Tile Africa is a division of Norcros SA, which in turn is part of the International group Norcros Plc, a British based company listed on the London Stock Exchange.

The story begins

Our Tile Africa story began with the dream and entrepreneurial skill of one man, Mr Vincent Leonardi. Mr Leonardi was born in Italy, but immigrated to South Africa in 1956. In those days he was the General Manager of the Victoria Hotel in Johannesburg, but the wider world of adventure called and this young man set off for Namibia where he spent 10 exciting years in the field of mineral exploration. In 1971, he founded the Standard Concrete works where he started manufacturing and selling Terrazzo tiles and marble and cladding

The first Tile Afrika showroom was opened in 1987! Other showrooms followed and Mr Leonardi, very tuned into the European trends through his contact with Italy saw that there was a move towards porcelain tiles and he added these to the portfolio. Presigious products abounded including the first big project, Westgate shopping centre, Eastgate shopping centre, the cladding for Sun City and many more.

A very important relationship between Mr Leonardi and Pick N Pay began in 1978 with the tiling of the Carltonville store and continues strongly to this very day. This is a relationship built on trust and strong values and to date over one million square metres of tiles has been supplied to Pick N Pay. Amazingly, the terrazzo tiles in that very first store lasted for 29 years and were only replaced by porcelain tiles from Tile Africa in 2008!

Ever open to new ideas and innovation, Mr Leonardi next saw a gap for the supply of good quality tiles to the South African Market at bargain prices. Mr Leonardi spotted a building to buy, close to the large and successful Union Tiles and partnering with Sam Rego, the first Tile Afrika Cash and Carry store was opened in 1983

New Beginnings

In 2005 the new Tile Africa was born as Tile Africa became part of the Norcros family. This brought in a new era in tiling and bathroom ware retail and of course our famous orange tangram.

Keep Evolving

As part of our 25th Anniversary in 2013, Tile Africa had a facelift, making the brand more current, more stylish and more approachable, the Tile Africa logo has gone through an evolution. The new logo, with rounded corners, softer edges and modern grey is easier on the eye and without a doubt more contemporary

Tile Africa has two divisions, the retail division which comprises a chain of 36 stores in Southern Africa selling tiles, bathroom ware, taps and accessories; and the contracts division which services the professional specification and contractor market.

OUR COMMITMENT TO OUR PEOPLE

As a company we are committed to our people and we recognise our people as our most important asset.We therefore align our human resource management initiatives and practices with our business strategy in order to ensure alignment of objectives and actions as well as enhanced productivity and optimal performance. We are committed to be an employer of choice. In this respect our commitment to our people is evidenced through:

People development
A strategy of “promoting from within”
A sound performance management process that enables people to grow and
develop
Sound and equitable HR practices
Specific employee assistance schemes

Norcros Groundworks Academy

Norcros South Africa, consisting of tile and bathroomware retailer Tile Africa; adhesive manufacturer TAL and tile manufacturer Johnson Tiles launched the Groundworks Academy in 2013. The facility and programmes were developed to create and sustain a culture of learning within Norcros SA that will also encourage staff to offer excellent service to customers in stores.

The first Retail Programme ran in December 2013 and since then six additional programmes were completed successfully. The academy offers two Retail programmes, a Design Advisor programme for sales staff and a Management programme for branch and sales floor managers. However, the academy also caters to sister companies TAL and Johnson Tiles and therefore also offers Adult Basic Education and Training; learnership and skill programmes as well as customer training; legislated training; computer training and other short courses. The academy recently launched a Life skills program, learners will have the opportunity to learn basic life skills such as computer skills, managing personal finances, the business world, Workplace skills etc.

Corporate Social Investment

Tile Africa is involved in a number of CSI initiatives, and is committed to helping in local projects and programmes where possible.

Corporate social investment can be defined as the company’s sense of responsibility towards to community and environment in which it operates. As such, Norcros SA aims to embrace this responsibility through consciously focusing on its impact on the environment, consumers, communities, stakeholders and other members of the public that can be considered as stakeholders in the business.

One way in which Norcros is embracing this social responsibility is by providing donations towards community development causes. These donations are made in the form of product that provides a tangible benefit.
Some recent projects include:

Building material donation to a school in the Sebokeng area. The learners of the school are mostly orphans. The school was in dire straits as to the physical facilities. As such, Norcros donated colourful and good quality tiles to refurbish the soup kitchen and toilet facilities.
We donated a considerable amount of tiles and sanitary ware to a school in Mitchells Plain. The recipients of the donation are the children of the School. We also donated tiles to the refurbishment of a Cerebral Palsy Home in Soweto. The facility was in desperate need of refurbishment in order to supply in the basic needs of the children in their care.

Our Tile Africa story began with the dream and entrepreneurial skill of one man, Mr Vincent Leonardi. Mr Leonardi was born in Italy, but immigrated to South Africa in 1956.