Page 50 - IDC
P. 50
CITY PRESS, 26 NOVEMBER, 2017 7
In
partnership
with the
IDC
Two young people
gave up their city jobs
to return to their
village and start a
business, writes
Caiphus Kgosana COMMUNITY CRUSADE Nomuntu Ndhlovu and her business partner Siyabonga Buddy Tshabalala turned recycling into a business for Mpumalanga villagers PHOTO: DENVOR DE WEE
omuntu Ndhlovu had neatly mapped involves collecting and baling waste material such as
out her life. Cash out of aluminium cans, newspapers, cardboard, plastic mix,
She had left her village of Steenbok, clear plastic, white office paper and irrigation pipes.
on the eastern border of Mpumalanga, This waste material is sold to recyclers across South
close to the Swaziland and Africa.
NMozambican borders, to study at Wits Siyabuddy removes waste from municipal dumping
University. After graduating with a postgraduate sites, offices, industrial parks, hospitals, housing
diploma in business administration, she found work estates and other points.
at a management consulting firm in Johannesburg The recyclable waste collected is taken to the
where they formulated management strategies for company’s waste recycling plant and other buyback
clients including government departments, parastatals TRASH centres in business with them. It is here that bottles,
and private companies. glass and cans are separated from garden and other
But, as she was taking steps up the corporate compostable waste.
ladder in the big city, the 26-year-old became The latter is disposed of in an environmentally
increasingly less enthusiastic about a future in conscious manner using heavy machinery for
Gauteng’s corporate world. She longed to go back management of the sites and ventilation pipes to
home and give back to her impoverished village. It reduce biogas emissions.
was while pondering this life-changing move that a The company plans to train local businesses in
childhood friend from the same village, who was Nkomazi, especially taverns, pubs and stores to sell
working for the environmental affairs department in drinks in aluminium cans, which are easily and 100%
Pretoria, made similar overtures to her. OPINION hand battling to shrug off effects of the 2009 global financial recyclable.
Siyabonga Buddy Tshabalala (26), an experienced meltdown, and the other confronting fierce foreign It wants to partner with government and NGOs to
environmental analyst, started a side business in 2012 GEOFFREY QHENA competition in both the local and traditional export markets, conduct workshops at schools and community halls to
– a recycling and waste management company that he notably the Eurozone. This scenario requires a concerted train people how to manage waste in their houses,
wanted to run full time. Over the years, our funding activities have helped to unearth effort by both the private sector and government to formulate schools and recreational venues – and possibly make
Siyabuddy – a combination of his shortened first great entrepreneurs – many of whom have grown to create a interventions that will stimulate growth and create money from it.
name and middle name – was doing small scale waste niche for themselves in their respective areas of trade. Since employment opportunities. Siyabuddy will increase its staff component by
management in Steenbok, using local volunteers to the corporation was established, women have been a key To this end, IDC has over the years adopted several another 10 employees. They will arrive in December
collect used cans, bottles and papers for resale to focus group of the IDC’s developmental agenda. targeted strategies, policies and funding initiatives aimed at on paid learnerships. It was approached by the
larger recyclers. Deeply ingrained in the IDC’s investment ethos is our deepening industrialisation and accelerating social and Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency to take in the
With his experience in environmental management commitment to transformation and gender empowerment. In economic transformation. It is therefore not surprising that a learners and grant them experiential training. They
and her knowledge of writing business plans and fact, the IDC’s first client was a female entrepreneur, large part of our future focus is on developing the industries agreed that the agency would pay their stipends for a
turnaround strategies for corporate clients and Elizabeth Grayvenstein. She used a loan facility from the of the future, particularly those with potential to boost year, after which the company must absorb them.
entities, they could make a winning team while giving corporation to expand her fledging home-based business. innovation, productivity and drive industrialisation in response Ndhlovu is extremely proud of the empowerment of
back to their village. Her product, Ouma Rusks, instantly became a popular to demands of the fourth industrial revolution. their full-time employees and off-site waste collectors,
“He said ‘let’s do this. You have a business brand of rusk and has since grown to become an iconic brand. As we celebrate the positive contribution that women are through the Workers Trust, that holds 25% of the
background and I have an environmental background The product boasts a distribution footprint spread across the making in the transformation of our economy, we yet again company on their behalf.
and no one is doing this at home where there is so globe. Although IDC’s investment in Ouma Rusks reaffirm our commitment to addressing issues of “The people who work with us were doing nothing
much waste lying around. Let’s see if we can make it happened nearly eight decades ago, this forward- gender inequality by supporting more female-led before they started volunteering. People who were
work’,” Ndhlovu recalled. thinking strategy poignantly demonstrates IDC’s and empowered businesses. We further commit to not employed, the local gogos who collect the waste.
In 2016, they compiled a business plan that stated commitment to empowering women-owned helping our government to achieve its When we make money they will make money.
in detail how they planned to grow the operation. businesses. transformation and empowerment objectives. “When the company grows, they will get something
The company was officially registered in 2015 as a Post the democratic dispensation, the As we build up to the women in from it. That way we give back to their kids and
waste storage facility, and Ndhlovu joined it a year corporation became a significant player in the BEE manufacturing conference (scheduled for families as well. Remember, the majority of people
later. deal arena – facilitating a raft of transactions that November 29 2017), we wish to remind our here live off social grants. Over time they will reap
It soon entered into a partnership with the helped to create a new breed of black entrepreneurs. potential and existing partners alike that this the benefits.”
Nkomazi Local Municipality to collect waste at the To date, the corporation has contributed significantly conference – which will discuss Ndhlovu is grateful that her parents worked hard
Steenbok landfill site. After drawing up the business to transforming the economy. making it more opportunities and challenges in the enough to provide for her education until she
plan, they approached the National Youth inclusive by bringing more youth and women sector, among other objectives graduated. She understands that other children were
Development Agency for funding, but found the into the manufacturing fold. – presents an not so lucky.
process too cumbersome. Eventually, the agency told Over the past five years (2013 - 2017), unprecedented opportunity When she is not at Siyabuddy, she chairs the local
them their business was not viable for financing. the cumulative funding to black- for women to showcase tourism authority, whose aim is to increase the
The two did not give up and instead approached empowered companies reached their relevance and number of local and international tourists to Steenbok
the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC). Within R15 billion, black-owned R16 billion, effectiveness in and surrounding areas. The villages are a gateway to
a month, the IDC had sent its business development youth empowered R4 billion and contributing to the growth the Kruger National Park and to Swaziland and
specialists to Steenbok to scrutinise Siyabuddy’s books female-empowered R8 billion. of our economy. Mozambique.
and its business model. The IDC gave them the As is the case in many parts of the What the tourism authority does is educate local
thumbs up as their model was intended to create not globe, South Africa’s manufacturing . Qhena guesthouse owners about the advantages of listing
just employment for the volunteers they were sector has been under is the CEO their businesses on online booking sites such as
working with, but for 300 other waste collectors from considerable strain. On the one of the IDC AirBnB and Booking.com, and of opening them up for
Steenbok and surrounding villages. It would remain grading by tourism councils, so they can get exposure
self-sufficient and profitable through the resale of the worldwide and attract more tourists.
bulk waste to bigger recyclers. They include in their tourism attraction route the
The company also offered its full-time employees – to Siyabuddy. don’t, you are stuck here, sitting at home doing site where the plane carrying then Mozambican
most of them young people their age – and offsite “We live in a village where cows, goats and nothing.” president Samora Machel crashed in 1986. This is now
waste collectors a 25% stake in the business so they chickens roam the streets. When you finish high Once the IDC had disbursed the money, they went a monument some 20km from Steenbok.
could share in its success. It is this business model school, it’s either you leave to further your schooling about building the structure that now houses their For Ndhlovu, this work is much more fulfilling than
that most attracted Ndhlovu, now a 40% shareholder, elsewhere or find work outside the village. If you waste storage and recycling plant. Their operation pushing paper in an office in the big city.
CUTTING CLOTH Debbie Pillay, the owner of Morgan Pillay Clothing Manufacturers (left) on the factory floor where the company’s 450 employees put together 5 000 to 8 000 garments a day PHOTO: TEBOGO LETSIE
DESIGNING SUCCESS: A CUT ABOVE THE REST
CAIPHUS KGOSANA employees in 2006 to 450 workers at its factory in in large retailers such as Woolworths and Edgars. such as Gert-Johan Coetzee, Ephraim Molingoana and his
business@citypress.co.za Benrose, east of Johannesburg’s central business The company has a contract to produce cabin and label Ephymol, Lukhanyo Mdingi and his label Essentials,
district. ground staff uniforms for budget carrier Mango. It also Sindiso Khumalo and Cape Town-based clothing brand
Next time you put on your Polo, Pringle, Guess or Debbie recalls that when the clothing company her produces the uniforms for staff at the luxury Saxon Yongn Layzee (pronounced Young and Lazy).
other fashionable clothing label, chances are the late husband was working for shut up shop in 2006 Hotel in Sandhurst and those at the Sandton At the heart of its factory floor are hundreds of
garment was put together at Morgan Pillay Clothing and moved operations to Swaziland, he suggested that Convention Centre. trained machinists – mostly men – who put together
Manufacturers in Johannesburg. they start their own clothing factory. And, the company manufactures bed linen for the between 5 000 and 8 000 garments a day.
The company describes itself as “one of South After he passed away that same year, she roped in InterContinental Hotels Group. When the company needed to expand in 2015, it
Africa’s top leading corporate and retail clothing her son Logesan to help her run the business. Apart from all this, Morgan Pillay Clothing approached the Industrial Development Corporation for
manufacturers, supplying most of South Africa’s “He had his own business at the time. I asked him to Manufacturers also offers a range of specialised services funding. Thanks to this money, extra machinery was
retailers with garments constructed with care and close it down and join me because I couldn’t cope on to its corporate clients. These include image consulting, purchased for the factory to meet growing demand.
monitored by the best quality assurers that our my own – and he did,” she said. conducting fittings at various branches, doing The owners aim to ramp up production to about
company has to offer to ultimately make you the Since joining hands, the mother-and-son duo have automated invoicing and warehousing garments. 15 000 garments a day.
garments that you desire”. grown the company exponentially. It now cuts leisure Logesan said an agent, who works with young Debbie is not surprised at the company’s success.
Started by the late Morgan Pillay and his wife Debbie and corporate wear for top brands, including Pringle, designers, had approached the company to manufacture “It has grown this much, fortunately, because of hard
in 2006, the company grew from having just nine Polo and Guess. In addition, its garments can be found their designs. Among the designers are celebrated names work and dedication,” she said.
