Rolfe Laboratories

COMPANY PROFILE

2015

Rolfe Laboratories

+27 31 502 3301

company profile

True pharmaceutical success Editorial: Sarah Dickens

Standing as one of the most successful pharmaceutical manufacturers in South Africa today, the roots of Rolfe Laboratories can be traced back to over a century. With a low turnover of dedicated employees and continued and international growth on the horizon, the future looks bright for this innovative company, which started out as a small chemist shop in Middleburg.

A South African based company that specialises in the manufacture and marketing of a wide variety of branded and own-branded products, including beauty and personal care products, Rolfe Laboratories has a background that dates back over 100 years.

With a product range that includes; washing paste, insect repellents, aftershave and pre-shave preparations, deodorants and roll-ons, perfumery, cosmetics, talc powders, sun-care, lip-care, skin care, shoe care and foot care products. IndustrySA speaks with Chairman, Phillip Rolfe, who reveals

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the secret to the company’s long-running success.

“The company is probably more than 100 years old and it started off in a chemist shop, a pharmacy in Middleburg in the Eastern Cape. They started off selling a skin lightening cream which was sold on a mail order basis to the Cape region of South Africa. As the company got bigger, the pharmacist needed more capital and eventually he got ten farming families in the Karoo region involved.

“Each family put in money and each became a shareholder and they bought in more products. The business grew very quickly so they built a factory and the business got involved with manufacturing.

Rolfe Laboratories

During the Second World War period, the business was healthy and was selling a number of products and the organisation became a more sophisticated consumer selling company and it started selling into the larger cities – Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town,” explains Rolfe.

While the company is not based in the prominent business hub locations that South Africa has been graced with, Rolfe explains this has not stopped the extensive growth the company has seen throughout the years.

“Our head office is in Durban and we have two factories in Middleburg. We have developed our

own products and we own a number of brands.

Everything from sun tan preparation to mosquito repellent – you name it, we’ve got it.

STAFF COMMITMENT M ore t h a n R ol fe L a bora t ori e s ’ e v i de n t s uc c e s s w ork i n g out of t h e E a s t e rn Ca pe , i s i t s de di c a t i on a n d c om m i t m e n t t o i t s s t a ff – m a n y of w h om h a v e be e n w i t h t h e c om pa n y for m ore t h a n t h re e de c a de s . “ From a h um a n i t a ri a n poi n t of v i e w, w e h a v e s t a ye d i n t h e Ca pe be c a us e w e a re s o i m port a n t t o t h e t ow n ,” e x pl a i n s R ol fe . “ We

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company profile

a r e g oo d f o r the w h o le re g ion. For e v e ry one p e r so n t hat w e emp lo y, we fe e d many mouths a n d t h a t has b een the m otiv ation for us to stay i n M i d d leb u rg. “ It h a s b een great f o r the town. I d e l i b e r a tely s tay ed there as many pe ople who h a v e wo rked f o r u s h av e be e n with us for 3 0 40 ye a r s and s o metimes whole familie s will w o r k f or the co mp an y. “ We a re a o ne s to p s hop for multi-nationals w h o c o me in to the co u ntry who don’t hav e l oc a l k n o w ho w. We can do e v e rything from s o ur c i n g materials , d ev e loping packag ing , c r e a t i n g f o rmu las , co n trolling accounting – we b e c om e their co mp an y in South Africa,” he a dd s .

A l t h o u gh the co mp any’s location may h a v e pr oved a hind rance in the past throug h l os i n g t ou ch w ith the la te st in te chnolog y a dv a n c e m en ts and marke t know-how, it was the Pl a y bo y trad emark w h ich the company owne d, h e l p i n g it to get b ack on track.

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“Many people who have worked for us have been with us for 3040 years and sometimes whole families will work for the company”

Rolfe Laboratories “ With the co mp any domicile d in M i dd leb u rg, it d id n’t ke e p up to date with w h a t w as h ap p en ing in the wide r marke t, it l os t t o u ch w ith p ro duct de v e lopme nt. From t h e begin ning o f the 1 9 7 0 s the company found i t s e l f in tro u b le b ecause it hadn’t ke pt pace w i t h th e market. “ T h e co mp an y f o und that it e ithe r ne e de d t o g e t p eo p le in w ho unde rstood the marke t or a l t e r n atively s ell the busine ss. I had spe nt a lot o f t i m e in N ew Yo rk and whe n I re turne d to S ou th Af rica, I w as doing a lot of consultancy a n d I w as as ked to look at this company and gi v e ad vice. There was one attraction to this c om pany f o r me an d that was that the y owne d t h e P lay b o y trad emark - the bunny - but the y h a d do ne n o thing with it. No one had the s k i l l s o r th e kn o w le dg e of the marke t so the c om pany, K A Lab o ratorie s, as it was known at t h e t ime, j u s t s at w ith the trade mark and whe n I c a me alo n g I realise d the v alue , boug ht the c om pany and lau nche d the P layboy rang e of t oi l e tries ,” exp lains Rolfe .

fa c t ory w ork e rs a l on e , de pe n de n t on s e a s on . “ I n t h e be g i n n i n g , I m a de a c om m i t m e n t t o m ys e l f t o e m pl oy a s m a n y pe opl e a s pos s i bl e .

T h e m ore pe opl e w e e m pl oy, t h e m ore pe opl e w e fe e d a n d t h a t ph i l os oph y h a s n ’t c h a n g e d. “ B e c a us e of t h e c h a n g i n g n a t ure of our bus i n e s s , w e h a v e be c om e a l ot m ore s oph i s t i c a t e d. We h a v e m ore s oph i s t i c a t e d t e c h n ol og y, s oph i s t i c a t e d m a c h i n e ry but w e h a v e re m a i n e d c om pe t i t i v e . We c oul d w a v e a w a n d n ow a n d be c om e e v e n m ore s oph i s t i c a t e d but t h a t i s n ot w h e re w e w a n t t o be . “ We us e d t o m a n ufa c t ure 5 0 ,0 0 0 rol l on s pe r m on t h but t oda y w e a re c a pa bl e of m a n ufa c t uri n g t w o m i l l i on pe r m on t h .

We h a v e be c om e on e of t h e m a jor c on t ra c t m a n ufa c t ure rs i n t h e c oun t ry. E v e ryt h i n g h a s i n c re a s e d a n d w i t h t h a t i n c re a s e c om e s i m prov e m e n t s i n e v e ryt h i n g but w e s t i l l t ry t o k e e p a s m uc h a s pos s i bl e m a n ua l ,” R ol fe e x pl a i n s . “ You g e t s om e i n c re di bl y bri g h t g uys w h o c om e out of t h e Ka roo a n d t h e g o off t o t op un i v e rs i t i e s a roun d t h e c oun t ry a n d c om e ba c k

THE PLAYBOY BRAND A lucrative and world-renowned brand, Playboy provided the company with the value and potential it needed to succeed and become the leading competitor in South A f r i c a i t i s t o d a y.

Rolfe explains: “Playboy was the number one selling male deodorant brand in South Africa and it went from strength to strength.

I sold the brand and then started other brands and new products.

“I then realised that there was a lot of money to be made in contract packaging. It seemed that there was a trend around the world for multi-nationals to own brands but not get involved with activities like logistics or packaging, so this provided a huge o p p o r t u n i t y. To d a y w e w o r k f o r b i g m u l t i n a t i o n a l s i n c l u d i n g U n i l e v e r, Ti g e r B r a n d s a n d C o l g a t e P a l m o l i v e .”

Proud supplier to

Rolfe Laboratories for over 20 years

Working together to create

Pure Excellence Suppliers of Ozone Friendly Propellants, Special Gases, Fire Suppression products, Ammonia & LPG

SOPHISTICATED GROWTH T h e s e exp an s io ns and v e nturing into ne w m a r k ets w as evid en tly a productiv e de cision f o r R o lf e Lab o rato rie s. Starting out with jus t 3 0 emp lo y ees , the company has g rown e x t e ns ively, n o w em ploying be twe e n 5 0 0 -1 0 0 0

Business with Integrity Committed to Safety & Quality

T 011 903 9760 • F 011 903 9766 www.puregas.co.za • info@puregas.co.za

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company profile

w i t h gr e a t s kills , w h o are v e ry e mployable .

W h e n t hes e p eo p le return from univ e rsity, t h e r e a r en ’t man y co mpanie s in M iddle burg t h a t c a n o f f er them car e e rs like we can. “ We t rain all the time. In our busine ss you h a v e t o t rain , it’s co mpulsory. It’s an ong oing t h i n g a n d w e are alw ay s trying to raise the l e v e l of c o mp eten cy.”

GROWING ITS ROOTS So what does the future hold for a company that has roots dating back to over 100 years? With Phillip Rolfe proudly at the helm and his son, Bradford, standing as Managing Director; he explains his hopes and vision is for the business to remain family orientated and employee focused.

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“There is no doubt about it - that is my vision.

When I’m not here, whether that remains the vision for my son, I’m not sure. We also have the desire for my younger son, who isn’t currently involved, to come on-board with us.

“We are regularly receiving offers to be bought out but we don’t want to sell. We are happy with what we do; we are comfortable with our success.”

With plans to expand its footprint further, Rolfe explains the company has already ventured internationally but certainly for the foreseeable future, Rolfe Laboratories is looking to stick to its African roots, where it all began.

“Everything in the first instance is made for the local market and then it goes up into Africa.

Rolfe Laboratories

“We train all the time. In our business you have to train, it’s compulsory. It’s an on-going thing; we are always trying to raise the level of competency”

We have already tried little forays into places like the USA, Dubai, India and we continue to supply there but not on a large scale because we are engrossed with what we are doing here and in Africa and Africa is becoming big. Countries like Nigeria and Kenya are growing rapidly and are becoming big markets too.

“Afri c a w oul d m a k e s e n s e fi rs t but I w oul dn ’t rul e out g oi n g e l s e w h e re . I h a v e s pe n t a l ot of time in the UK and the USA and I think when you g o i n t o a t e rri t ory l i k e t h a t you dra w on t h e l oc a l pe opl e ; t h a t ’s w h e re you g a t h e r your k n ow l e dg e a n d e x pe rt i s e . You h a v e t o l i s t e n ; you c a n ’t jus t forc e your i de a s on pe opl e w h o h a v e be e n a roun d for a l ot l on g e r t h a n you,” c on c l ude s R ol fe

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+44 (0) 1603 411569 info@industrysa.com East Coast Promotions Ltd, 2 Ardney Rise Norwich, Norfolk NR3 3QH

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