Page 20 - Demo

“1.7 million people are directly employed by the mobile ecosystem and informally employed in the distribution of retail of mobile services. $51 billion is forecast for mobile operator revenues by 2025, with an operator capital expenditure of $15.2 billion for the period between 2019 and 2020”. – www.gsma.com.
YOUNG GO-GETTER IS
FACT
BUILDING AN EMPIRE
Bhobhoyi Water Treatment Works
SPHIWE MSIBI IS A CIVIL ENGINEER AND BUSINESSMAN. HE FOUNDED THE MSI EMPIRE GROUP IN 2016. BUT IN HIS HEART, HE IS A MINER AND THERE IS NOTHING HE ENJOYS MORE THAN PROSPECTING ON THE THREE COAL MINES HE CO-OWNS IN NEWCASTLE AND NONGOMA.
Msi Empire Group, which specialises in civil engineering and coal mining projects, believes in consistently providing innovative quality products and services that meet client expectations and satisfies all codes, regulatory, environmental and safety requirements.
Msibi, who has 14 years of professional experience, walked away with the Young Business Achiever Award in the KZN Investor Awards. To enter this category, a company has to be majority youth ownedand its owners must be between 18 and 35 years old. The company must have a turnover of R5 million or more, show steady growth, and be a job creator.
“WINNING THIS AWARD MEANS A LOT TO ME AND MY FAMILY WHO ARE THRILLED. IT SHOWS THAT NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE AS LONG AS ONE KEEPS ON PUSHING,” HE SAID.
As a youngster, he wanted to own a plant hire company for the engineering and mining sectors, and decided to take the civil engineering route to get there. Beyond obtaining a Degree of Bachelor of Technology in Civil Engineering from Durban University of Technology, he has a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) from Mancosa, a mining certificate from the University of Pretoria, and has enrolled at Wits for the Doctor of Philosophy in Mining Engineering.
Aged 34, Msibi is part of the Department of Trade and Industries Black Industrialist programme and has invested some R8 million in
his civil engineering and mining interests. He employs 20 people, and this, he says, can rise to 30 people or more depending on the project and labour needed.
Civil engineering projects undertaken by the Msi Empire Group include:
• Mistake Farm Water Supply: One Mega-litre Concrete Reservoir,
Ground and Elevated tank Base;
• Maphumulo Water Supply: Two Concrete Reservoir of 150 and
630 Kilo-litres;
• Msinga Water Supply: 500 Kilo-litres Concrete Reservoir, Two
Pump Station Houses, Plinths and 2 Ponds;
• Boboyi Water Treatment Works: Construction of a 27 ML/D
extension to the filter treatment plant;
• Charles Town Bulk Sewer: Construction of a 450 kilo-litre
Septic Tank;
• Pennington Waterborne Sanitation: Construction of Sewer
Concrete Pump Station and Superstructure; and
• Gamalakhe to Margate Bulk Water Supply: Construction of One Mega-litre Concrete Reservoir, two Pump Station house and
Elevated Tank Base.
Mining projects undertaken by the Msi Empire Group include:
• Wykom Coal Mine;
• Kingston Coal Mine; and
• Nongoma Coal Mine.
He says he is eager to gain new experiences, improve his skills and broaden his understanding of the dynamic economic world, and is sure that studying for a PHD in Mining Engineering would contribute to his development as a specialist at an international level.
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