Nashua has celebrated its 50th birthday, having opened its doors in 1973 as a specialist in the sale and service of liquid toner copiers.
When Nashua was founded, faxes were rare and expensive, only the biggest companies had mainframes, and copiers were cutting-edge technology. The company’s business has evolved alongside franchisees and clients through to the birth of personal computing in the 1980s, the rise of the web in the 1990s, and more recently, the advent of the cloud.
Today, Nashua has 42 franchises across Southern Africa, a presence in five countries, and a total of 493 sales staff, and 593 field technicians.
Over the years, Nashua has transformed from an analogue copier company into a business technology specialist, changing its solutions and product portfolio to reposition itself as a total workspace solutions provider.
In 2013, Nashua started to build a complete workspace management solutions portfolio, including voice, connectivity, surveillance and access control, computer hardware and software, currency management and smart solutions.
Barry Venter, CEO of Nashua, says: “Our business has grown along with the technology industry as it evolved from analogue to digital. But the core of our success has also been the way that our franchisees help their clients to navigate change and solve their business problems.
“The larger purpose, from our perspective, is to work with franchisees to help create sustainable businesses in prosperous communities. Through our sports sponsorships, corporate social investments and franchise networks, we have created ecosystems that help communities to thrive.”
Nashua is an investor in South African sporting talent, from school-level to the national and international arenas. This dates back to the 1980s when it subsidised Northern Transvaal Rugby. The brand has been associated with sporting greats like WBA Super Featherweight champ, Brian Mitchell, Boxing legend Baby Jake Matlala and golfer, Ernie Els. It is the tech partner for the SuperSport Schools Programme, which profiles the next generation of sporting superstars at high school level.
Some other Nashua milestones over the years include:
- In 1983, Nashua became the market leader in the South African photocopier market with a 35% market share.
- In 1993, Reunert acquired Nashua in the unbundling of the Barlows Group.
- In 1998, Nashua eclipsed more than R 1 billion in annual revenues for the first time.
- In 2006, the Nashua Children’s Charity Foundation (NCCF) launched. The programme has provided aid to over 17 600 children across 54 children’s charities and serves 500 000 school meals a month.
- In January 2023, Nashua was certified by the Top Employers Institute as one of South Africa’s Top ICT Employers.