Kevin Bailey

Kevin has over 40 years’ senior managerial experience in the Material Handling and Rental industries. Armed with a BComm degree, he is most proud of growing a second-generation family-owned business, together with his sisters, into a formidable player in the South African material handling industry. Starting with only 2 rental forklifts Kevin and his team grew the company to include nationwide branches and a rental fleet of over 500 forklifts. Being a keen motor racing enthusiast and racing driver, Kevin started the side lifter division to assist international racing teams with their unique logistics requirements at Kyalami racetrack. Notably, the company was chosen by Formula 1 to be the sole supplier of equipment to the 1992 F1 GP in South Africa.

Most of his working career has been with Avis Forklift, from 1982 to 2020. He started his career in the workshop repairing equipment to eventually leading the company in the role of MD, he often says, “there is nothing more that prepares one for business than working in every operational sphere of a company”.

In 2018 Avis Forklift joined the LiftSA group of which Kevin is a shareholder and is in the role of providing guidance and strategy. Now that he is no longer involved in day-to-day operations, this has afforded him the time to pursue a passion of providing innovative equipment to making one’s life easier, more efficient, and cost effective. The motto being “making light work of heavy lifting.” To this end Kevin is constantly scouring the world to bring never before seen, innovative products into SA.

“There is no reason why South Africa shouldn’t have access to world class equipment that is more efficient than traditional methods of doing difficult jobs.”