One of the founder members of Colorsfruit, one of the most successful South African export companies since deregulation, has left the company in what is seen as a major reshuffle of interests for the firm.
Riaan Van Wyk, who started Colorsfruit along with the well-known Karstens and Chennels families, had major heart surgery towards the end of last year and only returned to office in January. He has since decided to quit the company, with Mr Jan De Klerk acting as chief executive until a permanent appointment is made.
Speaking from Paarl yesterday afternoon, Mr Van Wyk confirmed that he had already left Colorsfruit but declined to comment on his future plans. Insiders at Colorsfruit say he has been talking about a quieter lifestyle for some time.
Mr Van Wyk has been one of the distinguished South African fruit industry leaders of the post regulation period. He was instrumental in the formation of Fruit South Africa in an effort to retain the image of South African fruit on the world markets, and served as director of the Fresh Produce Exporters' Forum during its turbulent early years. He also made a major contribution to setting a process in place to provide better training for young people entering the fruit export industry.
While the Colors image made an impact on the world stage, Mr Van Wyk always kept the company ‘under the radar screen' as he often put it.
'The export business is a taxing one and you do not always realise how hard you work and how much it takes out of you,' he had said.
Mr De Klerk confirmed that the Van Wyk Family Trusts were major shareholders in the company, along with the Karstens Family from the Paarl region. 'The Van Wyk shareholding is up for grabs,' Mr De Klerk said.
He said there is every likelihood there will be a new investor in the company, but did not rule out that this could happen from inside the company.
'We will wait for things to settle down but must also be realistic that in order to grow the company significantly in future further investments will be required,' he said.
Colorsfruit was founded soon after deregulation and set new trends in branding with its multi-colour image. The company grew to market around 15m cartons during the past 10 years, with the portfolio of products including table grapes, stonefruit, citrus, topfruit and sub-tropical fruit such as paw-paws and lychees.
At one time the company invested in apple and pear and other farming activities, and now also owns two citrus packhouses in the Eastern Cape. Colorsfruit also have overseas offices in Canada, the UK and Belgium from where customers receive quality and technical services.
Mr De Klerk says Colorsfruit has a strong base and it looks forward to growth in future.
With a table grape season behind it in which crops in the Berg River Valley, where the company has a strong base, ended up between 25 and 30 per cent lower than last year, this reshuffle will probably not come at an opportune time. At the same time the citrus season is on hand and with the formation of new alliances in the Sunday's River Valley and the Gamtoos in the Eastern Cape, citrus volumes may be under pressure.
Only time will tell whether the ‘golden company' of the first decade of deregulation will continue on the path of success achieved during the past 10 years.
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