The impact of procurement in facilitating and promoting the growth of female participation in the mining industry is often overlooked, says consulting and project management organisation Tshepa Basadi Group commercial director Mbali Milanzi.

As a result, there are often low levels of participation by women-owned businesses and inadequate support for women-owned businesses that do participate.

She notes that authentic gender equality in the workplace could boost the South African economy by R175-billion yearly – a strategy, however, requiring strategic and intentional actions.

The mining industry contributes 8% to South Africa's gross domestic product and allocates 22% of this to procurement, amounting to R107.7-billion yearly, says Milanzi; however, the procurement route is a challenge for women-owned businesses.

“The struggles raise important questions about the ability of female-owned businesses to thrive in this environment and the impact of their participation,” she says.

“Exploring where the procurement spend goes, we discover that 75% of R107.7-billion annually goes to black entities, indicating significant progress in black economic empowerment,” says Milanzi.

However, there has not been significant progress for women-owned businesses thus far, she asserts, pointing to national statistics that reveal that only 22% of South African businesses are owned by women.

Of the 22%, 59% of those women-owned businesses operate in the retail, restaurant, food shops and domestic services industry, while a further 20% operate in the agricultural space.

“At best, 20% of the 22% of these women-owned businesses in South Africa are technical companies,” she says.

Based on these statistics, Milanzi expresses concern that there is no significant transformation occurring in the procurement sector that can facilitate the entry of more women-owned businesses.

Barriers to Entry
In this vein, Milanzi has observed some possible reasons for low women-owned business participation.

While acknowledging that there is no statistics-based evidence, she attributes low participation to women not bidding on tenders.

“They probably don’t bid because they are not in the selection, or preferred supplier, pool,” adds Milanzi.

Further, she suggests that when women-owned businesses are in the selection pool, they encounter other challenges, such as biases and lack of track record.

Milanzi expresses concern that, despite meeting tender requirements and being on par with other businesses placing bids, women-owned businesses encounter significant difficulties in gaining the attention of the project owner.

“Too often, the system is rigged to favour whoever the project owner prefers,” she says.

To increase women's participation, Milanzi proposes gradual and intentional progression. She calls on stakeholders to be intentional about setting aside work for black women-owned companies and to split the scope into manageable packages, ensuring a healthy pipeline of opportunities.

She emphasises that mines should also address barriers to entry by eliminating biases, providing access to capital, being intentional in sponsorship, and providing access to capital and development programmes for women-owned businesses.

Milanzi asserts that women need to take a proactive stance as well. “Women entrepreneurs should focus on networking, collaboration and development programmes.”