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WOMAN AT WORK Flavia Kutlwelo Tau’s entrepreneurial streak is hard to contain PHOTO: ELIZABETH SEJAKE

Flavia Kutlwelo Tau’s love for construction was kindled

when her husband suggested they build their own home. Construction

She managed the process. Now she’s working on a Q&A

R3.4m project with the rural development department,

writes Sue Grant-Marshall Zwemthiyane asks:

Contract own construction company,
I would like to register my
opportunity
but I don’t know what path to
follow before I apply for the
first tender project.

NHBRC:
You need to register the
company with the Companies
and Intellectual Property
to build her own dreams grading accreditation from the
Commission, find out about
Construction Industry
Development Board and
register as a builder with the
In the beginning Hurdles National Home Builders’
It’s been a somewhat circuitous route to the construction The TFMC wanted guarantees in cash from Tau that ran into Registration Council (NHBRC).
work that Flavia Kutlwelo Tau does today because she several hundreds of thousands of rands, “which I simply did not Tenders are advertised in
graduated with a BProc degree at Vista University, now the have. They wanted to see the money in my account,” she says. the national press and the
University of Johannesburg, in 1996. Neither the banks nor the subcontractors would lend her the government’s Tender Bulletin.
“I didn’t know what to do when I matriculated from HF Tlou money that she needed. Each tender has its own
High School in Rustenburg in 1989. My uncle Neo Raikane, who specifications, so it’s about
was a lecturer at Vista, suggested law,” says Tau. making sure that the applicant
But she does not regret her studies for an instant. Overcoming obstacles has the right experience,
“It has stood me in such good stead as a woman in the male- “I suggested to the TFMC that they deduct 10% of the money capacity and capability to
dominated world of construction. I now feel self-confident when they would pay me from my first invoices. I am educated and meet a tender requirement.
it comes to contracts and how to manage them.” determined. I wasn’t going to give up. It worked.”
She needs confidence because more than once, she’s the only Lettie asks:
woman in a roomful of white male builders. I’m a fourth-year student of
“As the principal contractor, I need to tell them what to do – Next step quantity surveying at Wits
and I sometimes see that they don’t entirely trust me.” Tau had a difficult and quiet year last year, saying: “I really University and I want to know
Tau is the eldest of three children of single mother Joyce Kuki felt the pinch.” what it takes to make it in the
Tau. She raised the money for her daughter’s education by So she was thankful when she was awarded an electrical construction industry.
working as a cosmetic consultant for Clicks in Rustenburg. project, the one she is working on now.
However, after she graduated, Tau became an accounting It’s a joint venture between Tumagole Trading and Africa NHBRC:
clerk for TV production company Endemol SA. Related. They are installing high-mast lights for the department You can read the City Press
“My mother had died and I had to pay for my siblings’ of rural development and land reform in Midvaal and Hekpoort. weekly features to learn how
education so I needed to get a job immediately,” she says. The venture is worth R3.4 million. other women did it. There is
Tau spent eight years at Endemol, but her strong Tau has also been appointed by Sentech to do general no right or wrong path, not
entrepreneurial streak broke through. She and a friend, Audrey construction and civil work in the Western Cape, and is also even a formula. If there was,
Kwapeng, began selling beaded leather handbags on the party building a road for the company in Tzaneen. we would be selling it.
circuit, driving to Mpumalanga to collect them. “To think all this started with handbags,” she says with a
“We’d sometimes make R5 000 over a weekend from our chuckle. Manna Zwane asks:
sales. I realised that starting my own business was the way to “I’m soon going to be appointed as an agent for Busby I’m employed at the NHBRC
go, so I resigned and registered my company, Tumagole Trading handbags. But construction is my first love.” as a regional quality assessor
Enterprise, in 2005,” says the woman with the short dreadlocks in Mpumalanga.
and laughing eyes. I hold a national diploma in
Tau began catering for companies including Sentech, the Dreams and goals construction management and
Independent Communications Authority of SA, the Agricultural “I want to become a property developer in the industrial, quantity surveying.
Research Council and also did some product branding. commercial and residential space. I would love to do work with I also hold a specialist
“My turning point was building our own home from scratch Eskom, Transnet and the Passenger Rail Agency of SA.” project management
in 2009, getting in an architect, engineer and builders to do it. programme NQF Level 6
I thought if I could do that, I could go into construction.” certificate.
I would like to know more
NHBRC is important… about the opportunities you
Getting started “It has done wonders for me by sending me on an NHBRC offer. I’m currently interested
Then the Total Facility Management Company (TFMC), the course to the Gordon Institute of Business Science. It has in project management in this
largest facilities management firm in South Africa, asked Tau to revived my passion for learning.” industry.
renovate and extend a home in Ga-Rankuwa.
“And the rest is history,” she says. NHBRC:
“The TFMC began using me and I worked on about eight A project in partnership with the We will take this request to
projects for them. the provincial manager to
“They undertake a wide range of services, which include NHBRC assist you from a career
facilities support, maintenance, engineering and project development point of view.
management,” says Tau.

Building a new home?

Use a registered builder.

A registered builder is key to any building project. In line with the Housing Consumers Protection
Measures Act, all homebuildings must be registered with the NHBRC and all new homes must be
enrolled, at least, 15 days prior to construction. Enrolment affords you, the housing consumer,
benefits such as a 3-month warranty cover against minor defects, 1-year warrenty cover against
roof leaks and a 5-year warranty cover against major structural defects.

To verify if your builder is registered visit www.nhbrc.org.za

@NHBRC NHBRCSA Assuring Quality Homes
Toll Free Number: 0800 200 824 / Fraud Hotline: 0800 203 698 / Tel: +27 11 317 0000