Jermaine Naicker, Managing Director of Printing SA, discussed his goals for the federation, how the industry is navigating a tough economy and what the keys to a successful economic turnaround strategy are.
Naicker explained that it has been an exciting time driven by a dynamic team, but it has also had its challenges, filled with a period of significant changes. Right from the onset, he was tasked to come to the organisation to disrupt, implement a myriad of changes, and challenge the status quo, which came with support and guidance from the board of directors at Printing SA. Since the beginning of his appointment, there has been a restructure, which is the first time in Printing SA’s existence that this was done.
‘It was a whirlwind of brand new strategic objectives and operational planning that we put in place. We’ve created new positions within the organisation. We’ve had a new focus on business development, like the master plan that we are pursuing for the industry — taking a different view on what we do with our strategic priorities: from a training and development standpoint, from a career awareness standpoint, and from a member engagement standpoint. There’s challenges that come with that, as far as resistance to change is concerned.’
He mentioned that some people are still fond of more traditional ways of doing things, but equally there are people who have quite happily been ready to face the challenges ahead. Navigating the space after a restructure, like in any organisation, is quite difficult when building the trust of the team. However, the team is now on-board with how Printing SA operates. The federation has also received positive feedback from industry stakeholders, who unequivocally note a vibrancy in the association, about the team, and about how they approach a set of variables and problems.
Team Achievements
Naicker cited some of the highlights for the team, from a financial standpoint, such as the stabilisation of the organisation. ‘When I took over, we were in a quagmire as far as the structure of the organisation went, and how we performed. That led to undesirable financial performance, but last year was the first year that a surplus was realised against a break-even objective. Following that was setting a surplus target in 2025 so that we can deliver greater value to members – as we stand, we are on track to achieving our financial objectives. That financial stability puts Printing SA in a better position and will allow us to contribute more to the industry.’
Some of the ways in which Printing SA is looking to add value to its members is by potentially reducing membership fees to some extent, subsidising events, subsidising or playing a more pivotal role in the training and development space, and giving back to the industry so that the skills gaps can be addressed.
‘The Women In Print series has been incredibly successful,’ he said, adding that Printing SA has put together some of the best events so far, and that the series this year is a marked difference from the previous years.
Last year under severe pressure, the association also completed the quality assurance with the IEC ballot printing.
Another achievement was the launch last year of Printing SA’s Career Days, ‘It’s creating a positive buzz and impact in school leavers’ minds, and creating a lot of awareness about the printing industry.’
‘One of the core resilient characteristics of our team was tested a month ago with the passing of Zayed Bagus, a very vital and significant part of our team who was our Director of Technical, Training, and Business Development.’
‘His passing came at a time when we just started our series of technical forums around automation and digital print, and the adaptation to that from an industry standpoint. We learnt of his passing in the midst of hosting the events, but with immense resilience and maturity, the event series continued without any hiccups. Every one of our staff members put their minds to it and just carried on. So that shows how we are developing as a team.’
Lastly, he cited Printing SA’s participation in exhibitions such as the Africa Print expos across the country, describing it as a remarkable journey, where Printing SA are now featuring a lot more prominently.
Goals For Printing SA
According to Naicker, the industry needs the greatest amount of assistance with skills development, and influence with government policy. He said the Printing SA team is fundamental to all of that.
When he was appointed as MD, his foremost goal was to strengthen and motivate the team, and from that springboard start to deliver on the mandate of members.
‘The goal of Printing SA is to now start assisting members, and the industry as a whole, and to fill the gaps where there is a skills crunch. This is being done in various ways: by partnering with the FP&M SETA, and interacting with TVET colleges to start plugging in printing training at that level so another route to market can be found.’
‘From a policy perspective, we are working very closely with government to start influencing the establishment of a master plan that will be crafted and articulated for this industry so that the interests of the business environment that the industry operates within can be protected. A testament to that was having the Minister of the Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities as a speaker at the Johannesburg Women in Print event.’
Thoughts On The Printing Industry And The Economy
Naicker outlined that pre-2020, before the pandemic, was extremely challenging for the industry. The political environment was unstable, and it still is to some extent. There have been extraneous market shifts from various perspectives: from that of a supply chain, of local supply, of consumer demand, and of a trend perspective, that affected quite a bit of the industry.
But post-COVID, around 2022/23, the industry started to latch onto new opportunities, with businesses reinventing themselves in different spaces, so that they could fund new growth and adapt to that and survive.
‘There’s some parts of the industry that have become obsolete or some that are close to an obsolete state, but there’s been a firm resilience that is demonstrated by our industry. Businesses have emerged in the packaging space quite significantly; both flexible packaging, the label market, and paper-based packaging.’
‘The industry has also integrated itself into the technological space. Businesses are not just putting ink on paper, they’re providing a turnkey solution, right from coding of software for the likes of supermarket apps, to including smart packaging technology in their products. During the advent of COVID, there was a greater need for packaged goods, and the industry obviously tacked onto that opportunity.’
The Economy – Challenges And Opportunities
Some of the challenges that the economy faces at the moment are geopolitical. The environment is quite unstable at the moment. ‘A lot of that impacts the imports of raw materials coming into the country, like paper and inks, as well as raw materials that are used to manufacture inks, and machinery too,’ he said.
There is also the export/upstream market to consider. ‘We feed into the agriculture industry, and the agro-chem markets, so for us to get our product to the USA or Russia and to some of those markets is now becoming a challenge with geopolitical wars and the US’ policy shift.’
Naicker said that South Africa can turn this situation around in two ways. Firstly, government needs to have pro-business policies, with a balance for socioeconomic needs. Secondly, the economic problem can’t be solved only with money, but with skills development too.
‘There’s a brain drain in South Africa, with a lot of skilled artisans moving abroad. If we can retain those skills in the country and start developing rural areas and improving the basic education in those areas, it will start to filter into the formal economy at some point. It is going to be cyclic. It will take a long time, but if we can start filtering it through the system now, skills development is going to hold the key to success for this economic turnaround.’
Projections For 2025’s Economic Climate
Naicker said the South African GDP is not growing at the rate that it’s supposed to. ‘Pre-2009 we used to grow at 4%. Before that, we used to grow at 7%. This year we are struggling to stay at 1% GDP growth. Our GDP growth is negative, which means that we’ve got no foreign direct investment coming in to the country, we’re not manufacturing for exports, and that we’re not creating enough jobs.’
Naicker projects that GDP growth for 2025 will end up at around 1.1%. ‘That’s not good enough. We need to grow north of 2%, and we need to ramp up in the next five years to around 4-5%, to actually show strong economic growth in the country,’ he said.
Printing SA’s Economic Imprint Newsletter
Naicker touched on the inspiration behind the newsletter. ‘We are quite progressive and diversified in how we approach things, and one way or the other, our members have finance at the heart of their business. So I felt I could add value by sharing insights for our members that touch on industry innovation, new opportunities, and globalisation.’
Printing SA also shares information from their investment company, as well as some of their other financial institutions with which they are aligned, with members. Members are responding positively to the newsletters and have highlighted that there’s even more relevance to having a Printing SA membership.
PRINTING SA
+27 11 287 1160
info@printingsa.org
http://www.printingsa.org
