Take Charge – Career Snippets
Changing the world is at the top of the agenda for Vere Shaba, 31, founder and CEO of an engineering consulting firm that designs, engineers and commissions high-performance green buildings across Africa
Was engineering always a part of the plan? No. My plan was to fight for economic, social and environmental equality by becoming a lawyer specialising in human rights. However, that changed when I saw a map of electrification of the world at night, released by NASA. My heart broke over how dark the African continent was. It shows the extent of economic development, and indicated that for our continent, education stops when the sun sets. I imagined a little girl in the informal settlements or a village going to sleep in the dark, unable to learn and emancipate herself out of poverty through education. I then decided to study engineering. I want to contribute to our continent having the basic engineering infrastructure to ensure that we achieve sustainable development goals in my lifetime.
How did Greendesign become a reality? In 2015, after having worked in multinational engineering consulting firms since graduation, I resigned to take a year off to intern full-time in events and ministry. The internship was unpaid, so I decided to use my experience to start Greendesign as an income stream. I started with three months’ salary, a LinkedIn account and conviction that the way we were engineering was not sustainable. Five years later, it’s an awardwinning engineering consulting firm with a total project value of R1,2 billion.
Tell us more about green recovery. As Africa tries to recover post-pandemic, a green recovery is a call for governments, businesses, research institutions to think tanks and NPOs to integrate sustainability into the recovery plans. A green recovery ensures that all principles of sustainability have been considered to create a socially just, low-carbon and climate-resilient world, where no one is left behind. What has been your worst day in business, and how did you recover? When I founded the business as a first-generation entrepreneur and engineer, I was not prepared for the realities of its nature in a capitalist economy. A year into my business, I sold 50% shares, renamed it and felt the mission and vision diverting from what I had initially dreamt. The worst day was in September 2018 when my then partner resigned. I hadn’t seen it coming, and because it was a names business partner, I had thought that I would lose my clients and partners. I learnt my lesson, and rebuilt it. We grew tremendously in the next financial year in spite of a recession in our sector, and that was our best financial year to date. What future do you see for Greendesign? I believe that it will grow into a company that generates more than R10 million in annual revenue. It will have a global footprint in Africa and Europe, and hire some of the best engineers from these continents. I see a future that defines regenerative engineering, and aligns with our vision – to change the world through engineering.
If you were to be the president for a day which law would you pass/scrap, and why? I would criminalise infringements that seek to undermine the worth and value of any human being. South Africa belongs to all who live in it, and I’ve seen instances of prejudice that makes those of a different class, race or gender feel like they don’t have equal rights. The worth of any human being is not measured by titles.
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