Executives
on the Move
CEO
BizChat
Rajan Govinden – CEO of Litage chats to
MDs/ CEOs about their businesses
60 minutes with Eqstra Fleet Management MD, Murray Price
aBrMove visited the Eqstra Fleet Management
Eqstra Fleet Management began as a leasing business.
offices in Edenvale, Johannesburg, to chat to
However, much diversification has occurred since 2008, with
managing director, Murray Price.
accident management, a full range of fleet services, service
and warranty plans, a specialised motor book and the acquisition of a tracking company added to the portfolio.
Currently the business provides a full suite of services
to some of the largest listed entities in South Africa.
Price insists on always taking a long-term view in business
and mentions that big investments have
P
been made by Eqstra in this regard.
rice has spent 18 years
He says that to manage fleet, the provid-
within Imperial’s company
ers needs a powerful system that can
structures, initially joining
facilitate various services as fleet man-
the Imperial Fleet Services
agement is no longer just about leasing.
division. Since 1996 he’s occupied
numerous roles, and for the past nine
“Data without a context is useless,”
years, has been MD of Eqstra Fleet
he says. In the past, Eqstra has been
Management, following its unbundling
very much leasing focused.
from Imperial Holdings in 2008.
“Recently, we’ve done very well on
Price defines his leadership style as
roadside assistance and warranties,”
entrepreneurial, with success built on
he reveals. Eqstra has been developing
duplication of effort. He believes in
an
taking complete ownership of projects
management, on the back of Microsoft
and decisions and says it’s important
technology. Price expects the system to
integrated
system
for
business
to allow people to grow within a busi-
be live in 2015, with final testing cur-
ness. He adds that he operates within
rently at an advanced stage.
a highly committed team.
Going
paperless
with
OCR
(Optical
Price describes South African businesspeople in general as
Character Recognition) is a huge time saver that removes
innovative, lean and adaptable. “The complexities in this coun-
much inefficiencies and eradicates human errors, creating
try are diverse, and there are many unique considerations,
greater accuracies,” he motivates.
not least of which is BBBEE. For businesspeople a sixth sense
is needed. At Eqstra we try to think forward. Businesses
need to be inclusive and cannot be built around a person. As
Eqstra currently manages in excess of 65,000 vehicles/
products, employing more than 500 people to do so.
our CEO says, ‘leadership is about being at the bottom of the
The bulk of this resource is deployed to do administrative
triangle, not at the top of the pyramid.’ We talk to our cus-
and operational tasks – and by automating we will be able to
tomers and enable our staff. We take the view of delivering
re-focus and re-train the staff to rather analyse information
value. We want to be the best, not the biggest, fleet manage-
and thereby add meaningful and measurable value to our
ment provider in the world.”
clients.
40
• logistics in action • october 2014