AN EMPOWERMENT FOCUS AS STRONG AS CEMENT

PPC focuses strongly on empowering women and youth, writes RODNEY WEIDEMANN, as these young business owners testify

In a country hamstrung by high youth unemployment and caught on the horns of patriarchal domination, the need to empower black women and the youth has never been greater. Understanding this, PPC works closely with a number of black female-owned or youth-led hardware entities, with a view to assisting business growth and increasing their skills.

A good example of this is Lesedi Ledwaba, owner of 16 E Tona Sand and Bricks cc, a company started by her father, Phillip, selling bricks and sand. After she took over the business, Ledwaba notes that PPC played – and continues to play – a significant role in helping her to grow her company.

“PPC has assisted me in building my business in multiple ways, from providing the initial container where we stored our cement to assisting me with exhibiting at a construction expo,” she says.

“They gave the business a brick-making machine and mixer two years ago. This provided an initial boost and enabled us to acquire four different moulds to make different types of bricks.”

She adds that PPC also provided the relevant training for her and her employees, offered access to facilities for testing brick quality, and helped her determine the correct pricing for the bricks.

BUILDING BUSINESSES

“Thanks to PPC’s assistance, we have expanded the business from six to a staff of over twenty. This growth has enabled me to realise another of my father’s dreams: he wanted to empower women, and I have been able to create jobs for women in my community while demonstrating that they are just as capable as men.”

In a similar vein, Eve Johnson, MD at Yakhumuzi Bricks and Paving, points out that her Mamelodi hardware business, consisting of two stores, a warehouse and a manufacturing plant, is a 100 per cent black female-owned company, started by her mother, Audrey Johnson.

“We manufacture our own bricks and paving today, thanks to PPC helping us over the past eight years. The company not only helped us set up our manufacturing plant, but also provided a machine and continuous technical support. And, they helped us access the programme to obtain SABS approval, which we hope to complete later this year,”

she says.

Johnson indicates that PPC has provided training and support to her team, assisting not only with the technicalities of the machine, but also with knowledge around the right aggregate mix to produce the right levels of brick strength. PPC also provided a facility for testing the bricks’ quality.

“The training my employees and I received around their different product lines has been fantastic. It certainly gave me the confidence to recommend products to consumers, as well as the knowledge to choose certain lines and get rid of others, thus ensuring effective business growth,” she says.

Sometimes, however, the support required from PPC is slightly different, as Rayhaan Ahmed, manager at Build It Ahmedia, points out. He explains that his grandfather launched Ahmedia Build in 1964 as the first

Muslim-owned hardware store in Athlone, Cape Town, one of several family-owned stores that joined the Build-It franchise in recent years.

KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER

His father took over from his grandfather, and Ahmed grew up helping in the business. However, he says he was in his third year of studying medicine when his father passed away unexpectedly, and he left university to run the business.

“I know that a customer wanting to buy cement will likely have many questions around grade, ratio of mix and so on, so it was vital for me to know my products to be able to answer such questions. Between PPC’s training courses and the knowledge provided to me by their rep, I have been able to grow my understanding extensively, and I can now sell customers an experience rather than a product.

“My goal has always been to make the customers’ in-store experience the best that it can be, and PPC aligns perfectly with this approach. If we need anything – from signage to an urgent truckload of cement – they are always willing to help.

“PPC is a proudly South African brand and my cement provider of choice,” he concludes.

“PPC HAS ASSISTED ME IN BUILDING MY BUSINESS IN MULTIPLE WAYS, FROM PROVIDING THE INITIAL CONTAINER WHERE WE STORED OUR CEMENT TO ASSISTING ME WITH EXHIBITING AT A CONSTRUCTION EXPO.” – LESEDI LEDWABA