Innovative Cape Town company Maverick Trading, which manufactures tamperproof manhole covers from polymer con- crete, has scooped the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Indus-try’s Exporter of the Year Award.

Maverick Trading’s products, which include gully grates and grids for stormwater drains, are widely used to replace steel grates and covers, which are regularly stolen for sale to the scrap metal industry.

Maverick Trading also received the Design Award, sponsored by the South African Maritime Safety Association (Samsa), at an awards ceremony in Cape Town in late November.

“Maverick Trading is a remarkable example of a company that has solved a major problem and turned it into a profitable exporting business, creating more than 100 jobs in the process,” said chamber president Janine Myburgh.

The company, which started 14 years ago with only six staff members, has developed a locking device which is tamper- and vandalproof. Its products are also lighter, stronger and cheaper than the steel products they are replacing and have no resale value.

The other big winner was boat builder Nautic Africa, which makes fast launches and patrol boats, mainly for the oil industry and West African countries. Most of them are used to protect and service oil rigs, and also help to prevent piracy. Nautic Africa won the Transnet Port Terminals Award for the Best Manufacturing Exporter of the Year, as well as the Cape Chamber’s award for innovation.

Myburgh said she was impressed by the calibre of the entrants for the competition.

“We have a host of companies which have not only defied the odds of our economy, but have also created jobs and built sustainable, credible international companies which can proudly take their place on any global stage.”

Hermanus-based mariculture company Abagold, which farms abalone for export, won the Transnet National Ports Authority award for the best nonmanufacturing exporter.

The Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s accolade for trans- formation was awarded to Diemers-fontein/Thokozani Winelands, where farmworkers are share- holders in the company.

Previous winner Macadams International, a 100-year-old Cape Town company which manufactures equipment for bakeries, won the Gerald Wolman Award for Excellence in Doing Business in Africa.

Oh Lief Natural Products, a cosmetic company started by two sisters, won the Credit Guarantee Award for the best Small Exporter. Their products are made from 100% natural, local and organic raw ingredients.

Myburgh said winning exporters had bucked the trend, as they were operating under very difficult conditions, including some of the highest port tariffs in the world.

“While the stronger rand helps our exporters, the rising input costs and business uncertainty are casting a pall on them.”

A World Bank report released earlier this year showed that South Africa’s total exports have grown in real terms by only 0.6% a year since 2005.

The report reveals that the bulk of South African exports is concentrated in a few megafirms which ship products to countries around the world, with about 1000 companies generating 93% of the country’s exports.

Myburgh said there was a great need for small and medium-sized companies to step into the breach, as megacompanies were losing momentum as they were creating fewer new products and not expanding enough into new markets.