Page 43 - IDC

6 CITY PRESS, 26 MARCH, 2017

business

KwaZulu-Natal

in numbers:

10.9m

The number of people living
in the province, making it
the second most populated
province in SA
A

PROJECT IN
PARTNERSHIP 16%

WITH THE KwaZulu-Natal’s contribution to

IDC the country’s GDP

R9bn

COAST IS CLEAR Pat Moodley, the regional manager of the Industrial Development Corporation in KwaZulu-Natal The IDC’s funding for
A passion for 34 880
projects over the past
10 years

creating jobs in the past 10 years owing
Direct jobs created/saved

to IDC funding

R539m

With two busy seaports, a huge potential workforce and amazing Invested in black industrialists

possibilities for entrepreneurs, KwaZulu-Natal is open for business. in the past three years

Yvonne Grimbeek speaks to the Industrial Development Corporation’s

Pat Moodley about their work in the province R39.6m

Invested in youth-empowered

at Moodley is passionate about shoes and fabric Africa is because imports from the East are no longer cheap. businesses in the
because they create jobs. Production costs have increased and the turnaround time for 2015/16 financial year
Moodley is the regional manager of the high fashion items can be anything up to three months, and
Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) in local retailers want it faster.
KwaZulu-Natal and while footwear and fabric are “Local manufacturers can respond more quickly to these
Pamong his passions, his biggest motivation is a high fashion requirements, and their turnaround is much
passion for his province to succeed. quicker.” R287m
The KwaZulu-Natal IDC office is one of the most successful Moodley says large companies are tending to move to locally
regional offices in the country. The office is the second-busiest produced goods if the quality and price are right.
office in terms of transactions, beaten only by the “If South African consumers were more conscious about Dedicated to businesses in
corporation’s head office in Johannesburg. buying local, it would have a major impact, we would create
more jobs and the standard of living would go up.” which black women own
An example of the IDC’s commitment to the textile industry more than 50% in the
Opportunities for entrepreneurs is Mahlongwa Clothing Industries (MCI).
Situated in Umkomaas, a rural area on the South Coast of past three years
KwaZulu-Natal is truly the province with all industries, and the KwaZulu-Natal, MCI is a family-owned business that was
IDC in the region tries to capitalise on this. SUCCESS The busy Sacks Packaging floor established in 1986.
“This is a diversified province that comes with a number of PHOTO: ISAAC MOFOKENG The firm is a supplier of a full range of products, including
industries, from textiles, agro-processing, tourism, chemicals to workwear, corporate wear and personal protective wear to R814m
the automotive industry,” says Moodley. government departments and parastatals.
One of the province’s biggest economic drivers is the Port of A fairy tale MCI approached the IDC for funding at a time when the
Durban, which is the largest in the southern hemisphere and business decided to move from a cut-make-and-trim operation IDC investment in textiles,
among the top 50 busiest ports in the world. to a fully fledged factory. clothing and leather goods as
There is also a seaport at Richards Bay, and these two ports In 2014, MCI – through the IDC – was granted funding under
make it attractive to potential import and export success story the Production Incentive Programme. at December 2016
entrepreneurs. This programme funds textile businesses to invest in new
“Also, don’t forget the weather – it’s very good,” says technologies and equipment to achieve higher efficiencies.
Moodley. Sacks Packaging’s floor in Mobeni, south of Durban, is a Eresh Bhoora, CEO of MCI, said this much-needed financial
constant hive of activity, where different types of paper injection has opened up more business opportunities for MCI,
bags, used in everything from cement to sugar packaging, and it has been able to use the funds for the procurement of R779m
Challenges to overcome are made. more raw materials, trimmings, employment of new staff and
Behind this activity lies the fairy tale story of a young the maintenance of a good cash flow.
“The IDC’s mandate is to create jobs and we need to fund man who grew up in a disadvantaged home, a management Kwazulu-Natal is one of three provinces that account for the IDC investment in basic
more businesses that do just that. buy-out funded by the IDC and a massive commitment to lion’s share of activity in South Africa’s textile industry. metals, metal products
“Clothing and footwear are two areas that have low capital help others. The KZN Clothing and Textiles Cluster estimates that the
expenditure, but high job creation,” said Moodley. Kevin Kistan, owner and CEO of Sacks, started life at the industry accounts for between 60 000 and 80 000 jobs. and machinery as at December
“My responsibility is to find these businesses so that we can bottom, but through sheer hard work and determination MCI is the third-biggest employer in the Umkomaas area and 2016
fund them and increase the IDC’s footprint and to stimulate this dynamo now has seven degrees, runs the only 100% its surrounds.
the economy. black-owned packaging company in South Africa and has “Before the IDC funding, we had about 130 staff members.
“We proactively go out to meet with stakeholders. I look at created employment for 200 people. We now employ around 180 people and hopefully, as we start
what the opportunities are and then try to get all the Previously owned by Nampak, the company was bought growing, we will increase this number,” said Bhoora.
stakeholders [government and industry] together to capitalise out by Kistan with funding assistance from the IDC. Agro-processing is another area of focus for the IDC in R440m
on these. We also involve other financiers because together we “I would not have been able to buy this company KwaZulu-Natal, and their involvement with Ethekwini Cheese –
can make it work.” without the IDC. I approached numerous commercial a start-up entity that was set up in 2016 by the Dixon family to
The KwaZulu-Natal office’s success grows out of the banks for funding, but they all wanted a stake in the manufacture value-added, innovative substitute and functional IDC investment in wood
relationships it has forged with government, private businesses company, so I went to the IDC and it worked out cheese products – is one of many exciting new projects for the and paper products,
and clients since its inception. One of its more valuable perfectly,” he said. corporation. printing and publishing as at
partners is in the South African retail space. Because of this The company’s workforce is 95% black and 79% of its The shareholders of Ethekwini Cheese are Simon and
partnership, a number of the IDC’s textile clients have become management is also black. “For us, having black people in Anthony Dixon and Ntombizodwa Cheryl Cagi. The company is December 2016
suppliers to a South African retail clothing giant. management is not just about making up numbers. We take the only one of its kind in South Africa to make this type of
The work the KwaZulu-Natal IDC office has put into its on qualified individuals because we want them to work and cheese.
relationships has not gone unnoticed. contribute towards growing the company,” said Kistan. The difference between natural cheese products and cheese
In 2013, the office received the Partnerships Award at the One of the things Kistan has done is to refurbish the substitutes is that vegetable oil is used for substitute products
FNB KwaZulu-Natal Top Business Portfolio Awards. It won dilapidated canteen and the facilities at the on-site clinic. A as an alternative to butter fat. R1.2bn
alongside major corporations such as Tongaat-Hulett, Mr Price doctor and psychologist also come in weekly to follow up The Dixon family has extensive experience in this market,
and Corobrik. on the in-house nursing sister’s patients. which has led to the decision of establishing a manufacturing Disbursed in the 2015/16
The company’s social responsibility programmes extend plant.
across the borders of the country, with a sponsorship Part of what they are passionate about is the empowerment financial year
Exciting projects towards the building of water wells in India and the of local workers, especially women, and Cagi, being well-versed
construction of a clinic in Mozambique. in the cheese business, was a good fit for this partnership.
We go back to shoes and textiles, because these are the “I didn’t get where I am without someone giving me an They have a proven track record for the same business CONTACT THE IDC KZN
projects that lie close to Moodley’s heart. opportunity, and I’ve made it a personal and professional model in the UK and US with Kraft Foods and Meadow Durban:
While South Africa’s textile industry has seen a significant commitment to pay it forward by giving others Cheese, knowledge of the world market, raw material supply
decline since the early 2000s as a result of increasing global opportunities. Hopefully, they do the same for others in the and prices, and knowledge of the South African market based 031 337 4455
competition, government, in collaboration with the IDC, is future.” on previous testing of the market via imports. Pietermaritzburg:
trying to resuscitate this jobs-rich industry. Sacks Packaging in numbers: The company supplies its product to food manufacturers,
“Textiles, clothing and footwear are my passion. It is heart- . 200 jobs the food service industry and pizza companies. 033 328 2560
warming to see our investment create permanent jobs. . 80% of sales through large JSE/multinational Ethekwini Cheese in numbers: idc.co.za
“If one person has a job, you are feeding five to seven customers . Jobs created: 94
people per household.” . 100% black-owned . 30% of the company is owned by a black woman
One of the reasons textiles has had a resurgence in South This project is reported by City Press and supported by the IDC