Poised to expand African reach
MD of distributor RS Components sees booming role on continent
BUSINESSMAN Brian Andrew has set his sights on expanding his marketleading company’s footprint across sub-saharan Africa and position it to take advantage of opportunities presented by the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Andrew has been managing director of RS Components since 2003. The company distributes about 500 000 electronic and maintenance products from 2 500 leading brands.
RS Components is a subsidiary of the London Stock Exchange-listed Electrocomponents plc, a leading global distributor of industrial and electronic products.
Andrew, who holds a postgraduate accounting degree from Wits University, says the company looks forward to take advantage of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement in order to expand its footprint across the continent.
“The free trade agreement will make doing business in Africa a lot easier,” says Andrew, an avid adventurer and sportsman who has completed the gruelling Ironman triathlon and Comrades Marathon.
“We support our future expansion plans into Africa because it’s a huge market with over 1 billion people. We see a lot of opportunities there,” he says.
Andrew, who has worked in auditing, conveyor belting, plastics converting and the online education sectors, says that besides supporting businesses in maintenance and repair work, they also support design engineers.
“We are the global industrial digital distributor. We sell 500 000 products across 2 500 brands. We work across all industries including mining, processing, utilities, education, building and construction and the financial services sector.”
The company also provides cutting-edge solutions to the automotive, 3D printing, power management, machine and plant safety, and industrial communications sectors.
Andrew says they want to position the company to be able to tap into opportunities presented by cutting-edge technologies and the latest digital innovations.
“With the level of disruption and innovation that’s happening in the world right now, with the Fourth Industrial Revolution, artificial
The level of change we are going to see in 10 to 15 years is going to be unprecedented
Brian Andrew
intelligence and Internet of Things, we want to stay relevant in that market,” he says.
“We are constantly looking at ways to service our customers better by reducing their operational costs in the manufacturing of the goods they sell.”
Andrew says the company, which operates in 26 countries and boasts 1.5 million customers, recently launched its Africa website to better service countries such as Angola, Botswana, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia and the Seychelles.
The company also has customers in Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and neighbouring Zimbabwe.
He says the move into Africa is the company’s response to a growing continent and to dealing with the demand from various industries, including the back-breaking mining sector.
“This is a fantastic business to be in. I’m always looking for and coming into contact with the latest technology,” Andrew says.
Because of new technologies, he says, it is prudent for him as a businessman to be on top of his game all the time.
“You have to keep on learning because certainly the world is changing at an exponential rate,” he says, adding: “The level of change we are going to see in the next 10 to 15 years is going to be unprecedented.”
He is determined, however, not to leave anyone behind. “That is, as long as we keep up and continue to learn and improve our skills. This is something everybody has to do.”
The self-confessed lover of technology says the world is evolving at a fast pace.
“I think the biggest concern for us is to make sure that everybody comes along for the ride and that no one stays behind.”