When Limpopo entrepreneur Mamorafi Ntjana founded her fledgling construction company in the small town of Bochum in 2011, she struggled to get a foothold in an industry where opportunities were scarce and more established firms dominated.
Today, this ambitious businesswoman’s construction and transportation company, Maphalakarabo Trading Enterprises, provides jobs for more than 24 people in the region, and she aims to grow this ‘significantly’ as she pursues her vision of becoming an established operator in the mining and transport industries.
Maphalakarabo’s break came when the company was awarded a R500 000 contract to assist with paving the some of the new offices by Anglo American’s De Beers subsidiary. From there the relationship has grown with additional contracts awarded for the Taaibosch Groet water project in 2020 and a R2 million contract to pave roads as part of its Alldays project this year. This partnership is part of Venetia mine’s commitments to better the lives of people in its host communities. The company has since been able to not only build up a good record doing construction projects, but is now expanding its operations into the transport sector, having recently bought two trucks that transports diesel from Durban to Venetia mine.
Maphalakarabo is one of a growing number of success stories to emerge from Anglo American’s inclusive procurement programme, which promotes the participation of small businesses around its operations in its supply chain – with a focus on woman- and youth-owned businesses.
“Getting involved in the De Beers’ supplier development programme has been a game-changer for our business,” says Ms Ntjana. “They not only helped us secure ongoing projects, but have helped us develop our technical and business management skills so that we are able to compete more effectively in the marketplace.”
De Beers’ Socio-economic development manager Livhuwani Nwachukwu, says supplier development is a core pillar of De Beers’ procurement strategy. “We aim to identify and develop local SMMEs like Maphalakarabo, support them to become sustainable, and then develop them to the point where they are able to participate in our mainstream procurement activities. This includes helping suppliers to overcome the barrier of access to finance through low-interest loans, which assist with working capital and the purchase of equipment,” said Livhuwani.
In 2020, Anglo American’s mining operations procured goods and services worth R39.5 billion from local suppliers. Of this, R7.9 billion was with women- and youth-owned entities. De Beers, which has one mining operation in South Africa, spent R359 million procuring goods and R3.4 billion on procuring services from local suppliers.
At the same time, 39 De Beers suppliers received mentorship, coaching and other support through partnerships with government entities such as the Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA). These suppliers supported 479 jobs, which contributed directly to local employment. Ten of those suppliers graduated from the supplier development programme and a further 19 were onboarded.
“We’re deeply committed to expanding our inclusive procurement programme. This partnership between De Beers and Maphalakarabo is a great example of how entrepreneur development can drive sustainable local procurement activity – and more importantly, create a lasting impact through skills development, job creation, thriving businesses, and more prosperous communities,” said Livhuwani.
For Ntjana, her company’s involvement with De Beers has opened her eyes to opportunities she would never have thought possible when she started the business eight years ago. “Now, the sky is the limit,” she said.
