About

Hernic Ferrochrome is one of the world’s largest producers of ferrochrome, an important alloy primarily used in the production of stainless steel and a significant export product for South Africa. A small but highly skilled legal team, led by head of legal and corporate secretariat services Cecilia Zulu, has introduced a number of innovations over the past year, helping to deliver more effective service without adding cost.

The team as a whole has, according to Zulu, increased its ‘company-wide footprint [via] overlapping synergies [between] legal and company secretarial services’ and has ‘redefined its structure to ensure a pro-active model of engagement… resulting in greater value-add and a reduction of legal costs’. This has also had positive cost impacts to specific legal matters, as ‘the legal team has lessened reliance on outside practitioners to resolve issues’, which ‘has created a more efficient response and turn around for the resolution of legal issues’.

The team has also been involved in the creation of a new revenue stream for the business via a joint venture with Jubilee Platinum aimed at the recovery of platinum group metals. Commodity price volatility in the sector has made these initiatives all the more important for Hernic, and the team has ‘streamlined [its] processes in order to improve efficiencies and have at the same time reduced turn-around times for legal opinions [and] contracts’, meaning ‘that risks can be mitigated as they arise’. The team’s proactive efforts to hone their working practices in response to company-wide challenges is testament both to their versatility and commitment to the company’s cause.