Sealake

COMPANY PROFILE

2014

Sealake Industies

27 33 845 0786 | www.sealake.co.za

company profile

Family founded, family run‌ Editorial: Harriet Pattison Production: Hal Hutchison

First founded in 1972 by the Essack family, Sealake Industries has become one of the largest refiners of edible oils in South Africa. With a hugely successful export market spanning across Africa and manufacturing own label products for some of the biggest retailers in the country, this company attributes its success to its family-run business ethos.

International suppliers of edible oils, candles and soaps, Sealake Industries has come a long way since its inception over four decades ago in 1972. As a family

FOUR DECADES OF EXPANSION

run business, the success of the company rests with the continued passion and dedication of its family founders and valued employees, resulting in the company becoming one of the largest refiners of edible oils in South Africa today.

Originally located in Sea Cow Lake in Durban, the company made the move to Pietermaritzburg ten years later. Using state of the art technology in its manufacturing, packing and logistics divisions, Sealake Industries are able to deliver the best in

Due to the popularity of its cooking oils, the company decided to open up a candle and soap division in the 1980’s. Today, Sealake Industries has an impressive portfolio of many well-known brands including Sunseed, Golden Lite, Sunbrite candles and Countess soap. These products are now available across many convenience shops in South Africa and international supermarkets and by cutting out the middleman, the company has expanded its footprint due to the efficiency of

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household commodities and services to its valued customers.

Sealake Industries

its own logistics trucks. The strategic move to Pietermaritzburg in the 1980’s helped increase this footprint further with the proximity of both the import and export markets.

Sealake Industries is also a large manufacturer of own brand products to three of the leading supermarkets in South Africa; Spar, Pick n Pay and Shoprite. Perhaps what sets this company apart from its competition is its dedication and ethos to providing the best service for its customers. It oversees the whole process of each division from the introduction of the raw materials to the final packaging stages.

The subsidiary company of Sealake Industries,

Unity Food Products distributes Helios Pure Sunflower cooking oil which has been enjoyed in South Africa for over 60 years. The company commissioned a brand new, state of the art margarine plant for Sealake Industries due to the increasing demand for margarine and spreads.

Further expansions include a world-class crushing plant which will increase the company’s seed processing capacity producing 165,000 tons of sunflower seeds and 150 000 tons of soya beans every year, trebling its output. The plant will also add 66,000 tons of cooking oil capacity, bringing Sealake Industries’ yearly total to an exponential 146,000 tons.

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company profile WASTE WATER TREATMENT PLANT Sealake Industries continually ensures the efficiency of its manufacturing processes and upgrades its facilities to the highest standards. In 2007, Sealake replaced its existing water treatment facility at an investment valued at R2 million. The upgrade allows the company to purify the effluent water which is then re-cycled back into the soap plant before it is safely discharged. The used

“We enjoy a strong relationship with our employees and our surrounding community, which is why we always seek to employ our staff locally.� water from the different plants is pumped into the treatment plant which is treated by passing the water through an equalizer tank, followed by the

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Sealake Industries D-A-F unit to ensure the oil and fat is removed.

From here, it goes to the flash mixer to add the chemicals before it goes to the settling tank. Once the water is settled, it is passed through the filter press. The water that comes out of this press depends on the specifications of the municipality.

TEAM WORK Employees at Sealake Industries are considered the company’s “greatest asset” and back in December 2012, CEO Baboo Essack explained why they are so important: “We enjoy a strong relationship with our employees and our surrounding community, which is why we always seek to employ our staff locally. We expect our staff to work hard and to work together as a team. We always try to keep our staff motivated and happy which is why we place a real focus on providing on the job training to improve their capabilities and skills, whilst also offering good incentive and reward packages.” With over 400 members of staff, the company has one of the lowest staff turnover rates in the industry.

Essack, who won the 2010 “Supplier of the year National Award” for Shoprite Checkers, explained in the same year that the continuing success of

the company rests with concentrating on the basic principles of business: “Our clients know that they can rely on us and we have cultivated a reputation for always doing what we say we will do. Our customer service and sales teams ensures that while reaching out to new customers, we continue to make sure that our existing customers are happy. The thing to remember is service, service, service. Our clients can also rely on us to provide value for money and competitive pricing on our products without compromising on quality.

We have a sound business model which makes this possible.”

LOOKING FORWARD Over the next few years, the company hope to become one of the leaders in the industry and with further expansions on the horizon, it hopes to maintain the focus and passion which has made Sealake Industries so successful. With its vision “to make Sealake the largest edible oil manufacturers in the Republic of South Africa with the best quality products”, it seems as though a bright and exciting future lies ahead for this family-run business.

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Thank you Sea Lake Industries.

Without our customers we are nothing.

At the recent Mercedes-Benz South Africa Dealer of the Year Awards, the NMI-DSM group walked away with more awards than any other dealer group in the country!

Not only did NMI-DSM receive five of the seven Chairman’s Awards, they also won a further eight category awards including Mercedes-Benz Passenger Cars Brand Centre for Mercedes-Benz Durban Brand Centre, Mercedes-Benz Passenger Cars Market Centre for Garden City Motors Pietermaritzburg and Freightliner/FUSO Brand Centre for NMI-DSM Commercial Vehicles Pinetown.

While we are extremely proud of these achievements, we realise that without customers we could never have achieved these awards and would like to thank you for your loyal and ongoing support.

Of course, we also understand that being measured on past performance means nothing if you can’t maintain the standards you have set, so we hereby commit to remaining customer focused and maintaining our culture of excellence so that next year, we will be even bigger and even better.

Address: Pinetown Tel: 031 0011 324 Web: www.nmidsm.co.za www.facebook.com/NMICommercialVehicles

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