It takes a village…

There are marquees scattered about, banked seating where there’s something for visitors to focus on, a spider’s web of electricity cables, speakers through which to broadcast announcements, shelving where exhibitors can stack their products and much, much more. When you go looking for a drink, you’ll likely want somewhere to sit and the couch you head for had to be trucked in, as did in many instances the carpet on which you’re walking.

The Nedbank Golf Challenge is not the biggest such event, but it was nonetheless a huge undertaking – and more so than ever this year, given that the tournament expanded its field from 12 players to 30, and had to cater for the resulting rise in galleries as fans of the various players flocked to the Gary Player Country Club at Sun City from December 5 to 8.

The course is, for most of the year, a green oasis among the dry Pilanesburg scrub that surrounds it.

But come Challenge time, a good sized village suddenly springs up from the pampered lawns as sponsors’ tents are erected, scaffolding is built up around many of the greens and tees and various expo, dining and retail spaces are set up.

“We have people on site here from around October,” says Mark Strydom, CEO of GL Events Oasys, the South African arm of the gigantic GL Events company.

Over 12 500m² of Sun City real estate is covered by bits and pieces of the infrastructure assets the company provides – from carpet tiles to air conditioners – so it’s not terribly surprising that it takes a team of workmen a couple of months to set everything up.

To put that measurement in perspective, consider that a good-sized home in wealthy Sandhurst, where Julius Malema was building the dream house he’s since had to sell, is around 1 200m².

Strydom, is an agreeably down-to-earth sort for the well-placed representative of a company that will have made around a billion euros in 2013 by the time December draws to a close.

There’s a precedent for his behaviour, though, as he explains.

“The man who founded the company in the Seventies, Olivier Ginon, was a professional dog-walker who decided to start buying gear and renting it out to make money,” says Strydom.

But Strydom is also focused and energetic, and has all the figures that go with buying, storing, distributing and setting up tens of thousands of pieces of equipment.

He shows off a huge double-storey marquee featuring a temporary Spur restaurant on the bottom floor and an air-conditioned relaxing space upstairs, explaining that Oasys is paid to build the structure and then hire back the

top floor before selling tickets to punters who want a cool place, stocked with drinks and food (most of which they pay for), to retire to after following the golfers around.

Such integrated earning plans appear to be par for the course (the pun is perfect for the context, come on…), with Oasys’s own marquee being both a handy location for schmoozing clients and investors and a R3 000 per person per day chill room for those who can afford the all-day open bar and buffet on offer.

Strydom’s already focusing on the future.

FINAL DESTINATION. The 18th hole at the Gary Player Country Club, where the bulk of the spectators gather on the last day of the Nedbank Golf Challenge.

“I was in Rio de Janeiro recently we’ll be handling a lot of the infrastructure for the Fifa football World Cup there next year, and for the Olympics after that,” he says.

“We’re trying to further integrate everything, so in some cases we own the venue a stadium or arena where part of the event will take place, and we can then also handle all of the add-ons to that ourselves, which makes our business pretty secure.”

Based on the loyal crowds who come back to the Nedbank Golf Challenge every year, that would be a safe statement to make, but there are bigger fish to fry, too: GL Events has already opened an office in Quatar to get the ball rolling for the 2022 World Cup.