20 years together, help our staff reach 21. (COVID is killing our tourism industry – help us fight back!)

Our Business: FC LogCon

I'm Francois and I started my small business, F Collin Logistics and Consulting, trading as FC LogCon in 1996 (it will be 25 years next year).

My wife, Zania joined me at FC LogCon in 2000. We were joined by Martha and Simon, our staff shortly thereafter. They have been with us for 20 years, and they are like family. We have seen their children and our grandchildren grow up and start going to school.

Our focus over the first 10 years of FC LogCon was on scientific consulting and corporate governance, but as the market pressures and the economy changed in South Africa, we adapted and shifted our focus towards logistics, tourism transport and tourism services.

For the last 10 years, we have been almost exclusively dedicated to tourism. Zania and I have worked long hours, traveled many miles, and made your Dreams of Africa come true, all the way from Cape Town up to Zanzibar.

The COVID-19 repercussions

My calendar was fully booked until well into 2021, Zania was getting ready for another 25 day tour away from home, when suddenly the news came that many guests were starting to cancel. Before we knew it, almost all our work was cancelled into the new year.

The whole tourism industry was dead. No work, no pay....

Then came lock-down, and we knew that this was going to hit us really hard financially, and for a long time.

Our response to the crisis

We started looking at how we could cut costs, adapt our business and try to innovate, but there is only so much that you can do, especially in a market that has fallen flat.

Zania and I were instrumental, through a non-profit company that we initiated, The National Federation of Tourist Guides and Affiliates (NFTGA), in getting government to acknowledge the important role played by freelancers in the tourism industry, and in obtaining a small grant from government to assist freelance guides over a period of three months. Needless to say, we do not qualify for this support, as we have a business.

We applied for support from government for our business, and received some, including funds from the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) to pay salaries to our staff for three months. But government funding is limited, and soon we will not be able to cover the salaries of Simon and Martha, as the last UIF payments are due at the end of June 2020.

Our tourism business is dead. To start it up again will require open borders, tourists, and leisure travel. For the time being, these are an illusion. Our international borders are closed. Our provincial borders remain closed, we are not at the peak of infection yet, so we do not expect much to change for a while. Our business has no prospect of a solid income until at the earliest June next year, more likely September, although we are hoping for a small trickle of international tourism to start in early 2021.

We cannot afford salaries after July 2020, and we will have to let both Martha and Simon go after 20 years. It feels wrong, but we can't do otherwise.

The families

Martha and the kids. She's a single mother and relies on FC LogCon for all her income.

Simon and his family. Simon's wife also has a job, but the salary we pay him provides the bulk of their income.

How can you help us?

Simon and Martha with their families have been a part of our lives for 20 years, we need to keep them there for another year to reach 21. We expect the tourism industry be on route to recovery by then. We need to keep the salaries flowing for 12 months, and we need your help for that.

Please donate any amount, It can be now, it can be next month, it can be for several months, or it can be whenever you can spare it. Every bit helps, and we will all be very grateful.