We started to produce all of our products such as silicone cable, screw, gasket, cable grouping produced by Elcab Kablo in Turkey in South Africa. In the following period, this structure will grow and develop even more and reach the size of our company in Turkey, insha'Allah. We asked General Manager Mr. Nejdet Tıskaoğlu for his thoughts on the new investment in South Africa. Can you briefly tell us about Elcab's main product groups? We produce silicone cable groups and oven door gaskets in the white goods group at high quality standards. In addition to these two product types, we also have plug-in cable production in terms of being included as a complementary product in our product range for the white goods sector. Our products have the VDE certificate, which is the German quality certificate, and we produce according to the quality standards determined by the certification body. We are extremely assertive in quality and export our products to 43 countries of the world, especially in Europe and South America.

What would you say if you make an evaluation of Elcab Kablo's work last year. What did he accomplish, what were his goals, was he able to achieve them? What are their goals in the coming period?

When we look at the targets of Elcab Kablo in general, I can say that it was a year in which we achieved our targets. Elcab Kablo's culture has a growth trend of between 25% and 30% every year. We realized this growth trend last year. We have carried our domestic market share to much better points. We have further strengthened our commercial ties with international brands as a supplier. In the philosophy of Elcab Kabloın; Doing what he does well, doing it with quality, giving it on time and creating long-term collaborations with his partner. Our long-standing cooperation with the brand value companies of our country, which has already become an international brand in the product group, continues to grow stronger every year. In the coming period, we aim to further increase our market share as a reliable partner in product supply by continuing our work with qualified companies with high representation ability of our country and our sector.

I believe that we will close with 60% growth in 2018. The biggest factor in growth will of course be our investment in South Africa. Therefore, this investment in South Africa will provide a great profit for our company, whether it is to grow or to increase our brand value. When we look at the end of 2018, we will be talking about a better year for us than we thought, that we have achieved our goals, and that 2019 will be even better.

 

What kind of initiatives do you have in terms of your overseas investment studies?

We have a project in South Africa that is operational. The fact that a customer with whom we have been a partner for many years invested in the production of white goods in South Africa drew our attention to this country. As a result of our negotiations and about a year of feasibility studies, we decided to establish a factory as Elcab cable in this country.

 

We have carried our solid cooperation with our partner to a new dimension by giving global meaning at the point of benefit and denominator with our factory that started operations in South Africa.

 

What are your goals with this structure in South Africa?

I can say that Elcab Kablo is a global player with this investment. We can call our factory here Little Elcab at the beginning. Namely; We started production with the team and equipment in our own infrastructure. In other words, we started to produce all of our products such as silicone cable, screw, gasket, cable grouping produced by Elcab Kablo in Turkey in South Africa. In the following period, this structure will grow and develop even more and reach the size of our company in Turkey, insha'Allah. There is good potential for our business in South Africa. I can say that you will hear that this team has achieved much greater things in Africa in three or five years.

How will your Factory Investment in South Africa initially work with the Customer and Production process?

With our investment in this country, we initially planned to meet the demands and wishes of our existing customers. At the beginning, we are relieved that we are not in a hurry to look for a new market and customers. Therefore, in the first year, we will produce the demands of our partner and thenwe will start the export point to new customers and new markets and countries in the   region with our medium and long term plans.

How were you received in South Africa when you made the investment decision? In general, I can say that; A new investor has come to the country, let's embrace it, let's offer conveniences, let's help in every field. Our biggest advantage was that we came to the country as an investor in the same period with our customer who is a global player with a strong brand value. Because of this unity, they welcomed Elcab's investment positively. If you ask if you have received any incentives from any authority, there are zero incentives, that is, we have not received support from any authority. We have invested completely with our own capital here. Imagine that if a foreigner comes to our country as an investor, many facilities such as the interest of our state authorities, tax facilities, cheap credit, etc. are offered. But unfortunately, we have not encountered any incentives and facilities in South Africa while investing.

How do you plan to overcome the challenges of trained people and technical personnel?

In the first place, we brought our own technical staff. Our friend who is responsible for the technical product of each department comes here from time to time to train South African friends and we form a new technical team about the product and production processes.

 

The main business of Elcab Cable is cable, but our cable identity is a little different than the cable is a little more than a company. Apart from Elcab's cable player identity, we have a labor-intensive cable grouping instrument identity. Grouping of cables, profiling, contiguing, all of these are employee- and labor-intensive jobs. Therefore, we have started our work here with a staff of 50-60 people at the beginning. I predict that we will reach 100-150 personnel at the end of one year and 250 next year.

 

As a global investor company, will you have a structure to expand your market network and to create new alternative markets for your investment here?

Our first priority here will be to meet the needs of our global partner with a degree of satisfaction by producing at the highest level without victimizing them. In the meantime, we will have a process of better understanding and understanding the system in the country and the region.

Nothing is produced in this country, of course, it is produced, but very little is produced. For example, cables are produced, but there is no company producing silicone cables in South Africa. So they were getting their silicon cable needs from Europe. Partly we were sending from Turkey gradually, but we were not very competitive because it was a 15% tax bracket. Now, with our producer identity, we will be in a competitive position both in this country and in the region with a strong hand.

How much was your Factory Investment Cost?

We had an investment cost of around 1.5 million dollars. In this investment process, there was no investment incentive and assistance from both our country and the South African wing. We met them from our own resources. While South Africa does not impose a tax on raw materials upon entry into the country, it imposes a tax on the finished product. We will overcome the export difficulties experienced from our country to this country due to Customs Taxes with these investments. We will also start exporting raw materials from our country to here.

Can you also give information about the facilities?

We have a beautiful facility with a 12-meter-high indoor area of 5,000 square meters. An area of 500 square meters belongs to the office floors and we have another 2,500 square meters outside. There was another global cable company from Canada in these facilities before. They decided to end production and return to Canada. The facilities were very accurate for our cable production due to their previous purpose. We have a nice facility, a nice parking area. I hope we will welcome our friends and you to the opening.

Is there a message you would like to give about South Africa?

They say why are you going to invest abroad? There are material gains in this business, but there is also a spiritual part. I must say that I think that the Turkish people are honest people without discriminating between language, religion and color, and that we intend to represent an example in a way befitting Turkey. I say with all sincerity that it is my human duty to ensure that we are looked at differently, and that we are looked at correctly, not to say differently.

There are 3 problems I see in this region waiting for the investor. The first is security, the second is bureaucracy and legislation, and there is laziness. There is no problem with the banking system, where the big banks in the world are already operating. In terms of transportation and transportation, I can say that we are very lucky that Durban is a port city.

 

For the interview Elcab Kablo gave to our magazine Electricity Turkey Magazine about his factory investment in South Africa, the General Manager of the Company Mr. We would like to thank Nejdet Tıskaoğlu.