Harcourts Jana Marie in Louis Trichardt last week celebrated three decades of business – no small feat for a small company amidst a struggling economy and a highly competitive market.

Ever since Jana Smith opened Jana-Marie Eiendomme in 1987, the company has seen many name changes and faced many challenges. In 1996, the company was rebranded as Jana-Marie Homenet and in 2012, they became Harcourts Jana-Marie. According to Jana, her most challenging year was in the early 1990’s when the interest rate was 25%. “Honestly, I didn’t know how we would survive that year,” said Jana. The flipside of the coin, Jana said, is that their most profitable year was during the house-price boom in 2007.

As for the secret of her success, this can mainly be contributed to Jana’s clear focus on and passion for the industry she is in. Although she is a qualified teacher, she opted to rather explore a career in the property market. Her passion for the industry alone, however, does not guarantee success. In this regard, Jana contributes her and her company’s success to doing open and honest business. “It is easy to quickly make a lot of money dishonestly in a small town like Louis Trichardt, but then you have to pack up and run away,” said Jana.

During the company’s birthday celebrations last Wednesday, family and friends paid tribute to Jana for the inspirational role she has played in the company’s success. Among them was Iain Purdon, a member of the Soutpansberg Chamber of Commerce. Jana herself served on the Chamber’s management committee for 15 years, a couple of times as chairperson. “We have been observing your strategies and business plans for the last few decades. With your right planning and hard work, you have been able to become successful in all your ventures. Your company has become a role model to several new entrants in the market. It has taught many a new lesson in the field of marketing and sales,” said Iain.

Daughter Leonie Meyfarth also had high praise for her mother. “Despite her busy schedule, she always has time for her family.  She is her children’s greatest encourager, she supports their ventures and loves her grandchildren dearly,” said Leonie.

Jana is, however, very modest and contributes her company’s success to the support of her family and staff. “I’ve got wonderful staff and I am proud to be associated with each one of them,” said Jana. For her the key is professionalism. “Being a teacher, education is in my blood. I firmly belief in constant training. I have completed almost every single estate agent course in this country and I expect my staff to do the same,” said Jana. In the same breath, she reiterates Harcourts’ vision to put people first, do the right thing, be courageous and to have fun and enjoy laughter while working.

Jana is not one to just take and not give something in return. She firmly believes that you need to make a difference in the community you live in. Apart from her work on behalf of Rotary and serving on the Chamber of Commerce's management committee, she also serves on the local Christian Social Council's branch committee and is a director of the community social welfare NPO, Bergcare. For the last four years, her company and staff have used the last Friday of each month to do a fundraising project selling “vetkoeke” to the community to help fund the Bergcare project. Under her leadership, her company and staff have also run a project for the last two years in which they collect school clothes for less fortunate children at the end of each year. The company and staff also participated in the sandwich project of the primary school, to provide to less fortunate children with a sandwich at break time - for some their only meal of the day.

Recently she received a donation of toys collected at a toy run, and these toys were distributed (along with an apple each) to some of the rural kindergarten schools. Jana is also involved with African Vulture conservation.  She serves on a committee called “Vriende van Blouberg” whose aim is to assist the Blouberg Conservation Centre to conserve the largest colony of African vultures in South Africa. Jana also actively supports her local congregation and is a committed Christian.

As for what the future holds, Jana is adamant that they will only go from strength to strength. “If we can maintain our commitment towards open and honest business, I believe we will continue to be successful,” Jana said. She thanked all who had supported her through the years, thereby contributing to the company’ success, including husband Dennis, her children, attorneys, auditors and, most importantly, her staff. “I need to add that every December when I close the company’s doors behind me for the holiday, I thank God for another year of being able to do business. These days, it is tough running a business and you need to spend a lot of time on your knees praying,” said Jana.