National Real Estate
The real estate deal With short and long term plans in place and a technology system that is quickly becoming the cornerstone of the company, NRE are well placed to retain their market leader status for the foreseeable future Writer Matt Bone Project manager James Mitchell Since 1933, National Real Estate (NRE), based in Bloemfontein, have been in operation and owned by the Du Toit family, who still manage the company's day to day operations. Brothers Francois, MD, and Wilco Du Toit are the driving force behind the company's massive expansion over the last 9 years. In 2005 the company moved to new premises with a staff compliment of 46 and an annual turnover of R9.1 million. today the company has a staff of over 100, a turnover of R52 million per annum and is thriving in a market that has been very turbulent in recent years. Wilco Du Toit, Special Projects Director of NRE, has overseen much of the major changes NRE have made and believes it was all down to one significant change: Technology. Over the last few years NRE have invested R600 million in IT upgrades in order to ensure that the company has the latest innovations in portfolio management software. "When I joined the company in 2005, we did not have a system in place to handle big numbers of accounts and house portfolios, one person could only realistically manage about 300 accounts and this was diffi cult to keep track of. We began to look at new systems and together with…
National Real Estate
Keeping it in the family National Real Estate in Bloemfontein currently manages over 12,000 residential properties in both the sectional title and property rental portfolios. It also manages more than 1,200 commercial properties and offers insurance services. Writer Ian Armitage Project manager James Mitchell Some of the world's most instantly recognisable businesses are familyowned. News Corp, Benneton, L'Oréal, Playboy, Gucci, Carnival Cruise Lines, and car giant Ford Motor Co, are just a few. Globally, family businesses - defined loosely as a business in which a dominant family owns 51 percent of an enterprise - account for around 70-80 percent of all businesses and are acknowledged as the strategic backbone of most economies and a key source of growth. Nowhere is this truer than in Africa - think of the likes of the Ackermans in South Africa, the Kenyattas in East Africa, and the Dangotes in West Africa. All of these have helped define the economies and the business environments of the regions in which they operate. The du Toit family's business is doing the same. National Real Estate was established in 1933 in Bloemfontein. Over the years it has had some name and ownership changes and today it is run by the du Toits, who took over in 2003. The company, which specialises in property management and related industries, is a market leader in the property industry in the Bloemfontein area. "It is our mission to be totally committed in serving our customers in the most effective means possible," says CEO Marius du Toit. "Family businesses…
