The illustrious efforts of less prominent female figures are often ignored despite their immense contributions to improve the lives of others.
In line with Women’s Month last month, the City of Johannesburg informed the public of one such person, Ntombi Ngwenya, who works at the Joburg Roads Agency.
In a statement, the agency said Ngwenya, who is head of the agency’s Small, Micro and Medium Enterprises’ (SMMEs) development desk, is the City’s go-to person on women’s empowerment opportunities at its roads, storm water infrastructure development and maintenance units.
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In the past four years, she has engaged many previously marginalised groups, particularly women, on work opportunities which help reduce poverty, inequality and unemployment, which is rampant in disadvantaged communities.
Ngwenya established the desk in 2013 as the entrepreneurship and economic growth channel for women at a time when there was still no structure in place to quantify the agency’s work.
She and her team conducted roadshows in the City’s seven regions and developed a database of SMMEs involved in roads and storm water infrastructure work.
“We encountered shocking challenges of entrepreneurs lacking in business management skills, technical functionality and the absence of women’s participation,” Ngwenya explained.
This, she said, made her appreciate the deep struggles of women and the hardships which mothers and wives endured daily.
Ngwenya has also fully equipped the desk so that it can conduct workshops for women-owned SMMEs and help entrepreneurs to improve business management and to tender and access finance in order for those contracted to deliver work effectively and on time.
To date, the agency has benefited 40 women-owned enterprises in the construction sector to the amount of R15.4 million, which Ngwenya hopes to increase by R2 million this financial year through additional small-scale construction projects.
“Women need knowledge and development, and I hope to get a bigger budget in the 2017 to 2018 financial year to increase this focus. They will be empowered only when enabled to compete in this jungle.”
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