BLUE WILLOW ALUMINIUM

Having the assurance that any municipal issue will be resolved with a single phone call is what William Duk, managing director and shareholder of the Blue Willow Group, values most about his decision to invest in Cape Town.

Duk is a chartered accountant and winner of the 2012 Sanlam/Business Partners Entrepreneur of the Year competition. He manages several companies in Atlantis under the Blue Willow Group, which includes Plantation Shutters, Blue Willow Aluminium, Blue Willow Properties and Blockhouse Shutters.

In 2007, after an eight-year stint in the UK, Duk “stumbled upon” Plantation Shutters; at the time a small company on the brink of bankruptcy. On the spur of the moment, he decided to purchase the company, a then R3-million business, for R1. “That’s where my entrepreneurial journey started,” says Duk. Within five years, Plantation Shutters, which designs, manufactures and installs adjustable window and door shutters, doubled the work force and increased its turnover tenfold.

But it didn’t end there. In October 2015, Duk and his associates saw a gap in the market and decided to expand their business. They invested almost R30 million in Blue Willow Aluminium, the first company in Sub-Saharan Africa to offer an environmentally friendly method of pre-treating architectural aluminium prior to powder coating. Today, the Blue Willow Group of companies employ 200 people, the majority of whom live in Atlantis.

“The businesses are doing well. I must admit, though, that the Blue Willow Aluminium investment would not have been possible, and the process certainly not as seamless, without the help of the City of Cape Town’s investment facilitation unit,” says Duk. “They were the champions, and supported us in a number of ways. One of things that really impressed us was the expedited plan approval process, which took just 11 days. If you compare that to the normal run of the mill approval process, it was extremely quick. We had an enquiry about changing the entrance and re-orientating the way people access the property. With things like that it’s all about knowing who to speak to at the City. Through that single contact point, everything was facilitated seamlessly.

We also did a complete electrical upgrade, which took just three and a half months. Without that process being expedited, we would not have been able to operate. We had several enquiries and having a single office facilitate it, made things so much easier for us as the investor.”

Comforting, says Duk, was that the support and enthusiasm continued after the initial investment was made. “Today, months after we’ve opened, I have the assurance that I can pick up the phone, call Stanley (Visser) or Christopher (Hewett), with any municipal enquiry and it will be resolved. You won’t find that in any other municipality in South Africa.”

There is a lot of reliance on local government when embarking on a project as sophisticated as opening an automated processing plant in line with international best practice. “There was a lot of reliance on local government,” says Duk. “But it was hugely comforting knowing that we could turn to someone who felt our frustration if it wasn’t going perfectly. The investment facilitation team was always there to assist. There’s an ethos of accountability, from the mayor (Patricia de Lille) all the way down to the service staff. That was amazing.”

Duk says the Johannesburg-based project team that installed the plant was sceptical about achieving the targets when told of the timeframes at the start of the project. “They thought there was no way we’d be able to achieve it because they’ve experienced similar projects in Joburg where 18 months after plans were submitted, they’d still be waiting for things to happen,” says Duk.

“Cape Town is without a doubt a great place to invest. When one embarks on any big investment, one really needs the support of local government. If you’re not sure who to speak to or engage with, it’s one extra challenge you don’t need. But the City of Cape Town has, through the single contact point, made things easier.”