In addition to having produced more than 25-million railway sleepers since its inception in 1958, majority black women-owned construction company Colossal Concrete Products also produces a range of innovative precast concrete products for the local and sub-Saharan construction and infrastructure- related sectors, including pipes, concrete poles and masts, culverts and manholes.

The company leverages its employees’ “wealth of knowledge” and its manufacturing capabilities to produce its “vast range of sleepers and other precast concrete products”, says Colossal Concrete Products COO Mmapitso Kiewiet.

With manufacturing facilities in De Aar, in the Northern Cape, and Brakpan, in Johannesburg East, the company produces 33 types of railway sleepers, with a combined capacity of up to one-million sleepers a year.

Colossal Concrete Products is also ISO 9001-compliant, and its in-house manufacturing capabilities enable it to produce precast concrete products for a variety of infrastructure projects, such as water treatment works, civil engineering and custom precast products for private-property construction.

The company can also produce concrete enclosures for the protection of assets. The Colossal Durasafe enclosure is a reinforced concrete, self-weight locking mechanism to protect electronic equipment and machinery, as well as other technical equipment and assets at remote or isolated locations.

Colossal Durasafe was developed in conjunction with commuter rail services provider Metrorail, to provide a high level of protection for security or safety-sensitive installations against vandalism. It was originally designed to protect rail signal and sensitive electronic equipment but has also become popular in other safeguarding applications.

Kiewiet notes that the product is easily transportable and installable.

Gender Disparity

As a black women-owned manufacturing company, the employees and owners have previously experienced marginalisation while operating in the construction industry. While this has improved in their own experience, Kiewiet notes that these experiences for other women in the sector are still “all too commonplace”.

This has spurred investment in empowering women through the ‘Gals in Hard Hats’ initiative for women who are pursuing a career in engineering or construction.

In a press release, which Colossal issued on September 25, it was highlighted that women account for a mere 7% of engineers registered with the Engineering Council of South Africa, and only 13% of the graduates in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) are women.

The ‘Gals in Hard Hats’ initiative aims to change this by providing young women studying STEM subjects opportunities to become empowered and inspired by visiting one of Colossal’s – or its suppliers’ – manufacturing facilities. The initiative takes the form of an event, including site tours, as well as a knowledge-sharing session featuring successful women from infrastructure-related fields sharing their valuable career and industry insights.

“We need to start amplifying our voices as women, and not be shy of our successes, so that young women can see what is possible. STEM must be introduced during girls’ formative years, so this can spark their interest – and the confidence to pursue it,” says Kiewiet.

The first ‘Gals in Hard Hats’ event – hosted in collaboration with Colossal’s suppliers, construction material company AfriSam and construction chemicals company Chryso Southern Africa in August – was held at Colossal Concrete Products’ Brakpan facility.

Sixty women from the universities of Pretoria and the Witwatersrand were afforded a tour of the Brakpan site and engaged with industry professionals.

“We gave the ‘gals’ a taste and view of the different construction and infrastructure-related avenues that they can follow. Our speakers ranged from university lecturers to manufacturing business owners and a metallurgist – representing the wide spectrum of the potential careers,” says Colossal Concrete Products CEO Gwen Mahuma-Madida.

To improve the position of women in the engineering and construction industry, Mahuma-Madida believes it is necessary to implement similar initiatives to ensure that women are included.

“We are proud to announce that ‘Gals in Hard Hats’ will be repeated next year – this time at an AfriSam operation – with Colossal Concrete Products and Chryso Southern Africa co-hosting and co-sponsoring the event,” she concludes.