Caltex Eastern Cape Marketer (CECM), the proudly home-grown Eastern Cape master franchisor for global fuel company Chevron, marked a new wave of growth with the opening of a fully-fledged regional office in Port Elizabeth yesterday.
CECM chief executive Clive Berlyn said investment in offices in the growing business area of Newton Park made commercial sense, as Nelson Mandela Bay accounted for 45% of the company’s trading volumes, and 60% of its real estate holdings in Caltex retail sites. The move to open a regional office also ensured that dealers would be serviced effectively and efficiently by a dedicated team focused on the western region of the province.
The event marked two years since the company doubled in size overnight in a R130-million acquisition of 41 additional sites, extending its footprint from its original East London base across the entire Eastern Cape.
Berlyn said that the 2012 investment had amounted to R69-million in the Nelson Mandela Bay area. Since then CECM had invested a further R18-million in the area, in five new retail sites as well as an ongoing programme of underground storage tank replacements, and site remodelling and upgrades.
“We are a proudly Eastern Cape company, having started from humble beginnings with 34 sites in the Transkei area in 2005. Today we have 98 sites across the province, and spend 95% of our non-fuel expenditure here in the Eastern Cape.
“Today’s opening of a full regional office in Port Elizabeth is yet another key milestone in our growth path, and we intend to continue looking for opportunities to grow the brand and our retail outlets in this area,” he said.
Chevron South Africa CEO Stephen King congratulated Berlyn and the CECM team on strengthening their presence in the western region of the Eastern Cape, securing a solid presence for the Caltex brand across the province.
“CECM has shown phenomenal growth since 2005 but more important for us is the values that CECM and Chevron share, which are our key measure of the success of our partnerships. Like Chevron, CECM focuses on the quality of both the product and the service, on safety, and on serving the community where they operate.
“Some 65% of our retail network is now managed by partners like CECM and they create immense value for us as local businesspeople, with strong local identity and relationships. We rely on them as our brand ambassadors,” said King, Vice-President of the Chevron Africa-Middle East-Pakistan (AMEP) region.
Berlyn said that this latest milestone was accompanied by growth in staff numbers and the company’s first major event sponsorship in Nelson Mandela Bay, the Urban Run on 20 and 21 September.
“The event is focused on highlighting the regeneration of the inner city of Port Elizabeth, a key part of growing the local economy, and so aligns with our core values of supporting and growing local business. We hope that this is the start of a partnership with events that support the community who support us,” Berlyn said.
Leading Nelson Mandela Bay businessman Stephen Dondolo, founder of black-owned investment holding company African Pioneer (Pty) Ltd, acquired a significant shareholding in CECM in December 2013. Berlyn today acknowledged the value brought to CECM by African Pioneer, as a company with deep Eastern Cape roots and a shared vision for the development of entrepreneurs in the province.
“Together, we will continue to seek out and partner with entrepreneurial retailers who have a passion for the brand and want to be part of the fuel retail industry,” Berlyn said.
Berlyn said many of the systems now used as best practice in the Caltex Branded Marketer model in Southern Africa had been pioneered by CECM. These included the Fresh Stop convenience store offering on Caltex forecourts in partnership with Fruit ‘n Veg City and Chevron, and the joint venture fuel transport model in Uzuko Carriers.
Uzuko is a joint venture of CECM and listed company Cargo Carriers (Pty) Ltd, and transports fuel to 95% of CECM‘s network.
Alan Straton
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