Award-winning retailer Carel Bakkes knows from personal experience what it is like to cycle to school in temperatures as low as -15°C.
Bakkes, who grew up in the Eastern Cape town of Molteno, simply dressed warmly, pulled a balaclava over his head, swung his leg over the crossbar and pedalled for all his worth to make sure he beat the school bell.
Now, almost half a century later, the owner of The Windfarm rest and service centre on the N2 outside Gqeberha still rides his bicycle before starting his working day.
The business won the SPAR Express of the Year title in the Eastern Cape for the second time recently.
Bakkes credits a lifetime of resilience as the main reason for his success.
He said the announcement at SPAR Eastern Cape’s annual general meeting caught him off guard.
“My wife said, ‘Hello? That’s you. You must get up’,” he said.
When Bakkes opened The Windfarm in November 2019 to serve motorists heading west, the business model made complete financial sense.
However, the Covid-19 lockdown took effect just five months later, leisure travel was banned and his regular clientele disappeared overnight.
“We suffered. We worked behind the coffee and pie stations at the SPAR just to keep the doors open,” he said.
Bakkes, whose store employs 25 people from nearby Fitches Corner, Greenbushes, St Albans, Thornhill and Humansdorp, said he viewed his businesses as one team under one roof.
He encourages his managers to point out what can be improved at The Windfarm, and his staff to study further.
His Express and fast-food employees and their families are able to take their pick of about 300 education programmes.
These courses include everything from tackling gender-based violence to knowing how to respond in the event of an ATM bombing.
Scholarships and bursaries are also available to diligent employees.
“The opportunities are there because we believe in people,” Bakkes said.
He attributes his work ethic and ability to triumph against the odds to a major setback during his formative years, a hard taskmaster in his father and several years of working for a construction company in Malawi.
Bakkes has overcome a number of challenges over the years.
When he was in primary school, his family’s world was turned upside down when their grocery store was burned to the ground during protests.
“In Malawi, I had to survive with little equipment and machinery and had to live with different people.
“It made me understand life and how to work with people.
“Life doesn’t come to you — you must go and fetch it,” he said.
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