RENNIES BCD TRAVEL: 70 Year Celebrations to Kick Off Growth Period
Rennies BCD Travel CEO Reece Oakes tells Enterprise Africa that the business is looking back fondly on 70 years of success while planning for an ongoing growth strategy that is already well underway.
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In April 2022, South Africa’s travel and tourism industry was busy planning its comeback. After two years of complete depression, with planes grounded and hotels closed, the industry had been decimated, much to the distress of stakeholders of the market that served up a R425.8 billion GDP contribution in 2019. Even domestic tourists were spending significantly less as the pandemic rolled on.
However, when corridors reopened, and the obvious draws of travelling around SA came back to front of mind, the industry was forced to quickly restart. BidTravel CEO Lidia de Olim Folli told Enterprise Africa that the group had right-sized and was poised for growth as employees returned to offices and in-person meetings resumed.
Under the BidTravel umbrella, several related companies work hard to deliver corporate travel and tourism experiences, shining the light on South Africa for international arrivals and laying on a full spread for local customers. Rennies BCD Travel (Rennies) is a key division, employing around 200 travel experts and serving customers locally and internationally. A corporate travel management business with numerous value-added service lines, Rennies is a connector of people and a champion of partnership. When Reece Oakes took the reins as CEO in October 2022, he noted an opportunity to reset and re-establish, building a culture around people in important years ahead as it celebrates its 70th anniversary this year.
“We kicked off an employee culture theme last year and the focus was ‘shift’. Shift is Small Habits Informing a Focused Team, and the acronym was decided internally in a democratic process with all employees. This year’s focus is ‘change’, and the following year is ‘elevate’. That is part of us looking to solidify the core of the business with our key clients. It’s derived from the book by James Clear, Atomic Habits, and it has resulted in gradual growth.”
70 YEARS & COUNTING
Most businesses fold within the first two years of trading. In fact, research from the University of the Western Cape suggests that 70-80% of start ups close within five years. Starting life in 1954, Rennies has changed, tweaked, adapted and innovated to ensure not only long-term survival but sustainable success. Even through major societal, political, and economic upheaval, the company has continued to fly high on its journey to the industry’s forefront.
“Rennies was one of the first travel management companies in South Africa and so 70 years is a milestone for the industry as a whole,” he smiles.
“Any business that operates for more than 10 years has achieved something very special. However, for us specifically, operating through Covid – a significant world-stopping event – to achieve our 70th anniversary is a massive milestone.”
At the heart of the festivities will be people: employees, suppliers and customers who have helped the company to reach the peak.
“We have a number of events planned around our staff, who have made this happen. Staff members will enjoy a day trip with some longer trips planned for those who have been awarded recognition. Those who excel around performance and customer service are nominated and recognised by the business as part of the people plan and new culture ethos. Along these road trips, they explore and experience South Africa as a thank you from us to staff for their commitment and dedication.”
Clients will be engaged on an individual basis, but there will be a larger event to celebrate together, thanking clients old and new for their support. Business partners will also be a part of various events, as our business could not reach its success without their support. For the wider general public, Rennies will run a competition through different channels, giving the company the opportunity to reinforce its success while offering up entrants the chance to engage further with a Rennies experience.
“We are looking to social media to tell our stories,” Oakes furthers. “Throughout the year, we are focussing on the firsts that we have achieved as Rennies. While we have been trading for 70 years, we have spearheaded a lot of innovation and we want to tell those stories. We will share compliments and credits that we have received, and it all fits into a multipronged approach that we are taking.”
POST COVID
70-year celebrations are particularly poignant following a difficult period for the travel and tourism industry. Rennies’ core function is facilitating corporate travel, managing programmes for multi-national and local businesses, with additional revenue streams coming from leisure travel as well as meetings and events. The company also offers specialist services such as travel enablement with a dedicated visa team, and a data team. But when travel stopped as a result of the pandemic, the business almost ground to a halt. Some reports suggest that the industry shed more than 150,000 jobs in just the second quarter of 2020.
However, Oakes and team have revitalised the business quickly. Overcoming the initial pain point of returning a high-performance mindset to many that had become comfortable, while competitors continued to adapt, was a relief. Since the end of 2021, the company has grown its headcount by approximately 100% and has started a new training scheme to replace skills that have been lost.
“We did lose industry experts, and getting skilled employees is tough, so training remains a core focus for us. It forms part of our people plan which is part of the growth strategy for the business. The people plan is a main pillar in our growth, and training, development, and recognition forms core criteria,” he says.
Oakes comes from a history in retail, banking, telecoms and healthcare, working in some of the country’s largest businesses, and he has experience of leading teams to success. He is thankful to the wider BidTravel group for instilling a sense of freedom and nimbleness.
“It is very entrepreneurial,” he says, “you turn every buck twice”. You don’t find that in other corporates. Our experience is what we make of it, and we are re-architecting what the culture looks like.”
As a Level 1 BBBEE company, Rennies embeds transformation within its business and this has been another key in unlocking growth in the post Covid environment.
“When I came into the industry, I noted that businesses held on to their travel management companies (TMCs). Coming out of Covid, we have seen movement; we see us acquiring additional clients and while governance is now back in place and businesses are happy to explore. We have gained some great global and domestic clients which we are happy about,” says Oakes.
The result feeds into the gradual improvement in business that is being driven by a strategic focus on our people, partners and communities. “We saw an increase in turnover from October 2022, and from there we have seen a steady increase with an upward trajectory,” confirms Oakes.
And Oakes is keen to capitalise on success, keeping momentum and riding out any economic turbulence in the short-term. “We continue to remedy the core and that is our focus, while tandemly focusing on our growth strategy, for the next year. As our industry evolves, in 2025 we will seek to expand into other segments within the travel services industry that we currently are represented in.”
Immediately ready for take-off is the company’s new eSIM platform. Launched to support clients travelling internationally – keeping them connected at all times – the eSIM provides comprehensive coverage easily, at a fixed cost. A unique offering, users need not switch sims for each destination or worry about searching out the right sim product. Rennies eSIM is the perfect partner product for those who travel regularly, demonstrating the company’s understanding of its clients.
EXPECTATION OF GROWTH
Going forward, the focus for Oakes and Rennies is growth. This will come in different forms including expansion of client base, growth in revenue, more people, acquisitions and investment in the value chain which will in turn lead to wider prosperity.
Rennies’ partners are so integral in its ability to deliver, it is keen to invest as much as possible, especially when it comes to SMEs, to ensure a prosperous industry that provides memorable experiences and repeat business while promoting ongoing transformation.
“We created the Red Stamp Club which empowers SME travel enterprises to grow their business,” he highlights. “For example, the Red Stamp Club accommodation programme has sourced bed and breakfast establishments and boutique hotels – smaller businesses – and we push business in their direction. We ensure they are cost effective and that they follow processes in terms of health and safety and legislation, and they are then promoted to our clients who book through them. It’s the same with our Red Stamp car hire programme. In the South African environment, small business is a growing portion of GDP, contributing around 30% of GDP. We encourage our clients where possible to utilise a shuttle service, even if they have a car hire programme, to empower the small business so that they can grow their business. We do the same thing with Independent Travel Consultants (ITCs) so that they grow. We nurture those businesses so that they can take on additional staff members as form of growth within the SA market. It’s not only about revenue, it’s life changing here where unemployment is at an all-time high.”
By investing across the industry, the company develops a community around that can support longer-term growth ambitions and delight customers with a universal set of quality standards. This, says Oakes, is critical in Rennies’ plan.
“The expectation is certainly growth,” he says. “The purpose of a business is derive returns. The most crucial component in that is how do you grow a business profitably while keeping motivation levels optimally high. That is a challenge/opportunity for all business leaders in South Africa.
“The focus areas for us in the next 12 months will be SMEs and elevating client services to a whole new level. MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences & Events) is where we are strong and we want to take that to a whole new level,” he concludes.
As Rennies moves forward quickly, operating a new optimum level, the past seven decades are celebrated but the future years are eagerly awaited. With travel and tourism once again a mainstay of the South African economy, and the value of corporate travel realised by clients around the world, a strategy of growth is undoubtedly the right path to take for this energetic and historic South African business.