Hyundai Umhlanga has been awarded the 2023 Dealer of the Year prize at Hyundai Automotive South Africa’s national dealer conference held last week in Gauteng.
The Umhlanga dealership on the north coast of KwaZulu-Natal has excelled in several aspects of its business, including sales, customer satisfaction and customer service.
A proud Prishen Ghandhi, dealer principal of Hyundai Umhlanga, said part of his dealership’s recipe for success is treating each staff member as an individual and working with each person to get him or her to realise their potential.
“My finance and management experience gained in an earlier part of my working career has helped me a lot to manage and motivate my staff,” says Ghandhi. “Our success really comes from a combination of things. A business is made up of people, and getting them to buy into the business aims. And it is important to get the right people, and the right team.
“I like having one-on-one meetings with my people at the dealership, and the result is that I have a highly motivated staff.”
Gideon Jansen van Rensburg, CEO of Hyundai Automotive SA, had high praise for the top-performers in the dealership network of the company. “Our dealers have done outstanding work in a difficult business climate, and those who excelled most, have been awarded justly for their accomplishments.
“I commend our winners of Dealer of the Year awards for the extra effort that they and their staff have put into their business, living the Hyundai values and building out the Hyundai brand,” said Jansen van Rensburg.
Berry Succubus
Richard Maponya studied to be a teacher but couldn\’t find work, so he became a stock taker at a clothing manufacturer. His manager sold him soiled clothing and offcuts, which he resold. He made enough capital to open a clothing retailer. In the early 1950\’s Maponya and his wife established the Dube Hygienic Dairy, which delivered milk to customers daily. By the 1970\’s his clothing empire had grown enough for him to branch into other areas, including: general stores, car dealerships and filling stations. In 2007, Maponya Mall in Soweto was opened, one of the largest shopping centres in the country. He continued to focus on Soweto\’s growth by establishing Maponya Motor City, which included a Volkswagen and Toyota dealership.