An exciting new joint venture between Durban based Majozi Brothers Construction and well established tool hire and sales operation, Hire-It (Natal) PTY Ltd will introduce an exciting combination of new generation entrepreneurship and experience into this often overlooked segment of the construction industry.
 
The new venture, Majozi Bros Tool Hire & Sales, is 51 percent owned by Majozi Brothers Construction, while Hire-It (Natal) PTY Ltd holds 49 percent. As a BBBEE level 2 company, it is proud to be the first Black owned business of its kind in the province.
 
Majozi Brothers Construction is owned by enterprising young business partners Sihle Ndlela and Simphiwe Majozi who are both under the age of 30. They started out by supplying sound workmanship and professionalism into the township residential building market eight years ago.

They have developed their company to the point where it is now a joint venture partner with WBHO Construction in a multi-million rand Gateway expansion project that is expected to transform the province’s iconic mall into one of the largest shopping centres in South Africa.
 
Majozi Bros started out as a small, family owned ceiling repair business and was taken over and relaunched as a construction company in 2008 by Simphiwe Majozi who was just 21 at the time. He was joined shortly afterwards by his partner, Sihle Ndlela.

Since then, the company has grown and completed various projects ranging from high end residential developments within estates such as Zimbali, Cotswold Downs and Westhills to block offices and residential houses all over the province.
 
It has been divided into three divisions - Majozi Bros Construction which specializes in general building, Majozi Bros Civils and Earthworks which specializes in civil engineering and commercial construction and the Majozi Bros Property Fund which invests in residential developments. Majozi Bros Tool Hire & Sales will be the fourth division.
 
Hire-It (Natal) PTY Ltd is a third generation family business that was launched 36 years ago by Doug Fraser. Joined by his son Richard, he has built the business into a specialist in the hire, sale and repair of small plant and power tools. With dealerships including Honda, Bosch, Makita, Yamaha and Husqvarna Construction, it has branches in both Pinetown and Springfield Park.
 
“While the JV is a new venture, the shareholders have a wealth of experience in the construction and tool hire industry and we are ideally positioned to provide quality and well maintained equipment and efficient service,” says Richard Fraser.

Simphiwe Majozi says that the two companies had worked together for nearly five years before discussing a joint venture.
 
“In mid-2016, we began investigating a potential joint venture given the synergies between our operations. Majozi Bros Construction is ideally placed on the ground to source hire business. Hire-It has the infrastructure in place and plenty of experience when it comes to effectively running a tool hire business. The benefits of working together were clear.”
 
Ndlela believes the new JV has an exciting future. “This is an untapped market with only a few large big players dominating it. Given our BBBEE rating, we are able to assist our commercial customers in reaching their supplier targets.

However we also realise that it is not enough to have an excellent BBBEE rating, we also need to make sure that we deliver quality products and service to keep our customers happy for the long term.
 
“Every established construction business needs tools to operate efficiently. It makes business sense to hire tools rather than buy. Tools are expensive, they depreciate in value and need to be continuously maintained.

Companies spend hundreds of thousands monthly on tool hire, so there will always be a demand for a tool hire company that provides professional and reliable service and a good customer experience.”
 
He says that what will make Majozi Bros Tool Hire the “go to” company for those looking to hire tools will be its after sales support. “Our business has a fleet of bakkies that services specific nodes, and will be able to tend to break downs as soon as possible. We will have spare machines available to swap out breakdowns, so that down time is kept to an absolute minimum. “
 
According to the JV partners, the plan is to grow the company aggressively in the KwaZulu-Natal commercial construction sector by developing relationships with big construction companies and hiring tools to them on a long term contract basis at market related cost.

Having put in place the right systems and developed sufficient capacity to handle growth, they plan to roll out the company nationally in the near future.