Thandi Mjoli-Mfenqa
Tel: 011 4773001
Fax: 011 4773393
Postal address: P O Box 30981, Braamfontein, 2017
Physical address: 14 Second Avenue, Westdene, 2092

Diamonds in the Dust

Ecoserv finds a gem in their new acquisition, dust monitoring experts AER

Ecoserv recently purchased a 70% stake in Annegarn Environmental Research (AER), a move calculated to strengthen Ecoserv’s foothold in SA’s northern territories and open a pipeline to mine dusting expertise, Ecoserv MD Quentin Hurt says.

“AER is a Johannesburg-based company and has been established there for 10 years. It offers us a quick start entrenchment in the Johannesburg air monitoring market. Harold Annegarn, the previous owner, will keep an interest in the company. He brings great credibility to the group as he is well respected in these circles.”

AER has pioneered dust monitoring around mines and quarries and has captured the market in Gauteng, Mpumalanga and Northern Province. Ecoserv has embarked on dust monitoring along similar lines in KwaZulu-Natal and plans to build on AERs knowledge to improve their dust monitoring performance.

But for the rest, Ecoserv and AER’s functions dovetail snuggly with few overlaps. Quentin explains: “Some of our clients already use both Ecoserv and AER for different functions. For example at AngloPlats, AER does the perimeter monitoring while Ecoserv does monitoring onsite. The companies compliment one another and it allows great opportunities to access new clients and swap expertise.”

Ecoserv has been working from Johannesburg premises for a year but has now set up shop with AER. “We share offices with AER and their nine members of staff. They offer support to Ecoserv staff and give them a sound base to operate from,” says Quentin.

At the time of the takeover, Ecoserv installed Thandi Mfenqa as a manager in Johannesburg.

“Thandi has a BTech in chemical engineering and performed exceptionally well in Durban doing similar work. We were looking for a promotion and career path for her and AER was the logical choice. Thandi has already made some positive changes at AER so the staff are feeling better about our involvement. We were naïve about how AER staff would react to the sale and were not prepared for some of their reactions. We should have paid a lot more attention to HR issues and made sure they were comfortable with the whole deal. This is something we are working hard to rectify and Thandi is instrumental in this.”

Ecoserv and AER will not be merging at this stage as the ethos of the companies is different and the owners want to keep their identities distinct. But one change that will be made is in the accounting department.

“AER’s bookkeeper has recently resigned and this change will result in Ecoserv and AER running very similar accounting systems from from Durban,” Quentin concludes.