TO encourage more women into the male-dominated engineering field, the government-funded Downstream Aluminium Centre for Technology (DACT) initiated a Women in Engineering Empowerment Programme (WEEP).
The Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs (EDTEA) provided the funding, and DACT’s assistance includes exhibition opportunities, technical training, business development services and access to funding and technology.
Fourteen businesses were selected to be part of WEEP, for which the only criteria was that their businesses must be between 51% and 100% women-owned.
At a handover ceremony in Richards Bay, DACT and EDTEA handed over tools to these businesses to aid their manufacturing processes.
Acting EDTEA HoD, Sihle Mkhize, congratulated the women who have benefited from the programme.
‘The establishment of DACT is a living model and testimony of how different organisations can be bound by a common objective of creating conditions that add value to the campaign to foster socio-economic transformation.’
‘Here we are proudly enlisting, among others, the Department of Trade and Industry, Richards Bay Industrial Development Zone, South32, the Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA), Zululand Chamber of Business Foundation and Umfolozi TVET College, which provides crucial skills training for sustainable industrial development.’
Commending fellow stakeholders, Ishmael Mbadi (Manager: Incubation – SEDA Technology Programme) said, ‘We value the contribution of our partners in DACT and its board of directors.
‘We commend South 32 and EDTEA for the valuable partnership in supporting SMMEs in DACT. We also commend DACT for putting to good use the funding from EDTEA by starting the project to train and purchase equipment for 14 women-owned enterprises.
‘We further encourage the enterprises to grab this opportunity with both hands and maximise their efforts to pursue their business endeavours.’
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