A family mill, feeding KZN since 1999.

Shemuél Milling Company was founded in 1999 by Arnaud le Roux. An engineer by training — Cape Technikon, then Armscor near Wellington — he found his way into milling at Sasko, rose to factory manager, then general manager and director of a large Durban mill, before his role was made redundant in the Premier Foods merger of 1999.

Rather than look for another job at 46, he drew up a business plan to start his own. As he later put it to The Mercury: “Because I am a Christian, I decided to pray about this matter and surrounded myself with people who supported me.” The name Shemuél— meaning “prayed from God” — has carried that conviction with it ever since.

Getting started took faith as much as capital. The milling equipment had to be imported from Turkey — valued at about R1.5 million (roughly R6 million in today's terms) — and Absa wanted a R350,000 deposit that Arnaud simply didn't have. His own capital was R100,000, and a loan from his brother took the total to R140,000. He then approached the KwaZulu-Natal Finance Corporation (KFC), who approved his application. He went back to Absa to tell them he had come right with KFC — and Absa, hearing that KFC had approved, approved his application too. Days later KFC phoned: they had never had the mandate to approve it at all. But by then Absa had committed, accepting his R140,000. By God's grace, KFC's accidental approval had given him bargaining strength he would never otherwise have had — and before long the equipment was on the water.

The mill opened in early 2000 in an old shed in Oppenheimer Street, Pinetown — previously used by a local dairy to wash bottles. It started with Le Roux, his wife Maretha, and five staff, with the family Fiat Uno — rear seats collapsed for extra loading space — serving as the first delivery van. Maretha was the mother of the company in every sense: she carried its financial responsibilities and, as Arnaud puts it, was a level-headed, open-minded and objective pillar of support — a true partner in establishing the business.

The retail brand Bake Rite — sold to local wholesalers in 10kg and 12.5kg cement-style bags — gave the business its first real market. When that style of packaging fell out of favour, rather than borrow for new packing machinery, the mill switched its focus to industrial bakeries with 25kg and 50kg packs — and for seven years supplied National Brands with the flour for Provitas, until that plant moved to Gauteng.

By 2012, Arnaud was approaching 59 and the lease on the Pinetown premises was coming to an end. He knew he didn't have the energy to establish a new mill somewhere else completely on his own, so his thinking was to sell the mill — or close it. It was then that his son Charl, a qualified Chartered Accountant and now the managing director, approached him and asked to join the company. With renewed energy, they bought land in Cato Ridge that already had foundations laid and approved building plans — so construction could start immediately. That purpose-built mill on Old Main Road is where the company operates today.