Comtest recently hosted dealers, suppliers, partners and staff at a celebration of its tenth anniversary in business. While the company has no plans to settle for the success that has seen it grow from just eight staff to a headcount topping 60, it will forge its future without the everyday involvement of long-time CEO and co-founder, Peter Verwer.
The Comtest team.
At the event, Verwer announced that he is stepping down as CEO of the Comtest Group of companies in favour of Barend Niemand, although he will stay on in the role of chairman of the board. Niemand, himself a founding member of the company, takes the reins as of March 2015.
While it is best known to the local industry as a byword for the Fluke brand of test and measurement tools, Comtest’s success is built on more than just one agency. A synopsis of the company’s major milestones and achievements serves to illustrate this point.
Forging a new path
In late 2004, Comtest was appointed as Fluke’s sole authorised distributor for South Africa and the English speaking African countries. However, legal restrictions prevented it from spreading the news until the beginning of the following year, despite which Fluke expected the company to meet first quarter sales targets.
This Comtest duly did, on its way to doubling Fluke’s annual sales in 2005, and achieving some world firsts in the process. Immediately it was allowed to go public, the company starting advertising Fluke on the radio – the first time Fluke’s products had ever been promoted via that medium. Not only was Comtest the first start-up company ever to be appointed to represent Fluke, it went so far as to win the Best Distributor award at Fluke’s annual conference, as well as Best New Distributor.
The following year, Comtest partnered with Riaan Venter of Die Nutsman fame and for the first time ever, Fluke was demonstrated on television. Following the success of this campaign, Comtest’s Val Verwer was asked to give a marketing presentation at Fluke’s annual conference; one year later the Fluke Corporation in America teamed up with a DIY personality who bore a striking resemblance to Venter.
The years since then have seen Comtest earn several more international sales awards from Fluke, as well as Frost and Sullivan’s ‘African Electrical Test Equipment Customer Service Leadership Award’ in 2013. Its market recognition has also helped it secure distribution rights for other leading test and measurement brands such as AFL and Teledyne Lecroy, in addition to Midtronics’ battery range.
In 2010, the Comtest Group opened a new avenue for growth when it acquired Instrotech, a local manufacturer of process control instrumentation.
Staying the course
As Comtest’s new CEO, Niemand has pledged to improve the company’s market penetration while maintaining the excellent level of service offered currently. He believes that the company needs to grow its vertical markets and says he is on the lookout to acquire synergistic businesses to address new markets and customers in the test and measurement arena, not currently serviced by its existing product portfolios.
Prioritising arc flash safety Comtest
Electrical Power & Protection
Comtest has developed a range of thermal imaging and wireless testing tools from Fluke, designed to ensure safety is the top priority for engineers working in potentially dangerous arc flash zones.
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