Ten years in business, and growing
TEN YEARS ago a father and son outfit started working from home. Today they’re celebrating their tenth birthday with a thriving - and still growing - business.
The father Hans Houniet and son Eric were originally the shipping department of Tiger Oats. But then Tiger decided to outsource the shipping function - and the two saw this as a chance to establish their own business with a core customer and links to an established chain of overseas agents.
Thus was Excellence Forwarding born, going through its first five years
of growth pangs as a two-man band.
But then the growing business began to outstrip the size of the company, and the two Houniets acquired office premises in the Johannesburg “inland port” of City Deep - and were then joined by daughter of the family, Samantha, who took on the administrative function.
“We were originally purely a forwarding company,” she told FTW. “But after requests from clients we ventured into the clearing field, with success. We are now a complete package.
“At the same time, our business has continued on an upward path and we have been increasing our cargo volumes and our staff numbers to meet the growing demand.”
And the latest figures from Excellence indicate that this growth trend continues.
“Our exports - although the overall market is a bit flat - have picked up by about 30% in the last year,” said Samantha. “Most of this to the burgeoning African market - especially Kenya and Tanzania.”
This export side of the business has grown substantially in the last
two years.
Big enough, Samantha added, for the company to have just taken on a specialist dedicated to the export market.
Imports, in the meantime, have also grown by about 15% in the last year.
“Here we are also showing above average growth,” said Samantha.
Happy birthday to Excellence Forwarding.
