Recently the West Coast Business Development Centre (WCBDC), in partnership with the Economic Development Partnership (EDP), facilitated an SMME Workshop in Piketberg.
At the workshop, these role-players met several entrepreneurs who are working hard to grow their businesses and create employment in their communities.
Piketberg resident Edith Booys has a company that does wooden palette repair and manufacturing. From January to March she constructed a section of the seating at the Berg River Stadium, and was asked for a quote to do the rest. Booys’ company is called K2014 000 566, a name that came with the shelf company she bought in 2014.
Recycling is the golden thread running through her business as she repairs palettes and uses every piece of wood that can be re-used in one way or another.
“We repair palettes for PPC, and remove the broken pieces and use those pieces as firewood for the community,” Booys says. “This wood is used to bake bread at the Snoek and Patat Festival last weekend.”
Other re-usable pieces of wood are used to manufacture plant containers, which were sold at the festival, and any nails found in the broken palettes are removed and taken to the scrap dealer.
Booys says she owes much of her success to a team of dedicated employees. She enjoys her job, and says every day is challenging but different. She currently leases a property in the Piketberg industrial area and a forklift truck, and these expenses are crippling.
Having her own forklift truck would reduce Booys’ monthly costs, but the cost of buying a forklift truck is too high.
“Last year I saw a forklift on Gumtree for R35 000,” she said, “but I just didn’t have the money to buy it, which was disappointing.”
In an ideal world Edith would like to have her own property, her own forklift truck and a large enough supply of palettes in the yard to allow her team to work every day.
Her next challenge is to design her letterhead and her website, something the WCBDC can advise her on. And, a name change – perhaps to something a little more catchy? “I don’t really want to change my company name,” she says with a smile. “I like the name.”
Contact Edith Booys on 078 987 8513, 073 088 2317 or via email: booysedie@gmail.com.
