Treading a time-honoured path to business success
CORNUBIA Industrial and Business Estate pioneers Michael Cook and Paul Clark saved hard to buy a factory in the new development and have not looked back since moving their small business to the conveniently located premises.
Cook said the decision to move their New Germany-based business, Vuka Floors, to Cornubia, near Umhlanga had been one of the major highlights of their business journey in recent years.
The SMME has also picked up work on major projects for other businesses that are moving into the new business precinct.
Vuka Floors manufactures and installs epoxy and polyurethane floor coatings for the industrial and commercial sector and has many blue chip companies, including Unilever, Engen, Samsung, BMW, Ilovo Sugar and Toyota SA among its clients.
It also exports its products into Africa.
Cook initially opened the business with eight staff as MC Vuka in 2005 and rented a 300m² premises in New Germany.
Clarke joined the firm in 2011 and the name changed to Vuka Floors. Today the business employs 32 staff.
Cook matriculated at Durban High School and obtained a BSc Construction Management from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in 1998, while Clark matriculated at Queensburgh Boys’ High School and obtained a BSc Quantity Surveying from UKZN in 1998. Cook previously worked in the construction industry for a quantity surveying practice in Durban, while Clark had developed and built holiday villas in Thailand.
“Getting our product accepted and established in the marketplace and managing our growth have been major challenges,” Cook said.
Highlights of 2016 have included completing the floors of a new bottling line at ABI in Phoenix and at a new processing facility for Bluff Meat Supplies in Richards Bay. Cook said the “leap to buy our own factory” in Cornubia was the most difficult business decision the partners had ever made, but added that business had been brisk since the move.
“We had to do a lot of saving until we could afford the deposit, and then we took the plunge. We previously wasted too much time travelling. Cornubia is closer to home for both of us. It’s in a good location with easy access to the freeways. It’s fresh and new,” Cook said. Major challenges facing SMMEs include difficulty finding appropriately skilled labour and managing the workforce, as well as maintaining working capital in the tough economic climate, Cook said.
He advised entrepreneurs to “learn from those who are doing better than you are or have done better than you before”. “My father had his own business, Ivory Industrials, for 35 years doing the same thing. He has been my biggest inspiration and mentor and now is our oldest employee at 77,” he said.