Positive, ‘can do’ about business
“I love what I do,” says dentist Dr Paul Kruger, the new Mossel Bay Business Chamber chairman.
To the question, “You enjoy looking into people’s mouths all day?” he replies: “It’s not just the mouth. It comes with the whole person too. It’s a package.” He says this with a big, beaming smile. Kruger’s positivity and love for people will surely be an advantage in his role as chamber chairman.
He most enjoys surgery and has been involved in complex maxillofacial procedures in the past as part of a team, for example in 12-hour operations in which cancer is removed from the throat and mouth.
This type of surgery mainly takes place in Pretoria, so here in Mossel Bay Kruger’s work is less complex.
Management level
He became involved in the chamber – and at management level – in 2010. Kruger arrived in Mossel Bay from Waterkloof Ridge in Pretoria in 2009. He owns Eden Biofuels, a business in Mossdustria, which his son has been running for the past five years. His son has a B Com business management and a diploma in international import and export. He studied at Stellenbosch University.
Eden Biofuels distributes sunflower oil, palm fruit oil and olive oil as far as Plettenberg Bay, Beaufort West and Riversdale and in between. Kruger’s clients are mainly hotels and restaurants – “anyone who makes fish and chips”, he says with a smile. The business also turns used cooking oil into biofuel - processing 20 000 litres of used cooking oil per month. What the company cannot use it exports to Europe from Cape Town.
Kruger started his oil business as soon as he arrived in Mossel Bay, in 2009. The business, which hires eight personnel, has by-products, including glycerol which it sells, but no waste. In 2015 it received a “Green” award from PetroSA.
KwaNonqaba
One of Kruger’s goals for what will be a two-year stint at the helm of the chamber is to get more business people from the greater KwaNonqaba area to join the chamber. “Most of my clients are from KwaNonqaba,” he points out. His dental practice is based in the Medicross centre in Heiderand.
“Whatever we do is a team effort,” Kruger stresses, mentioning there are 10 chamber managing members, as well as three more co-opted to management.
Kruger values the co-operation and open dialogue between the municipality and the chamber, mentioning that even the issue of one-way streets in town, the upgrading of Louis Fourie Road and the changes to laws on liquor sales were discussed with the chamber before steps were taken by council.
Also positive, Kruger says, is the communication between the various business chambers of Southern Cape towns. “For example, the Albertinia chamber members attend our meetings here,” he points out. He says all efforts will be made to foster and further improve this communication. It can only lead to better networking and more business opportunities.
Regional conference
“We’re having a regional conference in Oudtshoorn, date to be confirmed, for all the chambers. Top of the agenda will be how we can help one another. Also, the chamber is affiliated to the Afrikaanse Handelsinstituut, which will be invited. We will be discussing training, information and co-operation in the region among the various chambers.”
In May the chamber had a day-long conference about imports and exports. “We would like to see containers coming in and going out of our port,” Kruger says. There was also a valuable meeting with ACSA – the airports company – in George about the development at the George Airport. Kruger says money is available and he has faith that we will see positive developments at the port and the airport, beneficial to business in the Southern Cape.
Retirement workshop
Also on the cards for the chamber is an effective retirement workshop which would focus on packages for retirees coming to Mossel Bay. “Many pensioners come from upcountry and they don’t know who to go to if they need a lawyer or a mechanic, for example. We would like to put together packages for them so they have a recommended doctor, dentist, accountant, lawyer, mechanic and so forth.”
Kruger said the chamber’s monthly networking evenings for members were growing in popularity with more sponsors coming forward to sponsor the evenings. The number of chamber members had grown.
Having the name Paul Kruger can be problematic. “When I travelled to Australia in 2001 I was detained and questioned for hours at Sydney airport. According to their computer system there was a ‘political block’ on my name! Also, when people hear my name they often ask where the Kruger millions are. I wish I knew!”