With South Africa’s economy under continued pressure, good news stories about SMEs are rare. So when a local SME makes the effort to not only provide globally recognised products and services, but also invests in growing the local economy it’s a win-win for all.
Laxton Technologies SA has been awarded a level 1 B-BBEE contributor status. The Laxton Group is one of the world’s largest self-service terminal, digital signage, digital music equipment and e-government jump kit manufacturers.
Founded in 2000 in South Africa, the company has a presence in China, USA, Poland, Russia and, of course the original founding office locally.
“As an SME in South Africa, we have taken improving our BEE status very seriously,” says Darren Reid, managing director of Laxton Technologies SA. “Over the past four years, we have been working towards consistently improving our socio economic development, enterprise development, employment equity and preferential procurement processes to get here.”
Laxton Group has several international certifications for the design, manufacture and distribution of interactive self-service kiosk terminals, digital signage, digital music equipment, e-government jump kits and related products. These certifications, along with their local Level 1 B-BBEE rating, sets Laxton apart from their competitors as more companies look at starting to grow their local economies rather than move abroad.
According to the South African Black Economic Rating Agency there are a number of different reasons why companies should comply with BEE. This includes pressure from customers and allowing for their partners to achieve greater compliance by purchasing from suppliers with high compliance levels. In addition to that a compliant company simply achieves a competitive advantage, particularly when it comes to doing business with government departments, and finally it creates economic opportunities for more entities in the country.
“For us the reason behind pushing to reach this status is two-fold,” says Reid. “It opens up tremendous opportunities for us to do business with government and international partners, but also shows our commitment to local economic development.”
Due to the local and international demand for Laxton Technologies SA skill set and customised product capabilities, in 2006 Laxton Group opted to open a factory in China to allow the organisation to ramp up their manufacturing volumes and position the group to distribute its products globally. This factory remains owned and managed by the founding South Africans.
“While the products are being manufactured in China, we still do our quality controlling, component integration and the device installation and support locally,” he says.
“Where possible, we aim to support local businesses and vendors in our projects and in addition to that we have directly contributed to job creation in terms of local support,” Reid adds. With every installation there is a certain level of support required something which Laxton Technologies SA does not take lightly.
“We have a 24-hour international contact centre to support our global customer base, but choose to support our products locally before we freight any faulty or damaged components back to China. Due to the high level of customisation and IT specific innovation constantly being reinvented by Laxton Technologies SA, we have created a niche market within the IT industry.
“Local training and implementation of support for this industry has resulted in job creation for this niche market. Through developing local skills we are able to provide support on the ground wherever we operate.
“Laxton Group’s team of highly trained and experienced professionals, comprising engineers, designers, software developers, system architects and more allows it to provide a seamless experience to clients. This in addition to the monetary contributions we make to enterprise and social development has allowed us to meet this phenomenal milestone in a mere four years,” he concludes.
