Forwarder seeks empowerment partners

Happy to offer training and mentorship ED RICHARDSON PORT ELIZABETH-based Ibhayi Freight Services is looking for partnerships with up-country and empowerment companies in the freight and forwarding industry. Ibhayi, which opened for business in 2001, has specialised in the export of hides, skins and leather. With the company’s systems now proven and staff trained, founder Kevin Glegg is keen to establish business links with both local and national companies. “We act as the Port Elizabeth and Eastern Cape office for a number of companies that do not have offices of their own in the city. I think we have proven ourselves as reliable and principled service providers and we would like to do more of that. “Ibhayi is also looking actively for empowerment partners. However, we do not just want investors. We want people who will be actively involved in the business. People who have both skills and commitment,” he says. More people with skills are needed because the business is growing and becoming more complicated as South African exporters of hides, skins and leather increase volumes and break into new markets, he says. Glegg, who is one of the leading hides and skins specialists in the industry, is happy to mentor and train potential partners. Ibhayi has an ongoing in-house training programme for its staff, “which is a nice mixture, who are all treated equally,” says Glegg. The company also works with empowered service providers in the Nelson Mandela Metro.