Goodrich Molefe Kowane, NAACAM Gauteng Region Chairman, is the Market Development Manager at Hulamin Operations.
Goodrich Molefe Kowane, NAACAM Gauteng Region Chairman, is the Market Development Manager at Hulamin Operations and brings over 20-years of combined work experience in sales and marketing, new business development, investment promotion, and project management in both the Public and Private sector to the role. Goodrich has spent seventeen (17) of these years at an Executive Management level in an industrial manufacturing environment, engaging at the highest levels with Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and Tier-1 suppliers in both the automotive and rail sectors.
Goodrich’s career and passion for the automotive sector started as a student vacation temporary worker at the South African Motor Corporation (SAMCOR) in Silverton, where he worked in the material costing department between 1989 and 1992 during university vacations. Through a student exchange programme sponsored by the German government, Goodrich was seconded to Daimler AG/Mercedes Benz AG in Stuttgart-Moehringen (Daimler AG HQ) as a trainee Financial Controller for the period 01 October 1993 to 30 September 1994.
Following this, Goodrich joined the Department of Trade and Industries from 4 November 1995 until 30 November 2002. Among the interesting roles he performed at the DTI, Goodrich was a Business Economic Investigator for the Board of Tariffs and Trade (BTT), Motor Industry Development Programme (MIDP), and the General Export Incentive Schemes (GEIS). Between 01 September 1996 and December 2000, he was stationed as an Economic Representative at the South African Embassy in Germany leading activities for the promotion of South Africa as an attractive investment destination in general, and the automotive and metals sectors in particular. Following this, Goodrich was deployed by the DTI between January 2000 and 30 November 2002, as the Investments Promotion Manager: Automotive Sector. Since December 2002 Goodrich has been in the employ of Hulamin Operations as the Market Development Manager for the automotive and transportation sector.
Discussing the #FutureofComponentManufactirng and Hulmain’s future strategic direction, Goodrich notes that automotive aluminium grade materials for the manufacture of auto body sheets and battery technologies are driving the growth of the aluminium demand in the automotive and transportation sector. Consequentially, in order to support the growth in local content of SA manufactured vehicles and deepen value addition throughout the value chain, Hulamin is strategically engaging with the OEMs and Tier-1 suppliers conducting a feasibility study for an investment in appropriate future equipment and technologies to be able to supply aluminium grade alloys for both ICE and BEV vehicles.
Goodrich’s advice for his younger self and any emerging suppliers:
- The patience required in price negotiations is testing and always a learning curve, have fun whilst paying special attention to details.
- Model launches to the public don’t do justice to processes involved in project management activities between vehicle concept and vehicle delivery to customers.
