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ISSA Member Profile: Goscor Cleaning Equipment

Categories: ISSA Member Spotlight

Africa is fast emerging as a continent with increasingly attractive growth opportunities. Numerous far-reaching economic reforms, an overall growth rate of 4 percent for the entire continent, and extensive improvements to the continent’s infrastructure have all contributed to the development of thriving local and international business communities.

With many nations pledging their continued commitment to further advancing the ever-improving state of sanitation and hygiene within the continent, the cleaning industry looks especially poised to profit—and South Africa is leading the way.

Ricky Bodmer is managing director of Goscor Cleaning Equipment, a leading supplier of cleaning solutions in South Africa for the past 27 years. Goscor prides itself on its innovative approach—moving away from the traditional supply of cleaning equipment and detergents, the company provides complete cleaning solutions to its customers.

While discussing the cleaning industry in South Africa, Bodmer highlighted a few challenges that are particular to the region. “Of course, we have the same set of challenges that you would see elsewhere in the world,” Bodmer said. “Price versus quality, merchandised versus manual, these are questions common to most markets, and South Africa is no exception. However, here we also have a variety of unique challenges—in particular, developing technical skills from a limited skills pool has tested the metal of many companies, including ours.”

Goscor, however, is meeting these challenges head-on. “With regards to the limited skills pool in the region, training and education is vital, and this means going back to basics and stressing the importance of cleaning for health,” stated Bodmer. “Here at Goscor, we have a very thorough in-house training programme, which has yielded encouraging results.”

Goscor also makes sure to keep abreast of global cleaning trends. “It is imperative to stay up-to-date and aware of the new innovations which are setting the trends outside South Africa,” said Bodmer. In this endeavour, Bodmer has found that attending the international ISSA/INTERCLEAN® trade shows has been of great help. “We usually attend the ISSA/INTERCLEAN shows in both the United States and Amsterdam to learn more about new products hitting the shelves overseas,” he said. “International companies investing in South Africa as well as long established local companies demand reliable, advanced, and environmentally friendly products. Therefore, it is not only interesting to see what new products are trending overseas, but it also shows our customers that we are committed to staying informed and proactive when it comes to our product range.”

One such global trend that has strongly influenced the South African cleaning industry is the green cleaning movement. “There is a lot of focus on green cleaning in our market, and large companies have to submit sustainability reports. Goscor is keen to be a part of this movement, and we are committed to offering both practical and sustainable cleaning solutions to all our customers,” Bodmer said. “While legislation is slow to go through, and policing of these policies is not always up to par, green cleaning is here to stay,” he added.

Goscor Cleaning Equipment is a member of the National Contract Cleaners Association (NCCA), ISSA’s alliance partner in Africa. With more than 400 members in the local cleaning industry, ISSA and the NCCA are committed to serving the region’s cleaning industry. The key to this commitment is providing leadership by striving to build the profile of the cleaning industry in South Africa.

Founded in 1987 to develop and set appropriate standards for the contract cleaning industry, the NCCA has since evolved considerably. Today, the NCCA and ISSA facilitate and coordinate industry activities that provide a regular forum for members to meet and discuss pertinent issues affecting them. In addition, safeguarding the interests of the industry is something the both organizations see as of vital importance―representing the cleaning world’s views to government departments and the private sector.

“The work of the NCCA is to maintain a national platform for our industry,” said NCCA Chairman Clive Damonze. “We are always seeking new ways to ensure that this promise is fulfilled, and to deliver real value to our members. This is a constant work in progress but we are more than up to the challenge,” he added.

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