Building a place for women in construction
Thandeka Nombanjinji-Nzama is an award-winning Johannesburg businesswoman who is advocating for the inclusion of women in the male-dominated construction sector.
The 39-year-old entrepreneur is the founder and MD of Mbokodo Building, a 100% female-led construction company specialising in general construction and all civil engineering works. The company is registered with the industry regulator, the Construction Industry Development Board, which grades companies based on their financial performance, among other elements.
Mbokodo is on grading level 7 and can take contracts of up to R40m. Level 8 can take contracts up to R130m and level 9 those more than R130m.
Few women have set foot in the sector, traditionally a maledominated industry, which is bleeding jobs and suffering from dwindling government and private sector spend. The construction services sector last saw growth in the years leading to the 2010 Fifa World Cup. Since then it has been on a downward spiral due to subdued activity.
In 2019, Group Five, a key player in the sector, filed for business rescue after it could not obtain additional funding from a consortium of lenders, and suspended its trading on the JSE. Basil Read and Esor also filed for business rescue due to a cash crunch. In March 2020, Wilson Bayly Holmes-Ovcon (WBHO), SA’s largest construction company by market value, withheld dividends worth R48m in shareholder payouts to keep itself financially flexible during the coronavirus pandemic.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has called for women-owned businesses to be supported as SA prepares for the reconstruction of the economy after Covid19. The government has committed R100bn over the next 10 years to the infrastructure fund.
Nombanjinji-Nzama said it brought “a bit of discomfort” that big companies in the sector had closed down due to financial headwinds.
“Covid-19 made things more difficult for us in terms of retaining staff, and getting work has been quite difficult. Now we are not as choosy in terms of the scale of work we do. We are, however, hopeful that things will get better,” she said.
Mbokodo has won contracts worth millions of rand to build schools, water infrastructure, roads and low-cost housing, among other projects, countrywide. Nombanjinji-Nzama said she would continue “pushing the female agenda” until the industry transformed and took note of the skills women offered.
She established the company in 2008 with the aim of narrowing the gender gap and prioritising the inclusivity of women in the construction industry, a sector that contributes 3.3% to GDP.
“I grew up in a family of entrepreneurs. My late father was a property developer and as a young girl, I used to go around with him. I would see a piece of land transforming from nothing to being this beautiful building. That is where my love for construction began,” she said.
Mbanjinji-Nzama was appointed CEO of Nombanjinji Family Property, a commercial property development group with a portfolio in retail, office and residential rental apartments, including a fuel station, with an annual turnover of more than R28m.
“But there was always a nagging feeling that I needed to open my own construction company,” she said. “Everything was quite difficult and I realised it was because of my gender. That’s when I made a promise that should I make it, I will make sure the industry is inclusive of females.”
She settled on the name “Mbokodo” for her company because she wanted a name that “would speak to female empowerment. Remember during the 1956 march [to the Union Buildings], the women were chanting ‘wathint’ abafazi wathint’ imbokodo’ [you strike a woman you strike a rock].”
SKILLS PROGRAMME
Nombanjinji-Nzama said the company, which has a national footprint and an annual turnover of R10m, is structured in a way that represents women in all its facets from recruitment to procurement. “Our recruitment process prioritises females. We procure all our goods and services from female-owned entities. We employ 20 full-time workers and 98% of our workforce are women. We also employ about 150 contractbased workers.”
The businesswoman, who is winner in the Top Empowerment Awards 2021, said the company runs an accredited skills development programme for women studying construction, or those wanting to enter the sector. While the company is nowhere near where it should be, she said, “we are happy with the progress made in creating job opportunities and pushing the female agenda.”
Nombanjinji-Nzama said she would like to see other companies join Mbokodo’s cause by adopting “similar systems that we have in place. Our PPE [personal protective equipment] being pink is intentional, it sends a message that we are here to stay and we won’t cower.”