NEWS
Senwes welcomes
Staalmeester to the family
In October 2018, Senwes joined forces with one of the most experienced and largest agri-
cultural implements companies in the Northwest, Staalmeester. The partnership arose
from a need by both companies to expand their reach and strengthen their impact in their
respective markets.
By Kefiloe Manthata
Senwes Journalist
W
hen asked about the
reasoning behind teaming
up with Senwes, Martin
Coetzee said; “As a one-
man business, with just me at the helm,
there is just so much that you can do. You
can only import so much, only grow so
much alone. With a transaction like this,
the legacy built by my grandfather will
outlive me and the sky is the limit.” Martin
looks forward to taking advantage of the
expansion opportunities that this union
will present for Staalmeester. One of the
many positives to come out of this is that
Staalmeester, through Senwes Equipment
branches, is now able to service a larger
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SENWES SCENARIO | AUTUMN 2019
clientele and sell its products on a wider
scale.
HISTORY
Staalmeester was founded in 1951 by
Lourens Coetzee. Lourens, who was a
schoolteacher at the time, combined his
passion for handicraft with his desire to
help local farmers in areas surrounding
Hartbeesfontein. In his free time, he built
the first ever mobile bean sheller in South
Africa, which set him on the path that
eventually led him to resign as a teacher
to make machinery on a full-time basis.
And so Staalmeester was born.
The company started off with a limited
range and grew steadily over time. Of
the five children that Lourens had, Martin
Coetzee was the one who showed the
most interest in taking up the reigns
after his father. In the mid-1980s Martin
bought the company from his father and
began broadening its range to specialise
in hay-making equipment. Martin was
also the first to explore import and export
opportunities for the company when,
in the year 2000, he noticed a demand
for machinery that was not available on
the South African market and started
importing forage harvesters from Brazil.
Martin Coetzee Jnr studied the company
under his father and when his father
passed away in 2012 he, with the help of
his mother, took over the running of the
company. Together they took the business
to a new level. Today Staalmeester
imports from 8 different countries and
boasts a product range of 110 different
agricultural products.