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WoMeN sUccess
“These days, at compulsory briefings there is in
excess of 100 companies bidding for one tender.
We find ourselves competing with someone
who operates from the back of their bakkie and
because they have no overheads, their prices are
much cheaper,” the managing director points out.
When they started out, Dumakude and her
partner, Zee Cele invested their own funds into
the company and for a while, they did not draw
salaries until they secured their first bankable
project. The company has presence in Gauteng,
Limpopo, Northwest and Kwa-Zulu Natal, and it
also provides services nationally.
Marina Dumakude
Tanguliza Projects is registered with CIDB and
currently graded at 6 CE PE, 1 GB (previously 4
EB PE). The company is also registered with
Eskom Demand Side Management (DSM) as an
Energy Services Company (ESCO) for investigation,
planning, implementation and monitoring of
energy efficiency and load management projects.
Is construction
Industry stIll strIctly
a men’s world?
Black-woman-owned construction company is ready to prove
that women are just as capable to succeed in construction.
T
he construction industry may still be male
dominated, both at the corporate and
entrepreneurial levels, but the women
behind Tanguliza Projects are determined to
make a significant mark despite unfavourable
legislation and other challenges.
“Since inception in 2005, we have managed
engineering and technically oriented projects
for various clients in the private and public
sectors. As the organisation grew, we introduced
construction as a service offering,” says Managing
Director Marina Dumakude.
Tanguliza Projects is a construction and technical
project management company, as well as a
wholesale supplier of petroleum products. The
100% Black-Women-Owned (BWO) company
provides services in civil and electrical
construction, as well as project management and
sub-contractor management, offering customers
the best possible service on-site.
She says construction is a tough industry
that requires long hours and dealing with
unpredictable tender processes. Adding,
Dumakude says the industry is not only
oversubscribed and highly competitive, but when
other industries fail and shed jobs, the retrenched
employees resort to construction because there
are no barriers to entry.
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www.transformsa.co.za
“As a grade 6CE PE, we are eligible to handle projects
between R13 million to R40 million,” explains the
managing director. However, she notes that there
is high competition in this category, seeing as
there are 1 030 6CE (civil engineering contractors)
active contractors on the CIDB register nationwide,
with 308 of these based in Gauteng.
Dumakude says there is insufficient work in the
industry at the moment and as a result, when
clients issue out work, the compulsory site
briefings are literally crowded with companies
attending the briefing for only one tender.
To ensure that they remain in business in this
cutthroat industry, Dumakude says the company
has systems and processes in place which
demonstrate to their clients that they know what
they are doing. And indeed, they do; Dumakude
holds a Master of Engineering in Civil Engineering
(Wits), Bachelor of Technology in Industrial
Engineering from the Technikon Witwatersrand,
Management Advancement Programme (MAP)
from Wits Business School, and a Diploma in
Computer Science from Executive School of
Computers.
She has 21 years’ experience in various industries
including in energy, capacity management
and logistics support. Dumakude has 10 years
entrepreneurial experience and worked in the
energy efficiency industry before moving to
technical project management and construction.
For the last five (5) years, she has served in
