CEO Today Africa Awards 2024 - 62 - - SOUTH AFRICA - up to extra heavy vehicles, for all categories of fleet users. These vehicles are contracted to the customer for a period exceeding 12 months, with an average of 44 months. Customer segments include corporate, small businesses and government entities. This holistic and modular offering allows customers to focus on their core operations, while Avis Fleet takes care of their mobility needs and ensures maximum uptime for their operations. Car sales business – ZEDA’s business segment that sells cars that have reached their full life cycle from the rental side (12 months) and leasing side (average of four years and older). These vehicles are sold to retail customers and independent wholesalers. This is done through the 14 Avis Car Sales dealerships, wholesale outlets, the online channel or through our independent auction site (www.avisauction. co.za). Retail vehicles are advertised on the company’s online sales portal and other third-party websites. Wholesale stock is sold through the online auction trading platform or through bulk deal offerings direct to the market. Avis Car Sales accepts trade-ins and buy-ins, allowing for market competitiveness and an alternative car stock source. How have you seen your career develop since 2022? Since joining Avis Budget Southern Africa, my career has developed tremendously. I was appointed to the position of CEO on 1 January 2020, to start on 1 May. At the time, COVID-19 was not even a discussion point. In February, we started hearing about COVID-19 cases being reported in parts of Europe after it was first detected in China. Immediately after my appointment, I started crafting my 100 days plan. However, this plan was not to be realised due to the impact of the pandemic on the car rental businesses. At that time Avis had just under 28 000 fleet and not generating income. Every cost element you could think of, including parking facilities, security to look after the cars increased. As a result, my commence-ment date was moved forward, and I subsequently started my new role on 1 April, just five days after South Africa’s first national lockdown. I had to come up with a turnaround strategy within five days. This was a challenge I took head-on by staying focused and coming up with a plan that would ensure that we would come out of the woods and not just survive but thrive.
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