{"id":647898,"date":"2026-05-17T15:58:59","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T13:58:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=647898"},"modified":"2026-05-17T15:59:42","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T13:59:42","slug":"south-african-ict-distributor-that-made-its-name-in-pc-hardware-taking-on-drone-and-cloud-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/business\/647898-south-african-ict-distributor-that-made-its-name-in-pc-hardware-taking-on-drone-and-cloud-market.html","title":{"rendered":"South African ICT distributor that made its name in PC hardware taking on drone and cloud market"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Rectron is a South African ICT distributor that partners with some of the world\u2019s largest technology companies and supplies products to the local market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recent years, the company has evolved from distributing components and PC products to numerous other market categories, including software, energy solutions and even laptop bags.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is the largest distributor of DJI drones in South Africa and has many other brands in its stable, including Acer, Asus, Corsair, Cricut, Gigabyte, Logitech, Microsoft, Lenovo and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOver the past couple of years, we have been looking at various verticals, and we\u2019re starting to see traction in these,\u201d Spencer Chen, Rectron managing director and CEO, said in an interview in 2023<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want the company to rely exclusively on components and PCs for its revenue.\u201d Rectron has focused on expanding into ICT solutions, including AI and cloud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chen revealed in 2023 that Rectron SA\u2019s PC and components business accounted for about 60% of its total business, with the rest comprised of its new verticals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One area where Rectron made significant investments was backup energy solutions, which thrived during the height of the load-shedding crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe can supply everything from UPS systems, power backup, and batteries, through to fully-fledged home and industrial solar systems,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd we will continue to look for new products to bolster what has become a key sector.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company pursued new product segments dynamically, reflecting market conditions, and it has excelled in this strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, amid the Covid-19 pandemic, Rectron saw a rapid uptake of cloud computing throughout the world as remote working became the norm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To capitalise on the growing demand in South Africa, Rectron onboarded the necessary skills and secured the right products for the market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chen said this allowed the company to offer customers solutions that suited their needs, from on-premises to private, public or hybrid cloud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drones and R1 million IT labs at schools in need<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Rectron staff at PEU school laboratory launch in 2022<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Another product segment that rapidly evolved in the South African market was drones, with Rectron initially introducing DJI\u2019s drones just for gamers and enthusiasts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut this market has evolved dramatically from those days. DJI is our main partner in this category and, as everyone probably knows, drones have got a lot bigger.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chen said that drones can now carry multiple cameras and be used for tasks such as collecting data beyond human reach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTake Eskom, for example, they can use temperature-sensitive cameras to see where problems may be on power lines,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In May 2026, Eskom announced<\/a> that it had begun using drones to inspect its high-voltage cable infrastructure nationwide, as it was cheaper than using helicopters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur team vision is that we want to grow Rectron into a sizeable business \u2014 much bigger than what we are now,\u201d said Chen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut our focus will be more on the solutions side, and not just IT, but any solution that can add value to our customers. Box moving will never go away, that we know, but we want to add more solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rectron is 100% owned by Mustek Group, one of South Africa\u2019s oldest computer manufacturers and technology companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2023, Hein Engelbrecht, CEO of Mustek, said that Rectron continued to play a vital role in partnering and supplying the reseller channel in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rectron also branched out into education and public service with its Progressive Education Upliftment (PEU) programme, established in 2022 to advance education and digital literacy in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In May 2026, Rectron announced the donation of a fully equipped computer lab to Ratshepo Secondary School in Hammanskraal, Pretoria, where access to digital infrastructure at schools was limited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The total value of the lab was over R1 million, the company said, and it is equipped with 56 compact computers, allowing learners to pursue studies in Computer Applications Technology (CAT).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Spencer Chen, CEO and managing director of Rectron said that the distributor is evolving from just being a PC hardware brand. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341213,"featured_media":647914,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[27887,34439,4214,727,38053,104854,70730,737,105284,105285,105286,4102,43964],"class_list":["post-647898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-ai","tag-cat","tag-cloud","tag-cloud-computing","tag-dji","tag-dji-drones","tag-hein-engelbrecht","tag-mustek","tag-power-solutions","tag-progressive-education-upliftment","tag-ratshepo-secondary-school","tag-rectron","tag-spencer-chen"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647898"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341213"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=647898"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647898\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":647949,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647898\/revisions\/647949"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/647914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=647898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=647898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=647898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}