PROFILE
Dennis Vietze, managing
director of Wacker Neuson
sub-Saharan Africa.
CHAMPION
FOR CHANGE
By Tarren Bolton
A wide product range and diverse application areas are key to growth.
D
ennis Vietze, Wacker
Neuson’s managing director:
Sub-Saharan Africa, is a
driven team player with a
vision for positive change.
Vietze joined Wacker Neuson in
Germany in September 2000, and after
a two-year apprenticeship, transferred
over to the Export department where he
was responsible for export administration
and sales. He was later promoted to area
sales manager for Central Europe, and
shortly after that to production manager
for demolition products. Vietze, however,
never lost touch with his passion for
sales and the related strategic skills he’d
garnered, and he focused his energy
on starting a new division called Market
Development.
“The Market Development
department allowed me to employ
32
APRIL 2019
market development managers
worldwide, whose responsibility it was to
proactively support our Wacker Neuson
subsidiaries and dealers — identifying
new sales channels and being the
‘moderator’ between the production
centres and the sales field,” says Vietze.
The department proved to be hugely
successful, and Vietze was offered the
position of managing director at Wacker
Neuson in South Africa, which he gladly
accepted. Vietze has been in the country
since June 2017.
But arriving in South Africa
was not without its unique set of
challenges. “Coming from Germany,
understanding and accepting the local
legal requirements has been a bit of
a challenge. But it was important to
remain positive — especially in this
economic climate, we are always trying
to look for a positive vantage point
without being too negative, which is just
counterproductive,” says Vietze.
Overcoming challenges
“Other challenges I encountered have
had to do with attitudes, business
perception, as well as the acceptance
for, or rather, resistance to change,”
says Vietze. He explains that he dealt
with these challenges by promoting
good communication, encouraging
transparency across all areas of business,
nurturing teambuilding, and implementing
workshop sessions to allow every staff
member to be a part of new processes
and procedures and give them the chance
to share in the experiences.
“When I first arrived in the country,
I had to gain a full understanding and
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