Issue 18
Amathole District Municipality
Building on Their Historical Heritage Amathole District Municipality are committed towards selfless, excellent and sustainable service to all their communities Writers Matt Bone Project Manager Stuart Shirra The Amathole District Municipality (ADM) is on the eastern coastline of South Africa and was established after the local government elections in December 2000. The municipality stretches from the Indian Ocean coastline in the south to the Amathole Mountains in the north, and from Mbolompo in the east to the Great Fish River in the west. The district lies at the heart of the Eastern Cape Province and is presently home to about 1.7 million people. The economy of the district is dominated by Buffalo City, which comprises the coastal city of East London, King William's Town, Mdantsane and the provincial administrative capital of Bhisho. Amathole is a land of rivers and fertile floodplains, rolling grasslands, valley bush, estuaries, beaches, forests and waterfalls. The bio-diversity of the district is often remarked upon by tourists and locals alike and this could have possible options for future socio-economic developments and competitive advantages. Sectors Sectors that provide formal employment in the district are: Public services 75,000 jobs; manufacturing 27,000 jobs; trade 25,000 jobs; and agriculture 17,000 jobs. The Amathole District's existing manufacturing sector includes the automotive, textile, pharmaceutical, electronics and food processing industries. The automotive industry has strong linkages into activities such as component parts, industrial textiles and leather tanning. Globally recognised companies operating in the district include: DaimlerChrysler SA, Johnson & Johnson, China Garments, Nestlé, First National Battery, Aspen Pharmacare, Yarntex…
Soliton Telmec
Building Networks for Life Soliton Telmec works across the entire East Africa telecommunication engineering ecosystem from conceptual design and needs analysis, to maintenance and service connection Writers Matt Bone Project Manager Donovan Smith Soliton Telmec limited is a telecommunications Technology Company with their Head Office based in Nairobi, Kenya. The company was established in 2005, after evolving from Soliton Systems (est. 1999). The company builds and supports both the basic and complex infrastructure required to enable electronic communications across the nation, which includes data centres, fibre optic lines; and the related routing and transmission equipment, including on-going support backed by Service Level Agreement. With subsidiary offices in Kampala, Uganda and a branch in Mombasa, Kenya to support project implementation in the region, Soliton Telmec provides services across the East African region. Abdirahman Sheikh, CEO of Soliton Telmec, regards the company's strong relationship with clients as one of its biggest assets: "We work with our customers at the design stage to choose the most optimal solution using desktop tools, and throughout the process we maintain field teams to ensure that our customers services remain up and running. I think that it is this level of care and attention to our customer's requirements that sets us apart from our competitors." A New Level of Service Soliton Telmec works across the entire ecosystem of telecommunication engineering technology from conceptual design and needs analysis, to maintenance and service connection. They continuously improve their services through many years of iteration and study in the research and development labs and through analysis…
City Of Johannesburg Metro Municipality
Africa's Finance and Economic Capital the late Nelson Mandela described Johannesburg as the city of "vibrancy and activity, the centre of our country's prosperity, providing that opportunity to create a better life for all" Writers Emily Jarvis Project Manager Stuart Shirra The City of Johannesburg is the economic capital of South Africa and a heartland of trade and economic activity in Africa. It is home to the headquarters of most local and multinational companies in banking, finance and industry because of its nationally acclaimed economic and social infrastructure. It also houses the Johannesburg securities and Bond Exchange, the largest stock exchange on the continent. With a population of over 4 million people, Johannesburg is a bustling metropolis which offers locals and visitors an experience as unique and diverse as the city itself. as the biggest of South Africa's eight metropolitan municipalities, it is the destination of choice for both skilled and unskilled migrant workers from beyond the provincial borders of Gauteng and national frontiers, and is a gateway to other destinations in southern Africa. Johannesburg is an inland city located in the province of Gauteng, the wealthiest of South Africa's nine provinces which occupies only 1.4% of South Africa's land area, but contributes more than 33% to the national economy and a phenomenal 10% to the GDP of the entire African continent. It is a city which is rolling out innovative solutions in the fields of alternative energy, public transport and high-speed broadband; a caring city that looks after its people through its housing initiatives, its…
UGU District Municipality
South Africa's Hub for Socio-Economic Development Ugu District Municipality offers its public socio-economic opportunities and high quality residential services Writers Matt Bone Project Manager Stuart Shirra Ugu District Municipality offers some of the best examples of pure sub-tropical, bush land and woodland in KwaZulu- Natal. Alongside the sprawling natural areas, there are small rural villages, active urban centres and major industrial locations. Boasting a coastline of 112 kilometres, Ugu is a favourite tourist destination, and includes the well established coastal towns of Port Shepstone, Pennington, Margate and Scottburgh. The modern N2 highway runs through Ugu parallel to the sea, passing Port Shepstone, the seat of the District Municipality and the main commercial centre. Ugu District Municipality has a simple vision for its residents, to be "a place where everyone benefits equally from socio-economic opportunities and services." The availability of housing, education, health and recreational facilities all contribute to a beneficial lifestyle for the residents. Amenities include internationally acclaimed golf courses, cinemas, social services and large shopping malls such as the 28,000m2 Shelly Beach Mall and the new South Coast Mall. Electricity is available throughout the district via Eskom's national grid and the high level of rainfall ensures that there is an abundance of water, both of which are considered stable sources. The prosperity of the economy can be put down to two reasons: tourism and agriculture. There is also some manufacturing centred around Port Shepstone, but this does not contribute as much to the economy as the others. The Hibiscus Coast Municipality is the most concentrated…
Vital Products Ltd
Vital Players in the Food Industry With new methods of food preservation, Vital Products aim to help lower the costs of consumer products in the open market Writers Emily Jarvis Project Manager Callum Philp Vital Products became operational in 1999 and was nurtured by a vision that saw Nigeria as the future to strong economic growth in Africa. Being abundantly blessed with agricultural products and enormous human and material resources, the country needed an opportunity to showcase its strength and potentials in the area of food production as a major export base aside from its major economic resource, oil. As a result of the long-term focus, persistent belief and faith invested in the country and its potentials by the pioneering founders of the company and willing investors based in the UK, Vital Products Ltd was born. Today, the company looks back with a sense of pride and accomplishment at their achievements, as the leading provider of consumer healthcare and food products in Nigeria. Boasting extensive business experience that spans over two decades, the company has gradually etched itself into the Nigerian foods and beverages market by maintaining quality control backed by some of the best technologies used throughout its operations. From a consumer and healthcare products company distributing only pharmaceutical products, the company has recently forayed into the manufacture and distribution of high quality fruit juices and non alcoholic beverages. In the community in which they are located, Vital Products continually strive to be a responsible corporate citizen. "In line with our corporate values of care,…
Daily Need Group
A Friend in Need For over 44 years, the Daily-Need Group have manufactured high quality products for the Nigerian consumer market Writers Matt Bone Project Manager Callum Philp The Daily-Need group (DNG) began life as Daily-Need Chemist, the brainchild of Dr. Matthew Oyin Jolayemi, in 1970. After two years of trading, the manufacturing of cosmetics started in Surulere and their first product, Paulina Beauty Cream, was created on the 19th November 1972; whilst pharmaceuticals were added the following year. The foray into pharmaceuticals commenced with the production of Penicillin Ointment. The organisation made a giant stride in 1974 by moving into its factory which it still occupies today, and in the same year, Daily-Need Toothpaste was launched into the market for the first time which proved to be a big success. In the last six years, through company evolution and consumer research, DNG have been able to reposition themselves as a market driven establishment which is sensitive and understanding to the need of the everyday consumer. Tosin Jolayemi, Managing Director of the Daily-Need group, considers that the company's 42 years of successful operating can now be used as a springboard to propel the company into the next stage of becoming a vertically integrated and national company: "we have succeeded in having a solid foundation for future growth. The next phase in our development programme is to set up a modern factory which complies with all world Health organisation requirements. Every piece of machinery we have acquired recently has been put into motion to achieve this within…
Arenel
Experience! Quality! Innovation! Through their three core values of integrity, loyalty and hard work, Managing Director Joshua Lepar is confident that the future is bright for Arenel Writers Emily Jarvis Project Manager Callum Philp Arenel are manufacturers of quality sweets and biscuits. After decades of operation, you can be sure that the company's sweet and biscuit lines are of the finest quality. In 1946, Mr Robert (Rube) Lepar and Mr Abe Rubin had a vision which culminated in the manufacturing of sweets, in a small factory in Bulawayo. It was not long before the duo were manufacturing a range of hard boiled sweets that included the ever popular "suckers", "sugar sticks" and "apricot balls". Demand for their quality products grew and in order to increase their manufacturing capability, a purpose built facility was erected in the Belmont industrial area of Bulawayo. The partnership of Lepar and Rubin dissolved when Mr Abe Rubin relocated to Harare, where he established a successful bread making enterprise. In the early 1960s, Arenel entered the biscuit market with the purchase of Crown Biscuits. Arenel continued on its path of growth and product development and in 1973 additional premises were acquired some 200m west of the existing facility. Therefore, a biscuit plant was purchased from overseas and installed. Arenel now manufacture quality biscuits to compliment their ever popular growing range of sweets. Soon, space and development dictated the purchase of yet another factory for warehousing and distribution, along with a facility for the transport division and maintenance workshops. "Our high quality product…
British American Tobacco Nigeria
Nigeria's Leaders in Tabacco BAT Nigeria are well on their way to sustaining the lead in product innovation and quality initiatives in tobacco products, whilst retaining brand loyalty Writers Emily Jarvis Project Manager Callum Philp British American tobacco (BAT Nigeria) limited is a fully owned subsidiary of the British American tobacco group. The company has had an operational presence in Nigeria since 1912. At this time as a group, they held a 60% shareholding value in the Nigerian tobacco Company (NTC) while a 40% shareholding value was held by the Nigerian government. By 1978, there were three operating factories located at Ibadan, Port-Harcourt and Zaria. British American tobacco is a global tobacco group with brands sold in more than 200 markets; few companies founded in 1902 are still going from strength to strength. Fewer still are leaders in more than 60 markets, and with one billion adult smokers around the world, Bat manufacture the cigarettes chosen by one in eight of them. "We take our business and our impact very seriously. We know the tobacco industry is a controversial one, and so it's all the more important that we act responsibly, from the crop right through to the consumer." The domestic industry in Nigeria experienced a decline when an influx of illicit trade and the deteriorating infrastructure created an uncertain business environment and investment slowed. This led to closures of Port Harcourt and Ibadan factories and a downscaling of the Zaria operations. The election of the 1999 civilian administration brought a renewed focus on Foreign Direct…
Scatec Solar
South Africa's Sustainable Solar Future Scatec Solar are looking to become the biggest provider of solar energy in Africa Writers Matt Bone Project Manager Rahim Ali Scatec Solar is an integrated independent solar power producer working in South Africa, aiming to make solar a sustainable and affordable source of energy worldwide. Scatec Solar develops, builds, owns and operates solar power plants and now, in 2014, they deliver power from 220 MW facilities in the Czech Republic, South Africa and Rwanda. The company has seen strong growth over the years and has a solid pipeline of solar projects under development in Africa, US, Japan, Middle East and Europe. Andrzej Golebiowski, Country Manager for Scatec Solar in South Africa, is pleased with the current growth seen by the company in South Africa: "Since we began operating in South Africa in 2010, we have seen the cost of solar power drop by 70%, which was beyond anyone's wildest expectations back then. The solar power delivered today through the REIPPP Programme is cheaper in South Africa than the local coal power projects under development by Eskom." Power Hungry With the ever-rising demand for a sustained and prolonged power supply on the national grid, thanks in part to the business boom in the country, South Africa is seeing regular power shortages and is becoming increasingly dependent on fossil fuels, in particular coal. Using coal as the primary electricity source has brought challenges on an international level as the international community and regulatory bodies have put marked pressure on all countries to…
Weatherford Services & Rentals Ltd
East is the New West With West Africa already seeing a huge oil and gas boom, companies have begun to look towards the East Coast as the next big resource arena Writers Matt Bone Project Manager Arron Rampling In East Africa, Weatherford is a provider of upstream products and services that span the life of the oil and natural gas wells through a formation evaluation, well construction, completion, stimulation and production portfolio. Since East Africa is the epicenter of geothermal development on the continent, Weatherford has utilised its expertise to provide faster drilling operations. Weatherford has branches established in its various countries of operations throughout East Africa under the global brand Weatherford and is seen as a new breed of service company; one that can provide the industry with extended products and services, more efficient operations, more powerful research and development capabilities and greater geographic diversity. The East African division has approximately 300 highlyskilled professional employees in its charge across various disciplines. Sean Wilcock, Area Manager for Weatherford East Africa, explains that although the company is well known and respected in the resources market, they still consider themselves a young company: "We see ourselves as the teenager of the oil and gas companies. We have been established for more than 20 years, but it is within the last 10 years that we have really put our name on the map. Some of our competitors have been around for many years, but we feel our youthful exuberance is matched by our established professional approach." Not Just Drilling…
Umoya Energy : Power Pioneers
For Umoya Energy it is an exciting time for renewable energies in South Africa: the country enters Round 4 bidding for wind generation in August this year.
Atraco International (K) Ltd
Delivering on the Atraco Promise Over the past five years, Atraco have held a stellar reputation through upholding good business practice and ethics in all of their business dealings Writers Emily Jarvis Project Manager Ben Wigger Atraco International (K) Limited is a General Commodity International Trading Company and is one of East Africa's foremost suppliers of road and civil construction products and technology. The in-house trading company was incorporated in Kenya in September 2012 and was to operate as the holding entity of their sister company, Hanse International Ltd. (incorporated in Kenya on July 2009). Hanse was already a trading company that had vast experience in Commodity Trading in Europe, Asia and parts of Africa. "In essence, Atraco is an off shoot of Hanse and has taken over some of the operations in East Africa," says Atraco Regional Managing Director, Rita Bochere. "We specialise in the supply of building materials such as bitumen and steel products to our clients. These complimentary activities are aimed at assisting road authorities, consulting engineers and contractors in building roads and structures of the highest quality. We recognise that infrastructure, especially a good road network, is a nation's most strategic asset," she adds. The supply of these materials is accompanied by highly qualified staff , who apply years of industry experience and support Atraco's mission to provide its customers with products manufactured to the highest standards, enabling them to build roads and housing for the future. Atraco International Kenya Limited offers a full service from its offices in Nairobi and Istanbul,…
HC Heat-Exchangers
Engineering Excellence HC Heat-Exchangers manufacture an extensive range of quality products for both commercial refrigeration and air conditioning applications, right the way through to large custom built units suitable for all manner of industrial applications Writers Matt Bone Project Manager Tom Cullum HC Heat-Exchangers (HCHE) is a design and manufacturing company, specialising in air-conditioning and refrigeration equipment. Heating Centre was founded in 1973 and rapidly built a reputation for superb engineering and manufacturing within the industry. From this solid foundation, HC Heat-Exchangers was born in 2001 as a manufacturer of finned tube heat-exchangers. Over a short period of time, HC Heat-Exchangers rose to become the largest manufacturer of these products in Southern Africa. The company design and build everything from finned-tube heat exchangers and packaged air conditioning units, to compressorised simplex and multiplex systems for both the air-conditioning and refrigeration industry. a large portion of the business is also geared towards offering bespoke solutions which are designed and engineered to client specifications. HCHE service a wide range of clientele, varying from the military and petrochemical industry through to the commercial and industrial air-conditioning and refrigeration industry. HCHE have a large, highly qualified engineering division who are able to provide custom solutions to the market place, priding themselves on not only the quality of their products, but most importantly the quality of the engineering behind the product. Robert Kruger, Managing Director of HC Heat-Exchangers, points to two reasons why HCHE have become the top company in their field in Southern Africa: "there are two points which make…
MRE South Africa
South Africa's Custom Coolers Through hard work and a strong growth strategy, MRE hope to adapt to market changes and continue to provide a top-class service in industrial refrigeration long into the future Writers Emily Jarvis Project Manager Tom Cullum MRE are a specialist Industrial Refrigeration Company that designs, installs and services/maintains plants to suit the cooling requirements of any customer. The company are the second largest refrigeration contracting and compressor packager in the whole of South Africa. Each of the designs is custom made in order to best suit individual customer requirements. "we have excellent installation and service crews who are based locally. Additionally we manufacture and assemble locally as well so that we can make our products as affordable as possible," cites Dennis vd Westhuizen, managing Director of MRE. The company have gone to great lengths to ensure they adopt the very latest technologies and control systems to achieve efficient operation of their refrigeration plants. Started in 1995 in Cape Town, MRE originally had an office which covered Southern Africa but due to the demand for their services, strong growth allowed the company to open offices in Johannesburg and Durban. "as a result of the passion and dedication shown by our staff across all our regions of operation, today, we have been able to secure positive growth and have consequently gone on to have one of the best years ever in the history of the company in 2013," highlights vd Westhuizen, adding his thanks to MRE customers for their continued valuable support in "our…
Paarl Media Group
Professional Personal Printers The Paarl Media Group is a true African company who has invested both time and money into their business research and development Writers Emily Jarvis Project Manager Ben Wigger With its roots going back to 1905, Paarl media has grown to become the most comprehensive commercial printing operation in africa, with an operational capacity of 500,000 tonnes of paper a year. What's more is that the company has further extended their reach to include the international printing stage and are proud to be on par with international printing standards. This has only been possible thanks to a forward-thinking attitude and a quest to keep abreast of the latest technologies. "Through the implementation of faster, more advanced technology and highly efficient, fully automated production processes, we ensure our position as a single source for all printing requirements," says group CEO, Stephen Van Der Walt. Consequently, the Paarl media group has seen steady growth per annum for the last decade, testament to their efforts to embrace the future. Striking a Balance Between Old and New Tech Whilst print media in Europe and the US is now considered a somewhat dated technology, Van Der walt identified Africa as an emerging market for print media: "It is different here in African countries, our markets are driven by democracy and literacy rates. Nigeria and DR Congo for example are relatively new to the democracy scene. With these new political processes comes an enormous requirement for print media to be prepared for elections, education, law libraries and so on.…
Airtel Seychelles
Bringing Innovation to Seychelles First Boasting exemplary customer service coupled with dedication to technological innovation, airtel Seychelles bring the latest technologies and data services straight to the user Writers Emily Jarvis Project Manager Donovan Smith Airtel Seychelles is a special member of the Bharti Airtel family because the Seychelles operations became the tech giant's first venture into Africa 15 years ago. Since then, Seychelles has seen vast technological improvements and a whole array of new services moulded to suit the needs of the community; and no one man is prouder to have been a part of this change than Airtel Seychelles' current managing Director, Amadou Mahamat Dina. "Everything in Airtel Seychelles is always a first. By this I mean we were the first to launch pre-paid mobile services, the first to bring in 3.75G data services in Seychelles and we are soon to launch 4G LTE services in the country– and we are proud to be the first to enter the mobile finance market in Seychelles with Airtel money," he highlights. The company have come on leaps and bounds since entering the country and have expanded their footprint across all of Seychelles' islands, ensuring that their services are available to everyone. "It is important to us that our services are available to all customers and are at an affordable price. whether our customer is corporate, an SmE's or an individual, our services are available to all," explains Amadou Dina. Boasting the fastest Internet speeds in Africa - as per the broadband the testing company Ookla -…