27 September 2002
	SA'S BEST ENTREPRENEURS CS Holdings A SIX-YEAR RUN DOWN GROWTH AVENUE AND STILL GOING By Marina Bidoli An encounter with bursting bubbles hasn't stopped IT firm

Determination, hard work and, above all, business acumen and entrepreneurial spirit have helped Annette van der Laan smash through stereotypes and gender barriers. Co-founder and CEO of technology group CS Holdings, she is the only woman to head a listed IT group in SA. Over the past six years, Van der Laan has grown CS Holdings into one of SA's leading IT services and consulting groups. With R403m revenues and a market value of R170m, the firm employs more than 1 100 employees. Van der Laan, a chartered accountant, was appointed a partner at Coopers & Lybrand (now PricewaterhouseCoopers) at a relatively young age and had two children before completing her qualifications. Bored with auditing, she formed Coopers & Lybrand Computer Services, the firm's IT training, systems integration and consulting division. In April 1996, Van der Laan and four colleagues staged a management buyout of the Gauteng business to form CS, which later went national. Backed by investment bank Gensec just as the IT bubble began to burst, CS Holdings ( formerly CS Computer Services) took the plunge in October 1998 and listed on the JSE's development capital sector at R1/share. It moved to the main board a year later. Despite its share having hovered at below this price for most of this year - a reflection of poor sentiment for technology stocks worldwide - CS Holdings is regarded as one of the most solid small caps on the JSE Securities Exchange. The past year has been particularly busy. Van der Laan has driven a number of acquisitions, including Getronics SA; Ernst & Young's consulting practice, Argil Intellect; PwC's JD Edwards software division; and Idion Technology's software integration business. The next phase will be organic growth to capitalise on skills amassed and increase market share. But Van der Laan is not resting . She wants to grow CS into SA's third-largest IT company and gain a bigger foothold on the African continent. What should score her points with local parastatals and government is the empowerment deal clinched with Worldwide African Investment Holdings, which now has a 25% equity stake in CS Holdings. Getronics NV of the Netherlands owns another 20%. Van der Laan is said to have high integrity and to lead by example, setting high standards for herself and expecting the same from her team. A member of the department of trade & industry's information & communication technology (ICT) council, she has been involved in various projects to enhance the IT industry's contribution to broader economic growth.