Vikela adds muscle in Cape Town

THE SECURITY seal business
involves a whole lot more
than simply selling an item
– product education is also
paramount, says Mandy
Backstrom, new Cape Town
branch manager for Vikela
Aluvin, marketer of a wide
range of associated products
in the country.
The former Gautenger
who comes with a sales
background frankly admits
she has much to learn about
this new industry in which
she finds herself but is giving
it her best shot, as they say.
Based at Vikela Aluvin’s
offices in Racecourse Road,
Milnerton, she has been
marketing the merits of the
company’s wide product
range of more than 80 items.
“What I have realised in
the short time I have been
with Vikela Aluvin is that
shipping and the marine
industry have not been
satisfactorily penetrated from
a security seal perspective,
a priority for me,” says
Backstrom.
As to how securityconscious
business is in
South Africa, she believes
many smaller companies
are “not quite there yet” but
beginning to take note of
vital security requirements.
“It’s not just about us
selling a box of seals but
implementing a sealing
system, and educating the
customer about the merits
of a product and how it can
work for him or her. It’s all
about mitigating loss at the
end of the day.”
Backstrom believes there
is still a large amount of
security seal business to be
had in the Western Cape and
she is out to achieve
just that.
In business for more
than 50 years, Vikela Aluvin
is a broad-based BEE
company, effectively 39%
black-owned, with its head
office and manufacturing
facility located in Germiston,
Gauteng.
The company’s
manufacturing is done in
line with the its international
partners’ quality standards,
which include ISO9001
and ISO17712, while also
ensuring it remains at the
forefront of global security
sealing trends, among them
initiatives such as C-TPAT
and ISMA.