Achieving growth in recessionary times

A challenging and unstable economic landscape is one way to test the true agility and resilience of a company. According to Gashan Naidoo, Firstclass Logistics’ ability to achieve ongoing growth in recessionary times can largely be attributed to its organisational attitude. “Do everything better, faster and continue to place the customer at the heart of your business model.” Firstclass Logistics was founded in 2003 by managing director Naidoo, with an entrepreneurial, can-do spirit and as a result has achieved phenomenal growth in the past seven years, he told FTW. Initially only offering a brokerage service, the company is now a fully fledged logistics provider with a fleet of vehicles, offering a nationwide service. “We consider ourselves proudly South African and are an accredited Level 3 BEE contributor,” says Naidoo. “It’s not about just managing the rands and cents but about growing responsibly. We have diversified in the past few years and have successfully entered into the arena of warehousing, project cargo and abnormal loads, more recently offering a courier service. “Looking ahead at 2011, the focus is on investing in people and technology to bring more expertise and higher efficiencies to specific areas of the business in order to fuel future growth.”