As Megapro Marketing celebrates 20 years in the business, founder and chairman George Rautenbach looks back on an eventful time. It was his love of sport, in particular rugby, that first led him to establish a company to promote sporting federations and manage sport sponsorship on behalf of clients.
When he played for Stellenbosch University, and later for Eastern Province in the Currie Cup during the 1970s and 1980s, he would watch intently, while attending after-match functions, how those functions were organised and managed, and find out who the sponsors were.
WHAT IT MEANS
 Megapro has grown from small beginnings
Primedia deal makes it the biggest player in SA
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Rautenbach, a BCom honours graduate, used those occasions to network and learn about the events and sponsorship game. He got to know Danie Craven, Louis Luyt and other rugby decision-makers.
A knee injury in 1986 put paid to Rautenbach's rugby career and he decided to venture out on his own in business. He resigned from his job in the human resources department at Sappi, in Braamfontein - "the only real job I ever had" - and with friend Ockie Oosthuizen, who played rugby for SA, launched Megapro on November 3 1986.
"My father had given me R20 000 start-up money and our staff consisted of Ockie's mother, my wife and her brother."
Their first client was the Randburg Rugby Club and their brief was mainly fund-raising. "We held auctions, we sold rugby balls and jerseys..."
But after a year the company's prospects did not look good. Oosthuizen joined a client, and Rautenbach bought his shares.
Rautenbach says he was sustained by "a guiding light: I believed we would become a normal society - SA would open up to the world, presenting many opportunities in the sporting arena, and when it did, I wanted us to be the first and best service provider in this industry."
Megapro was by then supplying some of the services that have come to distinguish the company: corporate hospitality; selling space on advertising hoardings in stadiums and corporate sponsorships. Rautenbach and his team were working closely with the country's sporting bodies, continually devising new strategies for them to turn a profit.
Rautenbach was supported in the business by Theunie Lategan, who served as a nonexecutive director on Megapro's board for many years, and did the company's audits in the early days. In 1991, Schalk Burger joined the company, setting up an office in Cape Town.
A watershed year for SA, and for Megapro, was 1992. "The world opened up to SA. The first cricket team went to India and everything started to happen," says Rautenbach. "The Springboks played internationally, so did the cricket team, and SA went to the Olympics."
Megapro was ready, and bagged the contract to be the exclusive hospitality provider at the rugby World Cup in 1995. This is not to supply softdrinks and hotdogs inside the stadium, Rautenbach explains, but to host functions in marquees on the perimeter. There is usually some kind of special attraction at these parties - for example, guests could meet a former Springbok or two. This is where Rautenbach's networking talents shine.
In 1996, Megapro was approached by Primedia, which was launching a new division, Primedia Sport. The media company bought 50% of Megapro's shares, signing a deal the following year.
Primedia Group CEO William Kirsh says the decision to acquire Megapro came with the realisation that, as consumers were offered more media choice, sport would play a more important role for advertisers.
"International research showed us advertisers are likely to want to associate their brands with high-profile sporting events, and that sport sponsorship in particular would grow. Today it is worth R3bn annually in SA," says Kirsh.
"Primedia Sport has helped to position Megapro through acquisitions as well as through developing overall strategy, to be the number one player in sports marketing in the SA market."
Both companies and their subsidiaries are focused on capitalising on the 2010 soccer World Cup, he says, as well as maximising opportunities sport presents as a commercial platform for advertisers
Rautenbach and the company's shareholders decided to sell because the company was at a crossroads: "We could stay the same size, or take a leap, sell some equity and grow," says Rautenbach. "The synergies with Primedia were evident and the relationship has proved to be very successful over the past 10 years."
Megapro expanded into licensing and merchandising with the acquisition of Signet Licensing.
Burger left in 2002, and the board appointed a deputy MD, Monde Tabata.
In 2005 Tabata took over as MD, and Rautenbach became chairman.
Rautenbach compares being MD with being a rugby player with his head in the scrum. But now, with the details of running the business in the hands of Tabata, he is more involved in strategy, and dealing with shareholders, bigger corporate clients and the large rights holders.
"Being chairman allows me to look at the bigger picture. It's a more peaceful, yet stimulating life, and I enjoy it."
He has also been tasked with positioning Primedia in the best possible way to benefit from the 2010 soccer World Cup.
