In 1996, Mervyn Moodley founded Safrique International, headquartered in Johannesburg, with the objective of offering a total PET solution to customers in sub-Saharan Africa.
Reflecting on milestones, Mervyn explains that one event caused a chain of events, which turned challenges into opportunities for the company.
There was good interest in the textile fabrics used in mattress and furniture manufacturing. However, in 2009, Safrique was facing a potentially difficult situation when SANS announced the closure of its PET plant. Mervyn then had a ‘light bulb moment’ while walking one of his favourite mountain tracks to offer a wide range of Safripol’s polymers to customers in Africa.
When it became apparent that Safripol could at times not supply its polyolefins on a continuous basis, Safrique started supplying recycled materials. These too became very popular. ‘With recycled materials it’s very important to have good quality and consistency, and Safrique put a lot of focus on obtaining the best quality possible from recyclers in South Africa,’ explains Mervyn.
Soon demand outgrew supply, and today, Safrique continues to source whatever it can from South Africa as well as from Europe, the Middle East, South-East Asia, North and South America.
The raw materials were the conduit to customers who had expansion plans for machinery such as blown film lines, flexographic and rotogravure printing presses and lamination units. Safrique thus partnered with Windmöller & Hölscher and Nordmeccanica as a distributor in selected African countries.
On the sustainability side, in 2015, Safrique partnered with Austrian-based company Next Generation Recycling Machinery (NGR), a renowned manufacturer of post-industrial and post-consumer recycling machines.
When searching for a high-quality supplier of virgin thermoplastic resins, and struggling during the process, Safrique discovered a trading company in the US called Global Plastics with its StarResin™ brand. ‘We’re lucky to have Global Plastics on board as a supplier since 2019, which has enabled us to meet the market demand across the continent,’ he explains. ‘We recently started a cooperation agreement with Lindner Washtech for shredding, washing and sorting technology.’
With the onset of the pandemic, Mervyn and his team worked harder than ever to meet customers’ needs. ‘During this time, I also tried to keep my team positive as it’s easy to become preoccupied or even depressed in such a unique situation. We were fortunate because raw materials were classified as essential goods, and we could carry on with business during the lockdown.’
He adds that the team’s efforts, as well as the substantial support received from Global Plastics, ensured that Safrique experienced exponential growth during the pandemic instead of the usual linear year-on-year growth.
‘Trade shows are also very important to us as we’ve always preferred face-to-face discussions as opposed to relying on technology. These events provide us with the opportunity to build existing business relationships and find new customers as well as suppliers.’
Mervyn adds that after exhibiting at Propak Africa 2022 and Propak East Africa in Kenya the outcomes have been successful for the company, and the team is looking forward to K 2022 in Germany from October 22 to 26.
He explains that Safrique has grown tremendously over the past 26 years, and the team is proud of all the milestones and accomplishments. ‘We know now that we’re able to create opportunities from any challenge we face and we’re looking forward to what the future holds for the company.’
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