Peter Hilton Smith
Pete’s degrees in teaching, psychology and business management, coupled with his experience as a training manager and education gives him critical insight into business processes, human behaviour, and on-ground-training.
His exposure to business leadership began as General Manager of the Retail Operations in a major industrial company, from whence he graduated to the world of Consulting. Here he found a niche for his creativity and his maverick personality.
Pete has been involved in Process- and Systems re-engineering, Business Analysis, Growth Strategies, Project Management and every other aspect of turnaround management across a broad spectrum of industries in a number of African countries. His speciality is Sales growth – creating and developing appropriate Processes, Systems, Structures, Skills and Strategies to make quantum improvements in turnover and margins
Paul Oosthuizen
From the moment that Paul entered the world of employment he was able to give expression to his instinctive retail entrepreneurial skills. On 3 different occasions he started, and grew, a retail network to a successful, marketable entity. His rare ability to exploit business opportunities has been tested in a variety of retail genres: hardware, fashion, general dealerships, outdoor and FMCG. He completed a stint in the corporate world to learn more about the formal sector’s structures, processes and controls required to manage a multi-branch network.
Paul applied this experience with great success as Operations Director and shareholder of one of the largest and most successful voluntary trading groups ever formed in Southern Africa. He was instrumental in growing this organisational to 190 stores. A major component of Paul’s success was his penchant for developing people. He was instrumental in creating a world class training model – the result of a concept that was many years in foment and development. It was, therefore, no coincidence that the quality of retail management and operations under his control received international recognition.
Paul’s special area of focus for Ilanga is to develop best practice models and applying known industry benchmarks to key financial drivers of the business. In so doing, he is able to identify the opportunities to ramp up performance and prescribe the therapy needed to achieve attractive financial returns on investment.
Linton Lovell
Linton Lovell’s teaching background continues to serve him well in his position at Ilanga Retail, as does his extensive experience as a management consultant across a multitude of business sectors.
Armed with both an ability to train and develop human capital and an in-depth knowledge of how businesses work, he is equipped to assist clients to maximize profits by re-engineering departmental processes and systems, resulting in more effective control and management of the entire company.
He starts projects with a deep dive into current systems and processes enabling him to recommend changes that will lead to better control and profitability. This includes recommendations to redesign, develop and implement changes, plus mentor and train staff to ensure effective understanding and buy-in.
The areas covered by him include: analysis of current systems and processes; re-designing, developing and implementing the improved systems and processes; monitoring and evaluation; organizational re-structuring and writing of standard operational procedures (SOP) specific to each client company or division.
Linton counts as one of his key abilities the interaction he has with employees at two levels. Firstly getting buy- in from trainees to structure their day, develop activity plans and adhere to the requirements of the SOP and secondly working with supervisors to understand the importance of managing their employees to perform in line with the SOP. At a senior level he works on strategy development and implementation and designs audit processes to measure compliance with the SOP.
He is equally comfortable to interact at the most junior level right through to executive board level. He has worked for clients across diverse sectors including insurance, banking, manufacturing, retail, mining, transportation, construction, agriculture, entertainment and call centres.
Linton brings over 20 years of experience and an enviable track record to clients of Ilanga
Erna Lovell
In her career as a Corporate Sales and Marketing Manager across a variety of industries, Erna has established a reputation as a dynamic professional who uses her knowledge and experience to increase company performance where it matters most – the bottom line.
Her sporting background as a participant (Provincial Colours for Netball, Indoor and Outdoor Cricket, Athletics, Softball, Korfball), and Captain of the Springbok indoor Cricket Team plus her Coaching experience has served her well in building and leading diverse teams to address all elements of the marketing mix.
A pragmatist who is driven by results and a career that spans over 20 years, Erna evaluates marketing strategies based on objectives, market characteristics and cost and mark-up factors, and once her investigation is complete, formulates policies, directs and co-ordinates marketing activities aimed at promoting products and services, and evaluates performance against budgets and targets.
Her extensive experience with companies such as Marley Pipe Systems, Alert Steel, DPI Incledon and Parmalat has led to her acquiring a significant mix of skills to offer clients of Ilanga Retail. Her skill set includes financial evaluation of products from research and development to marketing, merchandising and sales. She sees to the hiring, training and evaluation of teams ensuring high levels of motivation towards the achievement of personal and company goals.
She also drives the product research and development as well training of staff on these skills for Ilanga.
Her enthusiastic approach to marketing and sales has seen her develop long term relationships with suppliers, vendors and clients whilst managing expectations and executing against sales targets.
A creative thinker, motivator, communicator and deliverer who is sensible in her approach to challenges and values success both for herself, her staff and the companies she works with.