The very first machine Jendamark Automation managing director Quinton Uren and his partner built was an electric window-winder test rig for Mercedes-Benz – and they built it in the kitchen of premises they shared with an estate agent 26 years ago.
When the time for delivery came, they had to dismantle the kitchen and remove the aluminium doors, as the machine could not fit through.
Despite that slight miscalculation, the machine itself worked beautifully, as did the company which has grown so much in status that Uren is now in the running for an award at the All Africa Business Leaders Awards.
Determined to create his own path, Uren, 54, who was born during apartheid in the Bay’s northern areas, became aware of the inequalities and limited opportunities he would encounter, but he turned things around and opened his own automotive company, which has grown globally in Europe, India and Germany.
Uren, who started his global technology company in 1992, said: “I felt angry and sad, like a second-rate citizen, but it kickstarted something in me.
“I became a fighter. I always wanted to be better, to prove myself,” he said.
“Our global headquarters remain in Port Elizabeth. People often underestimate this place, but I see it as a beacon of what is possible in Africa.”
Uren will represent the Bay in the Industrialist of the Year category at the annual awards on November 29.
His fellow category finalists from SA include Nampak CEO Andre de Ruyter, Likoebe Innovation Consultants founder Nneile Nkholise, and Thata uBeke Manufacturing CEO Nana Sebelo.
The Industrialist of the Year award recognises individuals who have made efforts to develop a specific industry in Africa and who have transformed a market, company, product or service.
Jendamark Automation is a designer and manufacturer of special-purpose machinery used in the manufacturing of catalytic converters as well as power trains used, for example, in engine assembly lines.
Jendamark’s export orientation, which seemed risky after the global economic crash of 2008, has paid dividends and today accounts for 90-95% of the company’s business.
Jendamark is also a twotime winner of the Eastern Cape Exporter of the Year.
With a motor mechanic for a father, Uren had played with tools and cars all his life, making his career choice a natural progression.
But he also realised that as a “coloured” engineer, he would have to work harder to gain acceptance.
Unable to afford tertiary studies without a bursary, he got his hands dirty collecting industrial sewage samples for six months on behalf of the municipality, which paid for his first semester at the then University of Port Elizabeth, where he studied design, taking seven subjects instead of the usual six.
It was only after that first semester that he received an important call from General Motors, where he took up a position, one of only four candidates to be accepted for its co-operative training scheme.
During his fourth year of studies, after presenting one of his designs at the Edward Hotel to captains of industry, he was interrogated by the managing director of SKF Bearings.
He landed a job and was able to set his own terms, which included doubling his salary, getting his own computer-aided design (CAD) machine and continuing his studies.
Early on, Uren realised he wanted to be his own boss.
By 1985, he had acquired two CAD workstations and started his side business, Nasquin Designs, offering design and detailing services to local engineering companies.
He designed by night, while his wife, Nasieba, detailed by day.
In 1989, economic sanctions led to his retrenchment from SKF and a need to accelerate his plans.
Nasquin had done some fixture designs for a company called Jendamark Electronic Component Industries.
Uren and his now ex-business partner realised they could combine synergies in software, electrical, electronic and mechanical design – and his company was born.
In 2012, Jendamark opened its German entity and purchased the Techcellency operations in India the next year.
While apartheid inadvertently made him stronger, Uren said economic sanctions did the same for Jendamark.
“We did not have access to technology or global best practices. So, we had to develop our own solutions,” Uren said.
“Today, our state-of-the-art Odin software has its roots in this simple and efficient way of communicating the status of the production system.
“It has also allowed us to implement our systems effectively in foreign language markets like China and Malaysia.”