SA STILL HAS VERY FEW BLACK ENGINEERS
Percentage better, but not yet ideal
310, in Germany it is 200, and in Brazil, a country to which South Africa is often compared due to its middle-income status, you will find an engineer for every 227 people.
Furthermore, the representation of women in the industry is highly disconcerting (only 3% of registered professional engineers in South Africa are women).
Despite these challenges, however, many companies in South Africa have taken it upon themselves to improve the situation.
In the absence of formal support structures, companies such as Lesedi have taken responsibility for giving young black engineers the opportunity to excel in the industry.
The company provides training opportunities to students from higher learning institutes, and has converted a number of these to full- time employment positions.
The company has also seen a drastic increase in its turnover since the 2010/2011 financial year, proving that black-owned engineering companies can make a strong impact on the industry.
What makes their commitment to youth development so remarkable is that the business itself is only three years old, and most of its senior management could be classified as youths themselves.
The example that Lesedi, as a small and growing firm, is setting lays down the gauntlet to more established firms in the industry to turn their far deeper pool of resources towards development and transformation.
Other small companies, such as the AM Group, which was registered in 2008 and whose employees consist entirely of black engineers under the age of 30, are featuring more regularly on the South African engineering landscape.
“There are a number of small black-owned firms emerging in the (engineering) industry, and the competition is growing quite quickly,” explained AM Group’s founder, Anda Maqanda.
He noted that the AM Group, which specialises in overhead electrical power line construction and renewable energy, regularly competed with over 20 other proposals from small companies for any project management opportunities that arise.
“That said, the barriers to entry of creating a credible, multifaceted engineering consultancy are high, so many of the smaller operators either merge with others or partner when it comes to submitting tenders.”
Molelemane is a third-year journalism student at the Tshwane University of Technology. Owsley is currently working as a business intern at Fetola