Formed during the dark days of apartheid, Shereno Printers has undergone exponential growth since the end of that repressive regime. Gay Sutton talks to administration manager Vee Garrib about the company’s long history of investing in people and the power of the printed word.
The birth of a nation is rarely as dramatic as it first appears. There have usually been individuals and groups unobtrusively supporting the first flickerings of identity. One of those quietly and discreetly doing its bit to aid the development of modern-day South Africa is design and printing company, Shereno Printers.
Today, family-run Shereno Printers operates from a large site in Boksburg, Gauteng Province, employing around 150 permanent staff. Just over 50 per cent of its business comes from a lucrative contract to supply printing services to the government. Meanwhile, the company has made big inroads into the general South African marketplace and has increasingly been gaining contracts further afield.
“Our aim is to grow our share of the design and printing market across the whole of Southern Africa,” says administration manager, Vee Garrib. “So far, we have spread our wings to some of our neighbouring countries. We have, for example, printed books for Mozambique, ballot papers for Nigeria, and printed material for Zimbabwe and Botswana. We are continuing to look for opportunities beyond South Africa.”
Many elements of the company’s recent success, and its operational ethos, can be traced right back to its early beginnings. Launched in 1966 with just five staff operating from a single room in an Indian suburb of Benoni, this small family-run printing operation provided printing services largely for the local Indian community. Growth during those uncertain early years was slow and difficult.
Passionate about printing but also interested in politics and the ethics of freedom, the Singh family offered underground printing services to the banned ANC, at considerable risk to themselves. Suspected and often harassed by the authorities, they continued to print material for the ANC through the long years of apartheid. “When you're in that sort of danger,” Garrib says, “you find ways to get things done.” As a result, Shereno became very nimble, innovative and flexible.
Now in the capable hands of the second generation of the Singh family, the company continues to be innovative and quick to react. Soon after the election of the first ANC government, Shereno was one of the companies approached to supply it with printed material, eventually winning a long-term printing contract for the government print works.
Today, this important contract is coordinated through a satellite office in Pretoria, which supplies design services and liaison staff who are on hand to respond to the government’s often urgent need for printed materials. “What tends to happen is that we will be approached at the eleventh hour to provide printed material and airfreight it to Cape Town so that it can be presented to parliament the next day,” Garrib explains. This would present challenges to any company.
“The boss will simply put a team of people together and get the work done. We could be printing thousands of books overnight for an order that we knew nothing about the previous morning.” Such flexibility and responsiveness has won the company an enviable reputation, and Garrib believes this rapid reaction capability is all down to the hands-on approach of the company’s management.
The personal approach has also percolated into other areas of the business. The significant growth over the last 15 years has resulted in considerable expansion of operational capabilities, including the acquisition, construction and expansion of the new headquarters and print works at Boksburg, accompanied by continuing investment in new printing and design technology. However, through all this the company has continued to focus on its people.
“We have deliberately tried not to mechanise all our processes,” Garrib says. “We have a philosophy of creating employment, particularly for young black people who are leaving the schooling system and looking for jobs.” Processes such as collation, which could easily be mechanised, are performed by teams of women that are brought in and quickly trained in the relevant skills.
A similar scheme is in operation in the print shop, where young assistants are hired and trained to help the machine operators. Their duties can include functions such as changing blankets, inks and cleaning the machines. “We also keep an eye out for those who show promise,” Garrib continues, “to develop them as apprentices.”
This year, the company has been training six apprentices under the government’s vocational scheme administered through sector-based SETAs (Sector Education and Training Authority). Registered with the Print SETA, the company contributes the equivalent of one per cent of its salary bill into the scheme, and is able to apply for a grant towards the cost of training the apprentices. The curriculum is set by the SETA, and includes a combination of practical on-the-job training and theoretical instruction at college.
The human focus of the business goes right back to its inception during the times of apartheid. Throughout its history, the company has been operating a strong social responsibility programme, spreading its help across a broad spectrum of organisations and individuals, and responding where it can to deserving and relevant requests for help. During this time it has, for example, sponsored students through university and helped to kick-start innumerable black-owned businesses.
Looking to the future, the company has plans to continue expanding and to establish itself as one of South Africa’s primary design and print services providers. “And we will do this by investing further in new printing processes, technology that will enable us to take on the really large print contracts.”
Meanwhile, Shereno continues to invest in new infrastructure at Boksburg. Two new buildings have recently been constructed: a storage facility to house paper and other supplies, and a block containing offices and a larger area for collation work. Investment in new technology is also continuing. In the New Year, the company will be taking delivery of a new Scodix digital embossing machine, the first of its kind in Africa.
Shereno certainly stands apart from its competitors as a family-run company with a dual focus on technology and people, and responsive hands-on leadership. All in all, it’s a winning combination.
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