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A business for the
people Ingrid Masson, CEO of haulage company Haulcon, speaks to Jane Bordenave about what drives her passion for this industry and how her attitude to business sets the firm apart.
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n 1996 Ingrid Masson, CEO of Haulcon, decided to found her own haulage company. Having started off with just two vehicles transporting coal, the firm now has 60 trucks and major international clients in the mining, cement and chemical industries. Her efforts in building up the business over the past 14 years has paid off not just through growth but also through recognition of industrial excellence: In 2009 the organisation was awarded the Top Female Empowered Business in the Transport Industry by Impumelelo Magazine, which was followed this year by CEO magazine recognising Ms Masson as the Most Influential Woman in Business and Government in the Logistics, Shipping and Transport Division. The company moves powder products, including cement, paint, fly ash, slagment and ingredients for soap. The journey to the top has not been easy though, as Ms Masson explains, “within four months of my establishing the company we had a major setback when one of our trucks was in a collision with a train. Luckily the driver was ok, but the vehicle had to be written
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Haulcon FEATURE
of, meaning we lost 50% of our business. However we bounced back and by 2006 we had grown from two lorries to seventy tankers.” This growth was entirely self financed and was achieved through some very prudent financial management; Ms Masson’s brother, the financial director, has strict policies in place that plough the profits back into the company, rather than spending them unnecessarily. Additionally, it has a very aggressive depreciation policy that is 20%-30% ahead of the industry norm. These two policies jointly enabled the company to grow rapidly while successfully managing risk. This financial policy has stood the company in good stead during the recession. While Haulcon didn’t lose customers it did lose business volume, due to its clients experiencing the same difficulty. As a result of its earlier financial management, the firm was able to sell 20 of its 80 vehicles and redeem the capital, relieving the pressure brought by the downturn, “looking back on everything, we were lucky to have in place the financial systems that we did; reinvesting our profits in the business and managing risk were a big saving factor during this period.” Before establishing Haulcon, Ms Masson worked in product development for Woolworths. It was during her time here that she developed some of her core business values, “the whole concept of value for money, customer service and providing people with worthwhile products at prices that make sense made a very big impression on me.” However, it was her next move that really set her on the path towards founding Haulcon, “I had been working in Cape Town, but I wanted
to return to Johannesburg to further my career. While I was looking for something else, I took a job at the transport company where my father worked,” she says, “I was a bit reluctant to take the position, because I didn’t really think that the transport industry was the right kind of image for a young woman. But when I started work there I enjoyed it so much and I thought there was a lot of scope for the female touch in the industry.” This female perspective, and making use of feminine and masculine attributes, is something that she considers to be a key part of her business, “I came to realise that having a balance between men and women in an organisation is a huge advantage,” Ms Masson explains, “We do things differently and both sexes bring a very exciting perspective when we work together. Men are aggressive thinkers and make great strategists, whereas women are fantastic at implementation and sustaining those strategies in a meaningful way.” Haulcon takes social responsibility very seriously and in 1998 was one of the first businesses to start a black empowerment entity. Through that entity, it was then able to start working with larger national companies such as Eskom and Murray Roberts. “Making sure that we have an even distribution of wealth and a strong middle class where we are able to educate our children, look after the less privileged and the aged has always made a great deal of sense to me,” says Ms Masson, “this has to be the way for any society to grow and really be proud of itself. It is the way for South Africa to become stronger, like Australia, America and Europe. If any business wants to become stronger, they need to recognise and work towards this too.” As well as Black Economic Empowerment, training is another
having a balance between men and women in an organisation is a huge advantage
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Haulcon FEATURE
important part of the company’s commitment to corporate and social responsibility. Ms Masson sees training and skills development as a vital part of Haulcon’s business and as a way to empower people to grow and to further their own careers. One of the success stories in this area is the company’s chief accountant, who worked her way up from operating the switchboard to her current position, “she just developed herself into an amazing resource and we receive compliments about her all the time. Our HR manager also started low down in the company and we are now sponsoring her tertiary education to become qualified in this area. If people have the right attitude and the passion grow and develop themselves, then we will mach that enthusiasm and take them as far as they want to go.” The firm has an equal commitment to the environment as it does to its customers and personnel, “right when we first started we understood that the environment is important for a sustainable future. As such, we started 4
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sponsoring environmental organisations, such as the Endangered Wildlife Trust, which is a very prominent and meaningful organisation,” says Ms Masson enthusiastically, “internally, we have practices to ensure that we are environmentally efficient, such as dust control and using the best available technology to reduce fuel emissions. It is a very important consideration of ours.” Looking to the future, Ms Masson wants to bring meaningful growth to her company that is fuelled not just by management but also by the employees, “they are our greatest assets and with another equity investment we can go anywhere the team wants,” she says, “we have overcome the economic problems of the past three years well due to our solid financial practices, involvement with serious and meaningful clients and with staff who love what they do. It’s a recipe that has worked very well for us over the past 14 years and one that we will seek to keep in place as we move our company forward to greater growth and future successes.” END
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