Businessman with busloads of success
Driven by passion for manufacturing
EASTERN Cape-born entrepreneur Patuxolo Nodada has been able to attract close to R1-billion rand from a development financier through a demonstration of skills and making astute business investments.
Nodada, a managerial finance and cost accounting graduate, acquired “significant” shareholdings in Busmark in 2009.
Since then, the company has grown its market share from 34% and “now sitting at 40%,” he said.
His manufacturing businesses, which include electronics, have attracted close to R1-billion from the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), which he said yielded returns. Busmark has been producing buses for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) including MercedesBenz SA, Isizu, Scania and Volvo since 1973. The company has grown its market share via the bus-in-transit sub-sector and produced buses for a number of metros including Buffalo City.
“We started with producing 80 buses in Durban with Mercedes-Benz SA. Then we did 231 for Cape Town with Optare. We are going to produce other buses with Volvo and Scania in Cape Town. We have produced 125 Gautrain buses in Joburg, 2 500 buses with Hino and Toyota and three with MAN in Buffalo City two years ago,” said Nodada.
Growing up in Butterworth, which was the manufacturing hub in the erstwhile homeland of Transkei, stirred Nodada's passion for manufacturing.
His family owned general dealers and maize distribution businesses in the former Transkei. Nodada, 38, is the youngest of 10 siblings, many of whom are established entrepreneurs.
Nodada is also a shareholder in Vektronix since 2007, an East London-based electronics manufacturer which produces DStv Explora decoder and TV panels for Samsung.
“The ICC has supported me with almost R1-billion and I've made them more,” he said.
He told the Daily Dispatch how Vektronix bagged the contract with Samsung against tough Chinese competitors.
“We were able to go head-on with China because of my managerial finance and cost accounting background. We managed to beat the Chinese in terms of cost price,” he said.