{"id":24060,"date":"2013-10-05T21:26:37","date_gmt":"2013-10-05T19:26:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/2013\/10\/from-brandwag-to-luthando-an-open-book\/"},"modified":"2013-10-05T21:26:37","modified_gmt":"2013-10-05T19:26:37","slug":"from-brandwag-to-luthando-an-open-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/from-brandwag-to-luthando-an-open-book\/","title":{"rendered":"From Brandwag to Luthando \u2013 An OPEN BOOK"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"wpsr_floatbts_anchor\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.myaddo.co.za\/tag\/kirwood\/\">Kirkwood<\/a> \u2013 On 4 October 2013 the Luthando Farm (Pty) Ltd celebrated it\u2019s 10th year in existence. Visionary farmer, Hermanus Potgieter sold 75% of his farm, Brandwag to all 70 of his permanent employees on 4 October 2003. The Department of Rural Development and and Reform provided 50% of the finance with the Land Bank providing the remainder.<\/p>\n<p>Potgieter retained 25% and farm manager, Clive Duckworth, stayed on to assist with skills transfer. In 2008, Potgieter sold his 25% to the Sundays River Citrus Company (SRCC) who entered into a management agreement with Luthando which sees the SRCC involved with daily management such as human resources, production and technical assistance.<\/p>\n<p>General Manager and shareholder in Luthando, Nokwanele Mzamo says that the 78.29 hectare farm with a yield of 210 000 cartons per annum is consistently one of SRCC\u2019s Top 5 producers. Of the original 70 shareholders 59 remain with 15 working permanently on the farm alongside 200 or so seasonal workers.<\/p>\n<p>One got the sense from the eight speakers at the celebration on Friday that, despite the misgivings from a number of people about the size of the shareholding group taking over the farm, the process had been well planned and implemented with good communication from owner to owners along with impressive mentoring. As former owner, Potgieter remarked; \u201cYou (the Luthando shareholders) have successfully passed the 10 year mark of ownership and, at the end of the next 20 years, you will be able to proudly say that you are farmers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>I picked up two lessons from two of speakers:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Phillip du Plessis who highlighted (in Afrikaans) his BOOK principle:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>B \u2013 Bemagtiging (Empowerment). Phillip says that empowerment is for everyone and, by implication, people should stop applying the word to only empowering in a BEE sense.<\/li>\n<li>O \u2013 Ondersteuning (Support). Any project needs support.<\/li>\n<li>O \u2013 Opleiding (Training). Ongoing training is vital.<\/li>\n<li>K \u2013 Kontrolle (Controls). Without control no-one will be successful.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Regional Director of the <a title=\"Port Elizabeth\" class=\"aal\" target=\"\" href=\"http:\/\/www.mype.co.za\/cgi-bin\/search.cgi?keywords=Port+Elizabeth\">Port Elizabeth<\/a> Regional Department of Rural Development and and Reform, Faith Mbewana, expounded on her OPEN Principle \u2013 4 pillars of good business:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>O \u2013 Openess. In running your business be open with colleagues, stakeholders and employee.<\/li>\n<li>P \u2013 Partnerships. Form successful partnerships with strategic stakeholders and suppliers.<\/li>\n<li>E \u2013 Empowerment. Empower your employees to be assets in your business.<\/li>\n<li>N \u2013 Networking. In business you have to network to be successful and you must network with successful people<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Luthando General Manager and shareholder, Nokwanele Mzamo closed the day in fine fashion when she thanked and praised all who had gone before her in order to make the realisation of the successful transfer of the farm to the former employees of Hermanus Potgieter.<\/p>\n<p>In my eyes the panel of speakers were neatly book ended by the visionary farmer \u2013 Hermanus Potgieter \u2013 who despite the naysayers developed a successful model for transformation and the new General Manager \u2013 Nokwanele Mzamo \u2013 who accepted the challenge of that vision and was humble, thankful, determined and also a visionary up to the task of the next 20 years so that she too could proudly state that she was a farmer.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The main speakers of the day:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.myaddo.co.za\/tag\/kirwood\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-29801\" alt=\"Nokwanele Mzamo - General Manager Luthando (Pty) Ltd\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/plugins\/rss-poster\/cache\/805a3_Luthando_Nokwanele_Mzamo.jpg\" width=\"600\" height=\"507\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nokwanele Mzamo \u2013 General Manager Luthando (Pty) Ltd<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.myaddo.co.za\/tag\/kirwood\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-29802\" alt=\"Mbulelo Kebe - Mayor of Kirkwood\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/plugins\/rss-poster\/cache\/805a3_Luthando_Mbulelo_Kebe.jpg\" width=\"600\" height=\"451\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mbulelo Kebe \u2013 Mayor of Kirkwood<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.myaddo.co.za\/tag\/kirwood\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-29803\" alt=\"Regional Director of the PE Regional Department of Rural Development and and Reform, Faith Mbewana\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/plugins\/rss-poster\/cache\/805a3_Luthando_Faith_Mbewana.jpg\" width=\"600\" height=\"478\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Regional Director of the PE Regional Department of Rural Development and and Reform, Faith Mbewana<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.myaddo.co.za\/tag\/kirwood\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-29804\" alt=\"Ken Niewenhuizen - SRCC Managing Director\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/plugins\/rss-poster\/cache\/805a3_Luthando_Ken_Niewenhuizen.jpg\" width=\"600\" height=\"520\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ken Niewenhuizen \u2013 SRCC Managing Director<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.myaddo.co.za\/tag\/kirwood\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-29805\" alt=\"Karsten Group CEO - Phillip du Plessis\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/plugins\/rss-poster\/cache\/805a3_Luthando_Phillip_du_Plessis.jpg\" width=\"600\" height=\"455\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Karsten Group CEO \u2013 Phillip du Plessis<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.myaddo.co.za\/tag\/kirwood\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-29806\" alt=\"Hermanus Potgieter - former owner of Brandwag Farm (now renamed Luthando) \" src=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/plugins\/rss-poster\/cache\/805a3_Luthando_Hermanus_Potgieter.jpg\" width=\"600\" height=\"492\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hermanus Potgieter \u2013 former owner of Brandwag Farm (now renamed Luthando)<\/p>\n<p>\n<strong>These businesses support <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/mype.co.za\/new\/2011\/07\/more-ad-choices-on-mype\/\">MyPE<\/a>:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/mype.co.za\/new\/2011\/07\/more-ad-choices-on-mype\/\">MyPE<\/a> supports PE business:<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kirkwood \u2013 On 4 October 2013 the Luthando Farm (Pty) Ltd celebrated it\u2019s 10th year in existence. Visionary farmer, Hermanus Potgieter sold 75% of his farm, Brandwag to all 70 of his permanent employees on 4 October 2003. The Department of Rural Development and and Reform provided 50% of the finance with the Land Bank [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3330],"tags":[3338,5],"class_list":{"0":"post-24060","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-port-elizabeth","7":"tag-mype-co-za","8":"tag-port-elizabeth-2","9":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24060"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24060\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}