SPRING Light Gas (SLG) celebrated 20 years of supplying piped and compressed natural gas to customers across South Africa at a gala dinner event on Friday.
Natural gas is seen as an alternative to liquefied petroleum gas for heating products and producing energy.
Deon Dhlomo, chairperson of the SLG board, said that from humble beginnings in 2002 when the com[1]pany had a few staff members, it had grown to become one of the larger suppliers of piped natural gas in South Africa and the largest supplier of com[1]pressed natural gas in southern Africa.
“SLG started with humble beginnings in 2002 with a few customers in Durban South and three or four staff members. It grew significantly over the next 10 years from Durban South to the rest of KwaZulu-Natal and became quite attractive to external investors.
“SLG supplies companies like Toyota, and we previously supplied Engen and Sapref, who are currently not operational. We are also proud to supply Hulamin in Pietermaritzburg, which is one of the first companies that is supplied compressed natural gas via specialised skids.”
Dhlomo added that as part of the company’s corporate social investment (CSI), they decided to assist schools, specifically with maths and science. “We can assist in terms of helping with equipment and helping teachers.
We have spent at least R20 million as part of our CSI, refurbishing schools, providing science laboratory equip[1]ment and iPads. We also have schools approach us and we can sit down and see how we can assist them. “We have helped about 150 schools and impacted 30 000 learners. We also continue to help small and medium-sized enterprises with grants and loans. We also have provided learnerships and bursaries to assist the youth and deserving individuals”.
The gala dinner was also attended by the head of department for the KZN Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs Nhlakanipho Nkontwana. He said it was encouraging to see a black-owned company doing so well.
“As the KwaZulu-Natal government, we have taken a resolution to build more industries and manufacture more commodities so that we can grow this economy. SLG is one of the key stakeholders that we want to work with, and we are very proud of this milestone for the company given the current economic climate which includes the devastating impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, July 2021 unrest and the April floods.”
Nkontwana added that SLG must be praised for their commitment to invest in KZN over the past 20 years. Non-executive directors of SLG also congratulated the company on their milestone.
Kgotlelelo Rantloane from Ata Capital said that SLG holds “a special place in our heart”. “For as long we have been involved in SLG is how long our business has been going. “We got involved in this busness by backing two gentlemen who wanted to buy into SLG. The success of our business was very dependent on the success of SLG, had this not worked out we would not be around today.”
Bekithemba Moyo, from the SLG board, said that he wants to congratulate the company on the “incredible milestone”. “We are proud of our growth and know that SLG will be around for many years to come.”
Article by: YOGASHEN PILLAY
