saving the GDP billions of Rands over the years,” said the Deputy Minister.

The Deputy Minister said the programme will be governed by four principles comprising adherence to minimum and employment conditions under the Ministerial Determination, clearly defined worker selection criteria, minimum labour intensity to appropriate sector, and contributions to the public good in communities.

“Infrastructure is the biggest employment creator, with more than 2 million work opportunities out of the total 6 million targeted by 2018/19,” said the Deputy Minister.

EPWP Phase 3 is also expected to increase the scope of

PAGE 8

infrastructure maintenance and quality implementation and developmental impact, especially in rural communities.

The department said the programme will target the poor and unemployed citizens through a combination of geographical and community-based targeting or wage rate.

The Deputy Minister said strong collaboration with the National Skills Fund and Skills Education and Training Agencies will continue to source funding for the training of participants.

He said sectors will also be encouraged to dedicate a portion of their implementation budgets for training of the workers.

Deputy Minister Cronin said the graduation of EPWP participants into formal employment would be promoted through various initiatives, including cooperatives and small enterprise development.

He added that the EPWP provided a unique policy instrument for government to create work opportunities and alleviate unemployment.

“Despite numerous efforts undertaken by government, unemployment in South Africa has stubbornly remained high.

The on-going global economic downturn has made this even worse and has increased the number of unemployed in South Africa even further,” said the Deputy Minister.

EPWP is one of the Public Employment Programmes to be monitored by the newly created Presidential Public Employment Inter-Ministerial Committee, whose mandate is, among other things, to ensure greater harmony and compliance of the PEPs. The EPWP was launched ten years ago as one of government’s major Public Employment Programmes under the auspices of Anti-Poverty Strategy.

It has so far created approximately 5.5 million job opportunities, covering all spheres of government and StateOwned Enterprises.

NEWS

Woman Power

The Deputy Minister of Communications, Stella NdabeniAbrahams, has encouraged women to fully participate in the country’s decision making processes.

The Deputy Minister was speaking at the 26th annual South African Council for Business Women (SACBW) gala dinner in Pretoria on 13th September.

“It can never be correct that we, politicians, sit somewhere and draft policies… But when we hold public hearings or meetings, people do not come to engage and propose ideas that will benefit them,” said the Deputy Minister.

The Deputy Minister said it was important for women to make use of platforms such as the SACBW in order to increase the participation of women in the mainstream economy.

The national President of SACBW, Hester du Bruyn, whose presidential term ends this year, said the footprint of the organisation in South Africa is growing.

“This is due to the dedication and commitment of the leaders of the branches and our honorary life members,” said Du Bruyn.

She said women should not underestimate the power within themselves, and the significant difference they can make when they stand together. She urged women to keep empowering one another.

“I see a bright future for this country when we can assist our youth to never give up on their dreams,” Du Bruyn said. “Too many women, both in South Africa and globally, continue to face barriers to financial independence. When women lack economic power, communities suffer.”

She said economic barriers must be removed because “we can no longer afford to waste the potential of half the world’s population.”

Du Bruyn’s successor, Cerita Nagy, 44, who will be taking over as the SACBW president next year, reiterated Du Bruyn’s sentiments and said she believed that women have the potential

to change the world for the better.

“It is our responsibility as women to mentor and empower other women in our country. The current president mentored me and I am grateful… I appreciate her,” said Nagy.

“If we educate women, we educate the nation. If we empower women, we empower the nation.”

The council’s 2014 Business Woman of the Year received awards during the gala dinner, and Ivy Meyer of Lakeside in Cape Town, walked away with the award for Women Entrepreneur of the Year.

Meyer was awarded for successfully running two projects that empower her community, especially youth and people with disabilities.

Meyer, who is the Director of Rapitrade 458 Pty Ltd and a founder of Out of Africa Dance Academy, told SAnews that she was thrilled to be recognised as one of the outstanding women among many.

“I will continue to help youth empower themselves, and people with disabilities to reach their full potential,” said Meyer.

She received an award earlier this year in New York for International Professional: Business Woman.

Rapitrade is a medical business and Out of Africa Dance Academy is a dancing school, both ran by Meyer, who is also a motivational speaker.

“I have been running Rapitrade for seven years, and the dance academy for about 15 years now. If you remain selfmotivated and passionate about life, you will manage to keep young like me,” said Meyer.

SACBW is a non-profit organisation and is represented nationally by successful business women.

The council was established to represent women in business, and create a vehicle for women to network, learn from each other, grow and mentor other women.

PAGE 9

NEWS All that’s happening in South Africa

Young SA scientists shine on world stage Three young learners from little-known Taxila Secondary School in Limpopo have made their mark on the scientific community with their ground-breaking innovation that has earned them international recognition.

The learners were among a group of 62 pupils from 29 countries, who made it to the 2014 Stockholm Junior Water Prize. The award ceremony was held on the evening of 3rd September in Stockholm and it formed part of the 2014 World Water Week programme.

Running for 18 years, the annual competition gave learners from countries such as Australia, Mexico, Japan and France, an opportunity to showcase their inventions. Competition criteria required learners to create new solutions to the planet’s growing water challenges.

The finalists, including the South African trio of Dipuo Nthane, Tebogo Mamabolo and Nthabiseng Motona, were the champions of their national competition, and they have been selected among thousands of entries.

Grade 11 learners Motona and Nthane, and grade 10 learner Mamabolo built a model house with a purification system. They also won full bursaries to study any water-related courses at any institution of higher learning in the country.

Their Nano enabled RainMaker Humidification System (RHS) focuses on treatment of rain water harvested from the roof, which proves unsafe for human consumption. Nanotechnology has been used to remove microbial and chemical contamination from roof-harvested rain water.

Test results of the learners’ invention showed that the system can filter out physical, chemical and microbial contaminants to satisfactorily safe levels for human consumption.

The project has the capability to improve the quality of life in rural and urban setting not only in South Africa, but the world over.

While the innovation didn’t scoop top honours at the prize giving (with the prize going to Canada), Water and Sanitation Minister Nomvula Mokonyane

PAGE 10

told SAnews the learners had done the country proud.

“They have done extremely well. They are representing South Africa on the world stage and this is their moment,” said the Minister.

Matome Mabitsela, the learners’ educator agreed, saying the innovation put the learners’ on a good footing for their future.

Speaking on behalf of the learners, Dipuo said just being invited to Sweden was an experience of a lifetime for them.

“We are proud of ourselves and having come so far,” said Dipuo.

Dr Fredrik Moberg, the chair of the Stockholm Junior Water Prize Competition said selecting an ultimate winner was a trying task, as the learners were all excellent in their own right.

“It was difficult to choose because they are all winners in their countries,” said Moberg.

South Africa has done well in the competition.

In 2003, Claire Reid won the competition with her “Water Wise Reel Gardening” invention.

Two years later, Pontso Moletsane, Motebele Moshodi and Sechaba Ramabenyane won the competition with their “Nocturnal Hydro Minimiser” invention.

The competition is open to young people between the age of 15 and 20, who have done water-related projects at local, regional, national or global levels on topics of environmental, scientific, social and/or technological importance.

The competition aims to increase awareness, build interest and knowledge of water and the environment.

From this year, the board of the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) has decided to increase the prize money to the winners and a new prize has also been introduced.

The international winner will from now on get US$15 000 and a prize sculpture. The winner’s school gets US$5 000 and the winner of the Diploma of Excellence (which went to Thailand this year) gets US$3 000.

Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden is the patron of the competition.

NEWS

SA, UK partner to support science, innovation South Africa and the United Kingdom signed a Memorandum of Understanding on 9th September committing to support science, technology and innovation in the two countries.

Following the signing of the agreement, the two countries jointly committed R140 million per year under the Newton Fund.

“The SA-UK Newton Fund will bring together contributions from both sides to support science, technology and innovation creating a catalyst to stimulate socio-economic development in South Africa and more widely across subSaharan Africa,” the Department of Science and Technology said in a statement.

The department said both countries are looking forward to working closely with other African countries.

The Fund will support projects in the thematic areas of public health, environment and food security. It will also support science and technology capacity building with a focus on seeking to ensure that activities have a regional footprint with the ultimate aim of encouraging research that boosts jobs and growth.

Signing the agreement on behalf of the South African government in Cape Town, Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor welcomed the cooperation, saying the two countries enjoyed strong bilateral relations in various areas.

Minister Pandor thanked both the South African and the UK officials who contributed to the achievement that led to the signing of the agreement.

“Thanks to the hard work and commitment shown by both our countries. Before the end of the year, South African scientists will be able to access the Newton Fund resources to support their cooperation.

“We have heard a number of exciting testimonies of the cooperation initiatives planned under the South Africa-UK Newton Fund collaboration,” she said.

According to Minister Pandor, plans for the Newton Fund cooperation were discussed with the then Minister of State for Universities and Science, David Willets, at the meeting of Science Ministers in the United Kingdom in May this year.

Minister Pandor highlighted the importance of the Fund, saying it would focus on prioritising human capital development, focus on active involvement of industry to ensure science, technology and innovation investments contribute to economic growth and employment creation.

Signing on behalf of the UK government, Minister of State for Africa in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, James Duddridge, said they are committed to working with South Africa: “We look forward to addressing challenges and poverty. We will be working with colleagues in South Africa.”

Medical research councils of both countries also announced three-year partnerships to collaborate on research projects in the areas of tuberculosis and non-communicable diseases.

The Newton Fund is part of the UK’s official development assistance. Its aim is to develop science and innovation partnerships that promote the economic development and welfare of developing countries.

PAGE 11

NEWS All that’s happening in South Africa

State-of-the-art hospitals for South Africa Six million job opportunities are expected to be created through Phase 3 of the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) by 2019, the Department of Public Works has announced.

EPWP Phase 3, which has already started creating jobs in April, will be officially launched in October this year, and priority is given to the vulnerable, poor and unemployed people.

The department said of the six million job opportunities to be created, a significant amount will be given to women, youth and people with disabilities.

Public Works envisaged that the programme will create 3.5 million jobs in the first three years, starting in the 2014/15 financial year, and 2.5 million between 2017 and 2019.

The department’s Deputy Minister Jeremy Cronin outlined the implementation of the EPWP Phase 3 before the Public Works Portfolio Committee in Parliament and said the job opportunities will be created through Infrastructure, Environment and Culture, Social, and Non-state Sectors.

“South Africa has been a global pioneer in Public Employment Programmes (PEPs) on a large scale such as in the environmental services, through sub-programmes like Working for Water, Working on Fire, and Working for Wetlands, with major positive impact on communities , people and Parks and saving the GDP billions of Rands over the years,” said the Deputy Minister.

The Deputy Minister said the programme will be governed by four principles comprising adherence to minimum and employment conditions under the Ministerial Determination, clearly defined worker selection criteria, minimum labour intensity to appropriate sector, and contributions to the public good in communities.

“Infrastructure is the biggest employment creator, with more than 2 million work opportunities out of the total 6 million targeted by 2018/19,” said the Deputy Minister.

EPWP Phase 3 is also expected to increase the scope of infrastructure maintenance and quality implementation and developmental impact, especially in rural communities.

The department said the programme will target the poor and unemployed citizens through a combination of geographical and community-based targeting or wage rate.

The Deputy Minister said strong collaboration with the National Skills Fund and Skills Education and Training Agencies will continue to source funding for the training of participants.

He said sectors will also be encouraged to dedicate a portion

PAGE 12

of their implementation budgets for training of the workers.

Deputy Minister Cronin said the graduation of EPWP participants into formal employment would be promoted through various initiatives, including cooperatives and small enterprise development.

He added that the EPWP provided a unique policy instrument for government to create work opportunities and alleviate unemployment.

“Despite numerous efforts undertaken by government, unemployment in South Africa has stubbornly remained high.

The on-going global economic downturn has made this even worse and has increased the number of unemployed in South Africa even further,” said the Deputy Minister.

EPWP is one of the Public Employment Programmes to be monitored by the newly created Presidential Public Employment Inter-Ministerial Committee, whose mandate is, among other things, to ensure greater harmony and compliance of the PEPs. The EPWP was launched ten years ago as one of government’s major Public Employment Programmes under the auspices of Anti-Poverty Strategy.

It has so far created approximately 5.5 million job opportunities, covering all spheres of government and StateOwned Enterprises.

NEWS

North West puts tourism at the centre of economy

The North West government says tourism, alongside agriculture and heritage, will continue to play a strong role in the economic development of the province.

The MEC for Tourism, Desbo Mohono, said those in the tourism industry must conduct their business smartly by adopting a service oriented approach that will keep tourists coming to the province.

“If we are to reach international standards that are [lasting] within the industry, we have to be very smart in conducting our business… We have to adopt a quality service orientated culture. “… When the chips are down, this will sustain and drive growth of this sector forward,” MEC Mohono said.

Speaking at the annual Lilizela Tourism Awards ceremony held in Rustenburg on 10th September, MEC Mohono said the tourism industry must make the most of the province’s tourist attractions and destinations.

“We have a rich and varied past that is only now

being appreciated for its complexity and diversity.

Our heritage is the foundation from which we are working to rebuild our society,” she said.

MEC Mohono urged the tourism sector to innovate around the countless opportunities in communities, in the province and in the country as a whole.

The Lilizela Tourism Awards aim to reward and celebrate excellence across the tourism industry.

These awards recognise tourism players and businesses who work passionately and with pride to deliver a world class product and service and whose delivery grows South Africa’s global destination competitiveness.

Some of the category winners include: Accommodation – Thaba Legae Guest House (3 star); 5 Star Stirling Manor Boutique Houset (5 star) and Royal Marang Hotel (5 star).

Tourist Guide – Anna Magrietha Grimbeek (in the Nature category) and Marcus Cillers Kruger (in the Culture category).

PAGE 13

Entrepreneur

Adii Pienaar: the ex-rock star Editorial: Harriet Pattison A self-confessed computer geek at heart, Adii Pienaar has created a WordPress theme empire which he sells through his hugely successful WooThemes company. With over half a million users to date and an estimated 150,000 paid users, Pienaar is already on to his next venture: helping young entrepreneurs on the path to success…

With a degree in Business Strategy and Management, Adii Pienaar is the founder of the hugely successful and global company, WooThemes.

When WordPress was launched in 2008, it provided ready-made solutions for setting up a blog or website.

However, with limited and not wholly creative themes, Pienaar snapped up a lucrative gap in the market designing and developing customizable commercial themes and plugins for WordPress through his start-up business, WooThemes.

Initially starting out writing a blog whilst studying at university, Pienaar admits in an interview with Eventual Millionaire that he has always been interested in computers: “Back in the day, I would classify myself as a geek, at least in terms of having an interest, especially about the internet. I can remember back in the dial-up modem days, the internet always fascinated me. I did some computer science at school and I always enjoyed the ability to think logically and solve problems.”

In the same interview, Pienaar reveals that for his first freelance job designing a specific theme for a client, he received just $100. This did however, help him to realise there was viable business potential and before long, Pienaar released the first product onto his blog, seeing an impressive three to four sales in the first day alone.

In his final year of university, Pienaar landed himself a corporate job but just seven weeks in, he realised he was earning just as much from his WordPress side project,

PAGE 14

so he decided to leave.

With his two co-founders, Magnus Jepson from Norway and the South African designer, Mark Forrester, who was living in London at the time; Pienaar officially launched the business on 2nd November 2007.

However, with the miles between them, it would be 16 months before the three entrepreneurs actually got together in person to discuss their increasingly successful company which was established as a brand just six months down the line in July 2008.

Creating one of the first commercialised WordPress businesses in the market, the software has now been chosen by more than 60 million people worldwide. This equates to powering an estimated 20% of the Internet, and is currency a top content management system for websites.

Co-founder Mark Forrester explained in an interview with Entrepreneur Magazine: “We created theme options allowing users to change colours, add a featured post slider, display their logo in the header and move sidebars around. We saw the opportunity to commercialise these themes and justify our price tag based on the originality of our themes, the guarantee that they’d work in future versions of WordPress, and the opportunity to offer customers support. This was what a lot of WordPress users had been looking for.”

Today, WooThemes has its Head Office in Cape Town but has trusted employees placed across America and Europe too. With an estimated half a million users

Adii Pienaar

and over 150,000 of these paying customers, Pienaar told Eventual Millionaire that despite these impressive numbers, the company never experienced the traditional ‘hockey stick growth’ that many mainstream technology media advocates see, but rather a more organic and linear growth.

Pienaar attributes much of WooThemes’ success to the fact it started with a superior and innovative product. Bringing such a pioneering product to the WordPress space made it much easier to justify the cost of the product. With many themes available for free, it was important for WooThemes to validate its product, substantiate its branding and build a trusted customer base.

Pienaar also admits that despite a revolutionary product, it wasn’t long before many competitors cottoned on to the potential success. To ensure his company remained in the top three of industry leaders, Pienaar concentrated on branding, making sure it correlated to its strong customer service focus. “If you want to build a lasting, sustainable and profitable brand, what you put into it, aligns to you as a person,” he told Eventual Millionaire.

Aptly spelling is name Adii, short for Adriaan, highlights Pienaar’s approach to branding – creating a personal touch and doing things slightly differently.

This has further helped in developing Pienaar’s second company, PublicBeta. Stepping down as CEO at WooThemes in 2013 into a more executive role, allowed

him to pursue his business which aims to provide an online learning community for budding entrepreneurs.

Currently, PublicBeta has 40 entrepreneurs on board who are contributing courses via a 20-60 minute video platform. Pienaar explains that there are many alternative routes in achieving a particular goal and each one may work better for one entrepreneur to another.

By sharing specific skills and processes, it allows individuals to pick their favourite and hopefully, create success from it.

Pienaar is clearly passionate about helping future entrepreneurs and is a part of the Entrepreneur’s Organisation (EO), an exclusive company where those entrepreneurs involved must adhere to certain profit margins. A global community, it creates a platform for individuals wanting to meet like-minded entrepreneurs.

Pienaar is also on hand for start-up companies needing help with branding, strategy or other business questions.

Today WooThemes’ biggest and most profitable product is WooCommerce which acts as an e-commerce toolkit for WordPress. By January 2013, this increasingly popular product had been downloaded 500, 000 times and is able to power thousands of online shops worldwide.

Turning over $2 million in the 2013 financial year, Pienaar has built his company up from zero and for the entrepreneurs of the future? He has one key piece of advice: You must be passionate about your brand if you want to find success.

.

PAGE 15

Innovation

Lighting up a world of opportunities Editorial: Harriet Pattison

With power cuts and shortages becoming an all too regular occurrence in rural communities, Net1 Mobile Solutions has come up with an innovative and potentially life changing product: the Sune-light. A solar-powered lamp which provides rechargeable electricity, an unlimited light source and a Wifi hotspot, it is able to connect users to the internet, releasing the potential to open up a world of opportunity‌

The latest innovation IndustrySA is following is the Sun-e-light; a solarpowered lamp which also acts as a mobile phone charger and Wifi hotspot.

As part of a corporate social responsibility project, it is hoped this innovative solar lamp will help in opening up the digital world to those in more rural areas with little to no access to safe lighting or electricity.

The company behind this new and advanced product, Net1 Mobile Solutions, a subsidiary of JSE and Nasdaq listed Net1 UEPS Technologies, offer an array of both products and services, with areas of expertise spanning across banking, mobile, security and numerous other industries.

With the ability to function as either a lamp or a torch, the initial prototype of the Sun-e-light was designed by a production company in China. It has been refined, re-designed and tested over the past few years ready for its launch this year.

Taking between six and eight hours to charge, the lamp can provide up to 16 hours of battery life to those who are forced to live without sufficient electricity and in areas often prone to long periods of power shortages.

The Sun-e-light includes a Sim card slot and 3G antenna

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which allows users to create a wireless hotspot and share a data connection. By offering its users access to the Internet, it is hoped it will help in the search for employment opportunities and academic material and also provide an easy access platform to government online services and facilities.

The solar lamp jar consists of two LED lamps, one is sufficiently bright (3W) allowing users enough light to study or read a book and the other (1,5W) can be used as a torch when the jar is dismantled.

Managing Director of Net1 Mobile Solutions, Philip Belamant reiterated the importance of a bright enough lamp to help school children study and read at night without straining their eyes. Although there are other solar-powered lamps available on the market, these do not provide sufficient light for children needing to study after dark.

On July 18th this year, in celebration of Mandela Day, Net1 Mobile Solutions (N1MS) joined in with other South Africanbased companies and organisations to bring care-packs to hundreds of pupils at the Jon Kotlolo School and surrounding community members in Nellmapius, Pretoria.

The care packages, filled by N1MS employees, each came with their own personal message and included soap, a bucket, a

Innovation

wash cloth and a Sun-e-light for each pupil.

Philip Belamant said in a statement: “We heard that the students at Jon Kotlolo Primary School are often victims to power cuts, if they have electricity in their homes at all, and we hope that the Sun-e-lights will give them the light that they need to do their homework and study. Nelson Mandela, who we honoured with this pilot project, said that education is the greatest engine of personal development – and we want make it possible for these learners to achieve their full potential.”

Helping to improve accessibility and connectivity to these rural communities, Belamant added: “We will be distributing the solar lamp at schools and tertiary educational facilities across South Africa in the coming months, in areas where learners do not have access to a consistent electricity supply.”

Just a month later, Net1 hosted the Minister of Social Development in the Msinga region of KwaZulu Natal where the company distributed a further 500 Sun-e-light solar powered lamps to members of the local community.

Chief marketing officer José Carlos Da Silva Soares explained the benefits these lamps would bring to the rural communities: “Accessibility and connectivity will enable these communities to better themselves and those around them, and

this can ultimately lead to a hugely positive spin-off effect. Our particular focus leans towards learners, entrepreneurs, vendors and job seekers.”

The lamps will be available to buy for an estimated R300 and will no doubt prove popular in an attempt to save costs with the rising electricity prices. An initial solar-powered lamp without a Wifi hotspot, will also be on sale for around R250 and has already begun distribution with 2,000 given out by Net1. The company will be making use of its countrywide distribution network in an attempt to deliver the lamps as near as possible to the consumer’s location.

“If the product roll-out goes well, we will be looking to move manufacturing to South Africa, which in turn should bring more opportunities for employment to locals,” Soares explained.

He concluded: “We believe solar power is becoming hugely important. Both public and private organisations are moving towards solar powered initiatives to get off the grid, thereby saving money and reducing pressure on Eskom. It’s also more environmentally friendly, and we can all contribute more to being more environmentally aware and being better corporate citizens.”

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Dragons’ Den

Narrating the tales from the Den… Editorial: Harriet Pattison

A broadcaster and journalist for over two decades, Xolani Gwala is the narrator braving the fiery Den and helping the entrepreneurs preparing to enter. He speaks to IndustrySA this month just as the second episode airs and admits, even he was surprised by a few of the outcomes…

Q. You have been involved in journalism and broadcasting for over 20 years, did you know this is what you always wanted to do?

I’ve been a journalist for over 20 years now and I’ve always wanted to do Journalism. I did Media Studies almost 20 years ago now and after that I started working at the SABC. I’ve been involved in politics and business etc., for two decades.

Q. How long have you been hosting your afternoon drive show on Talk Radio?

It’s a year and a bit, I started in July last year. Before that I had my own talk show at SA FM, which is also a talk radio station.

Q. Before entering onto Dragons’ Den, did you have any preconceptions of the show and of the Dragons?

I knew the basis of the UK version and what to expect but I was actually very surprised at the quality we ended up with in this country. We had very good Dragons firstly and excellent entrepreneurs with so many brilliant and creative ideas. They were just hungry entrepreneurs who were hungry for success so it was a pleasant surprise.

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Q. What is your role in the show?

My role is actually to interpret the interaction between the Dragons and the entrepreneurs who are pitching for the money and at the same time I am narrating. As a presenter of course I introduce the particular day’s activity and act as an inbetweener for the viewers between what’s been going on, what the Dragons are saying and what the entrepreneurs are saying.

Q. Were you surprised by some of the outcomes of the entrepreneur pitches?

Very much so, it’s very unpredictable. Let me give you an example: there is a lady and she has an MBA, she is as articulated as you can get and the pitch was perfect. You are convinced she will get the money because she walked the walk and she talked the talk, she is smart, young and energetic, but you get the Dragons saying ‘You know exactly what you want but I’m sorry, it’s not for me, I’m out’ and you’re like, ‘What?!’ It’s unpredictable which obviously makes it even more compelling.

Q. Watching the entrepreneurs pitching their ideas and listening to the responses from the Dragons, did it teach you anything?

Certainly, every single day. Every pitch that is made

Xolani Gwala

will teach you something. It teaches you about a lot of things, about the opportunities that are there given the information and also, the ability of an entrepreneur to make that idea work, you just learn so much. Also, how the Dragons react to it, in other words, what their thinking is around a particular idea.

It is a critical program for South Africa today, one of the things that we are lacking in this country is unemployment. Our unemployment rate is sitting at over 25%, so what you then have are what are the viable ideas and what kind of ideas are investors willing to put their money behind. Which is quite an important thing because the reason why we’re sitting where we’re sitting is because sometimes, even with good ideas, they are just not able to attract funding. So you learn about what it is that investors are looking for and what it is that they are willing to bet with money.

Q. What do you think South African’s who are watching the show will think?

The people that you sit down with on a one to one level who give you feedback. Even just this morning I was speaking with one guy, he has already identified an opportunity and is thinking, ‘If I approach that Dragon outside of the show, I might be able to do this with him.’ So people are already identifying with opportunities on the basis of the program. They are

already saying, ‘Because I’m in this space, is it possible that one of the Dragons can come in and help me here?’

People were even saying this to me last night and I say, right now this is a show and I don’t know what this person is able to do outside of the show. So you get a lot of people who are getting a lot of creative ideas out of the show and they are starting to work on those ideas.

Q. Now it has been aired, what did you make of the show?

Firstly, I am still involved so everything is being put together and I’m there but the Dragons are not a part of it anymore, but I’m still doing the narration and the voiceovers. So I’m not surprised because what I see is what I see in the editing room. I possibly have an advantage point compared to the Dragons because all they knew and saw were the pictures but I have the advantage of being in the editing suite now as we put everything together.

Q. Do you think there will be another series?

I hope there will be, in fact there should be. I think there definitely has to be one. We’ve only had two episodes but already the reaction is just amazing so I think not having another series would be a missed opportunity.

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Dragons’ Den

The technology giant…

Editorial: Harriet Pattison

Growing up it seemed Vinny Lingham was always one step ahead in the world of mobile technology. Founder and investor of many companies, both big and small, South African and American, Lingham recently sold his mobile payment company, Gyft, for an estimated $54 million. Now he joins the panel on the highly anticipated South African Dragons’ Den and explains why the show exceeded all of his expectations…

Q. When did you first realise you had a flair for entrepreneurialism?

I started from a very young age where I was just very interested in computers. No one was into computers, at least no one I knew. As a nine year-old kid I was just fascinated, I was a sponge and at that age you just want to suck up as much information as possible. Back in those days, computers were extremely slow but you were able to write basic software programs and play games, so there was lots you could do and it was fun and that’s what I spend my time doing as a young kid.

I never really enjoyed the traditional school subjects, I was just interested in what computing could do for the world. So I suppose from a young age I wanted to be a technology entrepreneur, I just didn’t really know anything else and that’s what interested me.

Q. What was your very first business idea and where did it go from there?

I started off with Clicks for Customers in my bedroom in 2003. I dropped out of university in 1989, I didn’t have the funds to finish studying, this is South Africa, the emerging markets crashed had just hit and interest rates went up to 26%, it was a crazy time. So I moved to Johannesburg within a few months and started working in a corporate job. I actually started a website called Auto Finance, the idea was that people

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would go there and just fill in one form which would go to all the banks and give you back quotes for what vehicle finance would cost from each of the banks and we would do basically do vehicle finance information online.

At the time it was very early business, it was basically a website and I sold it to a Johannesburg based company. It was a fund that had been set up to invest in internet, this was before the market crashed in April 2000. I followed these guys, took a contract to work with them for a few months but four months on I was back looking for a job again in Johannesburg.

I eventually settled in the online marketing space and I worked for a company for a couple of years and I learnt a lot from them, especially in marketing. How you buy traffic on search engines, how to get your search words right, how to buy traffic. At the time it was pre-Google, it was Overture, the company that Yahoo bought. Then google launched AdWords, which is currently the search engine platform in the world right now and this is 10 years ago; I was actually at the launch party in 2002. At the time I was just blown away by the potential that Google could do for the world so I decided to start my own company and go solo.

And I did that and that was the formation for customers which is actually the original company, it’s one of the leading search engine marketing companies

Vinny Lingham

in the world still today. But at the time I was the first in South Africa and I tried selling services to African companies but they just didn’t get it. This was 2003, many didn’t even know what google was, all they knew is that Google was free. And no one really saw the potential in South Africa so I tapped into the world market and I travelled to the US and spoke at 50 conferences in a couple of years. I secured Walmart. com as a client and within the year the company was basically running a paid service for them. I built a team out in Cape Town, of about 60 people and brand to revenue from $0 to $10 million dollars in a year out of Cape Town. So I became a bit of a local technology celeb and basically from that perspective, I started gaining global perspective where technology was going.

I sold the company in 2007 and invested my money into Yola and started that company. Yola was basically a platform for small businesses and the goal was to invest in Yola and then move to Silicon Valley. Which I was able to do and I raised the funding and moved to Silicon Valley and basically started my other company there. It provided a platform for small businesses to get online and build a website without having to have any technical skills. It’s probably one of the first companies in the world to offer a platform around small businesses getting online and that was in 2007. So when I told people about it they didn’t really believe me – my whole

life, I felt like I was telling people what the future was!

So that was the whole vision around that, so I moved to Silicon Valley and raised £30 million and built a whole platform and team around getting smaller businesses online. The business had its challenges like many, and we had to figure out a lot of things early on so I spent four or five years doing that, so it was a great experience. At the end of the day, it became a very crowded and competitive space which it still is today.

But we’re also one of the top 5 players worldwide so it’s good that we got into it, at one stage there were over 100 competitors worldwide but that’s consolidated now so there’s only a few.

So that was an interesting space and lots of lessons were learnt! I sat down when the time was right and set about starting my main company which is Gyft.

I wanted to get on the mobile bandwagon, obviously I love the iPhone and I’ve had a mobile phone since 1997. I’ve always been watching what’s been going on in the mobile space and a lot of the ideas I’ve had along the years in 2006/2007 were coming to fruition in 2010/2011 and I thought wow, the market’s finally starting to catch up! I thought mobile payments made a lot of sense and the US Gift card industry was valued at $150 billion so I think there was a moment when I went into Starbucks and paid with my phone for my coffee and I had an epiphany. Now it makes sense but you

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Dragons’ Den

PAGE 22 OCT 14

Vinny Lingham look back a couple of years and it wasn’t that obvious in 2007.

The amazing thing about Gyft was right place, right time. We launched the company about two years ago and the technology was good, we executed really, really well and it was a huge success in terms of marketing, product, brand awareness, technology and platform. So it was really good timing and that leads to where we are now. One of my favourite TV programs is Shark Tank in America so when I was asked do to South Africa Dragons’ Den, I couldn’t say yes fast enough!

Q. Speaking about local businesses, had you invested in many start-up companies before you were asked to join Dragons’ Den? I have been investing since 2005 in start ups, primarily in Cape Town. It’s a passion of mine, I’m investing in US companies and I’ve got a portfolio now of, I actually can’t keep track any more but it’s over 25 companies. I love investing and I love helping businesses and solving business challenges. Investing is a passion of mine because I want to support entrepreneurship, especially in Africa and South Africa. But I’m very picky, so I have to be very careful as to what I invest in.

Of 100 pitches, I probably only invest in 10% of what I see. I don’t do a lot of investments, probably only a couple in a year. You have to be very careful about what you invest in so I pretty much only invest in technology companies and more so recently only in Bitcoin companies. On Dragons’ Den I invested in things which had a good financial return.

Q. How did you find the process of Dragons’ Den? Was it what you were expecting?

The team was amazing and I had the time of my life but I’ve never worked so hard in my entire life! I was waking up so early so many days in a row, I was up at 5:45am and on set for about 16/17 hours, so I never want to be an actor! The team was amazing, the Dragons’ have become my family now and it was a really interesting time. I think it was the highlight of my year, that and selling Gyft.

I’d met Lebo once but I’d never met any of the other guys. I didn’t quite know what to expect, I was coming from Silicon Valley and I haven’t been in African business culture for six or seven years so I was thinking, ‘Who are these guys?’ ‘ Where are they from’ ‘What have they accomplished?’ and ‘Am I fit to be a Dragon?’

Even though I travel to South Africa a couple times a year, I’m not part of the business community that a Dragon living in South Africa would be but within 24 hours, I’d already lost my US accent!

Q. Did you find yourself drawn to more technology-based ideas?

I think its safe to say there were some interesting technology ideas and all I can say is that I was very impressed with the level and with the South African tech entrepreneurs. There was some amazing talent discovered on Dragons’ Den South Africa.

Q. What can South African’s expect from the show? Do you think it will help budding entrepreneurs?

It will definitely expose the good and bad of South African business. I think if I was an 18 year old watching this show, I would be a much better entrepreneur today and I would be in the position I’m in now a lot faster.

Just think of it like a mentorship program. If you watch the show, you would learn so much and any budding entrepreneur watching the show would walk away a much better entrepreneur.

Mentorship is so important for entrepreneurs, to help them refine, help with their business model, market strategy etc., and considering the lack of mentorships at the moment that’s why you invest, especially if you can do cash and mentorship at the same time.

So, yes there’s a lack of that, especially in South Africa. Any budding entrepreneur should be glued to the screen for the next 12 weeks and soaking it up and learning. You’ll see entrepreneurs who are further along than you are getting declined of funding because they don’t get the principles right. Just because you have a business and you have revenue, doesn’t mean you have a good business.

Q. You’ve now seen the first few episodes, is it what you were expecting?

The production of the show exceeded my expectation to be honest. The quality of the production is better than the show in the UK from what I saw and I’ve watched all the UK episodes. I think the set and production was just amazing and I was blown away.

We were given nothing, I was fully prepared not to do any deals on the show but I was also prepared to spend a lot of money if the quality was high, but I just had no idea!

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Tim Horwood

Bringing the continent together through music Editorial: Joe Forshaw

Tim Horwood is the award-winning Creative Director of Viacom International Media Networks Africa (VIMN Africa), where he heads up the Production and Creative departments for Viacom’s African multimedia entertainment brands MTV, MTV Base, Comedy Central, VH1 and Nickelodeon. His creative talents and ambitions have propelled him into a fantastic position and his career has been the perfect example of what can be achieved if you believe in what you’re doing. He tells IndustrySA more about his work to date…

Q: Tell us more about your background – when did you realise you wanted to follow the career path that you have? What was your education like? What other jobs did you do before taking your current position?

I first acted in a TV production at the age of 10 and knew literally from that day that this was the industry I would work in. I have been involved in the TV industry non-stop since then. I acted and presented in a number of productions over the years, as well as trying to learn as much as possible about the technical side. In my school holidays I would attend shoots as a cable basher and camera assistant and gradually learnt how to operate cameras, edit, write, direct etc. As a result I never studied at tertiary as my schooling came from practical work and mentorship from seasoned

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professionals – more than any film school could offer!

Q: When people refer to you as the “award-winning Channel Director of MTV Base”, do you begin to feel like you’ve achieved what you set out to or is there always more for you to do?

I feel like I’ve been lucky. I certainly never feel like I’ve “made it” or anything like that.

There is so much to be done and so many opportunities in Africa in particular, I feel like it’s all just getting started! But in my head it’s not about me, it’s about the industry, it’s about up-skilling and building and promoting Africa to the world, so whether it’s me or a new generation that take over there will always be so much that needs to be done, I’ve just been lucky enough to play a small part in this mission.

Tim Horwood

© Al Nicoll

Q: Recently, the dti announced that it would provide support for emerging black filmmakers through the South African Emerging Black Filmmakers Incentive Programme.

Do programmes like this help people in your industry and do you think more similar projects should be considered?

Absolutely. I don’t think there is enough focus in general on developing and supporting new talent for many reasons. Many people don’t see this industry as a serious career. Many parents still want their kids to be doctors or lawyers, but with the rise of musicians, filmmakers and creatives on the continent and the support from brands like MTV, that attitude is starting to shift. I think a big responsibility falls on not only government but also on the industry to develop, build and promote creative talent from the continent.

Q: Considering the target audience of MTV Base, do you find it difficult to stay on top of the demands of the demographic? – After all, it’s so much easier for people to access all genres and styles instantly these days.

I have always loved this quote: “Our youth now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for their elders” – Socrates, 400BC. Clearly the “difficulty” of speaking to a youth demographic is nothing new! I think if you are passionate about and immersed in the culture of the day and reflect that honestly, then it becomes less cerebral, more fun and more authentic, which is what this generation appreciates. I feel an instinctive understanding of your market goes a lot further than an intellectual interpretation.

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Tim Horwood

Q: From a business perspective, is social media now one of the key marketing tools for you? Do you find that for economies where mobile internet access is the prominent access method, social media is now the number one way to reach out to audiences?

It is definitely a key tool in the artillery, SM enables you to actually engage and converse with your consumer rather than just pushing out a message, its immediate and it’s a real conversation, an opportunity to connect on an emotional level in a two-way conversation, so it’s not just about reaching out, but it’s about pulling in too.

Q: Following the MTV Africa Music Awards in Durban in June, what has the feedback been like? Have the awards been recognised as a success? Will you begin to plan for the next event straight away?

The MAMA broadcast on over 90 television channels around the World to hundreds of millions of viewers, we earned over R170 000 000 in PR value alone and on the night we trended globally on Twitter. We had Africa’s hottest talent share the stage and collaborate with global superstars. We held workshops around the campaign up-skilling and empowering hundreds of young people, and we were able to showcase the progressive youth culture, musical talent and the creativity of Africa to a global audience, challenging the plethora of stereotypes that exist about Africa.

It was a massive success. We are in the process of finalising our plans for MAMA 2015 and are hoping to take it to even greater heights next year.

doesn’t only apply to Africa. I think the reaction to this change comes down to the individual. There are some older or more “traditional” artists who dismiss a lot of the “new music” but there are others who celebrate and collaborate with it. The new generation of Africa are more connected to the rest of the world than ever before and represent the tastes of a global millennial generation whose values and tastes are quite different to 30 years ago, it’s the same with every generation.

Q: Now that music, and music videos, are made in a very different way to how they were 30 years ago, do you think that ‘traditional’ musicians look down on ‘MTV generation’ musical creators in Africa?

Q: What plans do you have for the direction of MTV Base in the future?

Do you agree that there will be a shift from sitting in front of the TV watching Base to watching on-thego through mobile platforms?

The change in the style and ethos of some contemporary music is a global shift and

Only time will tell, I think traditional TV will eventually die, but it is taking a lot longer than

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Tim Horwood

© Al Nicoll some may have thought. There are now more devices, more screens and more mediums, but people use them alongside television. Our shift has been to no longer see ourselves as creators of television but rather creators of content. We will keep moving with the times and engaging with our consumer on the relevant platforms, whatever they may be!

Q: Do you think that the future will hold further work between South African artists and artists from around the continent? Do you feel that MTV Base has had an impact on the way artists from around the continent work with each other?

When we launched MTV Base in 2005 I remember returning to South Africa from Nigeria with a bunch of amazing music and trying to convince radio stations to give it a

chance but they weren’t interested! Fast forward 10 years and Nigerian music is being featured on most mainstream radio stations in SA. We have always pushed this agenda. Before, different countries’ contemporary sounds were very disparate but today these different sounds are starting to influence each other. It’s almost like we are getting closer to having one contemporary African sound. So yes, we will continue to be a part of bringing the continent together through music and facilitating PanAfrica collaboration and exchange – it’s been our mission and inspiration over the last 10 years.

Q: If you had to give one piece of advice to a young business person who is struggling with their enterprise, what would you say?

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Fosta Nje koMzekezeke! (ask a kwaito fan for the translation on this one!)

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company profile

Steel: One of renewable energy’s key ingredients Editorial: Christian Jordan Production: Chris Bolderstone

The renewable energy industry is well and truly cast in steel. Imagine the wind towers on a wind farm; imagine the mounting systems for solar panels; imagine the turbines, water gates and penstocks in a hydro plant – all made from specialised steel products. In the renewable energy sector, ArcelorMittal is at the forefront with steel innovations that maximise capacity for power generation.

In recent times, wind energy has become one of the buzz phrases of the South African energy industry. There are currently only a handful of commercial wind farms in the country, located mainly in the Eastern Cape, and there are many more being planned and built right now, set for the Eastern, Northern and Western Capes.

The largest wind farms in South Africa are the Cookhouse (70 turbines) and Jeffreys Bay (60 turbines) projects which produce 138.6 and 138 MW respectively.

Wind energy has a growing reputation, not just in South Africa, but all over the world. Wind power is currently the fastest-growing source of electricity production in the world and a single wind turbine can power 500 homes and is one

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of the lowest-priced renewable energy sources.

In 1997 wind power generated only 0.1% of the world’s electricity, this increased to 1.5% in 2008 and 2.5% in 2010.

Large parts of South Africa’s coastal land, as well as various areas inland, have an economically viable source of wind energy. Furthermore, the scale and maturity of the global wind industry have made it a cost-competitive energy option, compared not just to other renewable technologies but also many fuel-based technologies. Also with significant local content, these technologies can also increase employment opportunities in the electricity generation sector.

Obviously, the raw materials involved in the construction of even a small wind farm are vast.

After all the planning, design and legislation comes

ArcelorMittal SA

the purchasing of turbines, cables and perhaps most importantly, steel.

Generally, a tubular construction of steel is used for the wind tower which not only carries the weight of the nacelle and the rotor blades, but must also absorb the huge static loads caused by the varying power of the wind. An alternative to this is the lattice tower form.

In order to guarantee the stability of a wind turbine a pile or flat foundation is used, containing steel concrete-reinforcing bars, depending on the consistency of the underlying ground.

STEEL GIANT This demand for steel has presented huge opportunities for the country’s steel producers and as everyone knows, when it comes to steel in South

Africa, ArcelorMittal is the preferred supplier.

ArcelorMittal South Africa Limited is the largest steel producer on the African continent, with a production capacity of 6.5 million tonnes of liquid steel per annum. The company is part of the world’s largest steel producer, the ArcelorMittal Group which is the world’s number one steel company, with 232,000 employees worldwide.

In the South African wind energy sector, ArcelorMittal South Africa strives to ensure that it has the correct base in place to meet demand for steel that is set to grow across the whole renewable energy sector, not just wind.

“This demand for wind towers is expected to continue until at least 2030 in line with the integrated program from the government,” says Jan Kotzé, Product Manager, Plate and Renewable

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company profile

© ArcelorMittal South Africa

Energy Projects.

“For the past two years ArcelorMittal South Africa have been supplying substantial tonnages into many of the country’s solar projects.

“The total renewable energy industry is very important to us that’s why we’ve introduced a renewable energy rebate for any steel going into these projects. This demonstrates our commitment to these projects and its importance to us. It also to makes industry more competitive against imports.”

Nic de Jager, Marketing Manager, Product and Market development (Flat steel) says: “In general, the company is very committed to green energy principles. We would like to supply steel into the green energy market and we are also exploring alternative energy supply for our plants to counter the rising costs of electricity.”

SOLAR, CSP, WIND Kotzé says that in the renewable energy industry there have been three areas of focus for ArcelorMittal South Africa to date.

“One is solar PV where we’re providing the bulk of the raw materials. Recently we had an enquiry

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from an international company who is dealing with ArcelorMittal Europe regarding a solar plant in Malawi; this is the benefit of us being part of an international group,” he says. “Second is CSP (Concentrated solar power) projects; at this stage a lot of components have been imported from Spain that could have been produced by the local industry and that will be a focus for us this year and next year. Lastly, the wind tower industry where we are planning the plate mill upgrade to supply the heavier plates. Obviously we will have to be very price competitive against imports, especially from China which is a big threat at this point.”

The plate mill at Vanderbijlpark supplies heavy plates required by wind towers and the company is currently finalising plans for the upgrade in order to produce plates of up to eleven tons of steel.

“The upgrade to the plant will be a one-off but we expect demand for towers to continue to grow,” says Kotzé. “The estimated cost will be in the region of $3.5 million.”

“The upgrade is planned to take place during quarter four of 2014. This will enable us to supply heavy plates in quarter one of 2015. Everything is

ArcelorMittal SA still on track and running as planned.”

These upgrades have all been done following close communication with the country’s tower manufacturers including DCD Wind who recently commissioned their facility in Coega and has the capacity to produce 110 towers per year and Gestamp Renewable Industries (GRI) who is in the process of constructing a wind tower manufacturing facility in Atlantis in the Western Cape with the capacity to produce 150 wind towers per annum.

The general development of the industry in South Africa is clearly welcomed by ArcelorMittal South Africa and increase our level of participation in the local industry is a key priority for the company.

“We have been supplying, for the past two years, into many of the country’s solar projects and we’ve supplied substantial tonnages already” “Obviously, as part of the upgrade it’s very important for us to work closely with all potential customers who will be manufacturing the towers. Another focus will be the total local steel manufacturing industry,” says de Jager.

The company also supplied 3000 tons of steel for 20 Vestas towers deployed at the Grassridge wind energy facility in Eastern Cape, 2200 tons of which was sourced from its Vanderbijlpark facility with the balance coming from ArcelorMittal Spain.

The need for local contributions arises from the Department of Energy’s (DOE) implementation of the Renewable Energy Independent Procurement Programme (REIPPPP). This is a tender process consisting of ‘Rounds’ where the most costeffective competitive Economic Development score is awarded a 20 year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Eskom as the off-taker. The National Treasury has fully underwritten the PPAs. Following the first bid window ArcelorMittal South Africa supplied 40,000 tons to 12 solar projects in the Northern Cape, Free State, Limpopo and Western Cape provinces.

The aim is also to supply 30,000 tons of hotrolled and galvanised coil products to eight of the nine solar PV projects being developed following the second bid window.

HYDRO POWER Alongside wind, solar and CSP projects, Kotzé also expects increase growth in hydro power projects.

Popular in Africa with many countries already having installed between one and five GW, the power of falling water has been used to produce electricity for many years.

A lot of the attention surrounding African hydro has been fuelled by the looming Grand Inga Hydroelectric Project. The Grand Inga is the world’s largest proposed hydropower scheme and will be located in the DRC. It is the centrepiece of a grand vision to develop a continent-wide power system. Grand Inga will generate 40,000 MW and will be constructed in six phases of which the Inga III Dam is the first phase. The power generated would be double the capacity of the largest dam in the world, the Three Gorges Dam in China.

Construction is planned to commence in 2016.

“The biggest renewable drive in Africa will be

Growing to Serve, Serving to Grow.

At KGB we believe in Excellence in Execution. Since our establishment in 1983 as the first fully black-owned organisation we have shown consistent performance and growth.

Our Services include:

New Energy Petroleum:

Logistics:

Road transportation of bulkfuel products

Short-haul and long-haul transportation services

Property:

Fleet Maintenance & Engeineering:

Custom property solutionsfor industrial letting & investment

Fully integrated vehicle repairs& trailer building

30 years of specialist experience and reliability in supply chain management and logistics.

Durban: 031 459 2210 | Gauteng: 016 889 7407 | Email: info@kgb.co.za

www.kgb.co.za

PAGE 31

company profile

Š Clotan Steel and Mardo

PAGE 32 sep 14

ArcelorMittal SA for hydro-power,” agrees Kotzé. “There are plans for many hydro-power plants; some are currently under construction and some are still being planned.

“As far as wind and solar are concerned, I think we are only at the tip of the iceberg, you’ll see substantial growth in the years to come in renewables in Africa.”

South Africa and the DRC signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in November 2011 for the development of Grand Inga. In May 2013, the two governments signed a co-operation Treaty to jointly develop the Inga III Dam. South Africa will purchase 2500 MW of the total 4300 MW generate, making it the principal buyer for Inga III electricity. All of this means that it is likely that South African companies will be heavily involved in development of the project and de Jager says that ArcelorMittal South Africa will support other African countries where it can.

“Our priorities regarding steel supply will always be firstly to the local market and secondly Africa with special focus on the Sub-Sahara countries,” he says.

“There is also a lot of opportunity for growth in the mining sector as well as the infrastructure sector, with enquiries for renewable projects up in sub-Saharan Africa. On a project basis, we will consider how we can assist with those projects.”

ON-GOING FOCUS The company’s focus on renewable energy projects is not something that has changed, even with the organisational changes that have taken place recently. Back in May, ArcelorMittal South Africa appointed Paul O’Flaherty as its new chief executive. The former financial director of both Group Five and Eskom brings an on-going focus to

the renewable side of the company’s operations.

De Jager says that his appointment has brought positivity to the workforce and it is expected that the focus on renewable projects will form part of his efforts to gain back the company’s domestic market share.

“Right from the very beginning of his tenure, Mr O’Flaherty has emphasised the importance of driving volumes. He told Alec Hogg of BizNews: “What we can do is make sure we get a very consistent, clear message down to the lowest level.

That’s what I’m imploring everybody to do. The message is simple: fill the mills, produce at low cost, and then to the sales department, let’s go and sell this product. Those are the simple, key messages for the entire ArcelorMittal South Africa business.”

But selling product has become more and more challenging recently due to low priced and sometimes low quality imports. Both de Jager and Kotzé are of the opinion that it is important to educate customers about what they’re buying with a dedicated ‘know what you buy’ campaign.

“What many customers do not realise is that transport costs from Gauteng to the coastal regions in the Eastern Cape and Western Cape, can be higher than shipping costs from China.

Our intension therefore will be to have a coastal delivered price for wind towers so that we can be more competitive.”

And as for the renewable projects that the company has been so successful with, Kotzé is in no doubt that South African steel has a big part to play. “Steel is used to create more than 80% of the components required to build wind turbines.

Valued for its strength, flexibility and durability in the field, steel is also 100% recyclable, making wind energy truly renewable.”

.

Vanderbijlpark Steel Mill

PAGE 33

company profile

PAGE 34 sep 14

ArcelorMittal SA

sep 14 PAGE 35

company profile

The Montigny approach Production: Ajuanne Payne Editorial: Tim Hands Montigny Investments was founded in 1997, as a small saw-milling and timber trading business, supplying timber to just one mine, and has grown in the intervening years into a multi-faceted, diversified international organisation, now with an annual turnover in excess of R 800 million. Committed to sustainable forestry practices, the company believes in expansion through education, integrity and innovation, utilising as much of the harvest as possible to ensure environmental security as well as creating value for suppliers, customers and stakeholders.

A proudly Swazi company, Montigny Investments has been growing aggressively since its inception, owning and managing its own plantations and beneficiating most of the timber felled therein.

“The story of Montigny is really the story of Swazi businessman, Neal Rijkenberg,” states Executive Director of Montigny Investments, Andrew le Roux. “After completing his agricultural diploma, in 1997 he started trading timber grown in informal wattle jungles on Swazi Nation (communal) Land. Wattle is an invasive species, and for many of these rural communities it was both a sustainable income stream and an environmental benefit.

Neal grew this business and subsequently started buying his own farms, diversifying into saw-milling and other tree species like gum and pine.”

With its beginnings then very much as a ‘one man show’, from the back of a van on Rijkenberg’s mother’s farm, thanks largely to its founder and CEO’s leadership

PAGE 36 OCT 14

and entrepreneurial skills, the company is now the single largest private timber owner and trader in Southern Africa. At present, Montigny owns and manages in excess of 50 000 ha of timber, three sawmills, two chipping operations, a chipboard plant and the villages of Bhunya and Mhlambanyatsi.

A central principal underpinning Montigny’s philosophy of “We Add Value”, is a strong focus on maximising the value of every part of every tree.

Exemplified by the recent addition of a chipboard plant to one of its sawmills, this approach allows for the complete on-site utilisation of waste products and residues, both from its mills and the waste which is generated from the saw-milling and forestry processes.

Le Roux explains this further: “This is really just an approach of looking at forestry a bit differently to many of the regional operators, where the tendency is to try and sweat the assets as much as possible within a given industry, be it saw-milling or board manufacture, which

Montigny Investments

invariably leads to massive losses on the whole tree. The saw-milling industry traditionally produces about 50% waste during the milling process. This is usually sold as low value sawdust or chips - often merely recouping transport costs.”

While this might be acceptable from a saw-milling perspective, Montigny chooses to look at the issue from a tree perspective, whereby 100% of the product can be processed and utilised - at the best value.

“We have set up production lines to accommodate exactly this maximising process,” details le Roux, “and with our extensive market penetration, where we are not dependent on any one product cycle, we also de-risk our business. If we identify a strong structural timber market, we can allocate, say, 48% of a tree to it. Instead of just burning the remainder as waste or transporting it up to 200 kilometres to an independent chipboard plant, we look at how to best beneficiate on site. This might mean producing our own residue board, electricity, or

looking at specialised export opportunities, which helps to reduce costs and risks and increase market penetration, while also proving extremely profitable.”

Montigny is the only timber merchant in Southern Africa currently employing this integrated model, at such a scale. And, while the approach requires a higher standard of management, it quashes the industry norm of producing a single core product, which is both less profitable and leads to huge waste of the parts of the tree not regarded as core to that particular process. It also further exposes these businesses to the extreme cyclical nature of the timber industry.

Montigny recently completed the purchase of Usutu Forest Products Company Limited from SAPPI Limited.

This transaction includes all of the plantations, the pulp mill site and the villages of Mhlambanyatsi and Bhunya.

The pulp mill was closed and decommissioned after the catastrophic fires of 2008.

Le Roux explains the rationale behind the decision

OCT 14 PAGE 37

company profile

to acquire and reposition the business. “From a Montigny perspective, our turnover has always been disproportionate to our timber holdings. We were seeing very high turnover, but relying heavily on purchasing timber from other estates or importing it from South Africa. This was always a point of vulnerability, and the one real disparity we always had was between our turnover and our plantation ownership. Purchasing Usutu corrected our timber base, so we now have enough timber on a sustainable rotation, which was really objective number one achieved.” The sale, having been subject to stringent preconditions, a strict due diligence process and a vigorous consultation process with all relevant stakeholders, has reached completion, the transaction has now been closed and effective control and management has been transferred to Montigny.

“From a SAPPI perspective,” le Roux continues, “this transaction represented the sale of what really was an awkward asset for them. SAPPI is moving away from

PAGE 38 OCT 14

pine and focusing on gum because of their recent move towards organic cellulose and less on paper and pulp, so for them to own a pulp mill that was too old and small in a neighbouring country that was primarily dependent on pine just did not fit with their strategic plan.”

The catastrophic fires in the vicinity, the latest of

“Purchasing Usutu means we now have enough timber on a sustainable rotation”

Montigny Investments

WE TAKE THE LEAD & DELIVER BEYOND OUR CUSTOMERS’ EXPECTATION Sitsembiso Carriers Pty Ltd is a transportation Company based at Mpaka in the outskirts of Manzini Swaziland. Sitsembiso Carriers is a wholly Swazi company established in 2009.

Our Major activities is centered around the transportation of Wood Chips, Coal, Wood Logs and General commodities.

RELATIONS WITH CLIENTS Sitsembiso Carriers (Pty) Ltd values the relationship it has with each and every client. We strongly believe that this close relationship we have with all our clients is essential for the success of every project undertaken. It is our motor to work with every client to ensure that any inevitable challenges are overcome, and production targets and promises are met on time and within budget.

Phone: (+268) 23333 408 Fax: (+268) 23333 409 P.O.BOX 143, MPAKA, L304, Swaziland AUG 14 PAGE 39 sitsembisocarriers@swazi.net

company profile which came about in 2010, meant a strategic decision was presented between reinvesting and reconstituting the asset, or finding a buyer for it. “For them it made sense, and I truly believe they got a very fair price for it,” states le Roux, “but the main winner from this acquisition really is Swaziland. The story here was all about bringing Usutu home for good. It was founded and owned by the Commonwealth Development Corporation for many years, but it has always been a strategic Swazi asset. It constitutes four percent of Swaziland’s surface area and covers 32 chieftaincies therein – it is seen as a national treasure and we felt it important to bring it back under Swazi control and ownership.”

Maximising the potential of this recent acquisition is, understandably, central to Montigny’s plans for the coming years, with the goal being the full integration of the processes of the two businesses.

“Alongside this, however,” continues le Roux, “is a desire to fully engage our communities, which for us is critical to our operations. Fire remains one of the biggest risks that we face, and our need therefore is to actively and proactively work with the communities around us both to uplift the people living there, through direct giving by allocating a percentage of turnover to social projects, and secondly to make them stakeholders in the process.”

PAGE 40

Two phases of development aim to further cement Montigny’s position at the forefront of the timber market and massively increase its footprint, as le Roux explains.

“We are also looking at reconstituting what was the old pulp mill plant, and turning this into a diversified timber processing zone. This will give us extremely low logistics costs, compared to our competitors, and will turn the old pulp mill site into the largest, diversified sawmill and timber processing site in Southern Africa - including wet-off-saw and structural mills, a residue Board Plant, energy production and downstream manufacturing.

Additional to this, is to grow the current timber holdings on the Usutu estate, from around 42,000 hectares, to an eventual area of 57 000 hectares.” Phase 3 will include property developments in the villages of Bhunya and Mhlambanyatsi.

Energy “At Montigny we believe that we are a future sustainable and renewable-energy company. Swaziland currently produces enough timber and sugar residues to provide for all of our current energy requirements. We believe that Swaziland can be the first country in the world producing all of its energy requirements from sustainable, renewable energy resources, totally independent of fossil fuels.”

.

Montigny Investments

Pressure Treated Timber Timber with a moisture content below 20% cannot rot. This may not always be possible when used outside in exposed conditions as it requires proper application and maintenance of a suitable penetrating and water repellent wood sealer.

‘

The options are to use either naturally durable but expensive exotic hardwoods, or less costly locally grown non-durable Pine or Eucalyptus (gum) timber or poles, that have been pressure treated with a suitable wood preservative to the desired exposure or hazard class.

The H class system is a guide to help you buy the correctly treated timber for your project.

Be sure to look for the required H class on the timber as well as one of the two quality marks given below.

Sustainable Timber Resource Timber is the most sustainable building product available to man. It’s naturally renewable. Over 90% of plantations grown in South Africa are FSC certified.

Hazard classes: H2— dry interior above ground H3— exterior above ground H4— in ground contact H5— in contact with fresh water and wet soil H6— in contact with marine waters

®

For more information on preservative treated timber, or where to find a SAWPA member contact us on 011 974 1061 or sawpa@global.co.za or visit our website at www.sawpa.co.za A member of sep 14 PAGE 41

company profile

A business at home in the wild outdoors Production: Chris Bolderstone Editorial: Christian Jordan

When Jurgens Ci was founded in 1952, no one could have predicted how far the company would go. Today, as Southern Africa’s largest manufacturer of caravans, motorhomes and specialised conversions, Jurgens Ci is a company setting a quality example to the rest of the industry.

In 2008, BBC and Top Gear presenter, Jeremy Clarkson said that there was no upside to caravan holidays claiming that these vehicles ‘clog up the roads for no good reason’. However, it seems that not many people agree with the self-confessed caravan hater.

Caravanning becomes more and more popular every single year and with the quality and availability of caravans increasing all the time, it’s easy to see why people are more than happy to hitch up and head out into nature with nothing but their trusty trailer.

Some people say that after the global economic crisis, international travel has become too expensive, especially for people with large families and domestic travel; camping and caravanning; especially in a country like South Africa, with all its natural beauty, is equally as attractive as going abroad.

Tourism in South Africa is big business; with both international and domestic tourists contributing a huge amount to the economy. The Department of Tourism said in May that foreign arrivals in South Africa reached their

PAGE 42 OCT 14

highest level ever in 2013 as the country’s international tourist numbers approached the 10 million mark. According to figures for the period ending December 2012, direct tourism contribution to GDP grew from R83.5-billion in 2011 to R93.3-billion or 3% of GDP in 2012. At the same time, tourism contributed approximately 617,287 direct jobs in 2012, amounting to about 4.6% of direct employment in the country, up from over 591,785 direct jobs in 2011.

In 2013, the South African Tourism marked the start of Tourism Month with the launch of a new marketing campaign, combined with various affordable holiday packages, aimed at growing the number of domestic travellers in the country.

Domestic tourism is now seen as a vital part of the country’s overall tourist offering and former Tourism Minister, Marthinus Van Schalkwyk said as part of his Domestic Tourism Growth Strategy (2012-2020): “South African tourism was not spared the impact of the past few years’ global financial crisis… Domestic tourism provides immense opportunity for contribution to national priorities such as economic growth, job

Jurgens Ci

creation and poverty alleviation.”

And caravans and the caravanning industry provide a huge contribution to the domestic tourism market, with almost unlimited potential for the amount of jobs that can be created and the amount of revenue that can be generated.

The typical caravan owner demographic is changing, not just in South Africa, but all over the world and the industry is now attracting younger, more affluent participants.

International business research company, Mintel said in a recent report on the caravanning industry: “This holiday style retains its greatest appeal to more working class C2D families but can also be more widely attractive for many: the imagery of gathering around the camp fire telling stories or singing, for example, still possesses an elemental power, perhaps more so in an age of growing social isolation and virtualised online social relationships.

“The young family life segment (persons aged 30-39 years) may present one of the most significant opportunities for the industry over the coming decade.”

And even with the departure of Van Schalkwyk as

Tourism Minister, his replacement, Derek Hanekom has vowed to continue the development of domestic tourism saying at the start of this year’s Tourism Month: “To reach our target of 18 million domestic tourists by 2020, as set out in the National Tourism Sector Strategy, we will have to work hard to ensure that tourism is more affordable and more accessible to all South Africans.

“We are committed to ensuring the wonders we boast and the unique heritage we have been endowed with are shared by an ever-growing number of South Africans.”

So as the domestic tourism market grows in South Africa, surely the opportunities for a company like Jurgens Ci will inevitably grow too? Today, everything looks very positive for this Southern African industry leader, now in its 62nd year of operations.

LEADING PRODUCT LIST After opening up in 1952, this Pretoria based organisation is now the ‘go-to’ name when it comes to caravanning. Its experience and knowledge comes from years of innovation

OCT 14 PAGE 43

company profile

Established in 1947

SPECIALISTS IN : • SCREEN & PAD PRINTING • TOOL ROOM & PATTERN SHOP • DESIGN & TECHNICAL SERVICE • LASER CUTTING

• VACUUM FORMING • INJECTION MOULDING • PRESS MOULDING • PLASTIC FABRICATION

INDUSTRIES SERVICED INCLUDES : • CARAVAN WINDOWS • COSMETICS • INDUSTRIAL

• PHARMACEUTICAL • LIGHTING • MEDICAL

Tel: +27 11 248 8000 Fax: +27 86 524 8132 email: sales@durattract.co.za

and development and the pioneering company is always on the look-out for chances to expand. Jurgens Ci is Southern Africa’s largest manufacturer of caravans, motorhomes and specialised conversions.

“You can count on us for unmatched expertise and experience. Our network of dealers throughout South Africa and Namibia, and our exports to Australia, Holland and New Zealand, offers a full range of products, after-sales service and sales of parts and accessories.

“As for our products, we offer you four world-class caravan brands as well as specialised units that meet the demanding needs of off-road enthusiasts and 4x4 travellers,” the company states.

Jurgens Ci, owned by Imperial Holdings since 2007, has a vast product range with many different models. This includes the Splash, Sprint, Swing, Gypsey Regal, Expo, Fleetline, Classique, Elegance, Exclusive and Penta models, but it’s probably the Sprite range for which the company is most well-known.

This compact but functional range provides excellent value for money. The Sprite range is lightweight, making it easy to tow and manoeuvre, and it’s also easy on the eye. The Sprite Tourer, according to Jurgens Ci, is: “Ideal for a couple

PAGE 44 OCT 14

• ELECTRONICS • TOBACCO • FIRE & SAFETY

P.O Box 438, Crown Mines, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2025 Website: www.durattract.co.za

or a couple with one child. There is a double bed plus the dinette converts into a single bed. You can camp at out of the way places where there are no electricity points as you have your own battery system that charges while you are driving.

You also have a pull out kitchen and the pull out fridge/ freezer can be accessed from either inside or outside.”

STRONG BUSINESS MODEL The business model of Jurgens Ci is almost the perfect business model; build quality, offer convenience, value for money and great service, and maintain strong relationships with clients. If all businesses followed this model, we would surely have many more companies lasting 50 and 60 years.

Jurgens Caravans are sold through more than 36 dealers countrywide and are also exported to foreign markets.

Because of this convenience, customers are not left waiting or wanting from a manufacturer that is hundreds of miles away or in a different country or continent.

The focus on quality comes right from the very roots of the company and founder, Mr Geert (Oubaas) Jurgens, a coach builder who emigrated to South Africa in 1950 and started Jurgens Ci in ’52 after built his first (horse-drawn) caravan in 1938. The first Jurgens caravan, affectionately

Jurgens Ci

Amada’s 3-axis linear motor drive system provides unmatched speed and precision – enabled by true closed-loop feedback of the head position directly to the AMNC control.

C UT P ROCESSING T IME IN HALF WITH AMADA ’ S

The 8-station changer automically changes, cleans and calibrates the nozzle based on material processing requirements.

F IBER L ASER .

Amada’s FOL3015AJ 2000w and 4000w fiber laser series is specifically designed for various lot/volume production cutting.

Additional benefits of the state-of-the-art system include: • Faster cutting of thin material ( up to 6 times that of a comparable CO2 laser, dependent on the material) • Superior speed and edge quality in material thicknesses of up to 22mm compared to other solidstate systems • P. R.E. (Process Range Expansion) by providing the ability to cut copper, brass, titanium and other materials that were previously difficult to process Amada offer a full range of laser cutting systems from 1kW to 6kW that feature the latest advances in both CO2 and fiber laser technology. Further proof that Amada is uniquely positioned to help you choose the best technology, system, software and automated solution for any sheet metal application.

Tel: (011) 453 5459 • Fax: (011) 453 5442 • E-mail: RickFerreira@amadaJHB.co.za • Barry@amadajhb.co.za Stand 225, Albert Amon Road• Millennium Business Park • Meadowdale Ext. 7 OCT 14 PAGE 45

company profile

called the ‘Bokkie’, was the result of a total family effort since the curtains and cushions were hand-sewn by Mrs Jurgens. Today, this elaborate focus on quality remains and the ‘eye for the small details’ that exists only in the world’s finest companies is most definitely present here.

And it’s not just in caravans. Jurgens Ci is a company

committed to the outdoor experience, offering complimentary products such as tents, trailers, camping furniture, and a range of other camping gear – and all of this boasts the same quality levels of the caravans and motorhomes that have made the company so popular over the years.

TM

LIVING FOR QUALITY AL-KO’s functional and reliable automotive and trailer components provide optimal driving safety and excellent driving comfort. High-quality product solutions like axle systems, brakes, couplers, and innovative caravan accessories are designed in Germany and guarantee controlled and safe transport and enjoyable driving. AL-KO is your reliable partner in SA and worldwide.

Please find more about us on

www.alko.co.za I www.al-ko.com Contact:

info@alko.co.za or phone 016 421 4791 | T: +44 (0) www.ap-group.co.uk

PAGE 46

Jurgens Ci

NLA Imported Timbers NLA has been importing and distributing timber, board, decking, steel garage doors & accessories and related products into South Africa and neighbouring countries for over 26 years!

With a combined experience of over 120 years in the industry, NLA have developed solid relationships with reputable and reliable suppliers worldwide, which enables them to provide their valuable customers with their specific product and service requirements.

With a national warehousing and logistical capability, NLA is able to deliver their products quickly and efficiently nationwide.

NLA are living their mission of “exceeding customers expectations through exceptional service and sincere relationships”.

LEADING FROM THE FRONT In a recent change for the Jurgens Ci business, in April/ May 2014, there was a leadership adjustment with industry veteran Keith Laing moving to another part of the Imperial group and Bradley Salters, a man steeped in the Imperial tradition, taking the reins at the caravan specialist from July 1st. Keith has given much to Jurgens Ci, and the camping and caravanning industry in general, over the past 19 years but Salters is a man with much experience in the motor industry which is sure to stand him in good stead for the challenges ahead.

And it seems that there will be challenges. In the same Mintel report mentioned above, the research company said: “Online retailing presents both an opportunity and a challenge for the industry.” And with quality imports being offered from European competitors, it looks as though people will have the opportunity to access a bigger, more diverse market place. But Southern Africa’s industry leader is well positioned to weather such challenges and with a product that is the envy of so many rivals, you wouldn’t bet against Jugens Ci remaining in the industry leading position for at least the next 60 years.

.

For more information on the company’s product range, go to

www.jurgensci.co.za

and don’t worry about Mr Clarkson’s objections; get out into nature!

John Clement Sean Robin Reena

083 603 1774 Johannesburg 079 402 4228 Johannesburg (Break-bulk) 083 603 1777 Cape Town 084 717 8624 Port Elizabeth 083 603 1780 Durban

www.nla-timbers.co.za PAGE 47

company profile

Bradley Salters: A man with the outdoors close to his heart In July, Bradley Salters took over from Keith Laing as MD of Jurgens Ci. Bradley, who has been with the Imperial Group for a number of years, tells IndustrySA that he has been a camper all his life and is looking forward to a big caravanning trip next year. He also explains more about his plans for growth and development of this fantastic brand…

How has the transition been, moving from Imperial into the Jurgens Ci business?

Jurgens is owned by Imperial Holding; I’ve been an employee of Imperial for eight years in various financial roles. I started off in one of the truck businesses, I moved to a divisional MD role and then took over as one of the main division CFOs. As part of that responsibility, I was a director of Jurgens from 2009. I’ve been a non-executive director, representing the shareholder for the last five years. I knew the business fairly well and interacted with the previous CEO and finance team on a regular basis.

When Keith, the previous MD, decided to change course, the opportunity came up and I put my hand up to take on the role. It wasn’t something new that I was walking into; I had an understanding of the business and the challenges that came with it.

I saw through our year-end from a financial point of view into July and started here officially in the last week of July.

There hasn’t been any surprises, I know the company

PAGE 48

well. Certainly, Keith eluded to it when he left, you need new thought processes and new ideas in order to generate change. The market here in SA is not the strongest, it’s been a flat to declining market over the past few years. So we needed to do things differently to generate different results and that has been my main task since coming here. I’ve tried to find different ways of pushing the product from a retail point of view instead of just manufacturing the product and hoping we sell it.

Has there been a lot of pressure to follow on from Keith who had a lot of experience and knowledge of the industry?

I like to do my own thing. One of the great things about the business is that it has a very strong management team and I’ve let them carry on doing what they do. My focus in the short term is on the marketing side and making sure that we drive sales through our dealer network.

We have 33 dealers out there which are independent of

Jurgens Ci

Bradley Salters

the business and the focus is to generate retail sales and get customers onto their floors so that we can drive the volumes up over time.

The first thing we did is split sales and marketing. In the past, one man ran sales and marketing but now we’ve separated the two so that our sales manager now talks with dealers and helps them to push targets, grow their business and improve their business. We’ve appointed a marketing manager and we’ve appointed a new advertising agency and we are about to launch a new campaign which goes live on November 1st. This was decided prior to my taking over so the wheels were in motion before I arrived.

We’ve put incentives in place for our dealers which they haven’t had in the past. If they hit certain targets, they’ll get money back from the factory which is an idea from the motor industry - I come from a retail background, I was involved in motor retail with Imperial.

Product is a long term process. We are busy working through information to understand how product lifecycles work and ensure that we have something for all times

because customers want new things.

Our best seller remains the Jurgens range and within that a van called the Penta. It’s the standard family caravan which is where most of our market sits but at this time of year we also do well with the larger vans, the Exclusive and Elegance – more high-end items.

Our biggest challenge sits with our entry level products and this is a reflection of people’s disposable income. Our Sprite range, our lightweight entry level caravan, is where we’ve seen the biggest decline in volumes. This is because of the economy; the guys that can afford our caravans are still buying and the customers that are borderline are falling.

To address that in the short term, we’ve been talking to banks and putting finance packages together so people understand that they can pay a caravan off on a finance deal at a reasonable cost per month. It seems to be taking some traction, we’ve been pushing it for two/three months now and it seems to be coming through. It will be offered through the bank, we don’t have a direct relationship with them, we not allowed to offer finance ourselves but we have

PAGE 49

company profile

engaged with Nedbank and we will probably also work with FNB WesBank in the short term. This works well at entry level in the motor industry, customers say ‘I can afford so much per month, what can I get for it’ and that thought process has never been pushed in the caravan business.

Tell us more about the business model.

How does the company run all business line through the dealer network?

Imperial owns five of the 33 dealerships and the others are independent, owner operated businesses. That’s how we would like to keep it, you need someone who is passionate about the product and the lifestyle to be able to sell it well and to go the corporate route with having people run the business who are working for a salary rather than themselves, I don’t think will serve the industry well in the long term. Imperial bought out four businesses that were failing and they were fairly key in terms of location.

The location is why we acquired them and the other one was where no one else was willing to open but they don’t fall under my management.

They are all Campworld dealers and they distribute anything to do with camping. In South Africa, we manufacture caravans, anything from R140,000 right

PAGE 50

through to R400,000, we manufacture trailers (luggage and off-road), we have a division that supplies camping gear and we have a canvas business that makes the tents for our caravans and runs a brand called Howling Moon which is now a worldwide brand exported to the UK, Europe, USA and Australia. Those business lines all flow through our dealer network and we’ve recently added a 4x4 fitment offering called Safari Centre. A fully fledged Campworld dealer will be able to sell a new caravan, a used caravan, new trailers, used trailers, they’ll have a workshop to service all these products, they’ll have a retail shop for all the camping gear and they’ll have a 4x4 fitment centre for suspension upgrades, bumper replacements and those sort of jobs.

There’s 33 dealers, five are owned by Imperial and we have a further three trailer Campworld dealers who don’t do caravans but do trailers and camping gear. There’s also four standalone Safari fitment centres as well. With the fitment centres, the idea of installing them at the dealers gives those dealers another revenue line; they already have a workshop and technical skills for the caravans so they can grow without investing in new infrastructure and equipment. We have put these into eight of 33 so far since the beginning of this year.

Jurgens Ci Do you want to see the business grow more across the border on the African continent?

We only have dealers north of the border right now in Namibia, a business called Bushwackers in Windhoek and Swakopmund.

The difficulty is Africa is that the customer base is different. The facilities from a camping point of view and the roads are not the same as SA. Botswana has potential for expansion of our off-road product range but other than that, most of the guys who travel use off-road motor homes and we don’t participate in that market – they will import from Germany or the USA or Australia so I don’t see huge potential north of the border for our caravan business. For the other product lines, we will certainly be able to offer our canvas products in Africa; roof top tents, trailer tents etc. This is the one business that we will look to grow into Africa with right now and the Safari Centre products; off-road suspension and bumpers will certainly grow in Africa in time.

We also hope to grow the business of our factory in Australia. We make the major components of the caravan in SA; the fibre glass parts, fronts, backs, roofs, chassis etc. and we flatpack all of that into containers and ship that to Australia, to Melbourne where they assemble the caravan and put all the furniture, electrics and gas in. This business has been running for six years and we now have a target of manufacturing 2000 caravans each year there, similar to what we produce here locally.

Tell us about the market place. Do you consider yourself industry leaders?

Yes. For traditional road-going caravans, we sell 90% of the caravans in SA. For off-road products we sell just short of 50% of all products sold in SA and if you combine the two we have around 80% of the market locally. On the off-road trailer side of the business, we own about 40% of the market so we are the biggest player in all three of those sectors and definitely see ourselves as the industry leader.

Most of our competitors are niche players, no one with real volumes. On the caravan side I think there’s six or seven other companies that take the remaining 10% of the market and sell 20 each every year. We are the dominant player and anything we lead with gets copied over time.

We do expect the Chinese to come into the market at some stage but whether they’ll be able to export and sell at a reasonable price, I don’t know. At a squeeze you can get two caravans into a container and when you add these shipping costs, the price goes up very quickly.

Are you a caravan/camping type of person at heart?

I grew up with it. My family always was. I’ve been caravanning and camping ever since I could afford to do it myself. I haven’t been recently but next year I will be getting the family out there. I love the bush and a like to take the route out of the caravan parks, more off-road. I plan to get up to Botswana and Namibia with the family and also visit Kruger Park.

.

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company profile

Turning customer dreams into reality Editorial: Colin Chinery Production: Chris Bolderstone

South African EPC and SMPP contractor Steval are punching well above SME rank, driven by an inclusive corporate culture, and an outstanding brand reputation. Moving into new geographic markets, CEO, Paul Deppe says his company is now poised to capitalise on the continent’s potentially glittering energy, oil and gas future.

Africa’s energy industry could boom in the coming years with Mozambique and Tanzania set to emerge as new frontiers.

Six of last year’s top 10 global discoveries were made in Africa, with more than 500 companies now exploring across the continent.

Large gas finds in Mozambique and Tanzania would make the world take note of east Africa as an emerging player in the global industry according to a new report by PriceWaterhouseCoopers – “if they can attract muchneeded investment.”

With operations in South Africa, Mozambique and Ghana and growth ambitions across Sub-Saharan Africa, South African EPC and SMPP contractor Steval is one business poised to ride the crest.

“Right now in sub-Sahara Africa there are lots of opportunities in energy, oil and gas. Over the next few years we see these two markets as being quite dominant in our strategy” says Steval’s CEO, Paul Deppe.

Based outside Nelspruit in Mpumalanga province 200 miles east of Johannesburg, Steval, with a 8150 sq metre

PAGE 52

workshop in Rocky Drift, Mpumalanga and a 2500 sq metre workshop in Beira, Mozambique, specialises in the fabrication and erection of structural steel, plate work, steel bulk storage tanks, process piping, mechanical and electrical installations.

VISION INTO REALITY “We don’t merely construct structural steel, we work with our clients to turn their visionary projects into reality.”

Current projects include a bulk storage fuel terminal in Mozambique (which includes the first LPG spheres erected in Mozambique), a turnkey project involving tanks, piping, separators, pumps, truck loading and offloading stations, firewater, structural steel and civil works; a similar project in the DRC and various structural steel projects at the Medupi and Kusile power stations in South Africa.

Formed in 1997 with initial steel and maintenance work in the region’s prominent sugar, paper and pulp industries, Steval then diversified, expanding to meet the growing demand for its services in other major sectors in mining,

Steval Engineering

petrochemical, energy, oil and gas.

Energy, petrochemical, and oil and gas are leading markets, and as an industry front-runner with a reputation for top quality service and delivery, the company has formed close relationships with Mitsubishi Hitachi Power SA, Alstom, Eskom, Glencore and Puma Energy among top brand clients.

Oil and Gas is a major sector, with Steval having recently completed building and commissioning the first LPG spheres in Mozambique.

“The three biggest market opportunities at the moment are oil and gas, energy, and mining. As these industries pick up or new projects come on stream, we will increase our focus on those markets.

“Steval is a company that has grown from the demand of its customers and by looking at new opportunities across markets,” says Deppe.

“As a medium-sized business I think we can say we are unique. This company has always had a strong entrepreneurial spirit, and while the very big guys are all over, I’m unaware of another South African manufacturer

or construction company of our size that is specifically focusing on oil and gas. So we are in an exclusive space here.”

FOCUS ON ENERGY For the next period of time Steval will also be focusing heavily on energy in South Africa, says Deppe, expanding its base on the Medupi and Kusile power stations.

Medupi in Limpopo province is the first power station to be built in South Africa for 20 years and scheduled to link up with the grid on December 24, while Kusile in Mpumalanga is expected to become the world’s largest coal-fired power plant.

It is the first South African power facility to incorporate wet flue gas desulphurisation (FGD) technology, and the second coal-fired power facility being built by Eskom.

When completed – the finish date is 2018 - Kusile will generate 4,800MW of power when fully operational.

“Work on these two power stations will be around right up to late 2018-2020, so we are talking about the next five to six years. A number of smaller IPP power stations will

PAGE 53

company profile

PAGE 54 OCT 14

Steval Engineering also be developed and we are working on estimates for international customers right now.

“The other part of our strategy is the oil and gas market, and currently we are looking at the East coast of Africa – Mozambique, Tanzania, and Kenya. We have submitted a number of tenders recently in Mozambique and are hoping to secure some of them in the next few months.

“We are proud of our reputation. We have made a name for ourselves with the execution of our projects.

Mitsubishi Hitachi Power SA for example tell me that Steval is one of their best contractors on site. And the reason for this I think is that we have great pride in our execution.

“So we want people who are motivated, possess the necessary skills, who take pride in their work and in the Steval name and heritage. They should also have entrepreneurial flair because this is at the heart of the company.”

With a staff of 800, Steval’s operation is built around a strong corporate culture in which personal initiative, shared responsibilities, accountability and pride in performance and client satisfaction are encouraged and celebrated.

“Having a workforce where every employee is proud of what they do, and deliver the very best results in each and every project is a key factor in our success.

“We treat the business as our own, work hard, yet

keep it fun. And this very special outlook has created an environment conducive to success and is reflected both in the growth of Steval and the reputation it has built for itself.

“Over the last few years Steval has been on a very steep growth trajectory and the shareholders expect this to continue. To achieve this, systems and controls will need to be put in place while retaining that entrepreneurial spirit and pride that has always been part of the Steval culture.”

INCREASING AFRICAN FOOTPRINT Steval has East Africa in focus, but what of Angola, Nigeria, Namibia, and even beyond Africa? “Our footprint is pretty much the whole of sub-Sahara Africa. If there are opportunities further afield in Africa we will take them. Earlier this year for example we set up a business in Ghana. We also have a company registered in Zambia “Mozambique has recently had huge gas finds in the north eastern corner and we are hoping to be involved in that market. We will consider opportunities anywhere in Africa. As our clients move into new markets we follow them.

“Looking a little further ahead, going outside Africa is certainly a possibility. But right now we see so much opportunity in Africa, - and it’s here we want to consolidate our footprint.”

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company profile

‘Big to small, we haul ‘em all’ Production: Ajuanne Payne Editorial: Harriet Pattison

Since 1989 Bigfoot Express has been helping customers with their logistical needs across Southern Africa. Now, over two decades on and with an impressive fleet of 200 vehicles, Founder and CEO Sun Moodley tells IndustrySA about the company’s plans for expansion into Africa and racing cars with his son…

25 years ago, Sun Moodley founded his logistics company and with thanks to his son’s remote control truck that he brought back for him from Hong Kong, Moodley came up with the perfect company name: “My son was five at the time and he was playing in the drive when my accountant called me and said I needed a name for the company because you can’t trade without a name. I looked at the truck that my son was playing with and I gave him the name Bigfoot Express. It was Bigfoot Trucking at the time but I changed it to Express,” Moodley explains.

As an independent express distribution company,

PAGE 56

Bigfoot Express offers various transportation, distribution and logistical solutions to industries across southern Africa.

Moodley explains that with his interest and good mechanical knowledge, he missed the challenges that came with the transport industry after leaving to pursue a number of different jobs. Eventually, he went back into driving and started Bigfoot Express. “I did a little distribution that I picked up but I felt I was missing out on the challenges that come with the transport business every day,” explains Moodley. “There’s never a dull moment and there’s something new every day.”

Moodley explains that he co-founded Bigfoot

Bigfoot Express

Express with his wife and realised soon that the recession was having an impact on the logistics market: “We started off with a big carrier but because of the recession the market was changing from big containers to smaller freight. We started moving smaller freight and opened a branch in East London. From there we then expanded into Port Elizabeth and we specialised in those areas because many transporters didn’t want to go into those areas, they all preferred to go into Durban and Johannesburg.

“As we progressed, our customers from East London wanted us to go to Johannesburg. We had a continual running between Durban and

East London daily and Durban to Johannesburg three times a week. From there we opened a small branch in Johannesburg because we didn’t make the journey from East London to Johannesburg all the time. We soon built up a customer base in Johannesburg that wanted us to move freight to East London.

“Today we are running seven branches and we provide a service to each of the branches every night,” Moodley explains.

PLANS FOR EXPANSION Now, with 200 vehicles and a position as the current market leader at the forefront of the

PAGE 57

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overnight express transport industry, Moodley explains that company expansion is something Bigfoot Express is considering for the future, especially venturing into neighbouring African countries.

“Hopefully in the new year we want to open another two branches and hopefully later next year we want to look at some of the African areas of South Africa,” Moodley explains. “We did look at Mozambique and we felt the volumes of small freight were appealing but the roads were quite challenging. We thought we would be breaking the vehicles more than getting the job done so we thought we would hang on and now we are looking into Botswana and Namibia for later next year.”

In addition to venturing into new countries, Moodley also explains that Bigfoot Express is expanding its offices to ensure it is always available to its customers and if opportunities arise a little further afield? “If it’s working and if the market’s there then we will go for it.”

Bigfoot Express is responsible for the transport of industrial goods, flexible wrapping paper and parts for the motor industry. Moodley explains: “Today we have about one and a half thousand clients. We have lots of set times that we deliver

every day and I would say about 600 times a day for the group that we collect from.”

Moodley isn’t looking to move into other industries just yet but admits home delivery is certainly a “growing market and it’s one to look at.”

FROM A TO Z Although Bigfoot Express maintains a prominent position in the transport and logistical industry, Moodley admits that quality customer service is essential in order to stay ahead of the competition.

“Competition is good for business,” he explains.

“We will always have it. It’s about providing the service, the liability and customer service. That’s important – people want it to be good and they want it as soon as possible so that’s why we are only a phone call away.

“We have been running that customer service focus on a small scale but now we are going more onto A to Z, from the time we take that call to the time we deliver the goods. We continually replace our vehicles at certain times and kilometres and that’s an ongoing process,” explains Moodley.

Concentrating on creating a more sustainable environment, Moodley explains that Bigfoot

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company profile Express is also focusing on greener initiatives: “We have to upgrade our vehicles all the time to lessen the CO 2 ,” he says. “We try not to use much paper by emailing our customers and in our buildings we try to reduce our light usage. So we are improving efficiency across the board and it’s something we’re continually working on.”

KEEPING COSTS DOWN With fuel costs continuing to rise in South Africa and with such an impressive fleet of trucks, Moodley explains how the company is ensuring it keeps its costs down: “At the moment we have a levy fuel surcharge that we charge our clients,” he explains. “The way to keep it as low as possible is to increase your capacities. If you’re running at 70% capacity try to increase that to 80% so that your fuel will still be a lot less compared to the value. We are always looking at how we can be more efficient,” says Moodley.

“The price of fuel goes up and down but people just accept it. It does affect us in a way, because it’s expensive to buy a product from another province, so we are continually looking at ways that we can keep our running costs down. Our aim is to run vehicles on time but at the same time manage our speed limits so that we don’t waste fuel.”

PAGE 60

DRIVING A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS With over 1,000 clients and a fleet of 200 vehicles, Bigfoot Express currently employs 434 people.

Moodley explains that the company offers a training scheme which ensures service longevity amongst its employees: “When you work as hard as we do, people don’t generally leave you; we have people that have been with us from the start.”

With plans to expand further into neighbouring African areas, Moodley explains that the company is also busy with software updates which will allow customers to manage their collections online with more ease.

Running a successful business for more than two decades, Moodley explains that racing across South Africa and as far afield as Europe on a regular basis has helped him to take more pride in his work. “The racing is a hobby. My son does it with me twice a year and I manage a race team too,” he says. “I think it helps my mind and my reflexes. It changes the ways you do things, your speed and your punctuality,” concludes Moodley – and it seems these important attributes continue to run through the veins of this growing company, from top to bottom and as we move towards the end of 2014, the future looks extremely bright for Bigfoot Express.

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company profile

Driving achievement Editorial: Helen Lake Production: Chris Bolderstone

Volvo Trucks has been enjoying an outstanding year with increasing production in Durban and awardwinning viral marketing campaigns – IndustrySA takes a closer look at its year of success.

The journey of Volvo Trucks is an inspiring one. From the late 1920’s when it produced its first truck, the progress has been marked.

Accelerating through the 1940’s where it was the major supplier to the Swedish armed forces during World War Two and reaching ground breaking territory in the 1970’s with a truck design that set the standards of ergonomics and safety for many years to come.

The new millennium has seen Volvo Trucks with increasingly better levels of safety, ergonomics, efficiency and more consideration for environmental impact, whilst keeping transport costs low and reliability high.

It not only boasts an overall principle of safety first – with the aim of preventing accidents and injury – but it also prides itself on the reliability of its vehicles, making sure quality is a feature of every single step in the development chain of every single truck. After all, a vehicle that is going to be running 24 hours per day,

PAGE 62

carrying heavy loads across thousands of miles needs to encompass all of these features.

“The country and the region are rich with potential and quality people and resources, and the market certainly has a wonderful future ahead of it” Today Volvo Group operates in 185 markets, in 25 countries, with approximately 75000 employees and Volvo Trucks SA is one of the cogs in this massive manufacturing machine.

MANAGING CHANGE January and February of 2014 saw IndustrySA report on an extremely exciting time in Volvo Trucks SA history where it introduced 15 new trucks to the

Volvo Trucks SA

market, including the flagship FH16 model, that specifically focus on driver comfort. We also covered the phenomenal success of its viral marketing campaign that saw Jean-Claude Van Damme relying on the stability and precision of Volvo Dynamic Steering as he performed the splits whilst balanced precariously between two moving Volvo trucks – a video that has had more than 75 million views on YouTube to date. Following all this success, Volvo Group SA has passed on the Volvo Trucks SA and Renault Trucks SA Managing Director’s torch to Belgian national, Christian Coolsaet, after the resignation of Jacques Carelse in early September. Coolsaet comes to the position armed with extensive experience having been Volvo Group’s Director of Commercial Trucks in Central Europe and before that did a short stint as Area Director for the Volvo Bus Corporation in South Africa in 1999. In September Volvo Group Southern Africa President, Tobjorn Christensson,

told Engineering News: “We are very confident in Mr Coolsaet’s abilities and experience, and believe he will be a valuable asset to the local business… With his extensive experience within the group, in addition to his local South African knowledge, I believe our customers will greatly benefit from his appointment.”

In the same article, Coolsaet said about his appointment, “I am very excited to once again return to South Africa and to serve the staff and customers of the region to the best of my abilities… The country and the region are rich with potential and quality people and resources, and the market certainly has a wonderful future ahead of it.

I am truly looking forward to being part of the dynamic team in South Africa.”

DETERMINED TO SUCCEED The South African Automotive sector has been under pressure this year with the August 2014 sales down

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company profile

by 1.4% compared with August 2013. The drop has come mainly in the area of medium truck sales which dropped 3.5% overall from July last year – domestic sales of light commercial vehicles and heavy truck and bus sales have actually increased when compared with the previous year. In fact, the Volvo FH127 was the top seller for August 2014 in the category of Extra-Heavy Trucks.

Certainly, Volvo Southern Africa’s truck assembly plant has increased its productivity by 500 trucks this year, going up to 1800 trucks and buses from the last eight years’ 1300 average. These trucks and buses are assembled from knock-down (KD) kits that are imported from Sweden and the Durban facility is considered to be one of the top two KD assembly facilities in the Volvo Truck Group. The facility in Durban is a vast 21,772 m² in size with 7422 m² under roofing and was a R41 million investment after relocating from Botswana. The plant has steadily increased its production since it opened in January 2006 with two production lines that have the combined capacity to produce up to 3500 trucks and buses every year – allowing plenty of room for the truck and bus assembly to continue increasing its numbers.

VIRAL BUZZ A large part of Volvo Group’s success should be attributed to its innovative marketing campaigns that have a tendency to go viral – such as ‘The Epic Split’ mentioned above. Jean-Claude Van Damme’s

PAGE 64

impressive leg work is not the only video to have caught the attention of the public – it was part of a series of six Live Test video’s that showcased some of the most innovative technological features of the new Volvo truck range using breath-taking methods.

These adverts have cleaned up at various prestigious advertising competitions such as The One Show where ‘The Epic Split’ won the much coveted ‘Best in Show’ award – beating 21,000 other entries from around the world. The adverts also received 20 awards, including eight gold prizes and two prestigious Grand Prix awards in the categories Cyber and Film at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2014 – considered to be one of the most important advertising competitions in the world.

“It is of course especially satisfying that our Live Test campaign is praised in such a global arena and in direct competition with the largest consumer companies in the world. It shows the exceptional nature of the campaign, that films about trucks - only distributed online - receive this type of recognition.

We have shown that we can produce world-class communication about business-to-business products,” says Per Nilsson, Director Public Relations at Volvo Trucks.

“Our surveys show that almost half the truck buyers who have seen the Live Test films indicate they would be more likely to choose a Volvo the next time they buy a new truck. For us this is another strong sign that

Volvo Trucks SA the campaign has been successful,” says Nilsson.

The latest video features a car valet at Casino San Remo in Italy who, after parking sports cars all night, is startled to find himself tasked with parking a new Volvo FH truck. Little does he know, however, that the new Volvo FH is equipped with a world first I-Shift Dual Clutch transmission – similar to that which you

“We’re really pleased that so many people are taking note of our products” would find in a sports car.

“We’re really pleased that so many people are taking note of our products. With our latest film about Volvo Trucks’ new transmission, I-Shift Dual Clutch, we are continuing to communicate our technological innovations in a way that is not only relevant to people interested in trucks but also to a wider public,” says Claes Nilsson, President of Volvo Trucks. This I¬-Shift Dual Clutch became available in

September 2014 and can be found on all markets that sell the Volvo FH with Euro 6 D13 engines featuring power outputs of 460, 500 or 540 horsepower.

It is not only online video campaigns either, Volvo Trucks have specially designed Volvo FH and Volvo FH16 trucks for the Volvo Ocean Race.

The Volvo Ocean race is one of the toughest sailing competitions in the world, covering a total sailing distance of 38,729 nautical miles, with port stop overs in nine countries, it takes nine months to complete.

These attention-grabbing trucks feature the Volvo Ocean Race graphic ‘The Splash’ alongside the Volvo Ocean Race Globetrotter sign as well as the Volvo Ocean Race emblem – with specially designed floor mats to boot. They also come with an option of cab colours – Dark Knight Pearl or Millennium Silver Metallic – making these trucks stand out from the crowd in a big way.

ROARING AHEAD Volvo Trucks seems to be continuously coming up with innovative and cutting-edge technology that takes its trucks into a league of their own. It has recently released the Volvo FE CNG in Europe – a model of the Volvo FE that runs entirely on

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PAGE 65

company profile methane gas. This is a huge leap forward for curbing the environmental impact of vehicles required to do short cycles that need numerous stops and starts such as refuse collection vehicles.

The carbon dioxide emissions of this Volvo FE CNG is thought to be up to 70% lower than that of a diesel truck. Not only that, it is equipped with a new 9-litre Euro 6 gas-powered engine featuring spark plug technology and an automatic transmission – meaning that it still maintains the excellent driveability and productivity of the Volvo FE. With so many cities all over the world seeking alternatives to diesel fuelled engines, Volvo Trucks can now offer them an alternative that has a much lower impact on the environment.

Sales of the new Volvo FE CNG started in Europe in August 2014 with series production set to get under way in early 2015. With pioneering innovations such as this, accompanied by intelligent viral marketing campaigns, Volvo Trucks is catching – and keeping – the attention of industry professionals and the public alike - and with Christian Coolsaet the new driving force behind Volvo Trucks SA, it will be looking out for great things on the road ahead.

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Engineering your road to success

Volvo Trucks SA

SAF-Holland is one of the leading global brand names in the manufacture and supply of high-quality systems and components for commercial vehicles as well as buses and recreational vehicles. The company has a strong presence in South Africa and use their know-how, innovative products and perfect systems solutions to meet the requirements of big-name clients across the country.

Sales Manager, Steve Russell tells IndustrySA more that the company has a long-standing relationship with Volvo, something which SAF-Holland would be keen to grow.

“We’ve been supplying them for around four years. We supply fifth wheels, sliders and couplings.”

“Prior to SAF-Holland being in the country, there were a couple of distributors in South Africa and our product is EU approved and used by Volvo in Europe so they were buying the product through a distributor. When we came into the country, Volvo wanted to deal directly with us being an OEM supplier.”

SAF-Holland have adapted their processes in order to take maximum control of their products, ensuring quality from initial manufacture right through to delivery.

“Our headoffice is in Johannesburg and we were using a third party to store and deliver the fifth wheels in Durban as the Volvo plant is there,” says Russell. “We found that the products were getting damaged in storage and this prompted us to open our outlet in Durban which has been running for around 18 months. This means we have our own people storing and handling the goods and we have control over the product.”

In 2014, the company has a number of exciting new products coming into the market which they would like to supply to Volvo.

“We have a total no-lube fifth wheel that we have recently bought into South Africa which a couple of our clients are testing. In the New Year we will look to approach Volvo with this. This is a green product, a totally greaseless fifth wheel,” says Russell.

Of course, Volvo only use premier parts when manufacturing their trucks and Russell says that SAF-Holland goods are widely recognised as top of the range.

“We definitely have the best products in the market. Positive customer satisfaction surveys and proven product innovations is a clear indication of performance.”

“We go the extra mile for our customers, Volvo is a valued customer and we will always strive to improve our offering and service levels.”

Quality Components & Systems for Truck & Trailer

SAF-HOLLAND South Africa Crn. Crownwood & Modulus Road Ormonde Tel: +27 11 496 3196 · Fax: +27 11 496 3696 · Jo@safhollandsa.co.za

OCT 14 PAGE 67 www.safholland.co.za

company profile

Helping you reach your Five-A-Day Editorial: Harriet Pattison Production: Chris Bolderstone

First started in the early 1920’s, Two-A-Day is one of the key industry leaders in the South African market, growing and distributing apples and pears to both the local markets and internationally. Since becoming a privately-owned company in 1993, its growth has been exponential, now exporting to over 70 countries worldwide…

The apple and pear industry continues to be one of the most prominent in South Africa and with optimum growing conditions, Africa has emerged successfully as a very important contender in the global market.

Two-A-Day Group began with just three fruit growers who, realising the high costs of infrastructure, decided to come together to do their packing and cold storage as a group. Almost a century on, Two-A-Day has become one of the industry leaders in the successful fruit farming sector.

30 years after its initial inception, in 1948, the company became the agricultural cooperative, Elgin Fruit Packers before it was later changed to a private company in 1993 and renamed the Two-ADay Group.

Today, Two-A-Day remains a largely traditional company despite its ever increasing growth and expansion on an international scale.

Two-A-Day is a member of the SA Apple and Pear Producers’ Association (SAAPPA). Established

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in the early 1970’s, it helps to both protect and promote the apple and pear growers of South Africa.

Amongst other services, the SAAPPA assists producers with trade and market access, research and development, plant improvement and economic development.

A LARGE FOOTPRINT Across Southern Africa, Two-A-Day’s footprint has grown phenomenally in the last 20 years, spreading across the border into African countries, it is now selling in over 65 countries with an export market of 70%. In February, Managing Director Attie van Zyl explained to IndustrySA how the company manages these large volumes across the border: “We divide the African market into three geographical areas. There is what we call ‘over border’, which is Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, the DRC, Zimbabwe and Mozambique and countries just to the north of us. For these markets we will use road transport.

Two-A-Day Group

“The second area is West Africa which is from Angola upwards to Nigeria and Ivory Coast and the whole western part of the continent. The taste profile there is very different to our third area, the Eastern part of Africa, which includes Uganda, Kenya, and countries in that region.

“In the very north of Africa, countries like Egypt and Libya, we see that as part of our Middle Eastern market,” van Zyl explained.

Attie van Zyl joined the company over two decades ago, starting in the finance sector and working in various departments before being appointed the Managing Director five years ago.

TECHNOLOGY DRIVEN With advancements in technology changing the way in which businesses operate and grow, van Zyl explained how Two-A-Day’s continued investment in technology has helped to drive the business forward.

It is perhaps in the factories where technology advancements prove to be most beneficial, helping with the fruit sorting processes in what was once a

time consuming and laborious task. The orchards too have benefited from advancements with horticultural technology making water usage far more efficient.

“We embrace the science of fruit growing from a technology point of view,” van Zyl explained, “that’s what is going to help us drive the business forward in the next 20 years.”

Recent technology investments have been in the house equipment and the cold storage facilities. Van Zyl explained how the old machinery would simply weigh the apples with the remainder done manually.

The new machinery however is capable of much more, including diameter and colour sorting and detecting defects of every piece of fruit.

The machine can take up to 80 HD photos per second of the fruit to create an overall image. From this, both the colour intensity and any blemishes can be detected and sorted. Implementing the software driven machine has made the sorting processes not only much more accurate but efficient too.

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company profile

THE APPLE GROWING DISTRICT Two-A-Day continues to operate out of the scenic Elgin District in the Overberg region, which it has done for nearly a century. Centred around the town of Grabouw, this is in the heart of the Elgin region and is the centre of the largest single export fruit producing area in Southern Africa.

Its deciduous fruit market began over a century ago with Sir Antonie Viljoen, a medical graduate and the first to establish the very first commercial fruit orchards in the Elgin Valley. These orchards have led to the successful development of the apple industry which continues to serve as the

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economic support of the valley today.

The apple industry is striving and continues to be one of South Africa’s largest export markets.

The Elgin Valley produces an estimated 60% of the total annual crop, with Golden Delicious and Granny Smith the top varieties to be exported from 2007 to 2008. Golden Delicious remains the favourite of both Two-A-Day customers and South Africans, amounting to 25% of its total volume produced. Currently South Africa is the only country in the southern hemisphere able to produce it to the high quality standards.

Two-A-Day Group

Fast and Productive

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AUG 14 PAGE 71

company profile AN A-PEEL-ING FUTURE

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In addition to growing its market across Africa, TwoA-Day will be looking at international expansion and developing its existing product portfolio of apples and pears. Van Zyl explains the company have been heavily focused on its packaging and coming up with new and innovative ideas within its horticultural department. Primarily however, it will concentrate on technological advancements to ensure it remains at the forefront of this increasingly competitive industry.

“Our business model,” explained van Zyl, “the fact that we embrace technology across our different divisions, our global reach and our adherence to world class standards are really the keys to our success.”

And although production and distribution costs can fluctuate, van Zyl believes the future for Two-A-Day remains a hugely positive one: “Our growth for the next eight to ten years is 50% growth. This is not just an estimated figure it is based on the orchards that have been placed in the last couple of years. It takes four years before it comes into production and seven to eight years before it’s in full production,” he concludes.

.

Two-A-Day Group

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AUG 14 PAGE 73

company profile

All-encompassing service from Bidvest Editorial: Roland Douglas Production: Hal Hutchison

Bidvest TMS Group has been steadily expanding its service offering since 1997. Now, with one of the most diverse service portfolios of any group, it seems that the only way is up as companies look to bundle services into one package. Managing director, Danie Otto explains more…

The business plan and strategy of the Bidvest TMS Group is astute and extremely well thought out. At first glance, you look at the list of companies that form the group and you think that they have no right all operating under the same banner, but then you look a little closer and you see that all of the companies have been chosen by Bidvest because of their complimentary qualities and their focus on specific industry sectors and market places.

Falling under the Bidvest Services division, Bidvest TMS Group is made up of a group of companies including Vericon, Royal Mnandi, King Pie, BMO Food Services, SA Water and Velocity.

And while each company offers a very different service from the last, as a group these companies provide perfectly suited solutions to people and businesses operating up and down a value chain.

At the heart of the TMS Group is the industrial

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services offering, something which has formed the core of the business since it became part of Bidvest in 1997. Operating mainly in the petrochemical and energy industries, TMS industrial services offers chemical cleaning, high pressure and ultra-high pressure cleaning, bundle cleaning and many more specialist industrial cleaning services.

“Relative to their size, all parts of the business are very productive but the TMS industrial services side of the business is still, by quite a margin, the largest portion of our business,” explains group managing director, Danie Otto. “In that group, the petrochemical and energy industries still hold our largest customer base but this is something that we are trying to change; we don’t want to neglect our customers but we want to make sure we are diversified so that we can mitigate the risk that comes with only being associated with one or two big industries.

Bidvest TMS Group

“If you look at the petrochemical industry, we’re more or less national; we deal with Chevron and Engen and all of the other providers. We are in Sasolburg and Secunda for Sasol and with Eskom we do three plants, mainly in Mpumalanga,” he says.

HEALTHY PORTFOLIO Organic growth has allowed Bidvest TMS to grow exponentially over the years and the companies that have been added to the portfolio have meant the group is now gaining in a reputation as a full service provider. Otto explains more about the interesting history of the group: “TMS came into the Bidvest fold around 1997 and essentially it was a labour and services group at that point in time, providing industrial services to the petrochemical industry. It evolved over time to grow on the disciplines that we are able to offer

from the traditional industrial cleaning services like vacumation and high pressure cleaning to now being able to offer catalyst handling, cold cutting and other very specialised services. While the company has been part of the Bidvest stable it has made further acquisitions including a scaffolding, painting and insulation company in around 2007, and this has allowed us to gain more work in these areas.

“Over the years we’ve added further to that fold with Vericon, which is a warehouse distribution and logistics company, and more recently we added Royal Mnandi, a catering company; King Pie, a pie franchise business; SA Water, a water purification and sanitation company and Velocity, which is a UK based company of which we have acquired distribution rights for work here in Africa on road repairs and pothole repairs. It’s a very diverse group of companies so it’s quite exciting.”

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company profile

But it still seems all rather different; a water purification company, a road repair company, a catering firm and an industrial cleaning firm, all working as part of the same group? According to Otto, it makes a lot of sense and having a range of service under one roof has helped clients in a big way.

“The services that we provide are very different” he says, “it’s all very specialised but if you look closer you’ll see that our businesses operate in the same industries and that’s the synergy between them – the client base. If you look at petrochemical, mining and industry; they have issues with water purification and recycling of water so it makes sense to offer this as part of a full package. In the mines they have issues with private roads, they run huge vehicles over the roads causing constant damage so we can provide a road maintenance solution while we are there doing other things.

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With Royal Mnandi, each of these industries has staff canteens which we can service with a catering solution. On the surface it doesn’t make too much sense but if you look closer, we operate in exactly the same industries and clients are moving towards bundling those services and looking for a one stop shop.”

ONGOING GROWTH With such a diverse service offering, you might imagine that growing is not a difficult task for Bidvest TMS but Otto says that following the global recession, the business environment has been challenging and the group is now waiting for the perfect time to continue on its impressive growth path. Considering the industrial services division is found at the heart of the group, it comes as no surprise that the business is highly involved in infrastructural development activities, and these

Bidvest TMS Group sort of opportunities are widespread north of the border.

“Business is tough at the moment so we are looking at holding on to what we have while the country repositions itself from an infrastructure development point of view,” explains the managing director. “Hopefully through this we will get opportunities but we will have to stick to the basics and make sure we keep our customers happy and not become too greedy. The majority of our involvement is around projects and tender business so when there are big projects coming, we tend to benefit. We can see that there are a lot of plans and a lot of talk but nothing has come to fruition yet but when it does we will be in the running.

“As opportunities present themselves we will explore them; Africa is definitely a growth area and we are always looking at ways to establish ourselves there. We operate in the petrochemical industry and Africa has a lot of oil in Nigeria, Ghana and Angola and those areas would definitely be attractive to us from an industrial services point of view. With catering, it’s always associated with

construction and development. In Africa, there are many large construction projects that need food, water and catering and these all present big opportunities for us,” he says.

As for infrastructure development in South Africa, the government promises a lot but the feedthrough rate to businesses involved seems to vary.

Some have already seen huge benefits from the NDP (National Development Plan) and others are yet to feel any impact.

“It depends on which end of the market you play in. Infrastructure development is an extensive operation. If you’re in the civils side of things, you get involved earlier but if you’re in construction and maintenance, you get the benefits further down the line. I would presume that there are people that are seeing the benefit right now and hopefully these will spill into our services sector in the future,” says Otto.

In its sector, Bidvest TMS is one of the industry leaders and services national clients including Sasol, Eskom and major mining houses and of course, with customers like this, who are always

Civil & Tool Worx (Pty) Ltd Vision Our vision is to grow our multi-disciplinary team in order to offer a broad spectrum of specialist products and services to the industry and to become our Client’s Preferred Service Provider through excellence and efficiency in all aspects of the project cycle.

Whether it is a capital or maintenance project, our company will provide all the products, striving to exceed expectations and set new standards.

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www.civiltool.co.za TEL: 011 825 7568 FAX: 086 566 0679 EMAIL: sales@civiltool.co.za

Products Being a multi-disciplinary company, Civil & Tool Worx (Pty) Ltd is a leading supplier and processor of the following steel products: Galvanised

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company profile

With over 23 years of experience and outlets in all major cities, Storm Machinery continues to be a leading supplier of abrasive sandblasting and spray painting equipment in South Africa

For full product range please visit

www.stormmachinery.co.za Head Office - Gauteng

Kwazulu Natal

Western Cape

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Tel: +27 (0)11 894 2005 Fax: +27 (0)11 894 2006

Tel: +27 (0)31 700 8332 Fax: +27 (0)31 700 8334

Tel: +27 (0)21 510 6385 Fax: +27 (0)21 510 1873

Tel: +27 (0)41 367 5120 Fax: +27 (0)41 367 5120

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growing themselves, growing with them can be a good strategy.

“We do maintenance work at places like Sasol; painting, insulation, sandblasting and scaffolding of the big tanks and vessels and we also work for Eskom including insulation for boilers and access scaffolding.

“At Medupi and Kusile we do ad-hoc work, we don’t have long-term industrial service contractual obligations there yet. We are currently busy with some project work and we hope to tender for more work as those projects develop,” says Otto.

“It’s a very diverse group of companies so it’s quite exciting” “Royal Mnandi and its joint venture partner, Duduza, currently holds a large catering contract at Kusile so we’re providing Kusile with around 18,000 meals each day. Through this, we also support local businesses. We’ve got development

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suppliers that we are helping to establish and they supply us with food products. For example, there is one lady that we have helped set up a poultry farm and we buy her eggs. We are involved in the community and that’s part of the contract but we really do enjoy this part of it too,” he adds.

But growth in the amount of work taken by the group has to be backed up by development of the workforce and while Otto recognises this as a challenge, he says that the company is working tirelessly to help upskill employees.

“We employ a large labour force and from a skills point of view, it’s a constant challenge for us to upskill people and find people with the skills to operate in our industry. As demand and infrastructure development takes effect, those skills become even scarcer. We are part of the services division so we have invested in a facility where we can run internships for certain skills including welding and electrical skills so we have in-house control over catering for those skill requirements.”

GOING GREEN Whether or not you are ‘eco-friendly’ and ‘green’ is one of the hot topics for businesses in South

Bidvest TMS Group

SEP 14 PAGE 79

company profile

Africa at the moment. Every month we speak to organisations that view the issue in very different ways; for some it’s a bugbear, for others it’s welcomed and in the case of Bidvest TMS, Otto sees it as an opportunity, saying: “It is a focus point for us and provides an opportunity to become creative and distinguish ourselves in the market place.

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“There’s a huge focus on being green; the ‘green’ tag comes up often and we pay a lot of attention to improving our systems, processes and methods to become more environmentally friendly. It’s with everything from the equipment we purchase to the systems that we implement.

We have internal auditing departments that look at this extensively. This makes the playing field

Bidvest TMS Group slightly more difficult to negotiate because often these things come with additional costs. We have a committee that looks after innovation on an on-going basis from an industrial cleaning point of view so that interacts with SA Water and SA Water, with their recycling abilities and design capabilities, are very often in demand to assist people with waste water and recycling,” he adds.

This focus on being as environmentally friendly as possible is not something new, it does in fact come through right from the top of the Bidvest Group where a sustainability policy has been developed stating that, in all divisions, the strive for reducing environmental impact is on-gong.

The group states: “We strive in everything we do to leave our planet in good working order for future generations.”

On the back of the NDP, the then Minister of Finanace Pravin Gordhan announced in his 2013 Budget Speech that over the three years from 2013/14 the government would invest R827 billion in the building of new and the upgrading of existing infrastructure and this obviously represents a huge opportunity for the Bidvest TMS Group. With the new power stations

progressing nicely and talk of other major energy projects to be announced in the near future, it looks as though Bidvest TMS, with its many skills and specialities, is set for a very positive future indeed.

.

“It’s all very specialised but if you look closer you’ll see that our businesses operate in the same industries and that’s the synergy between them – the client base”

Meet Danie Otto “I’ve been with Bidvest now for 23 years, I started off on the contract cleaning side, not industrial but more commercial, with offices and banks but my background is legal. I started off studying law and I ended up in the cleaning sector and I’m still here. I came through the ranks with Prestige and I was operations director for Prestige for a number of years and then I became managing director before being transferred to TMS around five years ago.”

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company profile

Providing a heavy focus on quality Editorial: Roland Douglas Production: Chris Bolderstone

Efficient Engineering is now one of South Africa’s leading steel fabrication, machining, manufacturing and heavy engineering companies. With over four decades experience in the industry, you know that when you deal with Efficient, you’re going to get quality from start to finish. Engineering, Sales and Marketing Manager, Gerhard van Zyl tells IndustrySA more about the development of this unique Johannesburg based organisation The Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) define engineering as “the practice of science, engineering science and technology concerned with the solution of problems of economic importance and those essential to the progress of society. Solutions are reliant on basic scientific, mathematical and engineering knowledge. Solutions rely on analysis and synthesis, underpinned by sound techno-economic analysis.”

The council also states that “engineering work is essential to both economic activity and to national development”, and with this is mind it is no wonder that the country’s engineering firms are now viewed as some of the most important businesses in operation.

Try and imagine where we would be without quality engineers. Think about what the country would look like without the infrastructure and development that comes from skilled engineers. It would certainly be a very different place from what we know today.

Engineering firms are key to economic PAGE 82

development, not only because of the work they do, but also because of the skills and knowledge that they impart. Important knowledge is passed through engineering firms meaning that tomorrow’s problems can be faced today with tried and tested techniques and methods; always allowing for projects to develop, people to grow and economies to thrive.

One South African engineering firm that is providing vitally important skills and services is Efficient Engineering, a Johannesburg based steel fabrication, machining, manufacturing and heavy engineering company with a long history of innovation and business excellence.

FROM ONE MAN… The history of the company goes back to the 60’s and Ophirton when Giuseppe Cimato officially established Efficient Engineering as a company specialising in the manufacturer of cabs and operator cabins for forklifts and trucks.

The company, as a one-man-band, would cut,

Efficient Engineering

machine and weld the majority of the components and outsource the grinding tasks because of limited capacity.

While still a small company, the business began focussing its attention on heavy engineering and eventually opened a new factory in Sebenza in 1968. In 1983, Cimato’s son, Tony, joined the family business, working as a boiler maker for more than 16 years. When Giuseppe retired in 2000, Tony took over at the top of the now reputable, up-and-coming manufacturing business.

By 2006, the Sebenza operation had grown into a 4000 m² facility but continued demand from some major industry players resulted in the need for significantly larger production space. October 2006 saw the development of Phase I of Efficient Engineering’s newly established 6300 m² headquarters in Elandsfontein, which allowed the company to manufacture larger components than ever before, while consolidating on its machining blasting, and

painting capabilities. The company was engineering bigger and bigger solutions and it seemed that the only limit on how big they could go was the ability of transportation companies to move these products over South Africa’s roads.

As demand continued to increase over the next two years, it became obvious that the company needed to expand further to meet the ever-growing demand from clients. Phase II, construction of an additional 4200 m² at the Elandsfontein development, was completed by the end of 2008 and by March 2009, the company established a further 2000 m², Phase III development, which focused on sheet metal fabrications.

All of this development propelled the company into a leading position in the industry and the name was becoming well-known and well-trusted. Today, the company has an unrivalled standard of workmanship that has enabled it to be fully equipped to undertake any engineering job, regardless of size or complexity.

The company has an extremely strong workforce

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company profile and fully expects to remain in a leading position in the industry for some time to come, saying: “Our employees are fully qualified and committed to producing work of outstanding quality. Efficient Engineering can be relied upon to stay at the forefront of engineering innovation, expertise and service long into the foreseeable future.”

IndustrySA asked Engineering, Sales and Marketing Manager, Gerhard van Zyl what it is that drives the company’s success: “Definitely quality,” he says.

QUALITY IS KING “We undertake a wide range of jobs, mainly in the mining, energy, chemical and petrochemical industries.

“Our core business and main activities include; earth moving equipment – bowls for off highway mining trucks and rigid and articulated dump trucks; materials handling – stackers, reclaimers etc; modular and non-modular electrical substations for mining

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operations and PV boxes for processing energy generated in photovoltaic applications; equipment under pressure (reactors, process columns, heat exchangers etc) to the local legislation namely SANS 347 and the Pressure Equipment Regulation (PER); and we also have a fully automated machine shop with CNC capabilities,” explains van Zyl. “With regards to the earth moving and mining equipment we are currently a market leader.

“We only employ fully qualified staff. We are also fully committed to training and therefore we are training artisans and technicians,” he says.

With a client list including Anglo American, ELB Engineering, Komatsu, Barloworld Equipment, Tenova Takraf and Thyssenkrupp Materials Handling to name just a few, Efficient Engineering has positioned itself as an important part of the engineering supply chain for many national and international organisations and this is, in part, down to the continuous focus on quality; something which

Efficient Engineering was highlighted by the UNIDO SPX (United Nations Industrial Development Organisation Subcontracting and Partnership Exchange) Network who said: “On the overall performance/practices matrix, Efficient Engineering is placed in the ‘World Class’ quadrant, along with only a few other comparison group companies. This indicates that the overall business practices in the company are very well developed and able to support superior business performance.

“The performance scorecard gap analysis indicates that Efficient Engineering is positioned significantly above the comparison group companies and in fact exceeds the benchmark average in relation to all main measures (i.e. financial, customer, internal process, and learning and growth perspectives). Strong points include the level of business, financial management, customer loyalty, product competitiveness and innovation, and employment conditions. Potential areas for improvement appear to relate mainly to the management of internal work flows to improve productivity and reduce operating costs.

“Operating processes are very well developed in Efficient Engineering and the company leads the benchmark average in the areas of development/ management, marketing/selling, and delivery of products and services, as well as customer service.”

In addition to this glowing reference, the company is also ISO9001:2008 accredited by TUV Rheinland and has been awarded DIN EN ISO 3834 Part 2 certification by the same TUV inspectorate.

benefit hugely.

But it’s not just rail where Efficient Engineering is expanding its reach; the company is now also looking over the border into Africa for growth and van Zyl says that the company will look to energy projects for opportunities. “With the developments in Africa in the natural gas fields, there are a lot of projects that will happen in the near future,” he says.

There has also been further growth at Efficient headquarters with the addition of a new workshop facility that has specially been built for fabrication of pressurised equipment. The R150 million capital layout was made with the specific objective to service the nuclear, chemical and petrochemical industries.

Van Zyl, who joined the company two years ago to help establish the pressure equipment section of Efficient, concludes by reinforcing the fact that quality is very much the driver of the expansion and will remain the focus in the future.

“Quality is the cornerstone of our offering,” he says. “Our team has more than 45 years of experience in this industry and is capable of meeting local and international engineering expectations, regardless of the project.”

.

MAJOR PROJECTS After the exponential growth of Efficient, the company has been able to take much bigger and more complex jobs and in recent years some of the most high-profile engineering projects in the country have benefitted from Efficient Engineering’s involvement.

“We have been involved with materials handling jobs at Medupi, installing a complete ash handling plant. We have also been involved with the Meerkat project; we are doing all the pedestals for this project,” says van Zyl. And as for the future, van Zyl is confident that the company will continue to progress and highlights a partnership with an international rail company as a fantastic opportunity.

“We are entering the rail business. We are in a partnership with Amsted Rail,” he says.

And as infrastructure and transportation receives on-going investment from the government as part of the NDP, it looks certain that the rail industry will

Postal Address:

Physical Address:

PO Box 2381, Springs, 1560 Springs

No.5 Duncan Road, Selection Park,

Website: www.sachwarr.co.za | Email: kuben@sachwarr.co.za

Tel: 011 362 6509 | Fax: 011 362 5869

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company profile

South Africa’s top security guard?

Editorial: Harriet Pattison Production Ajuanne Payne

Following the consolidation between Protea Coin Group and Bidvest Magnum in March 2013 to form Bidvest Protea Coin, the company has seen exponential growth, becoming the security provider of choice for the South African security services market. IndustrySA speaks to CEO, Petrus van Niekerk, who reveals what the future holds and why the security sector is so vital to South African industries…

In July 2007, Protea Coin was formed from a merger between Protea Security and Coin Security. Coin Security was first incorporated in July

armed reaction and monitoring, risk management, estate, aviation and mining security, and hi-tech security solutions.”

1979 in Pretoria and rendered a guarding service nationally.

It was one of the first two companies to provide an armed banking service in South Africa and also began providing armed response services, a fire service and services in CCTV surveillance. By 1992, Coin Security was operating internationally as it expanded its services further into Africa.

At the time of the merger, Protea Security led the way by initiating a holistic end-to-end approach to security in various economic sectors, including the mining sector. It was founded almost four decades ago by Jorge Ferreira and the growth of the company was based on the same strategy that still applies to Protea Coin Group today, a strong focus on market awareness and providing tailored security solutions for customers.

CEO of Bidvest Protea Coin, Petrus van Niekerk explains why this merger was such a beneficial step for the security industry: “The merger strategically facilitated the provision of an integrated set of security services - such as integrated guarding services, assets in transit and cash processing,

BIDVEST PROTEA COIN

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Then, in March 2013, Protea Coin Group (2007) and Bidvest Magnum (2010) were consolidated to form Bidvest Protea Coin.

Offering a wide range of security services from Cash-inTransit to Close Protection services, Bidvest Protea Coin continues to expand its range of technology, helping to place the company on an enviable pedestal within the industry.

“In August 2010, Protea Coin Group sold its residential and armed response services to ADT Security,” Van Niekerk explains. “It however also acquired both SACO Systems and Terrisano Access Control Technologies (TACT), expanding the company’s expertise even further.

“Protea Coin continued to expand its range of services and successfully achieved market penetration into Ghana, opening an office and starting a large mining contract in August 2012. In 2013 it acquired Siyaya Fencing extending its service to unique security fencing solutions,” says van Niekerk.

Bidvest Protea Coin

THE LEADING PROVIDER Today, Bidvest Protea Coin is the market leader in integrated risk reduction solutions to various industries across Southern Africa and earlier this year, it was awarded the Top 500 companies accolade as the No1 company in the security sector.

Priding itself on a reputation of service excellence, Van Niekerk attributes this success to a number of reasons, namely; focused management, a skilled and trained workforce and the synergies that exist within the business model. Not to mention its ever increasing and unmatched national footprint within in the security sector that stretches across the African border.

“With a track record of 34 years’ experience in providing physical guarding, cash and technical security solutions to corporates, financial and tertiary institutions, mining and industrial sectors, residential estates and National Key Points, Bidvest Protea Coin have come to appreciate that customers invest capital and time in realising one major expectation and that is reliability,” explains van Niekerk.

The Gijima training centre, established in 1980, also helps to ensure its staff are trained to the highest standards:

“The industry leading training academy established by Bidvest Protea Coin develops personnel to provide the best services possible, irrespective of the skills required by the market. The academy underpins the company’s dedication to service excellence,” van Niekerk says.

PROTECTING SA’S MINES Providing a turn-key solution for its clients, Bidvest Protea Coin has 14 divisions which covers a range of industry sectors from mining, industrial, transportation to residential and golf estates.

With such a prominent mining industry in South Africa, security and surveillance is essential. Often located in remote areas with a heavy reliance on hazardous materials, a security breach has the potential not only to disrupt production but also endanger staff and damage the local environment.

With mines often employing hundreds of people, companies have a duty and responsibility to care for its contractors, visitors and the general public. It is essential to ensure also that access to high risk areas, such as underground sites and explosive rooms, is prohibited to the public.

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company profile

Security then, is imperative and will vary from mine to mine. Coal mines for example will need to focus more on operational efficiency compared to high-value mines where protection and security of products and equipment is essential.

Providing an array of first class services, Bidvest Protea Coin offer surveillance, crime prevention and risk management solutions which includes identifying and analysing high to medium risk areas within the mining sector.

Van Niekerk explains: “New initiatives and the expansion of the Bidvest Protea Coin tactical response ability allow for the effective deployment of tactical security services to highly volatile events, not only that which occur in the mining industry but also including other protests, strikes, cash-in-transit heists and organised illegal activities elsewhere.”

Perimeter security is perhaps one of the most challenging of security measures in terms of ensuring unauthorized personnel are kept out for safety reasons. With costly equipment on site, theft control is also imperative.

Bidvest Protea Coin also specialise in the protection and securing of valuable products such as precious metals or stones and ensuring the safety of equipment, property and machinery. It provides surveillance for covert operations and

PAGE 88

initiates crime prevention for specialised precious metals, white-collar crime and mine-related investigations.

AVIATION SECURITY Similarly, security in aviation is imperative to ensure the protection of both property and aircraft. Considering how many flights arrive and depart across South Africa’s airports each day, security is an important sector and one that Bidvest Protea Coin manage on a large scale.

The company’s aviation division is one of only nine companies that is licensed by the Airports Company South Africa (ACSA). Offering numerous services including securing of cargo, aircraft security and protection of premises and property, it is able to provide for both landside and airside services across local and international airports in South Africa.

Impressively, the company also has its own aviation accredited training centre where it is able to conduct aviation training in airport induction, dangerous goods and vehicle movements at airports.

KEEPING AN EYE In addition to specialising within the mining and aviation industry, Bidvest Protea Coin also offers a unique tracking system which can double up as a full fleet and time

Bidvest Protea Coin management system. Rather impressively, the system can be deployed to clients anywhere in South Africa, while the movement is monitored by Protea Coin in its 24 hour control room on a real time basis.

Off the field, the company maintains a pro-active approach in combating crime in its Investigations and Information Gathering division. This involves both overt and covert tracking systems, fraud investigations, tracing missing persons, polygraph examinations and electronic monitoring. With impressively high success rates in this division, tracing and apprehending criminals involved in theft and fraud and tracing those responsible for high risk stock losses at client premises are amongst the company’s extremely successful services to date.

A SECURE FUTURE Van Niekerk explains that with the recent acquisition of Mvelaserve (including Protea Coin Group as a subsidiary)

by Bidvest in 2013, it has created a very exciting future for the company and one of continued success and growth: “It has indeed created one of the most exciting developments within the South African security industry in recent times.

The integration of two South African products (Protea Coin Group and Bidvest Magnum) has significantly increased

economies of scale, management, operational, technical and resource capacity, efficiencies and effectiveness.

“Bidvest Protea Coin have now established a footprint across South Africa with some 27,000 staff serving almost every sector their unique requirements. Indeed specialisation, with a strong emphasis on integrating security solutions is probably what sets Bidvest Protea Coin apart among its competitors.”

The Security Sector in South Africa is certainly one of, if not the most competitive, but Bidvest Protea Coin’s vision remains confident. To deliver a service that is priced, geared and determined to add value. The company’s success rests on knowing how important security really is and understanding that feeling safe and secure is absolutely imperative for its clients.

“We continue to identify the main challenges or competitive forces which may hinder or influence profitability,” explains van Niekerk. “Addressing these shapes them into the companies favour and is crucial to our strategy. We focus on product not price. Upholding service delivery imperatives is what retains customers and attracts new ones. Hence we will continue to improve customer value by providing an affordable yet reliable service,” van Niekerk concludes.

.

TM

Established in 2007, We manufacture and supply security ware to all commercial, private and industrial sectors with a security requirement that particularly include the mining, security and government environments at wholesale prices.

Our Services Gio Technologies services include: • We manufacture, supply, install, service and maintain a comprehensive portfolio of security related equipment • We customise products and services to the specific needs of every individual client, and • We have the expertise, competence and experience to advise clients on best solutions for every situation.

• Cash in Transit (CIT) • Protector Bullet Proof Vest – All Levels • Personal Protection Equipment (PPE)

• Access Control • Protector Pepper Spray Gas Alarm Management Systems • Riot Control Military Standard Products

You can find anything and everything in the field of safety and security with Gio Technologies. If we don’t have it, we will find it or make it!

Don’t let the criminals hold the keys to your business success Physical Address 117 Pretoria Road Witfield Boksburg

Postal Address P.O. Box 5023 Delminville

Contact Number Tel: +27 (0)11 826 4706 Fax: +27 (0)11 826 6310 Email: security@giotechnologies.co.za Email: sales2@giotechnologies.co.za Email: sales3@giotechnologies.co.za

Together we can stop crime

Contact: www.ap-group.co.ukwww.giotechnologies.co.za | T: +44 (0) 845 274 7687

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company profile

Boiler power set for African surge Production: Ajuanne Payne Editorial: Colin Chinery

Sixty years after John Thompson produced the first industrial boiler to be manufactured in South Africa, the region’s premier boiler and environmental solutions company in the power and industrial sector is upping the pressure for further growth throughout Africa and Asia Pacific.

The year is 1954. Roger Bannister runs the first four minute mile, rock ‘n’ roll kick-starts with Bill Haley’s ‘Rock Around the Clock,’ the first nuclear-powered submarine ‘USS Nautilus’ is launched, and in the Western Cape the John Thompson company produces South Africa’s first home manufactured industrial boiler.

Sixty years on and the Cape Town business – now the power division of ACTOM, Africa’s largest manufacturer and distributor of electrical equipment – is celebrating the anniversary with a R30 million expansion plan.

The 2,000 m2 Greenfield site adjoining its Bellville plant – already the largest heavy engineering manufacturing facility in the Western Cape - will see a new workshop for the manufacture of industrial watertube boilers incorporating new machinery, including 15 ton lifting capacity cranes and, in a separate building,

PAGE 90 oct 14

an additional furnace corrugating machine for package boilers. And in a nation with 25 per cent unemployment – more jobs.

John Thompson focuses on delivering sectorbest boiler and environmental solutions, and the record is impressive. In 60 years it has supplied over 4000 firetube, 300 watertube, and numerous waste-heat boilers to customers throughout southern Africa and around the world.

FAST START Arriving as a successful Wolverhampton company with roots in the Industrial Revolution of 19thcentury England, John Thompson came to South Africa in 1935. And from the start, through agency agreements, contributed to the rapid industrial expansion of the country in industries ranging from sugar and paper to petrochemical, fishing and mining.

Now Southern Africa’s premier boiler and

John Thompson (a Division of ACTOM (Pty) Ltd)

environmental solutions company serving the power generation and industrial markets, the company designs - manufactures and services industrial watertube and firetube boilers with steam outputs of up to 350 t/h, as well as related products such as heat transfer technology.

“Our business is boilers and environmental equipment such as fabric filters, and our objective is to take industrial watertube boilers to the power industry in Africa,” says John Thompson’s Divisional CEO Andy Abbey.

John Thompson‘s industrial watertube designs include coal-fired boilers with travelling grate and CAD spreader stokers and fibrous fuel-fired boilers with CAD spreader stokers for dualfuel firing, as well as pinhole and dump grates, industrial oil/gas-fired and waste-heat boilers.

Package firetube boiler designs include coalfired boilers with chain grate stokers, wood-fired boilers with fixed grates, oil/gas-fired boilers and

custom designed waste-heat boilers.

“We manufacture industrial boiler components and deliver them to anywhere in the world. In South Africa we normally install and commission this equipment ourselves - whilst outside South Africa we normally engage others to perform the installation work and then commission equipment ourselves - whatever the most costeffective solution is. We also undertake extensive engineering studies for South Africa’s industrial sector,” says Abbey.

John Thompson designs and builds two core type boilers, namely package and industrial watertube boilers. “Package boilers with a steam capacity up to 32 tons per hour are built in our Cape Town factory and then installed in a fairly short period of time. We sell this type of boiler to customers all over the world.

“Industrial watertube boilers, which again we design and manufacture in-house, have

PAGE 91

company profile GOING FOR GREEN Raysonics Inspection Test & Certification

RITC (Pty) Ltd Experts in non-destructive testing and inspection services We service a broad spectrum of industries including quality engineering, petrochemical, power generation, mining, marine, chemical, and construction

Phone: 021 556 4884 Fax: 021 556 6941 Email: accounts@ritc.co.za (contact person: Robyn Sultanie) Physical Address: 57 Williams Way, Racing Park, Table View, 7441 Postal Address: P.O. Box 60194, Table View, 7441

website: www.ritc.co.za steam capacities of up to 350 tons per hour and pressures up to 110bar. The components such as panel walls, superheaters, boiler tubes, drums, combustion equipment, headers, tubular airheaters, extended surface economisers etc. are transported to a site and erected, usually over a period of 10 months to two years.

“It’s a massive on-site undertaking, and we work on construction and maintenance sites ranging from a sugar or paper mills, to numerous power stations including Matimba, Komati and Tutuka.

“Much of our business is with Eskom, not in the supply of new plant - though we do supply new environmental equipment - but with the provision of maintenance services,” Abbey explains.

John Thompson as a company place a lot of emphasis on providing their customers with a strong technical support. Hence, there is a continuous drive to grow their engineering capabilities using the latest state of the art, computer aided design packages and investing in the further education of engineers in the company.

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With the manufacturing industry looking into ways of lowering energy consumption and reducing energy costs with environmentally sustainable business practices, John Thompson provides equipment for the cleaning up of emissions resulting from the firing of fuels or other processes leading to waste emissions into the atmosphere.

And with rising electricity and fuel prices coupled with a growing demand for green business practices steering many companies towards alternative energy sources, alternative fuel is a major area of the Cape Town company’s extensive R&D programme. “John Thompson design and build boilers that fire biomass and we work with customers to investigate the use of alternative renewable fuel,” Abbey explains.

The development of the MicroGen watertube boiler is one response, catering for the growing demand for a small, medium-pressure, power boilers particularly suited to fibrous-biomass and coal-fired co-generation applications.

Configured to facilitate manufacture of the pressure-parts in large subassemblies, the MicroGen can be containerised for

John Thompson (a Division of ACTOM (Pty) Ltd) transportation, minimising expensive and time consuming site construction work.

MAXIMISING EFFICIENCY “Among the reasons why we compete successfully with boilers built elsewhere - China for example, is the high thermal efficiency of our boilers,” says Abbey.

“They are also extremely durable - we have many fully operational boilers in industry that are now 35- 50 years old - all made to the very highest quality standards.”

Within a company focusing on retention and development of skills, Abbey says it is critical that employees are well trained and up to date with latest technological developments. An inhouse training centre provides specialist and advanced training and the company also has close relationships with universities and engineering houses.

“We are southern Africa’s premier boiler and environmental solutions company, and we will be building and growing on that great heritage and achievement” “We have a number of graduate engineers and also take people from technical colleges who have technical knowledge but need the practical exposure which we give when we take them into our organisation.”

is keen to expand its footprint into Africa, with development capacity in amongst others Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia.

“Up to now we have been selling mainly to the sugar mills and the paper and steel industries.

Going forward our intention is to target power producers,” Abbey concludes.

.

SARUM ENGINEERING C.C 24 Hour Refractory and Installation Service Boiler Repairs / Thermal Installation

Refractory Consultation and Material Supply to Boiler Manufacturer’s

John Thompson (Africa)

TARGET ON POWER The African market provides 40 percent of John Thompson’s export market, with a further 40 percent in Asia. Looking ahead, John Thompson

Phone: 021 551 0054/021 551 0079 A/H 021 712 4122 Cell: 082 906 0701 / Fax: 021 551 0098 Email: sarum@intekom.co.za

PAGE 93

#BeInspired

Every month we discover awe-inspiring stories of successful entrepreneurship, world-leading innovation and universal inspiration.

In the future we will bring you further stories of business excellence and highlight the hard work that is going on in South Africa to grow the nations industries into global leaders.

Your success is our inspiration

APR

JUN

2012 ISSUE 1

DEC dec

2012 ISSUE 2

2012 ISSUE 5 Issue

CAMERON VAN DER BURGH

OAK VALLEY AN AWARD WINNING FAMILY LEGACY

THE BEST STROKE

REZIDOR HOTELS RESOUNDING QUALITY

A.S. VILJOEN BOERDERY

JOSIE FIELD EVERYTHING IS AS IT SHOULD BE

A FAMILY AFFAIR

FORESTRY SA

DAN PATLANSKY

BRIDGESTONE EARTH MOVING INNOVATION

REFORESTATION OF THE RAINBOW NATION

BRINGING THE WORLD TO ITS KNEES

SOUTHERN AFRICAN

CELLUCITY

SHIPYARDS

THE ORIGINAL RETAILER, STILL LEADING THE WAY

EXPLORING UNCHARTERED TERRITORIES

ALTECH UEC DRIVING DIGITAL MIGRATION IN SA

COCA-COLA DOME ENTERTAINING A NATION

The Sky’s the Limit

Mining’s Golden Boys

We meet The Denel Group, the largest manufacturer of defence equipment in South Africa.

Engineering the Future IndustrySA speaks with dcd DCD mining Mining & Energy group marketing manager, henk energy Henk Schoeman, about the towering successes schoeman, of this highly regarded engineering and manufacturing company.

Harmony Gold - IndustrySA talks with CEO Graham Briggs about the challenges facing the mining industry

#Innovation www.industrysa.co.za MAR

NOV nov

2014 ISSUE 19

ISSUE 15 Issue

Embracing People Power One of the most progressive companies in the country, BMW SA recently launched the 2-Series and 4-Series. However, one of the world’s most recognised automobile brands is more than just a manufacturer; it is in fact a committed and engaged corporate citizen. MD, Bodo Donauer explains more…

MAY

2013

2014 ISSUE 21

Ultra-Heavy Capabilities Genrec, a division of Murray and Roberts, has played a huge part in the development of the Medupi and Kusile power stations. Business Development Manager, Michael Mamotte tells IndustrySA that the company’s ‘ultra-heavy capabilities’ set it apart from the rest.

Global Presence, Local Knowhow

Benteler South Africa is the local division of the global steel processing company, Benteler International AG. According to management, the business is looking to grow and “show the world what we can do here in South Africa”.

Lyle Stewart ADDRESSING AFRICAN AUDIENCES

Pienaar Bros WORKING HAND-IN-GLOVE WITH SA INDUSTRY

Howden Africa LEADERS IN ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL

Rolfe Laboratories UPLIFTMENT IN THE KAROO

ChianoSky

Midvaal Municipality

NEW AUDI AMBASSADOR

DEVELOPING SAVANNA CITY

DetNet

V&A Waterfront

BUSINESS WITH A BANG

CELEBRATING NO.1 SILO

Jeannie D

Forestry SA

DISPLAYING entrepreneurIal dIsplayIng ENTREPRENEURIAL spIrIt SPIRIT

NO suBstItute no SUBSTITUTE for FOR wood WOOD

De Keur

Colcab

SOWING the sowIng THE seeds SEEDS of OF success SUCCESS

OPTIMISING dIsplay optImIsIng DISPLAY eXcellence EXCELLENCE

Are you an entrepreneur? Do you have an innovative idea that has the potential to change lives? Is your company celebrating a milestone? Get in touch with us and let us know.

Some of the country’s biggest company’s use IndustrySA to promote their success and we look forward to hearing more stories of development as South Africa continues to grow. Your industry, their future, our South Africa.

@industry_sa

© Michael Poliza

Introducing...

The Wilderness Expansion Project The Wilderness Expansion Project is an ambitious initiative aimed at growing and protecting wilderness spaces, relevant to conservation. The Project is as much a humanitarian initiative as it is of conservation, and was set up specifically to address relevant BB-BEE credibility for South African companies. The Wilderness Expansion Project thus promotes conservation and sustainability in the form of humanitarian resources and infrastructure.

Your complete CSI Solution South Africa’s only 100% BB-BEE wildlife conservation project All contributions are 100% relevant for your company’s financial year end and BEE Audits

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