Sun International builds up female construction entrepreneurs

Africa leads the world when it comes to the growth rate of female entrepreneurs, but despite the success stories, women remain in the minority in terms of business ownership.

South Africa’s female entrepreneurs, whether in the construction or other industries, often lack the collateral to gain access to funding and face the biases that come with being in corporate and business spaces dominated by men. This also limits their networking opportunities and role models are hard to come by.

Finally, while great strides have been made in education, the lack of resources and training is still a major challenge for women starting their own businesses who already may be somewhat risk-averse given their additional household and family responsibilities.

With this in mind, Sun International, along with Grow Supplier ZA, hosted a Women in Business Scale-Up Summit focusing on women-led SMEs in construction and facilities management at a packed The Maslow Sandton Conference Centre on 23 June 2023.

Scaling growth strategies

The delegates – mostly women, but with a smattering of men among them –  were given the opportunity to interrogate when and how to execute their scaling growth strategy and speak frankly about their issues in a transparent setting.

They were guided by a host of luminaries including Motseng Holdings CEO Ipeleng Mkhari, the National Housing Finance Corporation’s Azola Mayekiso and Lungile Zuma from South African Women In Construction and Built Environment. Also on hand were representatives of finance houses, academic institutions, and supply chain facilitators.

Panellist Ayanda Magqaza, director of construction services provider Tasksmiths Consulting, said she was at the summit to contribute, understand different perspectives and uncover new instances to connect personally and in a business sense. She explained that her business faced a number of challenges in scaling up.

“Scaling up for Tasksmiths would mean hiring and maintaining resources securely and entering into long-term contracts with a diverse clientele. We haven’t managed to take the leap thus far because we still feel the uncertainty in industry around long-term income growth. And so Ipeleng Mkhari’s comments about knowing where you are, where you are headed, and striving to be the best in that journey really resonated with me,” she said.

These speakers explored a gamut of topics that ranged from sustainability and leadership development to compliance and negotiation.

Send the lift down

Speaker Fundi Mazibuko, Vice President of the South African Institute of Black Property Practitioners, advised budding entrepreneurs to focus on leadership development, compliance, and effective marketing to drive success in the sector.

“As a woman leader, you’ve got to lead with kindness and empathy, sending ‘the lift’ down to bring others up to you and building the female leadership pool. A lot of women are not opportunity-ready and their businesses lack the necessary documentation. Compliance is expensive, but it is the best investment you can make if you take it seriously. Use what you have to market your business with word of mouth and social media and put your business out there. Everyone can be an entrepreneur and an MD – use what you have and get started,” she said.

According to Sun International Procurement Manager Mpho Moshotle, the summit was the company’s “first port of call” in identifying suitable women-led SMMEs for its supply chain. It was intent on providing them with procurement opportunities and both financial and non-financial support, including masterclasses, early payment terms, grants, and interest-free loans.

Moshotle hailed Sun International’s partnership with Grow Supplier ZA as a positive for the future of the company’s supply chain.

“The partnership with Grow Supplier ZA is fundamental to our targets as a business as they are involved in numerous events in SMME development and women empowerment. They assist us in shaping our strategy in bringing these SMMEs into our supply chain and building meaningful business relationships with them.”