Massmart development fund lights fire under local suppliers
With the help of the programme, entrepreneur Eugene Havenga was able to accelerate his 10-year growth plan and achieve his goal in two years
When Eugene Havenga, MD of Umlilo Charcoal Products, was thinking about starting a new business, he decided to begin by throwing out the rule book. Instead of trying to discover a product that would satisfy a new market need, as most business start-up courses would recommend, he decided to instead try to define the product. His previous business was making envelopes. "I had a list of criteria for the product," he says. It had to be something that people would buy and then buy again within 14 days; it had to cost less than R100; be made without expensive equipment; something that could be exported; and it had to be something that could be made without a high level of existing skills. Eventually, he came up with charcoal. The product fits all the criteria, and what was more, he was confident that by using Namibian hardwood, he would be able to develop a better product than local charcoal. The process involved, he concedes, a lot of braais. "For months I would buy a new type of charcoa...
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