New service industry giants go global

MBOMBELA – A new South African-based services industry giant – with a global footprint, was launched on Friday night.

Kishugu, which has its roots in forest and wildfire fighting, suppression and prevention, is set to light up the global stage with its international experience and strategic approach to Integrated Fire Management (IFM) and a wide range of related services provided by 11 aligned divisions.

Kishugu, the Swahili word for an anthill, was formerly known as the FFA Group of Companies, internationally acknowledged as the implementers, for over a decade, of the award-winning South African Government’s Working on Fire Programme. (WoF).

With a compliment, in South Africa alone, of more than 5000 wildfire fighters drawn from the ranks of the previously unemployed, WoF is the most successful job creation and skills upliftment programme in the history of the country.

Explaining the need for rebranding and restructuring, Kishugu co -founder and co-managing director, Johan Heine said that the FFA Group had expanded rapidly since its inception over a decade ago.

“Corporate and staff structures that evolved during this steep growth curve have become outdated and in certain cases are no longer as cost-effective as they should be”.

“The Group has also reached a level of corporate maturity and has embarked on a process to attract additional investment to fund future growth.”

According to co-founder and co-managing director, Chris De Bruno Austin: “Ours is a humble-beginnings story. We started as a small business in Nelspruit and we are now going global with a distinctive brand and identity.”

The name Kishugu, was selected to reflect the industriousness of ants, “which are a perfect example of a broad collective that works for the common good”, stated Heine.

De Bruno Austin and Heine both driven by a passion “to make a difference” worked closely together in their individual companies before forming the FFA in 2003.

They also assisted the South Africa Department of Water Affairs and Forestry in the drafting and refining of South Africa’s veld and forest fire act.

“But Kishugu is far more than simply a wild fire fighting company”, says de Bruno Austin. “We offer a full range of services which are deployed globally”.

The 11 divisions of the Kishugu Group include:

Kishugu Integrated Fire Management Services and Working on Fire including WOF International – with contracts in Chile and Australia;

Kishugu Aviation; Kishugu New Business Development; Kishugu Business Services; Kishugu Finance and Investments;

Kishugu Fleet Management; Kishugu Integrated Forestry Services; Kishugu Oil and Gas; Kishugu Training; Kishugu Manufacturing and Sales; A Non-Profit Company responsible for corporate social investment.

Kishugu also supplies and manufactures fire-fighting equipment; and operates fire management and health and safety training academies in Angola, Mozambique, Brasil and Chile, where it also provides fire management services to the forestry industry.

The newly launched company and its divisions will retain and expand the Group’s core integrated fire management operations in South Africa and internationally while seeking to diversify into new markets, explained Heine:

“We are already looking at about a dozen prospects in South Africa and internationally.”