Uitenhage businessman Stephen Dondolo has acquired a significant shareholding in Caltex Eastern Cape Marketer (CECM), the largest distributor in Chevron’s Africa-Middle East-Pakistan (AMEP) region, the company announced yesterday.
CECM chief executive Clive Berlyn said Dondolo’s African Pioneer (Pty) Ltd had purchased a 22% stake in the company for R15-million and joined the board of directors from 1 February 2014. The shares were purchased from the estate of Berlyn’s late business partner and CECM co-founder, Richard Ndungane.
“I’m very confident that we have found a match that will add value. We were looking for a solid, diversified company as shareholder, and we have found that in African Pioneer, led by a visionary entrepreneur in the person of Stephen Dondolo. We are extremely happy that African Pioneer have taken up this stake, and they have the option to increase it in future,” Berlyn said today.
He said the companies were similar in their “humble beginnings” and Eastern Cape roots. Dondolo brought a wealth of board-level experience as well as deep knowledge of the Eastern Cape market, logistics and distribution, having built a business centred on distribution and retail of a wide range of consumer goods from large manufacturers into townships and rural areas.
“I believe I can add value to CECM’s transformation and empowerment strategy, and demonstrate that black-owned businesses can be successful in their own right,” Dondolo said.
Chevron AMEP branded marketer sales manager Ash Raja said CECM controlled more than 12% of the company’s retail network in South Africa and their performance had endorsed Chevron’s strategy of partnering with BEE companies to give them the opportunity to participate as major players in the South African fuel industry.
“We are excited and proud to see CECM partnering with African Pioneer and strongly believe that this partnership will continue to nurture the success of the business and respectfully serve the communities in which it operates,” Raja said.
Berlyn emphasised the alignment of values between CECM and African Pioneer, noting that: “We are both committed to the transformation of the Eastern Cape’s economic landscape through building up well-managed, strategically focused, profitable businesses that employ and develop local people, purchase and invest locally, and retain profits in the province.”
Dondolo echoed Berlyn’s sentiments, noting that African Pioneer had made a strategic choice to be based in the Eastern Cape and “grow empowerment at home”.
He said African Pioneer based its growth strategy not on the “mere creation of BEE beneficiaries” but on sound management systems directed at profitability, leading to “genuinely broad-based black economic empowerment”.
“Our investment strategy is to seek out companies that share our culture and values; that are family-driven; have strong management; are profitable and present growth opportunities; and are preferably Eastern Cape-based. Caltex Eastern Cape Marketer fits all those criteria.
“We welcomed the opportunity to strengthen our presence in the energy sector, where we see sustainable growth opportunities. CECM is well-positioned to take advantage of these, with a solid track record and distribution network in the Eastern Cape,” Dondolo said.
Berlyn said CECM was committed to the Eastern Cape – where it spent 90% of its non-fuel expenditure – and intended to continue looking for growth opportunities in the province, while Dondolo noted that the province was “full of opportunities for growth”.
Continuing this investment trend, CECM will soon break ground on an office to be situated in Cape Road, Port Elizabeth.
African Pioneer is an Eastern Cape-based, 100% black-owned company with shareholdings in the fishing, beverage, gaming and leisure, and mining, engineering and energy industries. These include holdings in Coca Cola Fortune, Cerebos, Woodlands Dairy, Pioneer Fishing (SA’s 4th largest fishing company) and Emfuleni Resorts (owners of The Boardwalk Casino & Entertainment World in Port Elizabeth).
East London-based CECM is the master franchisor responsible for 92 Caltex dealers across the province. CECM supplies the dealers with fuel; provides quality assurance and supports them with training, business advice and marketing; and ensures compliance with legal and corporate governance requirements.
Related: R120m East Cape investment hailed by Nelson Mandela Bay business
Alan Straton
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