Syntech Distribution is not your run-of-the-mill IT distributor: the company prides itself on constantly reinventing to stay ahead of technology trends, while striving to offer partners the best possible experience.
The fact that the company has been able to maintain its entrepreneurial acumen and agility while growing to a size that rivals many of the industry’s leaders is testament to how seriously it takes the task of bringing a fresh and innovative spirit to distribution.
Syntech has come a long way since Ryan Martyn set up the business from a spare room in his mother’s Cape Town house 24 years ago.
Craig Nowitz
Since the beginning, Syntech has provided specialised technology products and solutions, and it saw slow but steady growth for the first nine years of its life. In 2011, Craig Nowitz invested in the company, becoming its CEO.
“Together, we saw an opportunity to build and grow brands as opposed to just maintaining existing behemoth brands,” Martyn says. “That is the DNA of who Syntech has always been, and I believe it lives on today.”
“We are a business that believes in identifying opportunities, growth potential, and areas – particularly in Africa – where we can enrich the lives of people through technology,” Martyn explains.
“That means finding those opportunities, finding those markets, and finding those brands or products that have the growth potential. We then work very closely with our retailers and resellers to be able to take those products to market, and to actually realise the objective of really changing lives.”
This philosophy has seen the Syntech business grow from its humble beginnings to offices in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban, Shenzhen (China) and a trademark office in Hong Kong. The company has a total staff complement of 200 people, with 100 of them in the Cape Town head office.
Fast forward to 2026
The last couple of years has seen massive changes in the IT industry, culminating in the extended supply chain issues that characterise the channel today.
Syntech was one of the first to predict the coming crunch and last year started putting plans in place to not mitigate the current supply chain crisis. The distributor has secured stocks of CPUs, GPUs and memory, and will be able to fill orders to the end of the year.
But it has also been looking forward, and has executed plans to offer its partners new and improved services.
“We have certainly been busy this year,” says Martyn. “One of our key strengths is to always find growth and opportunity in a changing market and this year we have done that despite the uncertainty surrounding us all.”
One of Syntech’s first projects in 2026 was to build an extension to its Cape Town offices, doubling both the office and warehouse space.
“This is so we can meet the growing demand for localised stockholding,” Martyn explains. “We believe it’s important for all of our branches to hold the adequate level of stock that region requires. As part of this, we’ve also invested tools to ensure stock is adequately distributed to meet the dynamic demands of each region.
“This is especially important for resellers, who can access stock immediately when they place an order without having to wait days for it to arrive from another warehouse.”
The new Cape Town expansion also includes a new, state-of-the-art PCBUiLDER assembly line, capable of producing up to 3 000 fully-customised machines each month.
“At a time when many of the distributors are winding down their production and assembly, we’re scaling ours up,” Martyn enthuses. “We are also using smart tools to build, test and configure machines as well as run them through burn tests.”
Ryan Martyn
A key component in its assembly strategy, Martyn adds, is the fact that Syntech holds all of the components used in PCBUiLDER products. “I think we hold more components than anyone else in the country, which means we can create dynamic builds very fast and get them to market quickly.”
This stockholding means partners can build custom configurations of PCs, mini-PCs, all-in-ones, notebooks, desktops, gaming machines and more. “We have even added AI workstations to the mix as well, and see a lot of growth potential going forward,” Martyn says.
Cape Town now also boasts a new 150 square meter showroom. “This gives our resellers an opportunity to see the various brands, and also bring their customers to see and experience the products that Syntech has to offer,” Martyn explains.
“As we have expanded the business, our range of products has grown exponentially – and it can be difficult for partners to keep up with what we have to offer. So we’ve created this platform where our customers can not only see, experience and enjoy all of the new products, but also identify new opportunities for growth.”
The expansion in Cape Town is complemented by an expansion in Johannesburg, which has also added a new warehouse.
Both Cape Town and Johannesburg offices have also been boosted with expanded technical support facilities, warranty centres and out-of-warranty support.
“Our customers can buy products knowing that the support extends beyond the stated warranty lifetime during which they can send it back for a replacement.”
This is particularly significant in light of Syntech’s expansion into consumer electronics categories like scooters and robot vacuum cleaners, where customers expect support for the lifetime of the product.
“We believe it’s important for our resellers and consumers to know they can buy any brand that Syntech supplies with confidence that, even after warranty, we’ll be able to help them.”
Nowitz adds that all manufacturers and distributors will soon be obliged to provide out-of-warranty services. The Competition Commission has published draft guidelines for repair services for aftermarket devices. In Europe it is already compulsory to provide exchangeable batteries and aftermarket service.
In this respect, Syntech is already ahead of the game, while the out-of-warranty centres also help keep e-waste out of landfill.
New and improved product lines
Identifying new products lines, bringing them into South Africa and growing the addressable market is a strength that Syntech has demonstrated over and over again.
In 2026, the company has brought in a number of new brands and also expanded some of the existing product lines, Nowitz explains.
Hiksemi was brought on board towards the end of 2025. It is a memory product that has helped to shield Syntech’s partners from the global memory shortage.
DeepCool is a new brand that offers PC cases, power supplies and thermal solutions, along with a range of accessories targeting the gaming market.
Syntech is an established distributor for UGreen, offering its accessories, networking gear, docking stations and peripherals. More recently, the vendor has expanded into the network-attached storage (NAS) market – a fast-growing category that is proving popular in South Africa.
A totally new category for Syntech is the introduction of the Anycubic line-up of 3D printers, along with its extensive range of resin and printing filaments.
“We think the 3D market has big potential in South Africa,” says Nowitz. “These printers have become so much easier to use that any enthusiast, DIYer, hobbyist or SME manufacturer can operate one.”
The printers themselves are just the tip of the iceberg, though. Nowitz is excited about the vast range of filaments, resins, spare parts and accessories that Syntech is also bringing in.
“These consumables can work on other 3D printer brands, and offer a massive range of different colours and materials. We’ll probably have the biggest range of filaments and resins available in the market, supporting the entire 3D printer market in South Africa.”
Reseller value-adds
Having access to a wide range of products is the first part of Syntech’s value-add: the distributor has also invested in developing next-generation tools that enable resellers to scale their businesses.
Nowitz explains: “I think we are the first in the industry to launch a dedicated developer portal that enables our resellers to interact with Syntech via a development API stack. So they can do full website and inventory integration, along with the direct drop-shipping services that we provide.
“This means resellers don’t have to invest in stock, but can rather focus on servicing and supporting customers while Syntech’s infrastructure handles the backend.
“As our stack of tools becomes bigger and more advanced, we make them available for our resellers so they are able to grow and scale their business without the burden of stock and delivery and logistics costs.”
The Syntech difference
For five years, South African resellers have selected Syntech as the Customer Care Distributor of the Year in the Channelwise Awards. What is it that makes the company different?
“I think that we create a platform and a partnership that our resellers can trust,” says Martyn. “We recognise the value that the resellers bring to the market, and are fully behind supporting them to grow and scale, and enabling them to continue servicing and supporting their customers.
“We present products that are dynamic and relevant for today’s market, along with the next generation of products and the next generation of how to do business.
“So resellers that choose to partner with Syntech have more confidence in the future.”
Not being tied to some of the traditional brands means Syntech has more flexibility to determine market directions. “We present new opportunities far more often to the market, and I think that a lot of our brands are continuing to grow in scale,” Nowitz adds.
“And our approach has always been to enable the market, to build it up so consumers are asking for our brands.
“We invest into the brands that that we take on, to ensure they have a decent market share in South Africa. We would never take on a brand and just leave it there for the resellers to run with – we really invest from a marketing point of view.
“We also bring in new brands and products that have growth potential.”
Enabling a wider ecosystem
As it expands further into consumer electronics brands, Syntech Distribution is keenly aware that many of these products could end up discarded if they break down.
The company is supporting an organisation called Taking Care of Business (TCB), which has a training and enablement program to empower previously disadvantage people.
Ryan Martyn, sales and marketing director of Syntech, explains that candidates go through a program that enables them with entrepreneurial skills, able to manage their money, manage their life, make healthy choices, and acquire the skills required to run a business.
One of the programs teaches people the skills needed to refurbish electronics.
Syntech provides the programme with products that are able to be repaired, which they can then refurbish and onsell.
We’re really excited about how that that’s making a difference to many lives that would otherwise not have an access to these products; and to the small businesses that are enabled,” Martyn says.