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.”