Empowering women in transport
July 25, 2018
The South African transport industry is a male-dominated industry. Women were not taken seriously in the transport sector either by both potential companies and possible financiers.
Due to these challenges and demand by women to enter this industry on equal footing, the South African Network for Women in Transport (SANWIT) concept was born. The organisation was formed under the wing of the South African Department of Transport to serve as a link between women and public resources to empower women in this industry. The government is encouraging companies to engage with more and more vendors, suppliers and transporters under the BBBEE scoring programme, with special emphasis on women empowerment.
Various companies have now taken on the initiative to assist women in the transport sector and one of these companies is Pioneer Foods.
Ms Joshila Maharaj, a female business entrepreneur, was vying for a contract from Pioneer Foods subject to her fulfillment of contract requirements. The contract is to transport the customer’s products from the Johannesburg depot in Central Johannesburg to various retail stores spread across central and northern parts of South Africa. For the contract, the basic enablers required were a minimum of 5×14 tonne payload trucks with Tautliner bodies and working capital to cover the operational expenses (eg fuel, driver etc.) for two to three months.
Ms Maharaj struggled and failed to obtain finance from various banks and private financiers as she did not meet the criteria set by funding organisations. The Tata Africa team was engaged with the customer from the quote stage of the vehicles. The team understood the business model and tried to facilitate the finance through financial institutions. Various options were explored, based on the customer-centric approach and request placed by Ms Maharaj. A business case was prepared to facilitate this contract and a partnership was proposed keeping in mind the support she would need in running this business from a perspective of working capital, expertise in maintenance and running costs of trucks, in addition to serving our main purpose of empowerment as well as uplifting a woman entrepreneur in our own small way.
The Distribution business joined hands with Ms Maharaj and formed a partnership called Woman in Transport. Newshelf, (a TACSA-owned company) assisted her by providing the required vehicles (5 x LPT2523s) on lease for a five-year period and placed the units on a full-service and maintenance contract. The business provided her with working capital to ensure smooth running of operations during the contract period. To maintain uptime, both on site as well as after-hours service and maintenance support have been extended.
The initiative has been running successfully since its start in November 2016. In the first five months of operation, the business was able to achieve a turnover of Rs 3.5 million and attain profits. To date, the Woman in Transport initiative has been doing well and has managed to get profitable growth.
With this project, TIL has successfully helped empower a woman entrepreneur and supported her in her business pursuits.
