The Leschaco Group recently hosted its shareholder and chief digital officer, Constantin Conrad, and regional head for the EMEAI region (Europe, Middle East, Africa and India), Christian Böttcher, both based in Germany, at its South African branch in Boksburg.
The purpose of their visit was to discuss how they have overcome global obstacles to put their Vision 2030 in place.
Leschaco is active in the fields of sea and airfreight, tank containers and contract logistics. With its worldwide logistics solutions, it is a reliable partner for leading companies in the machinery and plant engineering industry, automotive industry, chemical industry and associated sectors, consumer goods, and pharmaceuticals.
Conrad and Böttcher said they had not been deterred by global events such as the pandemic, transport-related challenges, and even a cyberattack.
These have only made their ambitions bigger and stronger.
“Globally we have dealt with these obstacles very well.
“We have been able to cope with these crises through great teamwork.
“We are a really resilient organisation.
“We were hit by a cyberattack last year in August, and I am very proud of how the organisation dealt with it in many different ways.
“We often had a very local approach to dealing with it [the crisis], but you could really tell that we are all united behind a common goal in trying to deal with such events in the best way possible,” Conrad said.
Peter Schmidt-Löffler, CEO of Sub-Saharan Africa, said that Leschaco was continuing to put its customers first, and by doing so, they had seen an increase in new clients.
“Locally and globally the relationships we’ve had with suppliers and customers have been very strong.
“What is important these days is that we have great communication with our customers. We don’t use excuses.
“The big thing for us is that we communicate with our customers very well. Keep them informed at all times, whether it’s negative or positive.
“We haven’t seen a decrease in customers; we’ve actually seen an increase in customers joining us simply for that reason – that we’re on the ball, hands-on, and there for them at all times,” he added.
Conrad is joined by his sister, Charlotte Palermo, who is the organizational development expert and Global HR project manager, and they are the joint shareholders of Leschaco.
Conrad said that they had taken a step back to reassess their goals to build on Leschaco’s empire, which had resulted in the company’s clear vision to achieve certain goals by 2030.
“Entering into the company, we took a step back to look at what drives us and why we want to take on this commitment, ensuring that we build on what has already been established.
“We came to the conclusion that reason number one is really the people. We want to connect people across industries, across our field, with our employees, our partners, and our customers, and to be part of such a community,” he said.
“What originated out of this drive to define your own purpose, or the purpose for Leschaco, was to then come up with a vision for 2030. So we put a clear vision and strategy in place for 2030 – where we want to take the company in the remaining eight years.
“We feel to really stay relevant for our customers we will need to accelerate growth.
“We want to diversify our product portfolio.
“We want to become a service provider that can offer integrated logistics solutions in all the countries where we are present.
“We want to strive to serve our customers with whatever logistical needs they may have, and then we have a clear focus on quality.
“We are working on strategic initiatives to ensure that Vision 2030 comes alive,” Conrad concluded.
