BASTION
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GRASLAND’S NEW DAWN IS HERE
O
n Thursday, 2 August 2018, at The
Barn in Klerksdorp, the agri-com-
munity celebrated 50 years of
Grasland’s existence as a leading pro-
vider of agricultural lime solutions in South Africa.
Grasland also took the opportunity to announce
the beginning of a new era in the company’s
illustrious tenure. That new era was marked by the
announcement of the company’s new name, logo
and slogan: Bastion – Foundation for Growth.
Bastion Managing Director, Etienne Schoeman,
said the name change marked a recalibration of
the company strategy. “We have a proud history
and track record and our name change in no way
reflects a distancing of our past. We embarked
on quite a lengthy period of self-reflection and
deliberation and we felt we had to recalibrate, re-
align ourselves, so to speak, to the changes in the
market and changes in the market environment.
Part of this process brought to light that we needed
to align everything we do to the “why” of what we
stand for. Many companies know how to do busi-
ness, but research has shown that many don’t know
why they do business.”
Etienne made reference to the rise and fall of for-
mer cellphone giant Nokia, whose slogan or “why”
was ‘Connecting People’, “but shortly before their
demise, their strategy was to maintain a dominant
market position… This shows a non-alignment
between strategy and purpose.”
“Bastion’s “why” is: ’To make the purchasing of
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Graslander September 2018
natural lime products simple and low risk, in a
way that promotes sustainability’. What this really
means is that we have to be more customer-centric,
absolutely focused on the client. It also means our
business systems must be in place and run effi-
ciently and it means that our staff must be aligned
with our values, said Etienne.
“This one sentence might seem simple and
straight forward, but take for instance just the one
statement,‘low risk’ – this means that we focus
aggressively on conservative financial management
in order to minimise any possible risk to all our
stakeholders. Its means we maintain a positive cash
balance so that we are always paying our creditors
on time, it means that we protect our customers by
being a sustainable business and it also means that
we safeguard our shareholders by doing responsible
business. It further means that we make product
quality a very high priority so that producers can
be certain that they achieve the necessary reactivity
of lime in their soil.”
Bastion is a member of the Fertilizer Association
of Southern Africa (FERTASA) which is an article
21 company that runs the generic affairs of the Fer-
tilizer and Agricultural lime industry of Southern
Africa.
The impact of agricultural lime on yield deve-
lopment and performance is discussed in articles
elsewhere in this edition and there can be no doubt
that crops assisted by agricultural lime applications
deliver better yields.
Francois Strydom, Group CEO of Senwes (a 50%
shareholder in Bastion) and director of Bastion,
said that he researched the definition of the name
Bastion. “I am honoured to be part of this historic
day. When I looked up the definition I was very
pleased and I can honestly say that I see that value
being demonstrated here today. In the context
of business the best definition applicable would
be that Bastion is “a thing or person regarded as
upholding or defending an attitude or principle.
Given your track-record over the last 50 years, I
can only predict good things going forward,” said
Francois while toasting the company’s new name at
the function.
Mr Lemmer Vermooten, vice chairman of the
board at NWK (also a 50% shareholer in Bastion)
and chairman of the board at Bastion, welcomed
everyone to the event which was attended by
about 150 stakeholders which included two former
Grasland managing directors; Mr Piet Prinsloo and
Dr Pieter Haumann, the Bastion board of directors
and various producers, agents, business associates
and company personnel.
The event was marked by a very positive reception
of the new name and logo, with staff and ma-
nagement enjoying cake and a bubbly toast in
celebration of this milestone and the new chapter
it represents. A big thank you from all at Bastion to
our loyal clients, suppliers and producers. Without
you, we would not be where we are today.