The joint venture is the culmination of years of discussion between Inhouse managing director Ashraf Omar and Gearhouse directors, which identified common goals and aspirations as well as a shared passion for the venue technical management business. Gearhouse Cape Town's venue technical management service has been absorbed by Inhouse and long-standing venue technical management contracts with the ArabellaSheraton Grand Hotel and the Lagoon Beach Hotel have been retained. A new contract with the Radisson SAS Hotel was recently added to the portfolio and the company is currently investigating further contracts in the Cape region. Long - term plans include a follow-on phase to extend the service into the other provinces within South Africa, as well as Africa.
Omar feels that fresh ideas and dedicated focus from the Inhouse team combined with the experience and support of the country's leading rental and staging company will improve the service offering. "With a dedicated infrastructure now in place, our venue technical managers are able to concentrate on perfecting service levels within their respective venues, while Head Office focuses on business development, technical support and delivery standards," he says.
Inhouse operations director, Joey Razak was previously employed by AV Networks and when approached to rejoin the team he accepted. "I had been working as a technical manager for Cape Town ICC's technical supplier and recognised the potential of the Inhouse proposal immediately," he says.
So what can venues look forward to from this new company? Omar explains: "A level of technical service unlike anything they have previously experienced, with the emphasis firmly on the client. It's about fulfilling their needs, finding solutions to their problems and providing innovative ideas born of experience. We will consolidate our team this year, perfect our plan and move ahead together," states Omar, "Every aspect of this venture excites me. We are driven by passion and love for what we do, what better motivation could one ask for?"
(Chris Henry)
