Anglo American steps in to save businesswoman’s transport, plant hire company

The iron-ore processing plant at the Sishen open cast mine, operated by Kumba Iron Ore, an iron ore-producing unit of Anglo American in Sishen. Photographer: Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg

The iron-ore processing plant at the Sishen open cast mine, operated by Kumba Iron Ore, an iron ore-producing unit of Anglo American in Sishen. Photographer: Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg

Published Jan 24, 2023

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An entrepreneur from North West battled for over five years to get her business moving forward, until mining giant Anglo American stepped in to help her save it.

Babalwa Nosisi Makobane’s transport and plant hire business, Sande Services, eventually managed to take off after a timely intervention by Anglo American’s Zimele enterprise development arm.

Nosisi started Sande Services back in 2015, with high hopes and big ambitions.

Business was slow, as she was trying to run the entire business including all business operations and management roles, single-handedly.

“I didn’t have a management team in place, and it was difficult to make the time to find the right people, because I needed to run the business as well,” she said. “It was a real struggle.”

Things started looking up when she enrolled in a Zimele training programme.

With the help of Zimele’s enterprise development coaches, she drew up an organogram for her business to identify exactly where she needed support.

She paid particular attention to scoping the roles and responsibilities for the new staff she would bring on board, and drafted policies and procedures for the company’s new recruitment process.

After drafting a checklist that could be used during the recruitment process, it was finally time to advertise the vacant positions.

Today, business has never been better.

Sande Services now boasts an operations manager, who takes care of on-site operations, and a finance manager.

This has freed up Nosisi’s time to expand her capabilities, build her revenues and focus on the job of bringing in new projects.

Larisha Naidoo, head of Zimele, said Sande Services was a prime example of how big corporates like Anglo American could change the lives of small community businesses by giving them the abilities and skill sets to take advantage of the opportunities in the market.

Babalwa Nosisi Makobane. Image: Supplied.

“It’s important to be purposeful in the way we impact women and youth, whether in terms of specific technical skills and business skills, entrepreneurial development or employment opportunities. To this end, we’ve introduced a series of start-up business modules and specific technical skills that specifically target women and youth entrepreneurs,” said Naidoo.

BUSINESS REPORT