It took a while for Hercules van den Berg to channel his restless, unrelenting energy, but once he did, his business has grown as vigorously as the gardens that he builds and maintains.
Beginning with the garden of a single complex in Kempton Park in 1996, Hercules has built his garden-services business into a thriving operation employing 173 workers and a fleet of twelve vehicles. His Freestyle Group also consists of a cleaning division, a sports field maintenance division, and a composting operation.
Hercules is not sure where his entrepreneurial traits come from, but he was always curious, ambitious and prone to boredom and impatience when things move too slowly. At school in Hazyview, where he grew up as the son of the local Dutch Reformed minister, he made pendants out of gold Kruger coins and sold them as jewellery, which helped pay for his studies.
He studied law at the university of Potchefstroom but found his side-hustles much more interesting. Driven by a desire for financial independence, he bought and sold anything he could lay his hands on. Soon he built a lucrative study-notes exchange, buying the lecture notes of graduating students and selling them to undergrads.
An important thing that Hercules learned from his legal studies is that he was not cut out to be a lawyer. Instead, he embarked on an array of jobs and ventures, including a stint at the UN desk of the then department of foreign affairs (“boring as hell”), a rep for Simba chips (“too easy”), helping with his dad’s attempt at starting a money-lending company (“doomed by his father’s trusting nature”).
There was no real pattern to it, except that the closer it came to being a difficult, hard-core business challenge, the more Hercules enjoyed it. The longest he ever kept a job was with Engen, which pioneered the turning of petrol stations into convenience stores in South Africa.
Hercules became the manager for that transition in the Free State. He enjoyed it immensely but clashed constantly with the slow bureaucracy of the corporate giant, preferring to try out his ideas first and presenting the results to the company bosses later. His dismissal after six years was inevitable when he organised a competition for his region without consulting management.
To keep the pot boiling for his young family, Hercules worked as a meat packer at an abattoir for a while, but soon started another venture making firelighters. He managed to get his product into all eight Pick n Pay hypermarkets, sold the brand, and started working as a consultant for a pesticide manufacturer to get their products onto supermarket shelves.
Meanwhile, he also set up a small team of gardeners to maintain the grounds of a complex in Kempton Park – an opportunity he heard about through his wife’s work in the property industry.
In 1998, his wife died, shattering his world. Not knowing if he would be able to keep his life together, he kept on with the garden maintenance project in Kempton Park, and, in a small side project, found a kind of solace that helped to build a thriving business from the shattered remains of his life.
Some property owners asked him to landscape an entrance to a nearby property. “I’ve never had this burning passion for gardening, but in that small project I discovered a creative side in me and saw what plants can do for a landscape and for people,” he says.
Hercules says a deep love developed in him for gardening, and, as much as it was possible for someone like him, he started to focus his energies on growing his gardening service. About three years later he was still a tiny operation – two borrowed bakkies, twelve workers and six lawn mowers – when he tendered for the garden maintenance contract for the huge Kyalami Estate. It was audacious for such a small business to even pitch for such a contract, but Hercules had cut his teeth on persuading the hard-nosed buyers of Pick n Pay to give new products a try.
Not only did he win the contract, but he persuaded them to pay the first bill upfront, and that shot Freestyle into a completely new orbit by allowing him to buy all the equipment he needed and recruit extra new staff. Soon Hercules started winning other contracts and Freestyle never looked back.
Not content with organic growth only, Hercules came across a business run by an entrepreneur who wanted to sell up and move overseas. It was a well-run outfit that counted several retirement homes in its client portfolio. Hercules calculated that if he could buy it, he could add R230 000’s worth of turnover to his business in one stroke. He had R500 000 to put towards the deal, but he needed another half a million.
Knowing he would not find much luck at the banks, Hercules came across Business Partners Limited when he searched for options online. Business Partners Ltd did a thorough due diligence, and agreed to the transaction. “Their excitement to do the transaction was palpable and refreshing,” says Hercules.
Most business owners would find it absolutely daunting to run a business with 173 workers, but Hercules says he doesn’t find it difficult. He describes his approach to team building and people management as “mellow” and “more honey than vinegar”. Every day the staff gathers at their headquarters in Honeydew, Johannesburg, for a prayer and a briefing of the day’s work. The 250 square metre warehouse was bought with a second finance deal with Business Partners Ltd.
Hercules reckons the Freestyle group will probably remain Gauteng based for the foreseeable future, simply because the local growth opportunities are endless. Everywhere he looks, there are opportunities to expand, and he certainly has the energy and inclination to take them on.
About the Author: BPL Admin
