The Chief Executive Officer, Afrirent holdings, Mr Senzo Tsabedze, has charged entrepreneurs to embrace consistency and resilience, saying success is the sum of small efforts repeated day in and out.
Tsabedze, in a statement released on Tuesday by Mr Eric Nduna, Head of Corporate Communications, Afrirent holdings, stated that having faced all kinds of challenges since he became an entrepreneur in 1999, he owed his success to consistency and resilience.
“Consistency and resilience are the main factors that have made me one of the most successful and influential businessmen in modern day South Africa and the region.
“My first enterprise was linen supply for hotels and I registered my first company in 1999 called Siyenza Consulting through which I started buying construction contracts from contractors who could not finish their work due to lack of funds.
“From then, I started buying trucks for rental, the business grew and seeing the opportunity, I established the first black owned fleet management company in South Africa.
“I scooped my first government contract at Bushbuckridge Local Municipality for fleet management worth R37 million.
“I, Senzo Tsabedze, have never looked back despite challenges I face and Afrirent Holdings has been practicing survival of the fittest as a way to the top ever since it started in 2003 to become the largest privately held black owned fleet company in Southern Africa,” he said.
He noted that the biggest challenge his company had faced was with the media in the past few years over a contract awarded to the company.
He, however, reiterated that the only thing that has kept his company going is consistency in quality service delivery and that seeing people try to take that away really hurts.
“The company was cleared of any wrong doing after forensic investigations which showed that the accusers had no basis and evidence to support their claims.
“Afrirent faced difficulties during the COVID-19 era but it came out relatively unscathed.
“To date, the company has a workforce of about 500 employees with approximately 42 employees representing the company across South Africa through relationships with OEMs, dealers and suppliers thus becoming one of the top companies in the country.
“The story of Afrirent Holdings and Senzo Tsabedze can be a source of inspiration for all entrepreneurs across Africa that in spite all the challenges, the company has seen a favourable outcome due to consistency and great team effort by experienced people in each and every division of the firm,” he said.
Tsabedze pledged his commitment to continue to take on a number of social investment initiatives via his family foundation to give relief to those in need.
He added that a mentorship programme for entrepreneurs was in the pipeline as part of his Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to improve the lots of businesses and create employment opportunities in the region.