Capital Equipment News December 2018

woman-owned small contractor based in rural Mpumalanga. Access to market Sicediwe was established in 2014 by Mary Mkhabela through her involvement in the Mashishing local economic development forum. This is an SMME development initiative led by Regoapele Capital and aimed at taking small businesses through the intricacies of running a business. Through the initiative, Regoapele Capital helped Mkhabela identify an opportunity to provide metal breaking services at Glencore Lydenburg Smelter, a crucial niche application in the mining/smelter industry. Prior to that, the company had previously undertaken various jobs at Glencore Lydenburg Smelter, such as painting, renovations, paving and construction, to build its profile and a trust base with the client. This gave it the required experience in terms of mine health & safety requirements. Glencore went on to award Sicediwe a three-year contract. “We awarded Sicediwe a three-year contract with an option to extend for a further two years. The scope of the contract is to break down run-of-mine ferrochrome material just before it goes into the crusher,” explains Conroy van der Westhuizen, general works manager at Glencore Lydenburg Smelter. Sicediwe has been tasked to break 30 000 t of ferrochrome in a R700 000 per month contract. “This is a true empowerment initiative which will see the black woman-owned company servicing a core mining activity, employing 12 permanent people in the process,” says Van der Westhuizen. Access to funding Regoapele Capital’s role entailed interacting with Glencore Lydenburg management to assess the viability of the opportunity. This was a detailed process where all aspects were looked at, ranging from the right equipment to execute the job and the costing of the machines to comparison between different OEMs’ offerings and interacting with existing owners to get advice on what works best. “After gathering the relevant information, the next step was to look at different finance houses to get the best funding package for purchasing equipment needed to execute the contract. We found the process to be

QUICK TAKE

In recent years, lack of funding has largely been regarded as a major challenge for upcoming contractors. However, the funding drawback can’t be resolved without dealing with the issue of access to markets first.

Regoapele Capital recently played a major role in a collaborative initiative which is deemed as a new blueprint for SMME development – the initiative balances the creation of access to markets with access to funding for SMMEs.

As part of the initiative, Glencore awarded upcoming contractor, Sicediwe a three-year contract to provide ferrochrome breaking services at its Lydenburg Smelter.

Sicediwe purchased two Komatsu PC200 excavators from Komatsu Southern Africa, two new JCB backhoe loaders from Kemach JCB, a Cat-certified second-hand 428F2 backhoe loader and five new Epiroc hammers from Riviera Hire.

3 YEARS

Both the financier and Glencore created an enabling platform for Sicediwe. Using its three-year contract awarded by Glencore as collateral, Sicediwe was financed to the tune of R8,5-million by Masisizane Fund.

From left: Otukile Moshori, MD of of Regoapele Capital; Conroy van der Westhuizen, general works manager at Glencore Lydenburg Smelter; Mary Mkhabela, owner of Sicediwe; and Maphala Mosomane, provincial manager for Limpopo and Mpumalanga at Masisizane Fund, at a ceremony to hand over the R8,5-million worth of equipment to Sicediwe.

planning, financial management and effective market access strategies for SMMEs. “We have a footprint across three provinces. We strongly believe in presence and proximity to markets and clients for effective and sustainable delivery,” says Moshori. Regoapele Capital recently played a major role in a collaborative initiative

which Moshori deems as a blueprint for SMME development – the initiative balances the creation of access to markets with access to funding for SMMEs. As an enterprise and supplier development partner to Glencore Lydenburg Smelter, Regoapele Capital led the negotiations in securing a three- year contract for Sicediwe, a 100% black

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