After cleaning and greening South Africa, Judy Nankervis, managing director of Blendwell Chemicals, talks to Jayne Alverca about extending the company’s reach across the African sub-continent and beyond.
In a host of industrial, commercial and manufacturing settings, cleanliness has vital implications for employee and customer safety and satisfaction. Grease and dirt is not only unsightly, it can harbour all manner of unpleasant micro-organisms and easily lead to litigation, especially in food handling industries.
Blendwell Chemicals has a simple message: whatever the operating environment, the Blendwell way is the cleanest way. Supporting higher standards of cleanliness has been core to its operations since the company began trading 21 years ago as an industrial cleaning chemical manufacturer. Since then, Blendwell Chemicals has worked tirelessly to improve and refine its wide portfolio of products to offer a one-stop solution to all the needs of trade resellers, cleaning chemical wholesalers and contract cleaners who want the highest quality assurance.
Today, the Blendwell ranges encompass industrial chemicals, laundry washing chemicals, home and office cleaning products, kitchen and bathroom cleaning, all types of floor cleaning chemicals, food industry cleaning products, car cleaning products and disinfectants, as well as cleaning accessories.
“We are the only business in this sector to manufacture exclusively for the resale sector. It is a niche we have chosen because people who want to buy our products do not want to compete with us head-on as a manufacturer,” states managing director Judy Nankervis.
More recently, Blendwell has moved into contract manufacturing in partnership with two European clients, and initial feedback has been extremely encouraging. Delphis Eco in the UK is a rapidly expanding company marketing ecological cleaning products, and was the first such enterprise in the UK to achieve the prestigious EU Ecolabel, an independently certified accreditation. Its EU Ecolabel-accredited Multi Purpose Cleaner has just been awarded ‘Best in Class’ by Tomorrow’s Cleaning magazine, having been trialled against all the major UK brands. Delphis Eco has also won the award for being the Greenest Business in Wandsworth—the largest borough of London.
“We are delighted at the contribution we were able to make to the success of Delphis Eco and hope it sends out all the right signals to other companies looking for a contract manufacturing partner. Delphis Eco was confident that we had the technical skills and the procedures and systems in place to manufacture products on its behalf that would meet the highest standards,” she comments.
Nankervis explains that Blendwell Chemicals offers two types of contract manufacturing service. “Firstly, we can manufacture according to a formulation specification that has already been developed. Alternatively, clients can come to us to outline the type of product they want and we will do the rest. Not all raw materials available in Europe can be found so readily here, but we are expert at making modifications and finding substitutes or even improving on existing formulations.”
Needless to say, one of the company’s greatest assets is its lead chemist, who is widely recognised and respected for his expertise in detergent chemistry. Nankervis would love to showcase this formulation expertise and contract manufacturing capacity with a partner of the magnitude of Walmart, which will soon be establishing a retail presence in South Africa.
With the capacity to manufacture both liquid and powder cleaning chemicals, Nankervis is proud of the company’s track record in product innovation—something which she feels gives Blendwell a solid first mover advantage. Similarly, the company works to anticipate legislation, rather than react to it afterwards. “We are very forward-looking and lean towards Europe and the US for our inspiration. Our environmental range of cleaning products and the range we have developed specifically to meet the needs of the food industry are well ahead of the current market in South Africa, which tends to be much more conservative,” she explains.
“At the moment there is a premium for environmental products and not everyone is prepared to pay it, but the situation is evolving all the time and increasingly we see large corporations in South Africa driving demand from the top downwards as they seek to implement their environmental policies,” she adds.
Nankervis stresses that, at present, Blendwell’s heritage is that of a manufacturer, not a marketing or branding enterprise. The company’s manufacturing operations extend back over more than two decades and she feels its operational processes are very robust. The business is accredited to the ISO 9000 standard with BVQI and is a member of all relevant trade associations in South Africa. However, she is very open to new ideas and would like to see the company expand the refill and dispenser side of the business as well as extend its own range of brands. At present, just one range dedicated to the food industry—known as the ‘H’ range—is branded, a move that was made in response to the specific labelling and regulatory requirements of the sector.
“Despite the global economic downturn, our sales actually improved last year and now is the time for us to look more closely at our marketing options, possibly in association witha partner who has specificexpertise in that area. We know we have a very strong formulation capacity and we would like to find a way to build value in the business without harming our existing customer base,” she adds.
Another option under consideration is to extend Blendwell’s geographical reach into new parts of the African sub-continent. Exports currently account for approximately 10 to 15 per cent of sales, but there is scope for considerable growth. “Zimbabwe has great potential when the political position stabilises and there are many other neighbours such as Namibia, Mozambique, Botswana, Zambia and Angola where we already have a footprint that could be increased. Our online presence is much more visible than it was a year ago and we know that the web will play a key role in achieving visibility and accessibility for a business such as ours.”
Blendwell is ramping up for considerable expansion over the next five years and Nankervis is already considering a move to a larger manufacturing facility. “With so many options open to us, we need to work to clarify our growth strategy over the next year, but however we choose to move forward, this is a very exciting time in our company’s history,” she concludes.
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