Ekurhuleni and its people mourn the loss of one of its most influential business figures in the district, Chris van Biljon (72), who died from natural causes on August 1.

“Social distancing in this Covid-era had an immense effect on him as he was an absolute people person and busy body. He had a deep seeded passion for people and I’m sure it broke his heart to be so far removed.”

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So said his son, Marius, who paid a special visit to Express on Wednesday to elaborate on his father’s life journey and his dad’s deep roots in the newspaper industry.

“He was a newspaper man in heart and soul. In 1973 he joined the Perskor group for 15 years as the marketing manager for Die Transvaler, Vaderland Oggendblad en Hoofstad.”

As a former Pomona resident, Chris was better known for his establishment of the Ekurhuleni Business Initiative that was later dubbed the Ekurhuleni Business Network (EBN).

“My dad used to be at the head of business chambers in the old days. In those days it used to be Kempton- or Boksburg- or Benoni business chambers.

“Then Ekurhuleni started as a buzz word and my dad embraced this concept as he felt the division was too old school.

“He always worked closely with the metro and his biggest passion was to see people flourish in small and medium businesses and connect them to corporate businesses as there was a big vacuum in this regard.”

This year marked 20 years since EBN’s beginnings that sought to bring small enterprises to the ambassadors of the big business leagues.

“He started connecting people for the purpose of networking in order to see business prosper in their environments. He had such a deep passion to help businesses adapt to the changing times.

“For my dad, there was no colour or creed and he was well known in Daveyton and Tembisa where he absolutely went out of his way to lead small businesses in the townships to flourish.

“His impact on business will definitely be remembered.”

Marius explained how difficult it is for small enterprises to break into the big circles of industry and that it is EBN’s sole aim to build bridges in connecting people and create network opportunities .

He believes his dad was a business leader way before his time.

Chris led a life that can be captured in a Forest Gump tale of rich individual heritage as he lived on Robben Island since 1949 as his dad was a skipper on the boat that served the mainland transportation.

“He attended primary school on Robben Island and later High School Voortrekker, Wynberg.

“He lived on Robben Island for 16 years during Nelson Mandela’s sentence. My dad later served duties in the SA Airways, SA Navy and Correctional Services.”

Chris joined the SA Railway Police in the 60s based at Table Bay and was then chosen to join the SA Railway Police security service and was trained to do security service on all international flights of SAA in USA, UK, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Netherlands, Las Palmas and Austria for six years.

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