The on-going crime epidemic sweeping South Africa – coupled with a continued shortage of faith in the police – has spawned one of the largest private security industries in the world. Policing for a profit is now big business in the rainbow nation for those with the know-how, and one firm to claim a piece of this market is Hi-Tech Security Lowveld, the only private security franchise in the country.
Operating out of the Lowveld of Mpumalanga, the franchise was established in 1991 by Rassie Schoeman. The company charges a monthly fee to clients in exchange for monitoring (via an installation linked to a control centre) private residencies and business premises’ alike. In this capacity, it assists not only with security but also with general management. Its efforts are supplemented by radio equipment manufactured in a factory in Johannesburg.
An electronic engineer by training, Schoeman first aspired to franchise the company a decade ago. At the time, standards of security management in South Africa were not quite at current level. The growth in crime would change that, incurring increased demand for properly trained security managers. Meanwhile, the paradigm shift on the political scene had left a plethora of former defence force personnel unemployed. Schoeman identified a gap in the market, and began recruiting ex-military members seeking to apply their skills to a different trade.
“Our defence force had a huge amount of very skilled people, such as colonels and generals,” he tells Franchise Direct. “So you’re sitting with a guy who has a degree in military science and he doesn’t have a job. So I started franchising. Instead of having this individual working for me, I gave him the opportunity to create his own franchise, meaning we would have a franchise brand that is owner-driven.”
The last point Schoeman insists has been a key part of the company’s success so far. South Africa’s private security scene is saturated by large and multinational firms, but locals are often more inclined to favour indigenous businesses operating within their community. This is one of the reasons why franchising (and owner-driven enterprise at large) in the country has struck such a chord, and Hi-Tech Security Lowveld is no exception.
“It’s been working for us very well,” insists Schoeman. “It’s got potential to grow to 100 franchises in South Africa.”
“The franchising concept in South Africa – especially for security – is relatively new. If you compare owner-driven franchise security companies to international companies, the local people tend to support owner-driven businesses much more than international companies. There’s definitely a huge support for owner-driven companies.”