‘Creating a business future for my sons’

For many South Africans 1994, no doubt, is a year they will always remember. It heralded change for a country and its people. It was also a time of much uncertainty. For Roland Raath, CEO of Cargocare Freight Services, it was about turning that very uncertainty into a positive. “I had been toying with the idea of starting a company because I wanted to create a viable business future for my then teenage sons in this time where business and personal uncertainty reigned,” says Raath. The result of this was Cargocare Freight Services, which first opened its doors for business on 1 July 1995. And much like Raath’s vision, it was a company where he was joined by his three sons Mathew, Andrew and Warrick – all playing critical roles within the organisation. Not all stays the same though and recently Warrick left the country. His involvement with his father’s brainchild continues from afar as he now plays a pivotal international role with one of the company’s network partners in Rotterdam. Running a successful organisation in the clearing, forwarding and logistics industry is no mean feat, says Raath, but running a family business with all of its additional potholes and potential hazards is even more so. “If you think that dealing with the challenges of freight forwarding, staff, customers, BEE and the Y-Generation keep you on your toes, you have to really be able to dance when you add family to the dimension. “I think it is safe to say that one of the most dangerous places in the family home of those in business together is the dinner table. A general rule of thumb is to keep the sharp cutlery in the kitchen,” he jokes. This is particularly relevant when your boss is being stubborn and you can’t seem to get the decision you want – complicated even more when your boss is your father, or even worse, your wife. But those that work for Raath agree that Cargocare has been particularly fortunate in having an owner executive who practises the golden rule of running a family business well from an early stage – delegate early and delegate well. “Together with clear leadership communication this has really been a key to the success of our company,” says Raath. Without doubt two of the burning issues within a family business have to be succession planning and nepotism, the former being absolutely essential and the latter being totally abhorrent. “How often do you see an individual rise to the challenge with a burning desire to create and drive a successful venture, only to find that later generations just lacked the fire. In reality the short-list of companies that make it past the first generation is short,” he says. “For us a critical mix between family and non-family staff members has been a key to our success. We have avoided at all costs creating the kind of family atmosphere that has made space for any comfort zones.” For Raath and his team their biggest aspiration at the moment is to retain the all-time record profits and the momentum of 2009, which saw them increase profits by 23% in the midst of a recession while in the longer term his goal is to continue to grow the next generation through the ranks in order that the Cargocare name is still held in respect decades from now.