After getting married, Paul and Ingrid went to live in Cape Town where Paul practiced as a
consulting electrical engineer with Hill Kaplan Scott (HKS), before joining the SA Navy. Paul
became a naval officer working in the Department of Weapon Systems specializing in
electronic warfare. After leaving the Navy he rejoined HKS working in all fields of consulting
engineering but specializing in Security Systems, mainly for the government. While Paul and
Ingrid were in Cape Town, they were approached by Paul's father Elliot, the CEO of Charles
Elvey Agencies, to form a separate security division to market Aritech security products and two
brands of fire protection equipment. After giving HKS plenty of notice, Paul and Ingrid returned to
Johannesburg to run Electrospec Security, the new division of Charles Elvey Agencies.
Through the years Paul worked very hard to establish a solid market share based on quality,
service and ethics. He worked well with his father, Elliot, both of them achieving a worldwide
reputation for honesty, commitment and dedication. The company grew with the addition of
innovative, reliable and competitive products. A dynamic team of motivated, empowered and
most of all, dedicated staff was established which had a formidable reputation in the security
industry. The name was changed to Elvey International, correctly representing the international
nature of the security company. DSC, Caddx, Optex, Sentrol, CSB, IEI and Alarmcom were
some of the well known names established in Southern Africa by the Elvey International team
under Paul's guidance.
While all this was happening, two terrific children were born to Paul and Ingrid. Brian and then
Lara make up the Wainstein Family.
Paul's highly effective team, continued to mold the company to meet the ever changing needs of
Elvey International's respective markets. The team of technically competent, likeable staff was
well respected by the quality conscious customer base. The company spent a great deal of
time, effort and expense to provide its customers with their requirements. Paul ran regular
management and sales meetings to continually fine tune the company to meet the customers'
needs.
Paul spent a large percentage of his time thinking of ways to improve the company, the industry
and the lot of his team. A notable example of this was the company's supply policy of supplying
alarm equipment only to the trade. This supply policy was developed by the whole
management team at a Management training and planning weekend. Paul was given
tremendous assistance by Ingrid and even by Brian and Lara, who could be seen regularly at
the office and at functions. "The whole team developed into a big happy family" says Paul.
Paul was also keenly interested in the rest of the world, where the company continued to make
inroads. He spent a lot of time in airplanes traveling the world for one purpose or another,
mainly to develop new products, but also for other international markets. In 1992, Paul
established an American operation, in Bingham Farms, Michigan.
Paul's background as an electrical engineer proved invaluable to him in his career. Add to that
the principles learnt at an early age of being a team player and it is easy to see the foundation
on which Paul built himself and the company.
Paul completed his fourth term in office as Chairman of the Electronic Security Distributors
Association (ESDA) and a single term as Chairman of the Gauteng Central branch of the South
African Security Association (SASA). He has also served on the executive and the National
Council of the South African Intruder Detection Services Association, SAIDSA. He is continually
asked to speak on different aspects of security at varying functions. Paul enjoys public
speaking. He has given talks at the International Security Conference (ISC) in New York and at
the “Securing New Grounds” conference, also in New York.
The company listed successfully on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in May 1999. This
helped Paul achieve one of his main goals, giving each and every staff member shares in the
company. In February 2001, the large Industrial Company, Hudaco, purchased the company’s
shares on the Johannesburg Stock Market. “This was the next step”, says Paul. “There had
been some exciting prospects for rapid growth”.
In February 2002, two small companies were acquired in the UK. The UK operation rapidly
became a serious player in the UK market, gaining respect from the electronic security industry.
Paul decided that in November 2003, he would take a break after leading the company for 22
years. He has relocated to Houston, Texas, USA where he has effectively taken over the
functions of the Michigan operation and is making inroads into the American electronic security
market from a different point of view.
Paul can be contacted via e-mail.
Now available: EPI Security
