SKEG was founded in 2005 in Cape Town by Pierre Becker, the current CEO, together with a group of fabricators and engineers who were all former colleagues at an international company that manufactured and distributed portable electrical and electronic products. The industrial design sector was flourishing in the early 2000s and Becker and his colleagues saw the opportunity to service the industry with prototyping, technical and engineering services.
Originally starting out with a staff complement of six members consisting of a strong technical team, SKEG now has 26 permanent employees over various disciplines including designers, engineers, fabricants, model makers and business strategists. The company’s expertise is rooted in their extensive experience across multiple industries, bolstered by a diverse team of passionate engineers, technicians, and seasoned business professionals.
SKEG operates at the forefront of DeepTech product innovation and development. The company operates through delivering vital services, these being product development, innovation capital, and manufacturing and operations. The company has experience across multiple industries, including health, smart cities, FMCG, automotive, industrial automation, agritech, science, and marine. With a track record spanning 18 years, its portfolio boasts over 3000 projects.
SKEG believes in delivering their packaged and line-item services through a partnership model. There are four collaboration frameworks through which the company’s services are delivered, namely end-to-end product development, design to scale, venture building, and consultative innovation.
The company has realised through many different product development stories and experiences, partnerships, and potential partnerships that the only way to service the innovation industry is to truly become part of the narrative of each client, not just from a service provider perspective but to literally walk alongside the client who has the vision to have an impact and create value through innovation. Its value offering to innovators or clients is therefore to be their consistent partner from ideation to creating value.
SKEG’s first premises were in Alternator Park in Cape Town and, five years later, the company made the move to its current location in the same area. The company’s intention is to shortly establish a SKEG campus, a place where DeepTech startups have access to laboratories where they can work actively on their innovative ideas and products. This campus will become a hub for interaction between different start-ups and sharing of ideas – a place where inventors, innovators and entrepreneurs can collaborate. These start-ups would also then gain access to SKEG’s staff expertise, and, if they possess the required skills and training, to the manufacturing facilities on offer. Another move is in the pipeline to bigger premises which will be able to accommodate a larger campus.
Over the years, SKEG has undergone a shift in focus from being an ‘at arms’ length’ services company to a partnership programme where clients are supported. Starting out as a service provider for the industrial and technical design industry, SKEG pivoted from delivering services to the design world, to a fully-fledged end-to-end product development company.
Besides the manufacturing and operations services on offer, SKEG also offers start-ups and SMEs who have a unique product idea support in the form of partnership models where the company may become a co-investor.
SKEG is built upon the traditional values of integrity, trust and ethical behaviour. The company has two core values: to look after its projects and to look after its ‘SKEGgers’ as its employees are affectionately called. The company understands that it will not flourish without total buy in from its employees.
As an innovation engine that aids in the end-to-end development of bringing clients’ ideas and products to market, SKEG adds value to its partners. In the long term, the company strives to discover intellectual property in the DeepTech space, and then develop that technology into fit-for-market products.
SKEG’s slogan is “Let’s Make It” – a call to action and its belief in fruitful partnerships where they can take on the role of guides, navigators, and advisors.
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