Johannesburg - South African Post Office (SAPO) CEO Mark Barnes says progress has been made in stabilising the post office, which he found on its knees when he took over towards the end of last year.
Sharing his insights into the South African economy at the Afrika Tikkun corporate breakfast at the Wanderers Club on Thursday, he says challenges remain.
When he took over the reins of SAPO, even basic necessities such as toilet paper were not readily available due to suppliers being owed money. He said, while challenges remained, there is a renewed focus to better the balance sheet of SAPO.
The challenges it needs to overcome are legacy once relating to modernising the business.
“We have a paper based system, we need to cross the technological divides and use smart phones in our business to get to our clients,” Barnes says.
Another challenge in resuscitating the ailing parastatal has been labour issues that have dogged the organisation. “It has been a huge problem, in 2014, during the prolonged strike, we lost 30 percent of our revenue,” Barnes says.
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The post office’s target is to achieve financial independence within three years so that they are able to raise their own capital without government guarantees.
“We still believe we will turn a profit by 2018, we hope to still have a valuable asset in five years time,” Barnes says.
IOL