Compagniesdrift crosses the mentorship Rubicon

Tuesday, 25 July, 2017
Tshepang Molisana
The Compagniesdrift black empowerment enterprise was founded in partnership with the Myburgh Family Trust as an initiative that aspires to benefit farm workers in an economically viable manner.

Hannes Myburgh, the proprietor of world-renowned Stellenbosch estate, Meerlust, is a graduate of the University of Stellenbosch, he also studied winemaking at Geisenheim in Germany, and has worked at Château Lafite in France as well as Von Oetinger in Germany. Albie de Waal, the Managing Director of Meerlust, is an agriculture graduate of the University of Stellenbosch, as well as an MBA graduate.

Left: Hannes Myburgh, proprietor of Meerlust I Right: Albie de Waal, Managing Director of Meerlust

The Compagniesdrift black empowerment enterprise was founded in partnership with the Myburgh Family Trust as an initiative that aspires to benefit farm workers in an economically viable manner.

According to Albie, the Compagniesdrift wine storage, bottling, labelling and laboratory facilities have the potential to be viable.

Hannes agrees, “you have to start with good people, but you have to create viable businesses that can work.”

Ilse Ruthford, the Managing Director of Compagniesdrift, was previously an admin worker at Meerlust for six years, and is being mentored for her management role by Hannes and Albie.

“A mentor doesn’t choose a mentee that you’re not confident in,” Albie explains, “we saw her potential.”

“While I was working in admin, Albie and Hannes were my bosses” Ilse laughs, “and you only saw them if you were in trouble.”

“But now we sit together at the boardroom table, we discuss how to solve problems and make decisions,” Ilse says.

Ilse says that at the beginning, decision-making and confidence proved to be challenging. “I would drive up regularly to Meerlust and say, “we messed up,” but I learned from Albie that for every problem there is a solution.”

The Compagniesdrift management consists of Ilse, in her capacity as Managing Director, an accountant, Veraline Davids, and a production manager, Bossie Boshoff. The original team of four has swelled to 28 workers at Compagniesdrift, which enabled Ilse to build self-confidence. She expands, “I can now run Compagniesdrift, together with the team.”

Left: Ilse Ruthford, Managing Director of Compagniesdrift I Right: Ilse, Albie and Hannes

Ilse has two children, and is studying Wine Management at the UCT Graduate School of Business part time while working. “My children want to know all my module topics,” she says.  One of her academic tasks is to draft a comprehensive business plan.

“I had a very conservative upbringing,” she says. She studied Marketing at Boland College, she was a top five student which made her father very proud. She was also a top Cape Wine Academy student and has 20 years of promotions and marketing experience. She was a valued member at Chamonix and Kleine Zalze before she joined the Meerlust team.

Ilse’s self-discipline extends towards her studies, “I study from 8pm-11pm,” she adds that her children, her husband and family are her support structure.

“I wouldn’t be able to do this without my parents, mother-in law, husband, children and these two Meerlust men,” she says.

While Ilse is gaining additional skills through her studies, the Myburgh Family Trust has partnered on a sustainability project in service to the children of Stellenbosch. Around 60 of the children who are being supported by the Myburgh Family Trust, have been enrolled in a Spark School, in partnership with the Sustainability Institute, Lynedoch.

“Our kids are enrolled in pre-school and primary school, we hope to see them through high school and beyond,” Hannes muses.

“For us it’s a good thing, because now our kids are tri-lingual – they speak English, Xhosa and Afrikaans,” he explains.

The ripple effects of growth are felt in other ways. Bernadette, a fellow cellar worker moved into the admin department and currently leads as the head of admin and logistics at Compagniesdrift.

“We are all rubbing off on each other,” Ilse smiles, “we all get excited to get up each day. I had fantastic opportunities, and I want to give others the same.”

In 2014, Ilse won the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing (DAFF) National Female Entrepreneur Award, for the processing category.

“I wanted to win that award to thank Hannes and Albie for giving me the opportunity to head up a business,” she expresses, “I was confident that we could do much more.”

“Our staff rose to the challenge, I did not employ from outside,” Ilse says. The Compagniesdrift team has each been given a title since 2017, they are no longer ‘general farmworkers’.

“We all need confidence and recognition,” Ilse explains her leadership decisions.

“They see me as an example,” she says,” I must pass it onto my staff and they must pass it onto their children.

The Western Cape, Dept of Agriculture has also provided support to Compagniesdrift staff by providing training programmes on leadership, communication and other soft skills.

Hannes says that the first point of the business is viability, but emphasises that it’s important for farmworkers to uplift and skill themselves.

“I support the Compagniesdrift team a lot,” Ilse says, “I reward them, I treated the team to cappuccino sachets – one member of the team even cried. It was her first time drinking a cappuccino.”

“Without all the support I receive, I wouldn’t be able to create a legacy, but I’ve received an opportunity, I hope Hannes and Albie know that everything they do has made a difference,” Ilse concludes.