The Safripol Team

When Frans van Dyk was offered the opportunity to return to Safripol as financial director following the buy-out from Dow Chemical, it took him “about a second” to make up his mind. And when he set about rebuilding the financial department by re-recruiting those who had left years ago, “it wasn’t hard persuading them to come back.”

The reason: Safripol is a unique and potent mix of a close-knit family business and one that operates in line with global best-practices.

“I have enormous respect for the processes and culture of performance that Dow introduced when it owned this company,” says Van Dyk. “It gave us the lean structure and culture of accountability that have made Dow such an efficient organisation and such a stimulating place to work. The difference, however, is that Safripol has managed to preserve the feeling of being a big family.”

Today Safripol has a flat structure and operates at a level of efficiency that most manufacturing companies would envy. Employees take responsibility for their actions, and while processes play a vital role, red tape is kept to the minimum.

“What will make Safripol prosperous going forward is a terrific combination of tools, systems and processes on the one hand, and on the other our culture of personal accountability and setting others up for success. It’s a very empowering culture. Everyone acknowledges that it’s their company, and it’s their responsibility to make it the best they can.”