HISTORY OF SMHART SECURITY

The journey of Smhart Security began in 1969 when Willie Trahms, married to Sarie, shed his white-collar, resigned from the Railways, and began a furniture company in Germiston called Smhart Products.

Carl Trahms, the eldest son of Willie and Sarie, qualified as an electrician in 1985, and soon worked himself up the ranks to being Marketing Manager of GEC. While working with GEC, Carl began to substitute his income by installing alarms in his spare time. GEC disagreed with this extra job and soon this part-time job became his full-time occupation.

Over time, it became more of an engineering factory and at age 55 Willie and Sarie decided to sell their properties and retire in Plettenberg Bay.

Willie soon found himself needing inspiration and began selling automated garage doors. Willie then became an agent for Chubb Security and in 1990 opened SmhartAlarms in Plettenberg Bay, which soon became the sole security provider in the area.

Carl made the move to Jeffrey’s Bay in 1992, with only a Nissan 1400 bakkie, a trailer, and one assistant, James Ikalaheng – who, until today is still a valued member of the Smhart Security team. With very little capital, tons of determination, and a mandate from the almighty God, Carl set out to build the best security company in the area.

The business has since prospered and Smhart now has services in Jeffreys Bay, Aston Bay, Paradise Beach, Humansdorp, St Francis Bay, Cape St Francis, Oyster Bay, Loerie, Thornhill, Stormsriver, Patensie, Hankey, Kareedouw, Joubertina, Louterwater, Rocklands, Tsitsikamma, Palmietvlei, Cradock, Somerset East, Grahamstown, Fort Beaufort, Bedford, Adelaide, Wilderness and Plettenberg Bay.