October 2015 Forum Homini Background Story by Hendrik Marais
Forum Homini Hotel - Hendrik Marais by Robyn Alexander published in Opulent Living Southern Africa, Issue no5
Want to tick the Cradle of Humankind - a World Heritage Site that has produced some of the world's most important archaeological finds - off your list of the planet's ,must-see places? Then you' ll be happy to discover that the perfect place to stay over has (like Homo sapiens) already fully evolved.
Onderhoud met Hendrik Marais gevoer deur Theo Vorster, gepubliseer in die Rapport - 24 Agustus 2014
Johannesburg. - Hendrik Marais is wat 'n mens 'n reeksentrepreneur sou kon noem. Hy het al verskeie ondernemings begin, ander gekoop en uitgebrei - en ook gesien hoe hulle swig onder druk. As skoolkind het hy pynappels verkoop en vandag bedryf hy Eureka, 'n eenstopwinkel vir alle "vasmaakmiddels", van skroewe tot gom. Eureka het meer as 650 werknemers .en 50 afleweringsvoertuie op die pad wat uit 'n kompleks van 30 000 m2 meer as 2 000 ysterwarewinkels van onder meer boute, moere, spykers en skroewe voorsien.
The year is 1985 and Hendrik Marais is busy in his paint and hardware store with the tedious task of purchasing nuts and bolts, screws, and nails in large quantities from wholesalers.
This, unfortunately, was only the first step in a very time-consuming exercise because back in the day, fasteners were sold loose - either by weight or quantity.
When a customer came into the store to buy fasteners, hardware store staff spent a lot of time weighing or counting off fasteners which were then sold for a relatively small purchase value. Often this prevented them from spending time on building relationships with customers, giving advice, and focussing on tasks that were more profitable.
Then, one day during 1985, Hendrik had his EUREKA moment!
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