Good afternoon Mr Paterson and welcome to Beneath Botswana. In this edition we will feature a face-to-face interview as a way of highlighting the value that Equipment Sales & Services adds to our country. Could you give a brief background of Equipment Sales & Services indicating its scope of business and global presence?
The holding Company for Equipment Sales & Service is Kanu Equipment. Kanu is the largest supplier of Bell Equipment and Liebherr in Africa with distribution centres across the continent. We have operations in the following West & Central African countries; Sierra Leone, Liberia, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Congo, Uganda and Cameroon and have very recently opened for business in East Africa; Kenya and Tanzania. Our operations in Southern Africa include Botswana and Zimbabwe.
Our primary aim is to reduce the cost of operations for our customers by providing quality equipment backed by experienced maintenance teams with unrivalled spare parts availability. Our business is well established over most of Africa, our company slogan is, ‘Experience the Support’ and is fundamental to the ethos we drive within ESS.
What products and services does ESS offer to the Botswana market?
We offer a wide range of products but our key brands are of course Bell and Liebherr. We are the dealer for both Bomag which is a world leader in the supply of road construction and compaction equipment as well as Case IH within the agriculture sector in Botswana. We are very excited about our replacement parts offering namely CTP, which are specialists in the supply of after-market spare parts for heavy mining equipment. We also support the Titan and Black Cat Brands within the Ground Engaging Tools sector.
How viable is your product offering for the customer at a time when the mining pit is going deeper than expected?
We are very fortunate to have a business partner in Debswana. We have a number of service contracts running at Jwaneng and OLD Mines. We are also extremely excited to have ourmachines working on the new MTTP project on Letlhakane where we can further demonstrate the Support that we can give Debswana.
ESS has started from humble beginnings but has grown into a solid business over time. In comparison to the other major operators at Debswana we are not as large, however we believe that our flat operational management structure gives us a competitive edge enabling us to make decisions on the ground and and react timeously to our customers’ needs. We strongly believe in our company slogan: “Experience: The Support.
How does ESS’s value offering compete in the market?
ESS, with offices and warehouses in Gaborone & Francistown has become the local leader in its field of expertise with a very good understanding of the national market needs. Offering a wide range of products and services, we are fortunate to have the technical and financial muscle to facilitate further growth and much needed on-the-ground infrastructure.
What does tonight’s handover of the R9350 to Jwaneng mean to ESS especially the fact that this is the second in the country’s mining history after Orapa?
Delivery of this state-of-the-art machinery contributes tremendously to our business portfolio. For starters, we went into the labour market to ensure that we were able to source top class expertise and skills to support the first unit in Orapa. Our key drive now is the strong technical team backup to support both of these units. From a business perspective, this marks the beginning of a continued long term relationship with our key customer.
Prior to this we as ESS were successfully supplying ancillary equipment to Debswana and this has now provided us with an opportunity to show Debswana how they can really Experience the Support with ESS. We humbly celebrate our partnership with Debswana this evening which we will continue to cherish and nurture.
What are your plans for the Botswana business in terms of product and service expansion and geographical distribution?
In our efforts to make industry more affordable, ESS is introducing more competitive brands to the marketplace. As the Company was founded on integrity, it is geared up to distribute quality branded products only.
We are focused on assisting our customers with reducing their cost per tonne of production and that is why we are now representing some key aftermarket spares manufacturers to achieve this. We will continue to explore opportunities across all sectors and look forward to the government increasing expenditure on infrastructure.
How successful has the company been with market penetration and who are some of your major clientele?
Equipment Sales & Services has built and maintained a good reputation with key customers in Botswana. We have supplied equipment to the quarrying sector including small-scale mining operations. We are also making impact with the smaller construction businesses and increasingly securing new contracts.
Our holistic approach ensures that we will continue to improve across the service and supply spectrum. We’ve adopted a certain philosophy from sport, “You’re only as good as your last game” and, “no one is bigger than the game’’.
Is there anything further that you’d like to mention?
I would like to reiterate that as the largest dealer for Bell and Liebherr on the African Continent, we are committed to providing service excellence and value to our customers. We are grateful and humbled by the opportunity afforded to us by Debswana and strive to fulfil our greatest potential with the excellent service and support that we offer. Experience the Support with ESS, that’s the strongest message we wish to convey tonight and going forward.