Something new every day

These are exciting times for companies that are willing to do things differently. Afrit is such a company. Adéle Tansley-Foley and Letitia Minnaar are lucky enough to be where the action is.

ADÉLE TANSLEY-FOLEY: STRUCTURED FINANCE MANAGER, PHUMA FINANCE
Adéle Tansley-Foley has been a structured finance manager for Phuma Finance, an entity that falls under the Afrit group of companies, since July 2010. Her job is to assist with the structuring of finance in cases where commercial banks are not willing to become involved.

“Having parents with long service careers in Telkom, it was a natural progression for me to start my career in the company. My application leaned towards finance as confirmed by Telkom’s grading and aptitude testing. However, as luck would have it, a vacancy became available in the transport department, which in hindsight was the best thing that could have happened to me.

An entity called debis Fleet Management bought the Telkom fleet, which brought about my transfer to Mercedes-Benz Financial Services. After Mercedes I moved to Sandown Motors, followed by a move to UD Financial Services. It was after UD that I ended up at Afrit, more specifically Phuma Finance.”

Tansley-Foley, who has a diploma in road transport (freight) from the University of Johannesburg, says it is exciting times for companies that are willing to implement innovative ideas and are willing to do things differently. Afrit, she says, is such a company.

“What I love about my job is that it is challenging, never the same and that I am exposed to different aspects of the business. Keeping customers happy and meeting sales and financial expectations can be very demanding, but seeing Phuma Finance develop into the vision and expectation set by the shareholders makes up for all the hard work.”

She says a lot has changed in the industry over the past few years, with increasingly more females taking up management roles and adding new dimensions to what was once a predominately male driven industry.

And when she is not working?

“Life outside my work is devoted to my loving husband, John, and two gorgeous daughters Dominique (15) and Michaela (9). John and I enjoy golf and renovating the house, and if there is any spare time, I do some beading and scrap booking.”

LETITIA MINNAAR: PARTS DIVISION SUPERVISOR, AFRIT
Letitia Minnaar has for the past two years been employed as a parts division supervisor at Afrit. The company builds a variety of high-quality trailers and is regarded as one of the biggest trailer manufactures in Southern Africa. Minnaar is part of the spares and field service department (SADF).

“We are responsible for providing after-sales services to customers. The role of the department is to assist with spares requirements, breakdowns and working on the maintenance of trailers. I heard about the position from my father, who worked for Afrit as a quality control inspector for many years. Today, I am very thankful to him for making me aware of this opportunity.”

According to her, the industry is definitely growing and this has led to a definite growth in the spares department.

Minnaar says she loves her job. “I love the sales aspect and working with customers.
I always set targets for myself and it brings me great joy when I reach these targets. I always try to raise the bar and continuously challenge myself to improve wherever possible.”

The biggest challenge, she says, is to ensure that the many daily requests for quotations are translated into sales.

Minnaar says the highlight of her career to date was becoming a parts division supervisor at Afrit.

“The industry has changed a lot lately, because the number of women appointed in key positions has increased.”