If anyone had told Tania Koekemoer in 2011 that she would soon be the owner-manager of one of the most successful panel beating workshops in Gqeberha, she would have laughed. At the time, she was happily ensconced in her life as a stay-at-home mom and her husband Armand was enjoying his career as a panel beater in his dad’s business.
When the business suddenly went bankrupt in 2012, the family of four abruptly found themselves without any income. They had the option of Armand going to work for his father-in-law’s courier company; they just needed to purchase a truck and Armand would be able to join the company. But there was another enticing, but scary, option. The local representatives of a major car brand had pleaded with Armand to start his own business because the demise of his dad’s workshop had left a hole in the local market.
After much deliberation, the couple, who had no experience of running a business before, decided to jump into the deep-end and opened Econo Body Repairs. At least Armand was an expert panel beater, but Tania did not know anything about the industry. Yet they exhibited a strong team dynamic, operating at first from the workshop of Armand’s brother. There were many late nights because they had no money to hire workers and had to do all of the work themselves.
Fortunately, there was never a lack of cars to be fixed. Soon it was clear that they had to hire their own workshop, which they found in the suburb of Korsten. The work kept growing steadily although financial resources were scarce. Tania’s great strength is her people skills, when a friend insisted on having his car fixed in their workshop despite its lack of accreditation at the insurance company, they expected major resistance from the insurer. But Tania used the interaction as an opportunity to build strong relationships in the insurance company and to get Econo Body Repairs accredited.
Two years into their new business, the couple came to another crossroads as their landlord decided to sell the building. Paying off a property loan would be twice as expensive as paying rent yet they decided to risk buying the building. But moving a workshop is also expensive therefore it is a major advantage to own your workshop, says Tania.
They had no money for a deposit, but Business Partners Limited agreed to finance 100% of the purchase in return for a minority share in the building which Econo Body Repairs can buy back once the loan is repaid. The company thrived in its new workshop, although cash flow remained a struggle for years, says Tania. The entrepreneurial couple’s next venture was to open another branch in Grahamstown which turned out to play a major role in the survival of their business. Econo Body Repairs suffered a huge blow while the road in front of the business in Korsten was being upgraded. For months it was difficult to reach the workshop and clients chose to take their cars elsewhere for a quote. Fortunately the income from the Grahamstown branch tided them over.
With the arrival of Covid-19 in 2020, things turned for the worse when the manager for the Grahamstown branch lost his life due to Covid-19 complications and Tania did not have the capacity to manage both branches alone forcing for the closure of the branch. The Gqeberha branch could hardly stay ahead of the orders that came streaming in and Tania thinks that it was due to many of their competitors closing down because of the pandemic. “Week after week we would hear from our suppliers that this workshop or that workshop had shut down,” she says.
Today, Econo Body Repairs is doing better than ever, with a team of 16 workers taking on up to 15 repair jobs per week. Armand and Tania are, as usual, not shy to take the next step to grow their business. They have just bought a new, bigger premises in the adjacent area of Sidwell and have started moving in. So far, the plan is to rent out the Korsten workshop, which scarcely 12 years ago they themselves were renting.
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