PURPOSE
UK CALLING
Hans Merensky's Rian du Toit solves the travel problem
As Hans Merensky Holdings expanded globally, CFO Rian du Toit found the necessary travel increasingly taxing, as did his wife and daughters. So, the decision was made to move the family to the United Kingdom, to make things easier for everyone. Rian chatted to Georgina Guedes about the global avocado boom and resettling in Kent.
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ian du Toit is the CFO of Hans Merensky Holdings, the “renewable bio-resource company” based in Parktown. The company wholly owns its subsidiaries Merensky Timber and Westfalia Fruit, one of the leading suppliers of avocados and other fresh fruit (but mostly avocados) around the world. While the head office is based in South Africa, Hans Merensky Holdings offshore operations have grown to such an extent that 90 percent of its business now takes place outside of the country. This meant that, in his role as CFO, Rian was having to travel frequently on long-haul flights to international destinations like London and Santiago. The travel situation was, he says, becoming “impossible”.
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“We have operations on four continents – Africa, Europe, South America and North America. To get to LA can take over 36 hours from Johannesburg,” he says. There were times Rian’s primary-school-age children didn’t see him for two weeks out of every month. It soon became obvious that a relocation to the United Kingdom was necessary. “My family was the key reason for the move; I wanted to have a proper family life with my wife and children. So I needed to be in a place where I could fly anywhere on one of four continents within 12 hours.” The company has its UK offices in Kent, so it was easy enough to continue running the finances from this location. HMH CEO Claus Lippert remained in Johannesburg but had a second office in Kent.
