Jacques Van Schalkwyk

My name is Jacques van Schalkwyk. I grew up in Melkbosstrand, Western Cape.

I attended Van Riebeekstrand Primary School. Matriculated at Paarl Boys High School in 2011.

Thereafter I went to Stellenbosch University.

I started my career in the grape industry and then moved to the citrus industry.

In 2015/16 I started to work in a table grape packhouse in Worcester.  I gained experience in the following:  Manage the total packaging process in terms of productivity, effectivity, protocol adherence, packing tempo, quality control, and food safety.  Assisted in the transport and logistics of fruit for the export market.

I was then offered an opportunity at the end of 2016 in the citrus industry and moved to Endulini Fruit, Patensie, Eastern Cape.  This is where my citrus career started.  Endulini Fruit is one of the leaders in South Africa in pack housing and farming – specialising in the citrus industry. There I fulfilled the position of Packhouse Manager for two of the three packhouses.  I managed a group of +/-300 packers.  I was responsible for the packing of citrus fruits (different varieties) for multiple farmers in the valley.

I used my organisation and planning skills to assist various farmers with their time management and production management to optimise the full capacity of the pack house and what is required by the export market.

Part of my job was operating the de-greening rooms.

One of the packhouses - for the top-end market - specialised in packing the fruit by hand.  This fruit has been pre-sorted in a packhouse.

In the main packhouse, I had a 10-lane Spectrum Compact packing machine that I operated. I was responsible for the mixing of chemicals in the packhouse, and the drenching of the fruit for packing. We worked with Paltrack for the box end labels and the pallet identifications.  I also managed the Health & Safety and Compliance systems in the packhouse.

I also did the planning with the exporters to ensure that the correct packaging materials are used for the different markets.  This was to ensure the timely ordering of the boxes (packaging material) needed. This responsibility included the supply chain from the farm to the packing of fruit, from the packhouse to the cooling rooms and/or the trucks. that loaded from the packhouse and cooling rooms.  I did the quality inspections of the fruit throughout the process and made sure the grading of the fruit was correct.  

During the off-season, my responsibilities were to plan major maintenance on the production lines and any upgrades that needed to be done in the packhouse to ensure a fully functional production line before the new season started.  I combined that with being a farm manager and was responsible for farm development, spraying, irrigation, pruning, and basic farm management.

I pride myself on being a fair, but firm leader.  I can also be seen as a "peoples" person that managed to maximise the output of people through good teamwork.

• Matriculated: Paarl Boys High – 2011, Paarl
• Bachelors of BCom (Management Sciences): Logistics and Supply Chain Management – 2012 - current
• Financial accounting (Unisa) – 2021 – current
• Mastery of Leadership – Stellenbosch University (2019)
• Management: Stores and Warehousing- merSETA (2021)