Jeffrey Forté

How a business gets built

01 / PRODUCT

Be the installer's one-stop shop.

Load-shedding turned solar into a must-have, and the installation companies doing the work needed one supplier they could count on. We became that: every part of a full system in stock, quotes designed for them, training and technical support, so they could spend their time on what pays, more installs. We imported, manufactured and bought locally to keep their prices sharp. When installers are part of your team, you're directing thousands of people working towards the same goal.

02 / SUPPLIERS

Go to the factory.

I chose and audited the factories myself, across five provinces in China. Negotiated the prices, checked the quality. USD 20M of stock bought over 1,287 orders. When you know who makes it, you know what you're selling.

03 / PEOPLE

Put the right few people on it.

The busiest year was done with sixteen people. When the market turned, eight kept it running. That only works when everyone knows their job and nobody retypes the same thing into three systems.

04 / MONEY

A sale isn't a sale until it's paid.

I was a financial director for five years before I started my own company. The only money we ever lost was a few short payments in the early days. After that, every gap got a system or a policy, tested so it didn't create extra work for anyone. Today every invoice older than two weeks is paid, out of 14,262.

05 / SYSTEMS

Write the software that holds it together.

Nothing off the shelf fitted, so I built our own platform with AI coding tools, all tied into the books. A full-system quote, down to the nuts, bolts and washers, went from 20 minutes to 2. AI assistants trained on 800+ supplier manuals and datasheets help staff find faults in seconds. It's the centre of the rail. Everything else bolts onto it.

Synergistec & EVO-Energy · 2020 to 2026

The numbers, straight from the books.

in sales, before tax (R530M+)

customers. 800 came back to buy again.

solar and battery systems designed

customer quotes

Three years after we opened the doors, we were selling about $10 million a year. Sold in 2026 as a going concern, and still trading.

14,262 invoices. Every one older than two weeks is paid.

Every dot is an invoice we issued. Only five are still open, and they were issued in the last ten days. Can you find them?

The story so far

Two companies.
I sold one.

"Impossible I do now. Miracles take a little longer."

2020 – 2026

Synergistec & EVO-Energy

Founder & Managing Director

An importer, manufacturer and distributor of solar, battery and electrical products. I started it in 2020, built our own EVO-Energy battery range with factories in China, and designed the EVO solar mounting rail, extruded locally in South Africa, with the smaller parts sourced from the best supplier for each.

When load-shedding ended, prices across the industry dropped about 40%. I closed the Johannesburg branch, moved to one site, kept the customers and sold the company as a going concern in 2026.

2009 – 2019

Amtec Techniquip

Director · Financial Director for five years

We built engineering training equipment for universities, colleges and industry: PLCs, drives, automation, hydraulics and pneumatics. I signed the deal for Amtec to build Schneider Electric's training benches for African colleges, won a USD 2.7M contract for a single university, and looked after Eskom, Anglo American, Sasol and Transnet.

I also trained the lecturers who teach on that equipment. Some of those benches are still teaching students today.

ENGINEERING NEWS · 2019Schneider Electric and Amtec collaborate to boost access to education

NOVANEWS · 2025Sedibeng TVET College opens its Schneider Electric workshop

About that shape

It's a real part.
I designed it.

The shape you've been scrolling past is the cross-section of the EVO solar mounting rail. Installers used to need different rails for top, bottom and side fixing. This one profile does all three. I drew it in Fusion 360, registered the design, and found local extruders in South Africa who could handle the tonnage we ordered. The smaller parts that complete the kit come from the best supplier I could find for each one, mostly in China. I handled the lot: sourcing, negotiating, international payments, shipping and clearing, then the 3D designs, YouTube videos, website and automated online assembly guides. Four arms meet in one centre and carry the whole roof. That's how I like a business built, too.

17,632rails sold since the first batch landed

~76 kmof rail on South African roofs

~32,000solar panels it can carry

F2024/00220 · Class 13F2024/00221 · Class 25

Software

I wrote the software
we needed.

One platform, built in-house with AI coding tools, running on our own servers and tied into the accounting system. Every piece exists because somebody was losing time. The AI costs a few cents a question. Another person costs a salary.

20 min → 2to quote a full solar system, every part listed

800+manuals and datasheets the AI has learned

Secondsto find a fault that used to take a phone call

QUOTE

Automated quoting

A full system quoted in 2 minutes instead of 20, down to the last nut, bolt and washer. It ranks products by stock, price, margin and fit, swaps anything out of stock, and the VAT matches the books to the cent.

ASK

AI fault-finding for staff

Trained on 800+ manuals, datasheets and supplier documents, and taught more by the team every week. Staff ask in plain words, or send a voice note, and get the answer in seconds.

TALK

AI on WhatsApp and email

Customer-facing assistants that answer stock, pricing and technical questions day and night, and hand over to a person when it matters. A reception assistant sorts the inbox and forwards what's urgent to WhatsApp.

BUY

Reorder engine

Compares sales against stock on hand and stock on the water, then drafts the purchase orders for approval.

TRACK

Warehouse scanner

A phone app that scans every inverter and battery serial number in and out, linked to the customer's invoice for warranty.

RETURN

Repairs tracker

Customers book a return online and follow it step by step until collection, without phoning anyone.

MONEY

Payments, prices, commission

Bank payments announced on WhatsApp within a minute. Price lists built as PDFs straight from the price books. Installer commission added to a quote in one step.

PEOPLE

Staff and hiring

Clock-in and leave on the phone, and a careers portal that screens CVs against the actual job, fairly and with the reasons shown.

RUN

Own servers

A local GPU for speech and search, nightly encrypted backups off-site and a standby machine ready to take over.

Also built and released: Rubik PDF, a Windows PDF editor with digital signatures and PDF-to-Word, and Rubik AI, a family-safe AI assistant app.

Try it · one order, three systems at once

10 kWh battery + 8 kW inverter kit

3 kits ordered

Quote total (before tax)$0

Left in the warehouse0

A demonstration with made-up prices and stock, not live company data.

Ask me anything about Jeffrey's work: the businesses, the numbers, the Schneider deal or the software.

Now

Already building
the next ones.

RUBIK SOLUTIONS

Software & AI

Websites, business software and AI assistants for companies that want to run lean. The same tools I built for my own business.

rubiksolutions.co.za ↗LinkedIn ↗

ZENTUO

Clothing label

A small-run heavyweight clothing label based in Dallas: numbered drops, the mark stitched in, held to the Made in America standard.

Off the clock: I hold a heavy-vehicle licence and will drive the truck if that's what it takes. I dive, I play golf, and I'm usually building something at home.