Potgieter, born and raised in Benoni on the East Rand, started a modelling career while still in high school, then joined Justine Cosmetics in the early 1990s and within a short time was appointed regional sales manager – the youngest in the history of the company.
“The most important discovery for me at Justine was that I found I have people management skills – and I have an ability to motivate people and drive sales. In fact, I won an award for having increased sales by 300% in the first year. I learned that I love working with people,” says Potgieter.
She and her husband then moved to London and as soon as she was permitted to work, she joined Harrods as a sales assistant. “I couldn’t believe I was working at Harrods – it’s a dream retail environment.” Within a short time she was promoted to assistant manager, then assistant buyer, and later to senior merchandiser and buyer. Her five-and-a-half years at Harrods gave her the opportunity to be involved in all aspects of retailing – which she loved.
“Work at Harrods was constantly exciting and very varied. I had 24 management teams that I co-ordinated with and I learned a tremendous amount about retailing – from ordering and warehousing, through to merchandising and promotions on the shop floor, and everything in between. I thrived in that environment and in 2003 I won the
Chairman’s Award for Excellence from Mohamed Al-Fayed.”
Potgieter returned to South Africa with her husband who had decided to go farming in the Eastern Cape, where they remained for about two years. Never one to be idle, Potgieter ran the farm and a bed & breakfast, and sold farm produce to local coffee shops, Mugg & Bean, and other outlets.
The next move was to Vereeniging, where she turned her hands to human resources for an engineering company. “I learned about HR on my feet and through a few short courses. It was an interesting and valuable experience for me.” Next in her career was a two-year stint as operations manager for an engineering consulting firm, which also involved a broad spectrum of responsibilities, which she tackled with her usual flair. “The job certainly had its fun moments – but I yearned to be back in retailing, which is my first love.”
Potgieter’s next move was to start two companies – simultaneously, “as one does,” she quips. One company was a modelling agency called Rampage and the other was importing educational toys. Both companies were starting to become established when Potgieter met Jonathan Gratch, founder of Printstagram, at a trade fair.
“I was completely sold on the concept of Printstagram and felt I connected with the company brand immediately. The potential for this business is vast – especially as we are now driving it in a new direction. We are in the process of moving Printstagram onto a retail platform from being purely web-based and are forming partnerships with existing photographic retail outlets, starting with eight Kodak stores in the Gauteng region. We are planning to have a footprint in 180 retail outlets by the first quarter of 2015.”
Potgieter anticipates rapid expansion following a period of investing in equipment, ensuring good processes are in place and streamlining quality control, in preparation for a large increase in demand for Printstagram’s wide range of personalised printed photographic products. She adds that innovation is a core value for Printstagram and they will be introducing new products once the retail structures are firmly established.
“Printstagram is unique – there is no one like us in the market, and certainly no one who can do what we do as easily as we can. It’s an exciting opportunity for me personally, but certainly also for this company,” says Potgieter, who is extremely enthusiastic about the future – for herself, her family, and the business.
For more information, visit
www.printstagram.co.za.