Keen eye for gap in the market
In this first in a series of articles on the Kempston Group, traces the origins and business philosophy of East London’s biggest privately owned company and one of the largest family businesses in the country
IT IS a R5.5-billion-a-year family company that has entrenched East London’s place in the national business environment and is as ubiquitous in the city itself as a wellworn pair of slip-slops. It comes as a surprise then that the Kempston Group was founded on a busy street in Port Elizabeth.
The rapidly mushrooming commercial node of Kempston Road is where company owner Tony Cotterell bought his first property in 1973 and opened Kempston Truck Hire.
When he started the business, East London-born Cotterell laid out R20 800 for a fleet of 11 vehicles.
Cotterell has said that he noticed “a gap in the market” for rental vehicles and built on that opportunity.
“The need for rental vehicles was there but because there was no one to meet that specific need, people were using cartage companies who not only provided them with a vehicle to replace their vehicle which may have broken down, but also provided a driver and labourers.
“This meant that the client’s own driver and labourers would stand idle while he paid a cartage contractor for the full service.”
Forty-three years later, the group is still fully immersed in the transportation sector, with car, truck, agricultural and industrial dealerships, repair and accessory shops, vehicle hire and leasing, logistics operations, fuel outlets and truck stops, vehicle theft recoveries and a driver training academy.
But it has also diversified into property holdings, energy, recruitment and employment agencies, the hospitality sector, financing and credit solutions, insurance, home loans, cleaning and hygiene services, livestock trading and food distribution.
It has taken over large chunks of East London real estate for its head office and subsidiary businesses and now has a national footprint.
The group has a net asset value of more than R1-billion.
It holds a property portfolio of about 100 commercial and industrial sites valued at R750million, including Johannesburg’s iconic Ponte City development, with apartments on 54 floors, recently refurbished.
Its vehicle fleet runs to 2 300 vehicles of every description, with a market value of R450million.
The group employs between 4 500 and 5 000 permanent and temporary people depending on the need for contract staff.
Born many decades ago of Cotterell’s knack for spotting a business opportunity, the Kempston Group has thrived as he has continued to identify new ventures – especially in newly emerging sectors like full-maintenance leasing or logistics broking. This entrepreneurial approach – which more established investors may have shied away from – has borne fruit.
And while company information materials state that Cotterell “has resisted the lure” of a listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, he is no shrinking violet when it comes to taking hard-nosed business decisions.
He is well known throughout South Africa’s business community – able to leverage personal and business relationships with the scions of private and listed companies.
That personal brand seems to rub off on the standing of the company.
“We’re still officially a familyowned business,” said divisional director George Murdoch, adding Cotterell is “very handson in the business”.
“Everything is reported through to him.
“Every employee has access to Tony if they so wish.” —