Sailing Magazine
Abromowitz Sharp & Associates, South Africa’s premier yacht brokerage, has appointed well-known boating industry player Lindani Mchunu as a new associate.
Mchunu is a current serving board member of both the South African Boat Builders Export Council (SABBEX) and the Royal Cape Yacht Club. He joins the brokerage industry as local firms seek to recover from the aftermath of Covid-19 lockdown and expand into new markets, particularly in West Africa.
Cape Town-based Abromowitz Sharp & Associates is the Southern Africa distributor of Princess Yachts, and the South African sales and marketing agent for Beneteau.
Firm partner Rob Sharp said Mchunu would focus on helping the firm expand its footprint, particularly in the African market where there was huge growth potential. “We see an opportunity for him to grow into our business and expand into markets that we have not previously been too successful in,” Sharp said. “He is highly respected here in our local sailing community and brings value and integrity to our firm which is the match that we have been looking for.”
“The opportunities that Lindani has identified is indeed exciting and would change the face of boating on the African continent. We have agreed on an open market for him to explore and quite frankly the African continent is his oyster.
“It’s a rich continent and the developments on the west coast are ideal for the offerings we can present to potential owners,” Sharp said, adding that Princess Yachts had reported record months in June and July in terms of orders received.
Mchunu, who has helped lead the sailing development programme at the Royal Cape Yacht Club as Youth Academy manager, said he was excited about his new brokerage role: “It would probably be accurate to say I am the first and only black associate of a yacht brokerage on the continent and hopefully not the last but the first of many to follow, if I have anything to do with it,” he said in a statement.
