CECIL NURSE BUSINESS FURNITURE
Office Furnitures in Port Elizabeth

In 1940, during World War II, Cecil fought with the South African forces in North Africa where he was captured at Tobruk and sent to a prison of war camp in Italy. The excitement of running his own business was soon forgotten when in the following few years he experienced many difficult and financially stressful times. His boundless enthusiasm, good business sense, coupled with a superb selling and trading ability, together with the backing of an understanding wife, never allowed him to contemplate giving up in favour of working for a boss. Instead, to augment the income of the furniture business, Cecil constructed a series of hothouses in the backyard of his home and began growing a variety of indoor plants, with a view to selling them from door to door to businesses in central Johannesburg. He employed two assistants with specially modified platform bicycles to sell the home-grown plants, little realising that his was the very first indoor office plant business in South Africa. While establishing his furniture business this little venture was often responsible for keeping the wolves from the door. With his wife, his eldest son and one salesman the business grew and a client base was established among the wives of prominent businessmen in the financial heart of Johannesburg. This led him to realise the potential of diverting fully into office furniture which would present greater opportunities than the household furniture business. Cecil Nurse office furnishers was born as a family business. His wife, two sons, two daughters and son-in-law were all members of the staff. From that time the business grew to become the largest and certainly the most innovative and successful office furniture retailer in South Africa.