Essential Business Magazine Issue 19

www.essentialbusinessmag.com|Issue 19

I N S O U T H A F R I C A PiA Solar’s bright future Also in this issue: New Horizons Energy p28 Bakwena p34 Irritech p50

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n this issue are several companies involved in using the power of nature to provide Africa with renewable energy.

Using the sun are solar panel technology providers PiA Solar, offering its solutions not just in Africa but around the world.

Bringing things back down to Earth are New Horizons Energy, innovators in waste-to-energy technology, while the power of water is in the hands of family-run irrigation specialists Irritech.

As well as this we look at Jacob Zuma’s State of the Union address, the contribution of Bakwena to the areas surrounding the N1 and N4 highways and the excellent customer service offered by Toyota Zambia.

We hope you enjoy this issue – it looks like Africa’s future in renewable energies is in safe hands.

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Contents Zuma under fire 6 looks at the implications of Jacob Zuma’s February State of the Union address.

Urban Econ development economists 10 An interview with Kobus van der Vyver of development economics consultancy firm Urban Econ.

News round-up 14

Bakwena

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Liam Clark speaks to about the journey taken by the N1 and N4 highways through South Africa and across the TransKalahari corridor.

Business news from the continent, including the development of private solar ownership in Central Africa.

Toyota Zambia

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A look at some of the unique selling points of Toyota vehicle distributor Toyota Zambia.

PiA Solar

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speaks to Axel Pustet of PiA Solar, a company at the forefront of Africa’s renewable energy boom.

Irritech

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A look at the success and strategies of an exciting irrigation technology company.

Roff

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Roff takes us through strategies behind the creation and distribution of its successful maize milling plants.

New Horizons Energy 28 CEO Egmont Ottermann describes New Horizons’ innovative wasteto-energy plant in Cape Town.

Sage

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Sage provides business management and accounting software, driving a huge number of African businesses. interview Keith Fenner, VP of Sage Enterprise Africa, on his company’s success in numerous markets.

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On

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OnTopic

Jacob Zuma’s State of the Union address to South Africa was predictable and surprising at the same time, both in its contents and in the political unrest surrounding it. As well as the controversies, Africa’s business world was given plenty to analyse.

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peaking to the parliament of one of Africa’s largest economies, the President began by invoking former President Oliver Reginald Tambo, ANC president from 1967 to 1991, and Miriam Makeba, the singer and activist who spoke at the UN against the apartheid regime.

The theme of the address was “a year of unity in action by all South Africans as we move South Africa forward together”. How ironic, then, that the military had been called in to provide security outside and the radical Economic Freedom Fighters party drew all attention from the event with calls for Zuma to resign. Unity, it would seem, is far from the minds of many in South Africa.

“Unity, it would seem, is far from the minds of many in South Africa Unrest

Image courtesy of: Linh Do, Flickr

While Zuma wasn’t being heckled and interrupted with points of order, his address focused on some tough economic realities – the South African economy is growing, but it isn’t growing fast enough. Here, the government’s priorities are threefold:

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On encouraging investment, working on infrastructure and continuing Black Economic Empowerment (BEE).

Meanwhile, the government included encouraging investment and the development of SMMEs in the updated version of the nine-point plan announced in 2015. This strategy is focused on commodities, particularly mining, agriculture and agriprocessing, as well as on industrialisation and technology development (the MeerKAT telescope was cited as a key element of the technological aspect of the plan, with Zuma claiming it was constructed with “75% local content”.)

Elsewhere, Zuma pointed to the InvestSA program established in KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and the Western Cape, as part of a government programme to reduce “undue delays… and red tape” and stressed that “we should make it easy to do business in South Africa”. With the World Bank suggesting in January that raising private investment in the country is crucial to increasing the country’s lagging growth potential, this focus on investment both foreign and domestic makes sense.

Infrastructure and energy were also mentioned, with upgrades underway to the Moloto Road and other transport facilities planned for 2017, along with a continuation of the government’s

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“Given the brief lip-service paid to South Africa’s partnership with the United States, it seems clear where Zuma’s interests lie in the ongoing dispute between the Chinese and President Trump. efforts to ensure energy security.

South Africa has connected nearly seven million households to the national grid over the past three years, and Zuma stated that “renewable energy forms an important part of our energy mix”.

Inequality

Water loss was also mentioned as a problem, with the government working to provide reliable water supplies across the country. The speech also devoted sections to the ongoing student protests and land reform, as well as concerns about the status of the government’s BEE programs.

Despite some progress, these are severely behind schedule and South African society is still divided despite two decades of ANC rule. In response, the

president called for radical socio-economic reform and economic emancipation.

Internationally, the European Union and the Economic Partnership agreement between the EU and South Africa were specifically mentioned. Zuma promised that 99% of South African products will be able to enter the EU market without customs or quantitative restrictions, while also noting recent agreements with Mercosur. Interestingly, he also affirmed China’s One Nation policy, specifically calling Taiwan “part of China” and singling out China’s relationship with South Africa as valuable. Given the brief lip-service paid to South Africa’s partnership with the United States, it seems clear

OnTopic

where Zuma’s interests lie in the ongoing dispute between the Chinese and President Trump.

Once again, however, the main story was less the SONA address itself and more the political drama surrounding it.

The EFF’s disruption went beyond its fight with security, however, with constant interruptions and points of order before they were ejected (along with the Cope and DA parties, who walked out afterwards) and attentiongrabbing interviews with swarms of journalists outside while the SANDF and the police fought with pro and anti-government protesters. Zuma’s immense unpopularity and the ongoing scandals surrounding the ANC have become the major story in South Africa rather than anything the government is actually doing.

Under pressure

Zuma promised radical economic change in this address, but critics are increasingly unwilling to believe these claims. “Radical”, after all, has long been one of the ANC’s go-to words to describe its relatively minor economic reforms. In addition, the address was filled with inflated figures and troubling vagueness around the facts: for example, on January 8th the ANC suggested that the economy might reach 2.9% growth in 2017. Zuma downgraded this to 1.3% during the address, but the IMF has suggested it might be just 0.8%.

“The EFF’s actions at the event (and those of the other opposition parties who also disrupted terms) were hardly unprecedented or unexpected, but they do speak to an increasingly emboldened South African opposition with ever-decreasing patience for the ANC.

His political rivals are circling as well. While the ANC has been in power since 1994 and maintains not-insignificant support, Zuma has caused and been caught in frequent scandals, with many South Africans feeling that the ANC no longer governs for the people thanks to its corruption and cronyism. The party has been criticised for not making sufficient effort to enforce its BEE projects, especially in private enterprise (to be fair, Zuma did run through the figures for the breathtaking racial and sexual inequality that South Africa’s business sector still operates under). Zuma’s rival, Mmusi Maimane of the Democratic Alliance party, took the opportunity to outline his own party’s plans for the country, and used the heavy security outside to call Zuma and the ANC an “enemy of the people”.

The EFF’s actions at the event (and those of the other opposition parties who also disrupted terms) were hardly unprecedented or unexpected, but they do speak to an increasingly emboldened South African opposition with everdecreasing patience for the ANC. Compared to the dramatic scenes outside parliament, the SONA itself seemed pedestrian and somewhat flat, its positive aspects and promises only underlining the progress that Zuma’s government hasn’t made, despite its 23 years in office.

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Expert

Urban Econ development economists www.essentialbusinessmag.com

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ExpertInterview

With the ongoing pace of development in South Africa and across the continent, proper economic planning is vital to ensure sustainable growth. Urban Econ is one of the firms at the forefront of not just building Africa’s future, but shaping it. Kobus van der Vyver is the unit manager of their Property Development Services.

Let’s start with some background about Urban Econ and your role at the company.

Urban-Econ is a professional consultancy fi rm specialising in the fi eld of development economics. Development economics as advocated

by Urban-Econ refers to the fi eld of research where spatial principles are applied in an economic context. Urban-Econ is based in South Africa, but provides professional consulting services throughout Africa and due to its past involvement, has

built up an extensive clientele network and established various economic databases of local and regional development circumstances. UrbanEcon combines specialised skills, extensive experience, professional ethics and personal service delivery to provide appropriate and practical economically viable solutions.

What about your specific niche, Property Development?

My niche within the company relates to a specialisation on property development and

all aspects related thereto. I manage Urban-Econ’s specialist Property Development Service research unit. The Property Development Services unit specialises in a variety of property related services and products including: Market Studies, Status Quo Profiling, Development Motivations, Development Land Identification, Land Valuation, Property Business Ventures, Country Intelligence for Property Investment, Strategic Informative Research, Financial Viabilities, Development Value Propositions and Business Plans. I have been involved in research execution for practically any

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“The aim of the development is to create a more sustainable economic base and create rural jobs to offset issues such as seasonal employment.

property development type including projects for commercial (retail and office), industrial, hospital, educational and filling station land-uses in South Africa and other African countries.

Any specific projects that you are involved in that you are particularly excited about at the moment?

We are currently very excited about inspiring projects that are currently ongoing in Kenya. These include the Langton mixed used development located north of Nairobi near the Windsor Golf Estate. Other ongoing initiatives

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in Kenya include the Red Coral Mixed Land Use Development, CDC logistic operations in Nairobi and Mombasa as well as projects in Makuyu Sam, Sumburu Kwale and Athi River.

Other stand-out projects include: The Azuri International School Market Feasibility Study and Trianon Mixed Development in Mauritius.

The Walvis Bay Local Economic Development Plan and Strategy and the Swakopmund Platz Am Meer Waterfront Shopping Centre in Namibia.

National Property Investment Market Intelligence, Aba African Market, Enugu Medical Centre, Abuja Market Intelligence Study and Lilly Hospital in Nigeria

Lusaka International Airport expansion and Mtendere Sanitation Connection Action Plantation in Zambia.

Mixed-use development surrounding the Free Trade Area in Nigeria.

South Africa – mixed-use development creating partnership between TWK, Developers and other government institutions such as DBSA and EPWP. The aim of the development is to create a more sustainable economic base and create rural jobs to offset issues such as seasonal employment. Projects are aimed at enhancing the tourism and agricultural sectors as well as addressing housing and education needs. Therefore, utilising the real estate sector (i.e. commercial, retail and residential) to create an environment to improve the well-being of the local community in a sustainable manner.

What in your view are the main challenges to the real estate & infrastructure sectors in Africa?

As a research firm, one of our main challenges is the lack of reliable information to project market gaps and inform project feasibilities. National level information is often easy to find, but the information problem

ExpertInterview

is particularly pertinent when information is required on a local level. Other challenges include: Slow progress in administrative processes (i.e. approvals, etc) and decision making often lead to delays in development in the real estate sector and in return lead to opportunities being lost.

The importance of market research is also often underestimated.

Opportunities are less welldefined and thus difficult to package.

Language barriers in particular countries cause barriers to entry.

Lacking legislation architecture to guide and enable convenient cross border trade and investment. This is of particular importance when businesses are required to import products for operations or construction.

We have also experienced a lack in locally based skills to support development projects (particularly in rural areas).

Political instability often discourages investment into Africa. This is further linked to exchange rate uncertainty – uncertainty with regards to return on investment.

Currently implementation models attempt to duplicate processes and functions that work in model developed countries, however this is

sometimes considered the major reason for real estate developments not being successful.

And the opportunities?

Rapid growth with high potential return on investment can be expected should the product be in demand. Africa is regarded by many as the new emerging market, the new frontier or last untapped market.

However harnessing opportunities requires innovation and understanding the uniqueness and individuality of cultures in different countries. The greatest mistake in Africa is to try a one size fits all approach.

creation and bringing stability to the markets. We therefore need to ensure more market penetration, expansion of the markets beyond only the larger cities and metros to secondary cities and towns.

“Africa is regarded by many as the new emerging market, the new frontier or last untapped market. However harnessing opportunities requires innovation and understanding the uniqueness and individuality of cultures in different countries

What is your vision for this sector?

The real estate sector as with any economy is an important asset class for investment. However, due to its relative stability and confidence instilled in investors by the fact that real estate is fixed and tangible, this sector in my view is one of the most important sources for wealth

You are a delegate at the upcoming African Real Estate & Infrastructure Summit.

What will be your message at the event?

What are you most looking forward to at the event?

Being exposed to the success stories of other developments, particularly the section on Africa’s finest. I am also especially looking forward to networking, meeting new contacts and expanding into new markets.

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News U

ganda looks set to become East Africa’s top hydroelectric power producer under E N E R G Y a new plan unveiled in March. The plan involves half a dozen hydroelectric power plants on the Nile to supplement the Owen Falls Dam, Nalubaale Power Station and Bujagali Falls Power Plant, the country’s existing hydro power stations.

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he South F I N A N C African Rand has once again plunged in value as clashes continue between Jacob Zuma and Pravin Gordhan, the South African Finance Minister. On the 28th, Gordhan was ordered home from an overseas investor roadshow, triggering speculation about an imminent cabinet reshuffle.

As a result, the rand fell by nearly 3% against the US dollar. While (at time of writing) no reshuffle has yet been announced and no explanation given, the South African economy remains restless, especially with the long-awaited end of Mr Zuma’s term in the near future.

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By 2019, Uganda plans to generate more than 1700 megawatts of power, more than Kenya or Tanzania, their regional rivals in the business. The new project is largely funded by Chinese investment, off the back of a previous policy of privatisation that failed during the 1980s, and will be funded with soft loans to ensure that electricity prices can remain reasonable. Beijing will be investing more than $1.9bn in this project.

Elsewhere, private solar ownership is booming in Kenya, Uganda, Ghana and Tanzania, creating some 2,500 jobs and lighting 450,000 homes. Based off the successful mobile money app M-Pesa’s success in the early 2010s, M-Kopa’s team have been helping eradicate dirty and unreliable kerosene lighting and providing cheap energy sources for African towns and villages.

The business’ model revolves around charging customers a $30 deposit followed by 365 payments of $0.50, paid using M-Pesa, after which the system belongs to the customer. Each system comes with one solar panel, two light bulbs, a torch, a phone charger and a radio.

Other sales bundles also exist. This kind of technology-driven business looks set to provide a marked increase in standards of living across the continent, a positive sign for the future.

News

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he flow of trade and investment between China and its partner nations in Africa continues apace, with Chinese web entrepreneurs extending their operations into the continent.

Platforms like the business-listing company Amanbo and the sales app JMSA-Mall have been making huge profits and uniting African economies, allowing African and Chinese customers and businesses to buy from Chinese markets or from markets across the African continent, to the benefit of all involved.

There are challenges to this utopian technological progress, ECOMMERCE however – African consumers lack confidence in online transactions due to endemic internet security risks and issues, while poor infrastructure means that delivery is often difficult or unreliable. Many Africans prefer making purchases at traditional stores and making purchases with cash or debit cards, although the positive experience of M-Pesa has changed this mentality somewhat.

I N F R A STRUCTURE

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thiopia has planned a massive $90 million programme of infrastructure development, according to the African Development Bank. The project will involve massive improvements to the national road network, connecting the south of the country with the main highway system and helping the development of agriculture, coal mining and cement production, as well as several major hydroelectric projects and light rail.

As elsewhere, the project has seen sizeable Chinese investment and funding, although it steps away from the Chinese model of private enterprise as Addis Ababa retains control of several key state-owned enterprise sectors.

The project also opens trade routes between Ethiopia and South Sudan, boosting economic growth in the young and struggling nation, which has recently had to begin taxing aid workers to support the sharp losses it took during the oil slump.

Afreximbank, the African Export/Import Bank, has unveiled a five-year strategic plan for 20172021. The bank plans to support at least $90 billion in trade with at least $25 billion in intra-African trade. They will be supporting the development of continental supply chains and export manufacturing capacity in several countries, as well as supporting trade between Africans and those in the global African diaspora.

Key focus areas will be Industrialisation and Export Development, Trade Finance Leadership and Financial Soundness and Performance development, with efforts made to develop agro-processing, light manufacturing and tradable service sectors.

In particular, the bank aims to prime African nations to take the manufacturing crown from China, which is seeing rising wages and quality of life demands. Other projects in conjunction with Ecobank Transnational will finance private sector projects, trade finance and the underdeveloped SME sector.

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S h a r e

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PiA Solar

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Sunrise I N

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S O U T H

A F R I C A

Energy

PiA Solar is an industry leader in the supply and installation of mounting structures for solar utility projects in South Africa and worldwide. spoke to director of business development, Axel Pustet, on the evolution of PiA from a truly South African company to an international operator.

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o a layman, PiA Solar’s products look like any other solar installation – endless ranks of tilted blue PV modules, set in rows in the sun or perched on carport roofs. A more experienced eye, however, will note the robust design, contour following and modular systems ensuring the reliability needed for the African continent’s sometimes challenging ground and weather conditions.

The keenest eye will note the perfect alignment.

The company’s primary products and services accommodating the world market are turnkey installations of its ContouR+ Tracker, which adjusts the angle of the solar panels for maximum efficiency, along with fixed tilt, rooftop and carport solar structure for existing buildings.

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P i A

Expanding the business

Starting off with a “small” 75 megawatt project in South Africa in the early 2013s, PiA is now approaching 500 megawatts of installed projects and laid its one millionth solar cell in 2015 in a 90 MWp project in de Aar, South Africa.

Although tough, its systems’ main advantages are in their simplicity.

“We have a very effective design with needful functionality,” says Pustet, “but people are surprised how simple a system can be – this is why we believe we can compete in the international market very well.”

S o l a r

From its relatively humble 2012 beginnings PiA has grown significantly thanks to its various contracts in Africa, with 50 permanent employees and three locations: a central headquarters in Port Elizabeth, a distribution warehouse and office in Johannesburg and a customer liaison office in Cape Town. When Axel Pustet, Director Business Development, PiA Solar SA

“Starting off with a “small” 75 megawatt project in South Africa in the early 2013s, PiA is now approaching 500 megawatts of installed projects and laid its one millionth solar cell in 2015 in a 90 MWp project in de Aar, South Africa

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011-814-4710

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transgalv@transgalv.co.za

P i A

working on larger projects the company hires from a proven network of subcontractors and people – up to 450 staff on site in some of its more recent projects. It is also level one Black Economic Empowermentrated, and heavily involved in programmes by the South African government to develop local business and entrepreneurship.

The politics of power

During the 2017 State of the Nation address, president Jacob Zuma committed South Africa and its electricity public utility Eskom to renewable energy as well as coal, gas and nuclear.

This move has been welcomed by the solar industry, especially after months of deadlock following Eskom’s refusal to

“Thanks to advances in the technology, the price of solar modules is only going down.

Further to this, the conditions in South Africa are ideal for solar generation in the residential, commercial and large industries and could create huge development potential

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P i A

“At present, the company is looking largely at small to medium-scale utility and private solar projects in various countries, with plans to expand internationally taking up much of its attention

This lack of support is the only thing holding back the development of small-scale solar power projects like PiA’s rooftop and carport substructures. Thanks to advances in the technology, the price of solar modules is only going down. Further to this, the conditions in South Africa are ideal for solar generation in the residential, commercial and large industries and could create huge development potential.

In terms of development and engineering South Africa is certainly able to compete internationally.

S o l a r

Pustet credits PiA’s rapid growth and success in the industry to the mindset of its management team when it comes to installation.

“All our products have been designed for fast, adaptable and safe installation – all of us have come out of the automobile industry and this is the thinking: it’s like an assembly line. Every step has to fit into each other to make it as effective as possible.”

For a company focusing on turnkey installation and modular components this approach has helped PiA deliver consistently ahead of schedule.

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issue final budget quotes to preferred bidders in Round 4 and the Round 4 extension of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme. As a major South African solar provider, PiA is subcontracting and supplying its tracking systems to several of the successful bidders.

Nonetheless, Eskom’s lack of interest in renewable energy remains especially frustrating to South African companies like PiA. In particular, Pustet pointed to the lack of regulation to support micro systems, particularly for connecting low voltage systems to Eskom’s grid.

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P i A

Looking forward

PiA is continuing to expand its business elsewhere in the world with a current focus on Africa, aligning itself with the continent’s growing hunger for renewable energy and its own generational capabilities. At present, the company is looking largely at small to medium-scale utility and private solar projects in various countries, with plans to expand internationally taking up much of its attention.

PiA’s birth in South Africa coincided with a demand for job creation and economic development in the region, one that it intends to contribute to wherever it operates. “PV Solar is a decentralized concept, even if we are currently working mostly

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on utility scale projects. But going abroad we always respect the demand for local development of jobs, skills and the economy in our target markets.”

The scope of PiA’s target markets is rapidly expanding, as Pustet explains. “The core markets we’re looking to create business in for 2018 and the years following are in Argentina, Mexico and Saudi Arabia. Africa will be mostly dominated by micro-grid and smaller systems. However Nigeria, Morocco and Tunisia might become very important for PiA, but there is also a limited amount going on in other African regions, so perhaps in two or three years their importance will grow. Ultimately we can’t rely on one state and its utility, so we have to spread the risk.”

S o l a r

Currently PiA Solar is installing its tracker in Namibia in 2 17MW projects, and is nominated for more than 230MW in the region.

Ultimately, in the next two years, PiA is looking to become one of the top 10 solar tracker suppliers, joining Chinese, European and US multinationals. With its innovate attitude and approach and the success it currently enjoys, this certainly seems like an achievable aim.

Follow us: @PiASolarSA @PiASolarSA

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New Horizons Energy

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Energy

New Horizons Energy is a subdivision of Clean Energy Africa, a group of companies that seek to provide environmentally friendly solutions to the continent’s growing energy demands. New Horizons is developing Africa’s first and largest waste-to-energy plant in Cape Town in partnership with Waste-Mart and spoke to CEO Egmont Afrox.

Ottermann about the challenges of developing this new technology.

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ew Horizon’s waste and landfill processing plant is designed to exploit Cape Town’s overflowing landfills and convert municipal, commercial and industrial waste into an alternative energy resource via biogas generator systems.

Ultimately, the company plans to achieve a 100% diversion of waste from landfills into its generators, and supply liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and liquefied CO2 to the area’s industrial markets. The system is also able to produce high-quality methane, although this is only being produced in a stop-gap capacity to alleviate the Western Cape’s current gas shortage.

Ottermann has been with Clean Energy Africa for just over a year, and was hired

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E n e r g y

to work on the Cape Town project thanks to his experience as a group energy manager at PPC South African Cement. His previous focus was on processing alternative fuels for the cement industry, developing strategies for providing energy to isolated communities including biofuels.

Egmont Ottermann, CEO,New Horizons Energy

Thanks to the unique nature of the project, he tells us that Waste-Mart’s role is more than just providing the money for the development – it’s providing the fuel for the entire facility. “Waste-Mart is committed to supply all the waste to the plant,”

“Ultimately, the company plans to achieve a 100% diversion of waste from landfills into their generators, and supply LPG and liquefied CO2 to the area’s industrial markets.

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he added. “There are other companies that do supply to the plant but not necessarily on long term contracts because you can’t build a facility like the plant and then not make it available to the market.”

On the up

Currently, biogas is an industry very much in its infancy in South Africa, especially when compared to other renewable fuels such as solar or wind.

However, Ottoman continues, the scope for successful implementation is enormous.

“I think in the long term – long term meaning the next 20 years – there is massive potential, but I’d like to warn against an isolated approach, simply because this is just a part of a larger waste management solution. If you really want to achieve

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Contact

Email: nazier@wastemart.co.za tel: +27 (0) 86 045 6786

www.wastemart.co.za

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high-level diversion rates of material from landfills you need to put the infrastructure in place.

“If you look at the waste hierarchy the most important part is of course reuse, then you get the recycling part.

Somewhere in the middle, before you start throwing stuff away and burning it, you have energy recovery. That’s what we’re doing here, we’re recovering the organic energy out of the waste and selling it as gas.

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“But once you start doing that, where do you go with it? At the moment there aren’t many places with high enough gas prices and high enough landfill for this to be practical. That’s why we chose Cape Town, which has high landfill prices and a gas shortage. In other parts of the country landfill prices are low and gas prices are lower at the moment – but we’re confident that South Africa is starting a growth curve for waste energy because the economic

H o r i z o n s

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conditions are getting closer to reality.”

It’s already a reality in Cape Town, and Ottermann believes that other parts of South Africa will be proposing new plants within 5-10 years and rolling this technology out in full in the next 20. As he points out, the plants are using known and proven technology – a recycling facility and a gas upgrading plant, and that means that the glitches have been ironed

Energy

“ already a reality “It’s in Cape Town, and Ottermann believes that other parts of South Africa will be proposing new plants within 5-10 years and rolling this technology out in full in the next 20. out and construction costs are reasonable.

Demand

At the same time, demand for land is increasing. The environmental pressures on landfilling are rising too, and landfilling is becoming more expensive because the sites are being built to higher standards and their true costs are being taken into account.

“People start realising the cost of it,” says Ottermann, “and soon as that happens that brings along some costing models and then suddenly the realisation that hey, clean energy is actually competitive dawns, because it already incorporates all those extraneous details.”

Regardless, the future looks bright. “Of course, the publicity we have received from the current project has brought a number of other projects to the table,” Ottermann continues.

“But we are not in advanced status with any other project at the moment, because we have to focus on getting this one to work and learning from the mistakes we made. The main plan for next year is to make sure this project operates well and becomes profi table as soon as possible from a shareholder perspective.

“As it is a recent fi nanced project we have a lot of debt, so the quicker we can pay that back the quicker the shareholders will see some

return. It’s difficult to say when we’ll see a proper return depending on price infl ation, particularly gas prices, but we’re looking at typically 7-8 years.”

Follow us: @NHWaste2Energy New Horizons Energy New Horizons Energy (Pty) Ltd New Horizons Waste to Energy

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Bakwena w w w . b a k w e n a . c o . z a

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Construction

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ANRAL, the South African government’s highways agency, has been hiring private contractors and groups to connect the cities of South Africa for a number of years, stimulating economic growth, tourism and social development while creating economic opportunities for people living in formerly isolated areas.

In 2000, Bakwena secured a major concession to design, finance, build and operate the N1 and N4 highways, part of the proposed Trans-African Highway 4 (also known as the Cape to Cairo road) running from south to north through South Africa.

The Bakwena Consortium (part of the Africa Finance Corporation) is known for securing a concession to upgrade the N1 and N4 highways that carry vast quantities of traffic across South Africa and through the Trans-Kalahari interviewed corridor.

Liam Clarke on the company’s decades-long concession with SANRAL and its operations in the area.

“In 2000, Bakwena secured a major concession to design, finance, build and operate the N1 and N4 highways The initial costs were around R2 billion, although that has rapidly increased. Nonetheless, Bakwena was able to successfully refinance the debt from its toll road project, the largest refinancing of an infrastructure programme ever in South Africa, on

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B a k w e n a

more attractive terms thanks to the project’s successful operations.

Paving the way

As well as operating the toll booths, Bakwena provides assistance with roadside emergencies and maintains and upgrades the roads. The company’s sophisticated system of electronic toll collection via e-tags (the first of its kind in South Africa) has made travel on its 385 kilometres of roadways (the “platinum highway”) easy and hassle-free.

Liam Clarke joined the company in 2008 as its operations manager, seven years into the 30-year concession. He was then promoted to project manager, tasked with ensuring that Bakwena procured e-tag electronic tolling systems that

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“The company’s sophisticated system of electronic toll collection via e-tags (the first of its kind in South Africa) has made travel on its 385 kilometres of roadways (the “platinum highway”) easy and hassle-free. encouraging small businesses.

were interoperable with SANRAL’s proposed toll systems elsewhere in South Africa.

This system finally went live in September 2012, a full 15 months before SANRAL’s own electronic tolling system (known as Open Road Tolling, active on the Gauteng freeways) was implemented. This system was revolutionary at the time as it allows cars to travel through the motorway without having to stop. Clark is now the commercial manager of the company, involved in tech promotion and the corporate social investment programme that Bakwena has rolled out all along the 385km long route.

When talking about the historic refinancing, Clarke mentions that pension funds were among those investing, as the road had proved

BUILDING A NATION

Contact:

Tel: 011 396 1793 Fax: 011 396 2344 E-Mail: reception@g4.co.za

www.G4.co.za

B a k w e n a

“In the CSI programme we’ve got four categories. One is road safety, which obviously is very close to our heart – we want to make sure the road is as safe as possible. This involves going to primary and secondary schools and teaching them about road safety and good road behaviour.

We sponsor school patrols along the route. We’re involved in this on the health side of things as well, having aligned ourselves with the Red Cross, and we’ve posted training levels one, two and three in the schools so that the schools have healthcare training on-site.

itself able to produce a steady income despite increased traffic necessitating upgrades. The terms of the original loans were also renegotiated to put Bakwena in a more advantageous position with the bank thanks to the project’s success.

Giving back

Bakwena runs a four-part Corporate Social Investment Programme along the route, covering road safety, encouraging tourism, environmental issues and encouraging local small businesses and entrepreneurs.

Clarke explains in more detail:

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“Bakwena runs a four-part Corporate Social Investment Programme along the route, covering road safety, encouraging tourism, environmental issues and encouraging local small businesses and entrepreneurs.

“In terms of tourism, we try to encourage and support the tourists to use the route’s facilities, and there’s other interesting sights along the route,” he continues. “We’re also very focused on environmental issues. My colleagues were yesterday involved in the release of two leopards that have been captured on a farm close to the route, and the leopards were released yesterday with tracking collars so that we can actually encourage the protection of leopards from illegal hunting and try to build up the population of nearby natural wildlife.

“The Endangered Wildlife Trust run a couple of programmes in some of the schools to do with things like recycling water, vegetable gardens, water quality in the streams and stuff like that.

Then the final area is on the socio-economic side, trying to

B a k w e n a

support and encourage small entrepreneurs and give them the opportunity to do business where possible.”

Bakwena’s site lists a long list of CSI programmes including skills development and education, a dedicated development fund for education and support for youth sports development, local community events and a more general “improved well-being of communities along the corridor”.

Challenges

Running a major road through difficult terrain is a challenging task. Aside from the abovementioned leopards, keeping the roads maintained and running smoothly is only part of Bakwena’s job.

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“In 2017 we’re putting R1 billion into upgrading certain sectors of the route to keep within the SANRAL requirements. We’ve upheld them consistently, and at the end of the day we’ll be able to hand the administration of the highway back to SANRAL in reasonable condition – it’s a little like renting a car – you have to give it back with the warranty still in place so it’s not completely worn out.”

One of the biggest challenges in Bakwena’s operation of the motorways has been the damage and delays caused by vehicle overloading, but SANRAL has helped by hiring contractors to run two traffic control systems that monitor and pull off the heavy vehicles and weigh them,

as well as stopping vehicles that are not road-worthy. The traffic authorities when necessary will then prosecute them. These control centres (Mantsole and Bapong) are the flagship traffic control centres in South Africa.

According to Clarke, “the other challenge was in creating the traffic projections. Fortunately our traffic predictions have been pretty close to the mark and they’re still viable going forward, which means we can plan appropriately and we won’t end up over-capacity as has happened to some other concessions.”

The company will hand the road back to SANRAL in 2030, but there’s still plenty to do

Proud to be a service provider to Bakwena N1N4 Toll www.jgafrika.com

B a k w e n a

Actophambili Roads (Pty) Ltd ...was founded November 2008. Originally the main focus was light road maintenance i.e. patching, crack seal and slurry seal.

In November 2012 Mr. Johan Pelser joined the company with the aim to add a new dimension to the relatively small company.

The new Actophambili Roads (Pty) Ltd specialize in Asphalt surfacing, Seals, Slurry, Crack seal and Asphalt patching.

before then. Construction is underway on 100 kilometres of new highway between Zeerust and Rustenburg, extending the existing N4 highway, and other construction and management projects are also in the pipeline.

The company is upgrading the road to a dual carriageway along several parts of the route to improve traffic flow. They’ve also published a book, the “Platinum Road Book”, intended to add value to the driving experiences of people on the Bakwena road by pointing out local attractions and aspects of South Africa’s heritage.

Launched in 2013, the book has now been expanded into an app that tracks the user’s location on GPS to tell anecdotal stories when it passes through certain

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areas on the N1 and N4 roads.

This adds to the company’s goal of supporting tourism in the region and promoting local entrepreneurship.

Bakwena seems to be well on track to successfully completing its concession, and making the N1 and N4 highways better for all of South Africa. While the Bakwena project was something of a gamble for the South African government and the investors who became involved in it, it seems to be paying off.

Follow us: @BakwenaN1N4 @BakwenaN1N4

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From January 2013, other key personnel joined the team

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over the next couple of years and the current Senior

Y

Management team has more than 200 years of relevant

CM

experience, we now also have 3 Asphalt plants operating

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under Actop Asphalt (Pty) Ltd. Our two main Clients include Sanral and Bakwena Platinum Corridor Concessionaire, with several projects over the last couple of years successfully completed.

Actophambili Roads (Pty) Ltd’s surfacing and asphalt teams are fully equipped from leading manufacturers and are operated by experienced operators.

We currently have a CIDB grading of 9CE, 8SB and BEE status level 4.

Our company policy is to deliver quality service, develop and maintain well established relationships.

Office locations: Ekurhuleni | Bloemfontein | Cape Town.

For more information visit us at:

www.Actophambilli.co.za

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Actophambilli Roads Specialising in: • Asphalt Overlays • UTFC Overlays • Chip and Spray Seals • Road Rehabilitation • Patching

• Crack sealing • Enrichment Sprays • Plant Hire • Lowbed Hire • Supply of Asphalt

CIDB grading of 9CE and 8SB Members of: Sabita, SAFCEC and BCCEI

CONTACT

www.Actophambilli.co.za

Email: liesl@actop.co.za elsa@actop.co.za Telephone: 011 395 2293 Fax: 011 395 3767 Address: 165 Pretoria Road, Rynfield, Benoni, 1501

Toyota Zambia

w w w . t o y o t a z a m b i a . c o . z m

In Africa the Toyota brand needs little introduction, with its legendarily reliable and hardwearing vehicles being staples of life in many rugged areas. Toyota Zambia is a licensed distributor of Toyota vehicles and HINO trucks with branches in Lusaka, Kitwe and spoke Livingstone. to managing director Dino Bianchi about the company’s African operations.

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oyota Zambia was first incorporated as Mobile Motors N.R. on December 3rd, 1963, but in 1965 changed its name to Mobile Motors Zambia Limited to align itself to the birth of the new nation. 29 years later, after the dawn of Zambia’s multi-

Automotive

“We sell quality, durable and reliable products made for this market

party democracy, Mobile Motors Zambia Limited changed its name to Toyota Zambia Limited.

Managing director Dino Bianchi describes Toyota Zambia’s unique selling points as follows: “We sell quality, durable and reliable products made for this market. We provide after

sales support services for all the vehicles that we supply. Our after sales centres and workshops are well equipped to ensure that our customers are well supported.”

Developing skills

Skills development is key to the agenda of any developing nation, and Toyota Zambia is

actively supporting this through its Apprentice Program which will run for 2 years.

Its other program targets colleges and universities. The initiative is aimed at giving both technical college and university graduates opportunities to be exposed to real work environments and gain

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T o y o t a

Z a m b i a

Dino Bianchi, MD Zambia

“While Zambia is moving into a middle income society, thereby increasing affordability, the high cost of bank interest rates, the unstable exchange rates and recently the high inflation rates have affected the growth of the automotive industry, especially in the last two years or so. the necessary experience in the labour market.

The company is also part of the Private Enterprise Programme Zambia (PEPZ)’s business linkages programme, strengthening the relationship between local suppliers and multinational corporations, and in turn supply chains, helping to bring local companies up to the standard expected by the customer.

Recent developments In recent years, Toyota Zambia has focused on better service

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delivery through increased capacity and footprint, opening the Livingstone Branch in 2010, rehabilitating Copperbelt Toyota in 2011 and opening a state-of-the-art K55.6 million facility in 2013.

The new facility, which consists of 30 fully equipped service bays for passenger and light commercial vehicles and 2 service bays for trucks, demonstrates Toyota’s commitment to the development of Zambia by providing quality, durable,

reliable and well supported vehicles to various sectors of the economy.

The company is also running a number of Corporate Social Responsibility programmes. “We focus on four key areas in our CSR program. These areas are: health, through partnerships with key stakeholders like Beit Cure Hospital, and education: in 2016 we partnered with World Vision to refurbish a classroom block in Lundazi District.

“We also focus on Road Safety through partnership with Road Transport and Safety Agency and Global Road Safety Partnership Zambia to teach Zambians about safety on the increasingly busy roads.

The other area is Wildlife and Environmental protection.

The company also has two accredited local companies in Chipata and Kasama, offering routine maintenance and parts sales for customers in the northeast of the country.

This initiative reduces costs

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Hill & Delamain are proud suppliers to Toyota Zambia

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• Air, sea & road freight logis�cs • Customs brokers • Worldwide service & support • RIT / Transit Bonds available through Zimbabwe & Zambia ZAMBIA: 7216 Kachidza Road, Lusaka T: +260 211 286480 F: +260 211 286484 E: logis�cs@hdcargo.co.zm www.hill-delamain.co.zm

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CHANGING THE WAY CARGO MOVES

T o y o t a

Z a m b i a

“As market leaders, our objective is to increase on our market share while delivering world class standards in the automotive market to our customers. imported second-hand vehicles mainly from Japan and the UK. While Zambia is moving into a middle income society, thereby increasing affordability, the high cost of bank interest rates, the unstable exchange rates and recently the high inflation rates have affected the growth of the automotive industry, especially in the last two years or so.

for customers and creates employment for local people.”

As well as reducing costs for customers the initiative also reduces costs for the company, a problem in Zambia where doing business is often expensive.

Challenges

The automotive industry in Africa has in the last decade faced intense competition from

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Bianchi adds, “additionally, because of lack of a motor manufacturing industry, importation of vehicles attract high customs duty at 25%, excise duty of 25% to 30% depending on the engine size and to top this up, VAT is at 16% thereby inflating the cost of the vehicles in the country by 75% to 90%.

“The industry is becoming more and more competitive which is good, as it leads to improvement in service delivery by industry players. With the introduction of Vehicle Asset Finance, the Zambian government is working towards diversifying the economy towards agriculture and industrialisation and this will create good opportunities. We only hope at least interest rates

will continue coming down for us to exploit this opportunity for the industry.”

Moving forward

According to Bianchi Toyota Zambia is positioning itself for the future by creating a presence in areas where more economic activities will be happening: “With the government working towards diversification of the economy with specific focus on agriculture and value addition through industrialization, we as an organisation have equally started to reposition ourselves as can be seen in the increase of our branch networks throughout the country.

“As market leaders, our objective is to increase on our market share while delivering world class standards in the automotive market to our customers. 2017 has seen us expand into Solwezi where a parts and service facility will soon be opened to effectively support our customers on the new Copperbelt.”

Bianchi goes on to describe Toyota Zambia’s busy future.

Automotive

“We have a lot planned for the future of the business. To start with we will soon be opening another branch in Solwezi in order for us to effectively support our customers. “We will also continue to identify local entrepreneurs in strategic locations, or indeed in provincial centres to be appointed as authorised and accredited Service and Parts Sales Centres in C order take our services and products closer to our M customers. This is in a bid to expand our footprint Y in the market as well as create employment opportunities in these communities and include CM local businesses in owning a piece of an MY international brand.�

What We Do

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Follow us: @toyotazambia

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Here at Hai we have two distinct business offerings. An Enterprise service where your requirements will need high-level experience from the team that delivers your project.

Toyota Zambia Limited

Phone: + 260 978318320 + 260 969198530 Email: ervicedesk@hai-alive.co.zm + 260 211 255037/8

Contact

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Irritech

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Agriculture

Founded in 1992, Irritech Agencies International (PTY) Ltd. is a specialist irrigation company based in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, with business dealings across Southern Africa. The company prides itself on top-quality work utilising state-ofthe-art design and its ability to deliver systems that last.

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ounded 25 years ago by Franek Raciborski, Irritech is a company with a strong environmental and business ethos and a commitment to training and retaining skilled staff.

“System planning, once an occasionally informal process, is now highly complex, using satellite imagery and specialist irrigation design software to plot optimal tracks and positions for irrigation systems

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SMART

PANELS

MADE

E A S Y™

Valley®, the irrigation technology leader, brings you the smartest control available with the new ICON series of smart panels. The Valley ICON™ product line has a solution for every need. Whether you’re buying a new pivot, upgrading your existing panel or changing over from another brand of pivot, you have the advantage of operating an intuitive, full-color touchscreen interface with ease and simplicity. With ICON, life just got easier.

Easy Touchscreen Operation Intelligent Interface AgSense® ICON Link installed standard* Remote Device WiFi Access**

IRRITECH AGENCIES INTERNATIONAL South Africa – +27(0)33 3423177 reception@irritechsa.co.za ZAMBIAN IRRITECH LIMITED Zambia – +260 97 779 1356 sales@irritechzm.co.zm

Sole Valley Irrigation agents for Zambia

irritechsa.co.za *Additional hardware or subscription required. **Limitations based on field conditions.

T H E P O W E R O F K N O W I N G TM

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AgSense® ICON Link™ is a new remote management module exclusively designed for Valley ICON smart panels. It provides full remote programming of control panel functions and monitoring of center pivot operations via the AgSense mobile app or through Valley BaseStation3™. The ICON Link is delivered to you fully activated and processes commands at industry-leading speeds.

With a robust feature set, ICON Link is the key to unlock the full potential of Valley ICON smart panels from anywhere in the world.*

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valleyICON.com

Valley Irrigation of Southern Africa (Pty) Ltd. Contact: 010 350 0050 | Email: infosa@valmont.com | valleyICON.com

I r r i t e c h

“Franek has a passion for what he does and through this has mentored and shared his knowledge with the Irritech team. The company’s strongest bond is the feeling of family and home grown roots within the company,” says one of the directors and senior engineers, Paul Anders. “Irritech will be celebrating 25 years this year and as part of the celebration we will be having a 25 day sale,

From left to right: Caitlin Koch (née Raciborski), Franek Raciborski, Andrew Fowler and Luke Fowler.

“Close bonds and family ties are a key element to the success of our business,” says managing director Franek Raciborski. “Both Andrew Fowler (director and general manager) and I foresee our legacy continuing with junior staff, including our children Luke Fowler and Caitlin Koch (née Raciborski).”

“With water in short supply, it’s no longer enough to use traditional irrigation methods or haphazardly built and poorly planned systems. with one item on sale a day through the month of May.” The fi rm was one of the early players in the smart farming boom across Africa in the 2000s, using and providing a variety of technological solutions to design and run its systems.

System planning, once an occasionally informal process, is now highly complex, using satellite imagery and specialist irrigation design software to plot

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Agriculture

optimal tracks and positions for irrigation systems.

“Once the system has been planned, Irritech then designs the various fittings, pump stations, booster stations and irrigation barges using autoCAD, a computer-assisted design software that allows rapid and accurate prototyping and design that’s specific to the client farm’s needs.

Many of our system designs use variable speed drives that allow a measure of flexibility and increase the economic and environmental efficiency of the systems.”

Swan Plastics (Pty) Ltd 49 Jeffels Road, Prospecton 4110 P.O. Box 55 Umbogintwini 4120 T: +27 (0)31 912 1607 F: +27 (0)31 912 1821 E: swanplastics@dbnmail.co.za

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sales@kwazulupastics.co.za 031 306 5226

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086 2362676

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Product Range: • SABS uPVC Pressure Pipe • SABS mPVC Pressure Pipe • SABS Sewer & Drain Pipe and Fittings • SABS Soil & Vent Pipe and Fittings • SABS PVC Gutter Systems • Cable & Flood Pipe

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PROUD SUPPLIER PARTNERS TO IRRITECH AGENCIES INTERNATIONAL

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CONTACT 031 792 9500 dennisn@sizabantupipingsystems.com sagrenn@sizabantupipingsystems.com

Based at the Richards Bay Industrial Development Zone (RBIDZ), Sizabantu Piping Systems opened its new R300m PVC-O pipe plant factory in 2016. The factory specialises in the manufacturing and distribution of a comprehensive range of high pressure PVC pipes and drainage solutions using Molecor’s proprietary technology.

The factory’s target markets are the agricultural, civil and industrial sectors locally, as well as in southern Africa and the sub-Saharan region.

Plastic pipes come with many inherent advantages in comparison to other traditional materials. These include its non-corrosive properties, which enables a longer lifespan and unlike traditional metallic pipe, no cathodic protection is required.

Additional advantages include better hydraulic performance, lower pumping costs, and better surge or water hammer capabilities. Plastic pipe is a tried and tested product, well-suited for Africa and the infrastructure sector.

In addition, the demand for potable water in Africa is enormous and its user-friendly products will assist in speeding up the supply of much-needed reticulation systems, particularly in urban centres where the trend points to exponential expansion. This is due to rural communities increasingly migrating to towns and cities in search of better prospects. PVC-O pipes are proving to be a better cost effective alternative option, where large diameter and higher pressure ratings are required for bulk water lines.

www.sizabantupipingsystems.com

PVC PIPING PUMP STATIONS

PROFESSIONAL ADVICE

I r r i t e c h

Alongside flexibility, precision is often also important – Irritech’s Swaziland partner Irriwater uses a GPS-steered tractor for accurate laying of lateral pipes, the driver positioning the vehicle and then operating nothing but the accelerator and gearshift.

The company’s environmental and efficiency concerns also extend to its own offices, which use a system of rainwater tanks (the water flowing off the roof of its workshops is enough to run the taps and plumbing continuously), while solar power and LED lights reduce electricity use. These measures, along with partnerships with tree-planting groups like Greenpop, are estimated to reduce the company’s dependence on municipal electricity by 50% and will save the equivalent of 460,000kg of carbon dioxide and 2.1 million kg of nitrogen dioxide.

A necessary system

“A major part of the corporate plan for the next five years is to prepare and train a new generation of junior engineers to take over roles currently held by senior personnel.

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Both Irritech’s smart systems and its environmental focus make sense in the broader context of South African agriculture, frequently disrupted by droughts and wrong-footed by the changing climate. Following a particularly severe El Nino and a string of droughts during 2015 and 2016, the market for irrigation systems has boomed as farmers try to find ways to sustain their production levels.

With water in short supply, it’s no longer enough to use traditional

Agriculture

irrigation methods or haphazardly built and poorly planned systems. Farmers are keenly aware that they need to make the most of every drop of water they receive, especially as South Africa’s reservoirs drop to 30% capacity with insufficient rainfall to refill them.

Beyond South Africa, the southern nations of the continent are all struggling with food insecurity. The United Nations has labelled the current droughts as the worst in 35 years, with more than 40 million people at risk of starvation. Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe are all being targeted by the World Food Programme for support. Climate change is also changing the habitats of many animal species, including pests like the armyworm, which has spread south with alarming speed as temperatures rise. Eco-farming, which prioritises reduced emissions and the use of technology to adapt to changing conditions, is now vital, and companies like Irritech are at the forefront of this adaptation.

What next?

Irritech’s major capital investment is in its staff and engineers. Large amounts are invested on training of staff at all levels each year, ensuring that the company has an efficient and knowledgeable workforce in place. As the company plans to

expand its operations north as far as the Congo, meeting demand created by the changing climate and years of drought in the region, management are also working to ensure that that expansion is sustainable.

“A major part of the corporate plan for the next five years is to prepare and train a new generation of junior engineers to take over roles currently held by senior personnel who can then move back into a more supervisory role, allowing the company to take on more business while creating a strong technical, sales, advertising and logistics team to carry the Irritech name forward.”

With so much at stake when it comes to a successful irrigation infrastructure in Africa, it seems sensible to entrust operations to a company with long-term quality and reliability in mind.

Follow us: @IrritechAgenciesInternational Irritech Agencies International (Pty) Ltd

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ROFF Industries

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Agriculture

Roff Industries, established in 1991, has been in existence for more than 25 years and specialises in the design and construction of high quality maize milling plants.

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rom the outset Roff have been committed to quality, service and innovation.

Today, Roff does not only have a production facility that produces maize milling equipment designed to address customer needs, but also consist of a design department that enable us to do customised projects to fit in most existing buildings and meet specific customer criteria. Our product offering traditionally satisfied

production capacities between 500 kg/h up to 4000 kg/h and can be operational in less than six months from date of order.

We have plants operational in South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Namibia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Zambia, Angola, Tanzania, Kenya, DRC, Uganda and as far as Eastern Europe, Syria and Belgium.

What makes us tick?

With more than 100 employees, we are committed to passionately execute the one

I n d u s t r i e s

thing that makes us tick, “the sound of a milling machine starting up and running at full capacity”. At Roff our employees are one big family.

We all back the brand and the product with emotion. From the detail in design right through to supporting our customers to grow their competitive advantage by making sure that extractions are maximised and downtime minimised. For Roff, success lies in the success of our customers as profitable business leaders in their communities.

“With more than 100 employees, we are committed to passionately execute the one thing that makes us tick, ‘the sound of a milling machine starting up and running at full capacity’.

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W pr e a so ofe re c yo lut ssi om ur ion on m or s al ite ga to cu d ni sp sto to sa ec m p tio ifi is ro n’s ca ed vid e ne lly m ed e s. et

Contact Tel: +27 12 653 8280 Fax: +27 12 653 8286 Mob: 082 554 1935

Email: steve@esenci.co.za Address: Unit A7 Wesrilhan Park 160 Edison Crescent, Hennops Park

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Strategically Roff Industries is aiming to be the leading role-player in the Sub-Saharan African market within the next four years. Therefore, emphasis and investment is being placed on providing not only the product to the market, but also excellent service in terms of parts availability, technical assistance and support. Being an South African manufacturer, Roff has not only an African focussed product range but also understands the unique challenges that faces its customers in South Africa and neighbouring countries.

Over the past 15 years we have noticed that the consumer of maize meal is looking for a more

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refined and a better quality product. This has led to African Milling Companies investing in more technical and high-tech equipment. In 2012 we launched a Maize Milling Plant, named the R70. The R70 Maize Milling Plant produces high quality maize meal and enables the entrepreneur to satisfy these market’s needs.

Bestselling Roff R70

Since then the plant has become the company’s top seller. The Roff R70 plant offers a compact mill to the entrepreneur who is looking to enter the maize meal market, as well as, existing milling companies who wishes to increase their milling capacity, with an even more cost effective

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process. Roff’s R70 enables the client to produce maize meal at an inlet capacity of 50 to 100 tons per day, depending on the configuration of the mill setup.

The plant can be set up at 50 tons and easily upgraded to 100 tons per day, allowing the customer to grow into the capacity needed.

The Roff R70 comes standard with a surge bin for maize inlet, cleaning and conditioning equipment (with a conditioning bin), degermination, milling, sifting, conveyors, electrical panel, electrical cabling and all steel structures. Clients only need to provide the building, water point and electrical supply to the panel. Some of the features of the R70 are the following:

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Great companies have great tales to tell.

With an established global reach, our editorial is read by senior executives, buyers, manufactures and other leading industry professionals. If you’d like to share your strory and bring your business closer to the people that matter, please contact us today. @EssentialBizMag

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Innovative design

Our innovative design department are focussing on product development and implementing new technologies constantly. Getting feedback from the technical teams on a constant basis, with debriefing sessions after every project in order to improve our processes, information flow and efficiency continuously. ROFF will be launching new plants into the maize milling industry in 2018.

Compact to save floor space and reduce installation costs, the ROFF R70 has the capacity to produce up to 30 000 tons per year, which is a potential annual turnover of R100 million.

The R70 is the best value for money maize mills on the market, with smaller capacity options also available.

To reduce installation time on site, the mills are preassembled in the ROFF factory.

Sheet metal parts are laser-cut to ensure excellent quality.

All operational equipment is installed across two levels, so that processes are visible from multiple angles. This enables the miller contact with the process and easy control of the plant.

All components are easily reachable. The top floor is not an operational floor,

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but mainly used for maintenance purposes.

The R70 is a proudly South African mill. With the exception of a few small parts, it is manufactured at ROFF’s Kroonstad factory.

For the client’s peace of mind, the R70 is covered by an optional service contract.

Since the launch of the R70 various improvements have been made specifically in the product and production flow, enabling our design team to push the traditional boundaries in order to increase extraction and quality of the final product to new levels. These improvements have realise higher profitability for our customers and is living proof of our commitment towards increasing our customer’s competitive advantage.

We need to be more than just a supplier to our customers, but a lifelong partner. A partner that can grow with our customers. As they become more successful in their particular markets we need to be able to satisfy the need for increased capacity or quality within our product range.

Roff has always been and will always be the entrepreneur’s best choice to partner with in the milling industry.

Follow us: @RoffMills Roff industries RoffMills

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Sage Enterprise Africa

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Sage is one of the biggest names in business management spoke to software.

Keith Fenner, Vice President of Sage Enterprise Africa and Middle East, about the company’s worldwide strategic overhaul and the strategies taking them into a new period of growth.

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Parity completed over 20 Sage “go-lives” in 2016.

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t Sage, times are changing. CEO Stephen Kelly has promised to “shed the shackles of conservatism” and overhaul the company to compete in the ever-changing tech markets. The latest effort involves a string of mobile

accounting apps to let business owners run their books from tablets and mobile devices, a move away from the company’s traditional boxed software releases. Keith Fenner, Vice President of Sage Enterprise Africa and Middle East, is confident about the new regime and its potential impact.

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“When Stephen came in, he arrived with a broader outlook: ‘Listen, we need to become ‘One Sage’, therefore we need to put some money on different horses for our overall product strategy with a cloud first philosophy.’ Our previous strategy was to have a few leading products dominating local markets. However, we’re

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“CEO Stephen Kelly has promised to “shed the shackles of conservatism” and overhaul the company to compete in the ever-changing tech markets

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A Leading Platinum Sage X3 Business Partner

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+27 11 036 2300

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Good to Great: Mucheki Consulting Humble Beginnings to SAGE PLATINUM RESELLER Established in 2012, Mucheki Consulting has a long standing and fruitful certified business partnership with Sage Enterprise, characterised by successful implementations across the length and breadth of the African continent and a host of new customers. Based in South Africa with presence in Zimbabwe and Kenya, Mucheki Consulting is a trusted provider of customdesigned, end-to-end enterprise resource planning solutions. Mucheki believes the emerging ICT market is in Africa thus focus is on the African market. A recent growth trend in local support for the market-leading product has meant that a sustainable, confident market for Sage X3 is steadily developing and promising to hit the top.

Starting as a one man band Mucheki Consulting, is now the only Sage Enterprise Platinum certified partner in Southern, Central and East Africa, attributing this achievement to unwavering work ethic, quality service delivery and patience of Mucheki Sage certified team, as well as continued belief in Sage X3 as the business solution of choice for mid-sized to large businesses and institutions in Africa. The prime focus as a business solutions provider is not only software but the provision of practical solutions to real business problems.

Mucheki Consulting is under the leadership of Engineer Churchward Mucheki CPIM, CSCP, an APICS certified professional with over 20 years’ experience in the implementation of Enterprise Business systems. Churchward is regarded the leading Sage X3 expert on the African continent. Mucheki Consulting is set to play as contributors towards making African companies globally competitive through structured business intelligence that will improve product and service delivery. In addition to the many benefits of Sage X3, Mucheki Consulting underlines an emphasis on creating a good and long lasting relationship with all its customers. Mucheki Consulting fosters a commitment to transferring as much knowledge as possible to customers and follow an implementation methodology that encourages customer participation and a sense of ownership for the project. Already having successfully signed off Sage X3 in 16 African countries for Alliance Media, one of our key customers, Mucheki is geared to take the ICT industry to greater heights with more than 30 customer sites in Africa and Europe and a preferred partner for one of the big five consulting firms in South Africa.

Testimonial Mucheki Consulting successfully implemented Sage X3, Sage CRM and the Workflow system for Alliance Media. The solution has been deployed in all our African operations covering 16 countries. Mucheki Consulting work was very professional and of high standard – Peter Magora (Group Commercial Manager)”.

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trying to be ahead of the curve in every market in which we operate. For example, we are now developing a world-class industry leading cloud strategy.

We are thrilled to announce that we are now fully cloud ready, scaling from start-up, and scaleup to Enterprise segments.”

“When Stephen came in, he arrived with a broader outlook: ‘Listen, we need to become ‘One Sage’, therefore we need to put some money on different horses for our overall product strategy with a cloud first philosophy Cloud focus

Cloud computing in Africa has always been a contentious subject. While there’s certainly the capital and huge potential benefits for African businesses in cloud adoption, there’s also a lack of interest, and the onthe-ground reality of limited connectivity and bandwidth holding the technology back.

According to Fenner, however, these are increasingly problems

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“While there’s certainly the capital and huge potential benefits for African businesses in cloud adoption, there’s also a lack of interest, and the on-the-ground reality of limited connectivity and bandwidth holding the technology back

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of the past, and indeed his organisation has already begun preparing around them.

“We’re seeing a huge shift towards cloud in Africa and Sage is well positioned for this, because the product’s already completely web and mobile capable. It’s a testament to our tech strategy and compliance with the third platform. That

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strategy is driving us into some new market areas; historically there are not many ERP players in the African market because of the high cost to entry, whereas we’ve been here for over 25 years. All we need to do is release the right product, at the right time, to enable us to win in the market and provide a platform to support our customers for life”.

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SynergERP The key to a successful ERP implementation is quite simple.

Upgrading your current enterprise software or migrating to a new system can be a nightmarish rollercoaster ride that goes on for way too long. Before long, you have fired your integration partner and bought a beach bar in Fiji whilst recovering from mental breakdown number four.

But it doesn’t have to be so dire.

At SynergERP, we understand the major (and minor) pitfalls of a new or upgraded system. That’s why we have developed our signature Plus One system.

It’s simple; We ask our clients to tell us what the one mission-critical thing is that will make their enterprise resource planning life easier today and work systematically from there.

Sage’s new business model operates in a two-pronged approach to revolutionise business. The first is aimed at what Fenner calls “true enterprise customers”, who will be running the software with hundreds of users and typically across multiple regions and countries. This segment has seen some interesting developments over a timescale as short as the last six months, with many more customers simply asking for cloud-based platforms and forgoing the additional infrastructure headache.

“We used to have larger businesses who would just buy the kit, put in the infrastructure

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“IT teams have essentially become less technical. It’s less about fixing broken printers and more about developing new strategies around ‘how can I deliver the growth this company requires at the cost model they require it to happen at’

Ashley Regenass, CEO of SynergERP explains: “The rigid project plan is outdated and inefficient. With our client’s long-term goals in mind coupled with agile project planning, we improve their systems one functionality at a time. This gives us the flexibility to prove that the functionality works and that it will make a positive impact on their bottom line.”

Established in 1993, Synergy, a Sage Platinum Partner, has been implementing the Sage ERP range of enterprise resource planning software for more than two decades. From manufacturing to mining, two users to 1 000 users, it has established itself as one of Sage’s leading partners with vast experience in rolling out successful projects for various industries.

www.synergerp.co.za

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and pay for an IT team – but that’s changed now. It’s partly because big CAPEX investment is tough in this climate, so OPEX models have become more attractive. It’s also to do with retaining staff – especially in South Africa, where we’ve got a resource drain into Europe and Australia – but more importantly we’re seeing IT departments becoming service centres responsible for delivering new business strategies. IT teams have essentially become less technical. It’s less about fixing broken printers and more about developing new strategies around ‘how can I deliver the growth this company requires at

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the cost model they require it to happen at’. They don’t want to worry about the kit, they want to worry about delivering value back into the business.”

This trend speaks to the general improvement in computer literacy across the African market, but also mirrors developments in other regions, including Sage’s native UK. With more and more employees able to fix their own printers, (or Google the problem for the same result) dedicated IT departments are going from trouble shooters to efficiency multipliers. This is already reflected in Sage’s strategy for customer support, not

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to mention its efforts to acquire new customers, a field in which Fenner is confident about.

“I think we’re very strong with new customer acquisition as well. Our approach is to hand the keys to the castle to our customers: we want them to own and maintain their own products moving forward, giving them the capacity to grow. Other vendors tend to keep teams on site permanently, which drives up the total cost of ownership, and that’s not our strategy. We keep our consulting rates at a midmarket level for all our customers, whether enterprise or not – that is the Sage way.”

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Datacentrix

“Our approach is to hand the keys to the castle to our customers: we want them to own and maintain their own products moving forward, giving them the capacity to grow Why the cloud?

Although the company has traditionally built software that works offline on premise, and cloud-based software might seem like a poor choice in the face of the endemic connection issues found in many African countries, Fenner believes that looking to the past risks leaving a tech company fundamentally unsuited to the future.

“To take a step back, the way X3 is built is probably the most fundamental point of the strategy. If you look at what’s driving ERP business today, you’ll see billions of dollars going into SMAC – Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud. These new platforms are really hard to get into if your business management software

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... is a leading ICT solutions provider. We enable compute power, more prudent operations, knowledge creation, and business insight in an environment that demands flexibility and efficiencies. Recognised for our agility, in-depth industry knowledge and proven capability, Datacentrix provides the integration services that are needed to modernise organisations.

Kieth Fenner, Sage

The Group offers a deeply specialised skills component and is endorsed by the world’s foremost technology partners.

Our advanced, flexible solution design and implementation responds to our customers’ unique business requirements, helping to drive their performance and growth sustainably.

Our delivery and execution capability ensure an excellent total customer experience:

isn’t optimised for this new way of working. If you haven’t got the technology ready now, you won’t be in a position to expand with your customers and help them unlock the benefits down the line. Four years ago Sage was already designing our new UIs for these problems, so we’ve already been through the teething issues.

We’ve delivered a system that works on any browser, any device (as long as it’s a major supported one) – a system that’s platform independent.”

Sage’s new platform is also heavily designed to work with new analytics systems. Analytics data is the most exciting of the SMAC technologies, with the potential for what Fenner calls “a fourth industrial revolution,

All-inclusive, leading technology systems Best teams with specialised expertise and experience Consistent, high-level service delivery that is predictable and repeatable Collective innovation Top certifications from international and local technology partners Insight into the complexities of the ever-changing business and technology domains We are passionate about the relationships that we share with our customers and about adding value to their businesses. As we team up with our customers, we help them to achieve the inherent benefits that intelligent, well-managed technology systems can deliver, safeguarding their relevance for the future.

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the internet of things”. He suggests that even traditional manufacturing can be optimised like software, sensors across the plant feeding data into centralised analytics hubs, which can then be used to modify the manufacturing process for greater efficiency, making full use of the new technology and infrastructure developments, allowing Africa to become better connected. Sage looks set to be very involved when it comes to this buzzword of the moment.

Keeping up with the industry

Part of the reason for Sage’s new global strategy is the rapidly changing nature of both the industry and its user base, each driving the other.

Extensive mobile development was perhaps the least predicted aspect of the current tide of change in the industry, with its accompanying decentralisation of the office space. Fenner talks about the challenges of developing for mobile:

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“When developing for mobile we took a step back and looked at what our customers really want, all over the world in all the different markets. They want to work online and offline and to build apps using a toolset residing in the ERP solution. We have delivered exactly that, with a core set of mobile applications and then given the toolkit to our customers and our partners. This enables them to build any apps that they want and deploy them any time that they want, online and offline. That’s a huge bonus

“Analytics data is the most exciting of the SMAC technologies, with the potential for what Fenner calls “a fourth industrial revolution, the internet of things moving forward because then you’re not buying apps that are custom written, which causes challenges when the software gets upgraded because the apps also need to be upgraded.

With Sage X3 embedding mobility in the single web platform, it self-upgrades.”

However, convenience isn’t as simple as upgrading some

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Multisoft Solutions ...(Previously known as SCG Consulting) was established in 2002 as an accounting services firm. In 2002, the firm secured a dealership license from Softline Pastel to sell, implement and support the Sage Pastel range C

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if you put them in a green screen mainframe with function key shortcuts and multiple keystrokes to do something, you’ll quickly lose your talent as that is not the way a millennial works. They believe in touch, mobile and collaboration and they only understand these new ways of working. The real digital natives – they want to work in that way.

We designed the architecture of the X3 platform with that in mind, as retaining talent is essential in the competitive marketplace of Africa.” infrastructure and creating connections. Mr Fenner’s experience of the technology sector, particularly in the African markets, is one where the people are changing as fast as the machines, if not faster. “Now if you’ve ever employed someone born after 1992, you’ll realise that

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A second strategy and traditional markets

While the enterprise-focused version of Sage allows full customisation, development and integration, not all customers are looking for such a powerful and versatile system. For many, the sheer customisability of Sage X3

In 2007, Multisoft became the leading

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2014 respectively. We service over 400 Companies in Ghana and West Africa and employ in excess of 30 consultants mainly accounting professionals.

We have over 14years experience in the Software Industry and the only Sage X3 business partner in Ghana. We also sell and service other Sage brands such as Sage One, Sage VIP people, Sage 300 People and Sage Evolution.

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is essentially unnecessary. For these firms priorities are different, and the second prong of Sage’s business strategy caters to them.

“The traditional market is for products between 20 and 50 users, where they probably have a product that they’ve invested in and haven’t changed in the last 5-10 years. They’re probably recruiting millennials and need to make their business competitive

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and provide a platform the new staff can use. They want all this in the cloud at a low cost and with a contained scope – ERP implementation can spin out of control, and no business can afford that. They want fixedscope implementation, and we offer that with X3 Fast Start.”

Cost overruns and scope creep are familiar to any business that has embarked on an

“They want to work online and offline and to build apps using a toolset residing in the ERP solution.

We have delivered exactly that, with a core set of mobile applications and then given the toolkit to our customers and our partners

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“Cost overruns and scope creep are familiar to any business that has embarked on an ERP project, and many of the true mid-market customers can’t afford the high prices or lack of control that comes with a customised solution

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ERP project, and many of the true mid-market customers can’t afford the high prices or lack of control that comes with a customised solution.

Sage X3 Fast Start is a template-led version of the full X3 solution, not a downgrade. As Fenner says, it is essentially the same software, but designed to be rapidly implemented to save on time and installation costs, without the full customisation scope. The product is designed to be deliverable over 20 days, with all its core modules delivered in the cloud, and is pre-configured to the customer’s business environment. Customisation isn’t impossible but is reserved for the end of the project. Indeed Sage’s pricing model has allowed for customer-focused modifications – which is

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almost always used after the initial go-live. The design is intended to provide customers flexibility and the option to customise without compromising the fixed scope of the project, to ensure overruns aren’t an issue.

It’s a strategy that seems to have paid off.

customers, we give them an attractive migration option. We manage this using their OPEX budgets and give them a bulletproof Business Management Solution and technology platform for the future, to last well beyond five to ten years.”

“If you look at Sage’s penetration into the mid- and enterprise market place in Africa, it’s become massive in a very short space of time. However, we increasingly see new vendors coming to occupy this space.

As a result, what we need to do is to make sure we have a solid customer-for-life strategy, so when we detect these

Piracy is a problem faced by every software company, and some consider it as almost inevitable. In Africa, digital piracy is quite common, as the costs of buying software are often prohibitive and enforcement weak. Failure to adjust its prices to an African market can often see a business losing much of its revenue.

A question of piracy

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Fenner is relatively relaxed about pirated versions of his company’s software, however.

“If we look out there in Africa today, we’d probably find a lot of Sage products which are unlicensed and not paying maintenance. That’s not pirated software, that’s software that’s not on the latest version and is a major concern. There’s a huge potential with those customers to bring them into the fold of our Customer for Life strategy that would include upselling and cross selling from our portfolio of products per market segment.

Have we got unlicensed, unpurchased software in Africa? I’m sure we have.

“If you look at Sage’s penetration into the mid- and enterprise market place in Africa, it’s become massive in a very short space of time

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Sage X3

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For Shipping Management and Port / Terminal Operations Key features that drive the success in this environment: Nautical Management Service Order Management Voyage Management Manifest Import & Creation Break Bulk Cargo & Expedition Bill of Lading Import & Creation Tallying Demurrage / Storage Tariff Management Mobile Apps Partial / Multi-Invoicing of BIll of Landing Automatic Costing of BOL Payment Receipting Management Consignees’ Alerts Container Returns & Refunds Management Cargo at Terminal Register Deliveries Control / Terminal Delivery Order Customization, Integration & Development Platform

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However, as we engage customers and demonstrate value to their business, we will bring them back.”

The hope is that that some of these unlicensed users will eventually end up purchasing and licensing the software due to the benefits of the cloud, or to take advantage of actual support now that their business

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has grown to the point where the software is affordable.

“That said, I think there were two things in Africa that were holding back growth in the IT industry – the concept of security and last-mile connectivity. The security side of it is becoming less of an issue thanks to the cloud and last mile connectivity is prevalent across the continent in major hubs.”

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“Piracy is a problem faced by every software company, and some consider it as almost inevitable.

In Africa, digital piracy is quite common, as the costs of buying software are often prohibitive and enforcement weak

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S a g e

Thriving in adversity

It’s safe to assume that the nature of Sage’s business, both in terms of its multinational reach and position in the market, protects it from many of the macro challenges of operating in African economies.

The challenges of commodity prices, political instability and currency devaluations doesn’t

mean that it simply rides out the downturns. It strategically prepares for them.

“Let’s take the oil crisis,” says Fenner. “When it hit we did not cut back. Instead, we went and sold to many oil companies in a very short space of time.

Every cloud has a silver lining for us, and because we span the market from bottom to top, we pick up the growing customers because they’re still covered by our Customer for Life strategy. In

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such a crisis, some companies won’t buy, but bigger ones will probably want to save costs and those are the ones we pick up and sell to as they move to a Tier 2 strategy, either replacing Tier 1 ERP or complementing it – like we did with Aramco.”

Sage’s flexibility as a business means that it can easily respond to the many opportunities across the continent, but that’s not the only secret to its success.

Although headquartered in the UK, it has been careful to establish a local presence and works to gain trust based on actions rather than reputation.

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S a g e

“We’ve been here for 25 years and we understand Africa. Not just that, but with our offices in Lagos, Nairobi, Johannesburg, Cape Town and established partners all over the continent, we’ve got a trust factor. Everyone knows who Sage is, we’ve been here for so long. In addition, we have the Sage French and Portuguese teams, with export divisions that service French and Portuguese-speaking Africa, breaking the language barrier.

So if you add up the power of the actual Sage businesses in Africa, it’s absolutely vast, and that’s what I believe we’re capitalising on now, as well as the fact that we’re literally delivering an enterprise product with a technology stack, and a cloud first strategy that is second to none.”

A bright outlook

“Sage’s focus in 2017 is the execution of its cloud strategy,” Fenner continues. “Sage X3 is delivered cloud first but the on premise and cloud versions are the same – we have not split the products as the technology allows us to offer monthly updates in the Cloud and deliver these to our on premise and Enterprise cloud customers once or twice a year to minimise upgrade disruption. And what I’ve described to you is exactly how we’re going to do that in Africa.

We’ve got 70-odd partners, still selling the same product but it’s spun up in the cloud. They still consult the same way, and we’ve retrained them on how to deliver the product in the Cloud and transition themselves to a Partner of the Future.”

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Sage is also now working with Amazon Web Services, which boasts incredible processing power (NASA have chosen to use its services), and a couple of smaller local services offering better connectivity across Africa.

4G networks are also in place too – many African countries jumped the whole fixed line straight to 4G. The mobility aspect is vital to Sage because it represents the way people are working today.

Fenner concludes on a positive note, with the new year looking promising: “I’m confident in the work we’ve done in the last four years in cloud development, and you can see that we grew by 74% last year, so we’re outperforming the market, gaining share and looking at high double-digit growth in the next five years.”

Follow us: @SageGroupZA @SageSouthAfrica Sage SageGroupZA

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