With South Africa having one of the highest crime rates in the world, there is bound to be a business opportunity in the security industry no matter how little you have to start out with. We already have an enormous private security (armed response) industry. The electric fence and CCTV business is booming but it has a lot of competition. There are other opportunities that require more skill and capital. But today we will look at something that requires less skill and capital than most of the others: making and selling anti-theft brackets for gate motors.
What is an anti-theft bracket?
Electric gate motors fall victim to two types of crime: tampering by breaking the cover door open and overriding the motor to access your premises and: stealing of the whole motor. Anti-theft brackets prevent thieves from tampering with and stealing the gate motor by putting a barrier around the motor and bolting it to the ground.
The opportunity
There are already solutions on the market, but they are expensive, home owners will pay up to R1000 from official (gate motor manufacturers) distributors or R600 for an “aftermarket” one for what is essentially a very basic apparatus.
Designing a good bracket
As we have established above, the ideal bracket provides tamper protection and theft protection. In my opinion, you can have two versions, one a off the shelf one size fits all and another custom solution (some gates are a bit awkward regarding the ground around the motor necessitating a custom solution). To make a one size fits all approach is to research the current motors on the market and make it to spec (there are only a few). A custom solution would warrant you to go to the client’s premises to assess the situation. In some cases you may have to build a whole cage to encase it in.
This is something that you can make and sell for much less than the current suppliers and still make a good profit. You can even make more money buy offering an installation service as well.
How to Start a Buying & Selling Business in South Africa
A buying and selling business is one of the easiest businesses to get into; it requires little skill (besides basic mathematics) and can be started with very little capital. There are two underlying components to a successful buying and selling business: 1.
