(adapted from Time cultivates winners. Senwes - a century of agriculture by Elize van Eeden)
A moment in history.
From September 1908, the first cooperative congress gave momentum to the establishment of cooperation’s countrywide, while the superintendent who had been appointed by the government already after 1905 propagated the cooperative idea. The establishment of Senwes in its erstwhile garment took root in May 1909 and after three milestones in 100 years, moved away from being a cooperative and positioned itself for greater competition in the free market economy.
In order to be the best, the industry concentrated on the core business, the provision of integrated solutions for agricultural producers about providing inputs and and access to markets as well as the creation and retention of new markets and opportunities. As part of this vision, especially to be the most admired agri-business, generic and geographical expansions were explored and utilised continually. The possibility of being listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) sometime in the future was often noted in minutes as a possible new opportunity, especially to explore markets in Africa on a greater scale.
As dynamic as Senwes was as an Agri industry by 2009, so effectively the future was approached with the same drive to give the industry the same chance of survival in the following decades and century – once again- than 100 years ago.