World’s first airport based panel shop a tribute to empowerment partnerships

Wednesday 4 March 2009 saw the launch of the world’s first panel beating shop based in an international airport.

Scratch Mobile owners, Nhlanhla Mbele and Nthuthuko Shezi, came up with the concept of locating a panel beating shop inside the executive carport of Oliver Tambo International Airport.

Mbele’s idea was “to repair nicks and dents while clients were away on business, eliminating the inconvenience of being without a car - or having to arrange lifts to and from the repair shop.”

Long time Adopt a Panel Shop partners Alexander Forbes and Retail Motor Industry Organisation (RMI), represented by Anton Ossip, CEO Alexander Forbes Risk Services, and Jeff Osborne, CEO RMI, said they were both highly impressed by the business concept as well as the service and product quality provided by Mbele and Shezi.

Ossip added that even in tough times it was important that big business in South Africa remained committed to growing SME’s.

“This was the only way to redress the economic injustices of the past while creating the employment necessary for national development and economic growth.”

Chris Hlekane, General Manger at the Airports Company of South Africa (ACSA), mentioned that “Scratch mobile represented a valuable expansion of ACSA’s car park service offering - to the over one million motorists that used ORT every month.”

Hlekane added that while delighted to be in a position to add value to Scratch mobile “a business was more than just a platform and a strategy. Above and beyond this Mbele and Shezi needed to demonstrate that they could market and grow the business into a solvent concern that stood on its own two feet.”

Thereafter, alluding to Durban and Cape Town, Hlekane believed that the sky was the limit for the Scratch Mobile concept in South Africa.

While presenting Scratch Mobile with its RMI accreditation Osborne stressed that years ago when RMI made transformation its number one strategic objective it recognised that transformation meant being there for the long run.

“Not only establishing businesses but sticking with them through the thick and thin of learning and setbacks - until they were truly able to succeed on their own” said Osborne.

Moeketsi Wa Mitane of the National African Association of Automobile Service Providers (NAASP) echoed this sentiment in his comment that “committed long term partnerships are the key to transformation.”

Since the approximately 1400 largely unaccredited and poorly equipped members of NAASP had partnered with RMI, great strides had been made in bringing previously disadvantaged automotive repair providers in line with main stream panel shops.

Richard Green of the South African Motor Body Repairs Association (SAMBRA) believed that Mbele and Shezi showed that they were “way ahead of the game by creating the world’s first in-airport automotive repair business.”

Green went on to thank Alexander Forbes for consistently putting its money where its mouth was when it came to the transformation of the South African auto repair sector.

Gary Braude of Hyundai, the first vehicle manufacturer to provide manufacturing approval to Scratch Mobile, said that neither Mbele nor Shezi were scared off by obstacles encountered while trying to get this concept off the ground.

“When the dark clouds and storms gathered Mbele and Shezi didn’t give up. They truly learned to dance in the rain” recalled Braude.

Mercedes Benz also announced that Scratch Mobile would receive Mercedes Benz manufacturers’ approval within six weeks.

Shezi, ever the entrepreneur, concluded optimistically that he had “recently been to Heathrow and noticed that they didn’t have an in-house panel beating shop affording their clients the convenience of having their vehicles repaired while travelling.”