Duncan Diesel Email & Phone Number

Farmingdale, Ny, Us

United States

South Africa

I managed the roll out of our new proprietary software across SA and supported the implementation with the teams in the UK and Australia. I spearheaded the setup of online payments in SA working closely with our payment providers locally and head office to get this off the ground in our territory. I travel to Australia and the UK to work with the local teams there to outline strategies to assist franchisees to improve sales; managed the opening of new stores in these regions, provided training to new team members and guidance on problems specific to these countries. I collaborate with our head office to outline country specific pricing and the setup of training documents for our international markets and guide the teams remotely in our Australia and UK regions with software support issues. I provide business and technical support to franchisees across the 52 stores in SA working closely with owners of all backgrounds and experience from brand new to those operating for over 20 years, to improve their businesses from a financial and production standpoint. I am responsible for sourcing new vendors, negotiating better rates and managing the relationship and setup of deals for the stores in SA. I hire staff for stores and train owners, new and existing staff members in all aspects of the business including sales, marketing, financial and estimating. I meet prospects interested in buying a business and guide them through all the steps to owning a new franchise. I help new franchisees find a location, negotiate leases with landlords, ordering and installation of equipment, setup of new stores and go-to-market plans. I lead the marketing committee with select store owners in SA to set down marketing plans for the group locally.

Johannesburg Area, South Africa

Through my network I was put on to someone that was looking to buy a print business. To begin with we took over a 15-year-old business with one staff member and a big customer database. I oversaw the takeover of this company and ran the business; the owner was involved only from a financial investment perspective. I contacted and visited all the customers and got them back on board. I did all the estimating, purchasing, procurement as well as suggesting and purchasing of equipment upgrades. The turnover doubled in the first 6 months and we had employed 2 more people. I implemented all the systems I had learned over the years and adapted them to suit this environment. The business was performing so well that when the owner heard that one of our suppliers was looking to sell, he decided to buy that operation. I was an integral part of the negotiations and purchase of that business. The company we incorporated had a staff compliment of 19, 8 litho machines up to A1, and a lot of bindery equipment. I introduced the team to wide format printing, and we added that to the services we offered. Here I used all the skills I had gathered over the years to turn the business into a well-oiled machine. I was responsible for all aspects of the business and all staff reported to me. I was responsible for pricing structures as well as the marketing of the business. I also oversaw the moving of equipment to a new production facility as well as the layout and improved workflow of the new facility. I oversaw all the hiring and training of new staff members.

Johannesburg Area, South Africa

The Copy Shop were outsourcing all their litho work, I was offered the opportunity to join them in a management position with my printing machinery to run all their litho printing in-house. When I first met the owner of this business, I saw they were running the shop in a very outdated way, so I sold him on changing how the shop works. I came in and made some major changes bringing all the outsourced work in-house, streamlined production and used my established relationships with suppliers to make the business a lot more profitable. I also introduced better cash handling systems as a lot of the work was paid for in cash. I called on and managed new and existing customer accounts. I managed all production, the photocopy teams, and was responsible for the generation of all quotations for clients and managed the design and production of all artwork for print. I was responsible for helping to hire and train all staff.

Johannesburg Area, South Africa

I joined Print Concepts who had been outsourcing all their litho work and used my Multilith 1860 litho and Heidelberg gelatine machines to run all their litho printing in-house. Here I was introduced to digital printing and copy machines. I ran the artwork department as well as all the litho printing. I dealt with customers, generated quotes, and was involved in sales and marketing. I changed a lot of the suppliers that the owner had been using, leveraging off the relationships I had built with the suppliers I had dealt with previously. Here I realised that I enjoy sharing knowledge and training people.

Johannesburg Area, South Africa

After matriculating at 17, I took over the printing business my Father had setup due to sudden health issues and ran this business for 10 years. I was responsible for all aspects of the business including sales and client service, estimating, finances, all purchasing of materials and stock control, dealing with suppliers and all operational elements. I managed the running of the Multilith 1860 litho machine, the Heidelberg Platen gelatine for finishing, and all bindery equipment. I upskilled in CorelDraw, Freehand and Photoshop to provide artwork and proof reading for customers in-house and generated the electronic make up ready for play out. As part of my overall print service I fulfilled a print broker function, dealing with different suppliers for print jobs I did not run in-house. I managed the financial aspects of the business including payments, invoicing, and debt collection. I dealt with various corporate customers including Chamber of Mines of South Africa, Mines Pension Fund, as well as a number of other smaller companies, fulfilling their printing requirements.