Mincon West Africa commenced trading in October 2010 when managing director Martin van Gemert founded the company from startup. The company started very modestly with Martin initially operating from a hotel room and the 1st staff member joining him in the company 8 months later. From this humble beginning, in a little over 3 years, Mincon West Africa has become a well-known name in the drilling and mining supply industry in West Africa.
At the end of the first financial year nobody would have thought that this little start up would increase its size and turnover as dramatically as it did. The first real order was received in April 2011, after six months of zero income, while Martin was on a visit to the Mincon head office in Shannon. A collective sigh of relief went up and from there on Mincon West Africa could not be stopped.
During its second year Martins hard work and dedication to Mincon West Africa started to pay off. The customer base expanded and so did the turnover. Mincon West Africa grew by 523% in its second full year of operation compared to the first full year.
Mincon West Africa started outgrowing its home based office with three staff members and Martin putting in long hard hours to expand its customer base, increase sales and profits. At the end of the second financial year, Mincon West Africa was finally in a position to leave its home based office and move into dedicated office space in Almadies, Dakar with an increased staff complement of five.
From the beginning Martin realized that customer service and satisfaction was paramount to the success of Mincon West Africa. Making himself available to customers 24/7, 7 days a week, saw Mincon West Africa becoming a force to be reckoned with and the competition started noticing. The company also made sure that they were well represented at exhibitions in the region with stands at SIM Senegal 2012, Mauritanides 2012 and in Bamako Mali at the JMP 2013.
Martin’s years of hands on experience in the drilling and mining industries, his dedicated logistics and financial team and the general team spirit in the Mincon West Africa office has seen the turnover increase by a further 18 % in its 3rd year during a difficult Global economic climate.
Mincon West Africa serves Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Guinea, Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Niger, Togo and Benin. Currently the customer base includes Teranga Gold at Sabodala in Senegal, Kinross at Tasiast in Mauritania and Iamgold at Essakane in Burkina Faso.
The quality and performance of the Mincon DTH hammers and bits have significantly improved these customers operations. The company also supplies the Mincon reverse circulation hammers and bits and other represented brand drilling products to a variety of exploration drilling contractors operating in the aforementioned countries.
The total product range supplied by Mincon West Africa is Mincon hammers & bits, drill rods and other drill string consumables, bit sharpening machines, drilling fluids and blast hole and exploration drilling machines. The company’s product sales are predominantly made from a large quantity of stock held in a customs bonded warehouse in Dakar and distributed to customers throughout the region from there. The company provides technical service and support for their products to all their customers free of charge.
Martin is confident that with Mincon West Africa’s currently large and growing product offering and technical service and support to the industry that the growth of the company will continue to be positive and significant in the coming years.
