HYDRAULIC TOOLS
Hi-Force, a leading designer, manufacturer and supplier of hydraulic tools Reliable and cost-effective only begin to describe the product range of HiForce – an industry name to be reckoned with. Lifting Africa sat down with Sean Sandham, Managing Director of Wanawake Industrial Supplies, the sole importer and distributor of Hi-Force in South Africa to find out more. South Africa has always been an important market to Hi-Force, a leading designer, manufacturer and supplier of hydraulic tools in the United Kingdom (UK). Having established a regional office in the country some twenty years ago it was a business that was well supported with sales on the rise. “The business had been going from strength to strength, but we were
struggling to make the local model fit the requirements of our UK head office. We simply could not operate locally the way other regional offices were doing elsewhere in the world,” explains Sandham.
the other. Sandham says that this brought further challenges to local Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) and localization procurement policies. Another approach was required.
At the time, Hi-Force not only had a regional office in South Africa but also several distributors of its product range which was not the global model of having one or
“In 2018 Wanawake Industrial Supplies was formed with the support of Hi-Force UK to comply with the local BEE legislation and to meet the needs of customers in the South African unique business environment.” With Wanawake as the official Enterprise Development Partner for Hi-Force SA, it could take over the business completely removing the additional level of costs associated with a regional branch. Things moved quickly and by 2020 Wanawake, meaning women in Swahili, was delivering the trusted customer service Hi-Force was known for in the local market. In 2020 Wanawake was one of the first companies in the sector to empower its staff by allowing them to form their own BEE level
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Lifting Africa - May/Jun 2022
