Is SA’s downstream steel sector finally on the up?
Difficult conditions in the steel industry have put tremendous stresses on the downstream sector. But things may finally be looking up
Warne Rippon, the son of a Grahamstown bakery owner, always knew he wanted to get into "some type of retail". But it was cricket that brought him to Joburg in the early 1990s — a career decision that was not to play out as planned. He was, he says, "an average sportsman who aspired to be a Springbok cricketer". And so he found himself working for a steel company — another decision that would take an unexpected turn. Being retrenched in 1993 provided Rippon with the impetus to start his own company. "I had to make a decision: either I start my own business or try to find a job," he says. A year later he founded trading firm Steelrode. "We started with one driver; one truck," he says. "We have had to do things the hard way." Today, Rippon is executive director of Allied Steelrode — a "serious player in the industry" — formed from the merger of Steelrode and Arun Chadha’s Allied Chemical & Steel. The company employs 400 staff, and its fleet of vehicles includes 30 heavy-duty trucks and...
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