Top exporter turns up the heat

Thinking ahead of the pack and running with the idea warmed hearts last week as Cape Town’s Econoheat not only triumphed as winner of the 2011 Absa/Cape Chamber of Commerce Western Cape Exporter of the Year Award but won a new prize for innovation. Econoheat has turned a locally invented, SABSapproved, wall panel that uses that uses very little electricity into a product exported to 39 countries around the world. Headed by MD Pieter Bräsler, the Wetton-based company produces 2 300 units a day, with potential to turn out two million units a year. Econoheat will soon launch a low-voltage, machine-washable, electric blanket and a dual convection heater in 2013. The Chamber prize for the best exporter outside the engineering industry went to Quantum Sails, makers of world-beating racing and cruising yacht sales. The Transnet Port Terminals prize for the best manufacturing exporter went to TESA Palisade Fencing and Security Systems, which has made big inroads into Africa, supplying security fencing for 3 500 cell phone base stations. The Credit Guarantee Award for the best small exporter was awarded to Folio-online, the leading translation service in sub- Saharan Africa.