October 2025
Making your mark – and ensuring it lasts – is not easy. While simple to talk about, it’s far from easy to do. Starting a business is hard, growing it is tough, but keeping it alive-and-kicking over long periods of time is extraordinarily difficult. Only around 30% of SMEs in South Africa get to the five-year mark. The rough guess at average for lifespan for a company, including all sizes and all industries, is a decade. So going further – being generational – is a major achievement.
Osmond Lange Architects is celebrating 96 years this year, and what better way to do so than by ushering in a new leadership team tasked with planning out the longer-term sustainability of the business. Mike Drewe, Derek Rogerson, Kay Moodley, Lerato Tsiki, Avril Paterson, and Philip du Toit now lead this historic South African business, building on heritage but sighting new perspectives.
Maizey Plastics is creating legacy with a new DC and HQ in Gauteng in its 75th year of trading. Starting out as a one-man operation, the company is now the country’s largest importer and distributor of plastic products for various uses. Growing its employee base, developing its product portfolio, and expanding its geographic reach through partnerships, Maizey is focused on maintaining its industry leadership position.
Similan, the Western Cape property developer responsible for the Newinbosch neighbourhood, is leaving its mark through transformation of former farmland into a vibrant community that will become ‘home’ for generations to come.
The Gautrain has transformed the way people move across the busy province, but CEO Tshepo Kgobe tells us that there is more to come. Looking to the future, he wants to connect the high-speed system all over Gauteng, and into Limpopo, in what is a pivotal time for the transportation industry. While doing so, the Gautrain Management Agency is also growing as a service provider in its own right, with technology and consultancy services that are attractive across the country and continent.
Howden Projects is also doing work that will change industries for the future. Installing major technology to cool deep underground mines, the infrastructure put in place by this innovative engineering firm will last for decades and will change the working lives of miners.
These companies are the perfect example of those that have been strict in their processes, committed to a vision, and the result is longevity.
Get in touch and tell us how your company will get over the hurdles and reach significant milestones. We’re on LinkedIn.