Eduplace Group
A holding and operating company built around service-led businesses.
Built on placement. Growing into everything else.
Eduplace Group traces its origins to 1994, when Robert Howard founded Eduplace Recruitment in Cape Town — a family-run teacher placement agency built on care, precision, and relationship over volume. Over three decades later, it remains South Africa's most respected education recruitment firm, with qualified educators placed into schools across the country and internationally.
That foundation in recruitment became the launchpad for something larger. Gregory Howard now leads Eduplace Group — a holding and operating company with active brands across recruitment, transportation, media, and consumer goods — extending the family's hands-on philosophy into new verticals. Each brand operates independently, but all share the same DNA: service-first execution, disciplined growth, and a commitment to building businesses that endure.
View the portfolioHow the group thinks about growth
Disciplined Expansion
Growth follows capability, not ambition. Every new brand is launched only when the leadership, market understanding, and operational foundation are in place. Speed is secondary to durability.
Customer Trust
Every brand in the portfolio exists to serve a specific customer with honesty and consistency. Trust is earned at the point of interaction -- not in marketing copy. That principle governs how we hire, train, and operate.
Durable Brands
We build brands designed to last decades, not quarters. Positioning is clear, service quality is non-negotiable, and each brand carries its own identity -- reinforced by group-level standards and resources.
Where the group operates
Eduplace Recruitment Agency
Specialist placement across education and hospitality, with retail as a new division. The anchor brand of the group, with over three decades of operational history since 1994.
Kova Mobility
Pre-scheduled ride services designed for reliability and consistency. Building a new standard in personal transportation.
Seventh Avenue Media
Aspirational in-house creative and communications capability. Brand strategy, content, and digital presence designed to support every brand as the group scales.
Mr. Pigeon Coffee
A premium coffee brand preparing for launch. Bold positioning, direct-to-consumer model, and a distinctive point of view on craft coffee.
Gregory Howard
Gregory Howard is the architect of Eduplace Group, extending a family recruitment business founded by Robert Howard in 1994 into a multi-brand operating company. Nearly three decades inside service-based businesses have shaped his approach — defined by direct involvement, operational clarity, and a refusal to delegate what matters most: the customer experience.
As founder and principal of Eduplace Group, Gregory oversees brand strategy, operational standards, and growth planning across the entire portfolio.
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Featured in the press
“(Overseas) schools are better resourced; children’s discipline is better. They are mischievous and not a danger.”
— Greg Howard, quoted by Lyse Comins in “Your country needs you!”, Independent Online (IOL), 23 July 2007. The article was part of a broader series on South African teacher mobility and international placement.