This is exactly the feeling experienced by Chris Lang, the owner of Boksburg-based Barstone Irrigation System.
The business’s only branch in Gauteng is no more and the shutdown leaves a huge void in Lang’s life, considering that he has been there, every day, for the past 33 years.
Lang’s dream when he started the business was for it to exist forever.
Unfortunately, the successes plan, combined with a number of economic factors, has turned out to be fruitless.
His son was never interested in the business and his BEE partner, who he was hoping would eventually take over, decided to head for early retirement.
The business was first known as Mannes Mann Overhead Irrigations and its South African branch was established in 1967, in Germiston.
“In 1982 a company called Stone Street and Hanson and MRT Bartons amalgamated with Mannes Mann Overhead Irrigation and remained the joint venture, Barstone Irrigation,” said Lang.
In 1983, while Lang was part of the new venture and South Africa was going through sanctions and violence, the Bartons decided to sell some of their ventures.
“I bought the business from them in 1986 and, in 1987, I moved to Atlas Road in Anderbolt, Boksburg,” Lang said.
From the ’60s to the ’80s, the company was mainly involved in agricultural irrigation and, to a large degree, in industrial irrigation, including power stations, mines and municipalities.
Reminiscing about his milestone in business, Lang said the highlights in those years included being involved as equipment suppliers to power stations such as Eskom’s Matimba, when they were being built.
“We were also involved in exports to Sub Saharan countries such as Botswana, the DRC and Kenya, and I have good memories of visiting those countries as well,” he said.
“I will surely miss the drivers who came to make deliveries, friends and companies with whom I have interacted over the years.”
In 1993 the business nearly closed down due to the violence in the townships, which caused uncertainty and staff shortages, as workers were prevented from coming to work.
However, it did survive the political storm and, in March, 1994, the cloud lifted and things started getting better.
“We grew from strength to strength, to the extent where we experienced great sales, especially in 2009,” said Lang.
But the bad days have now come back to haunt the business.
“The domestic market is not big enough to keep us going and the municipality also stopped buying from us a long time ago – they don’t spend money on the products that we sell.
“They get contractors to do what we do.”
Lang added that the metro isn’t giving preference to local businesses.
“Look, we pay rates here, but they would rather buy from businesses from outside of Ekurhuleni and I feel there should be some kind of loyalty from the metro to local business,” he said.
Lang said that the recent xenophobic attacks also chased away some of their customers, resulting in the business losing big customers in the DRC, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, who were threatened and sometimes even injured.
He further attributes the shutdown to the fact that business has changed over the years in the service they offer.
His type of business helped to identify equipment required for an application, from making recommendations to supplying the equipment.
“That has fallen away now due to Google, as people come to you with a name of the equipment and they just want a price.
“No one is prepared to pay for our expertise any longer and this has affected our sales,” he said.
He is clearly going to miss this baby that has been part of most of his life.
“Right now I feel like I’m unemployed and, although it’s at an age where I should be considering retirement, it feels like a big wake up call and a huge adjustment to my daily routine,” he adds.
Lang has, however, put his name forward for welfare projects, in order to share his knowledge, skills and expertise with the youth movements and some of the interested people.
His advice to those planning to run or already running businesses is that, firstly, the business has to be structured and have all the statutory requirements in place.
“Take good care of your staff and have good systems in place, that will put you on top,” he suggested.
“Also, demand honesty from your staff and don’t do things to your staff that you don’t want done to you.
“Maintain a very strict code of conduct, integrity and discipline – pay your suppliers in time and build a reputation as an honourable person, and the rest will just follow.”
His parting words: “We are sorry the company has closed it’s doors in this way, especially for those who relied on us for goods and services.
”The business will, however, still be available on the website and will be willing to help to some degree.”
