In closing women’s month, we celebrate women in all their positive contributions to the society and the backbone of this country, the Department of Economic Development, Environment, Conservation and Tourism commemorates women in all their splendour.
This time, the department looks into the strides made by Ms Nomhle Winny Leshomo in the manufacturing sector. Her company was registered in 2015 by two members which herself and Mr Mbulelo David Yelane as Directors. According to Leshomo, their business model was inspired by a laundry service, but their challenge was that they had to buy washing soaps in bulk from Gauteng province and was costly as they were emerging.
As a result, they thought of a way of saving money, and they came up with the idea of manufacturing the washing powder and soaps in-house. “We started to receive positive feedback from our customers, they were most satisfied with how our laundry service restored the whiteness and brightened coloured garments. A lot of them started showing interest and enquired about the chemicals we used, that alone was an “aha” moment for us, that’s when the idea of manufacturing and selling of products emerged.”
From very humble beginnings, the Speedchem Manufacturer (Pty) Ltd has grown to become a viable competitor in the cleaning detergents and mortuary disinfectants manufacturing space. The company provides services ranging from laundry services, manufacturing of laundry powder in high & low foam, industrial soaps, thick bleach, ammonia kleen, pine gel, dishwashing liquid, bath foam, fabric softener and laundry stain remover.
Speedchem Manufacture is one the small businesses that benefited from the department’s Empowerment Fund and have received a liquid detergent machine and two extraction fans (air–conditioners) which will assist in expanding the production and ensuring that their products are stored in controlled temperatures.
“With these machines, we are certainly going to meet our targets and we have since noticed a high demand for our mortuary disinfectants products since the COVID pandemic. Before we would only produce 200 litres of liquids, but since receiving the machine, we can now produce up to 700 litres of liquids at once,” said Leshomo.
Empowerment Fund is a support grant aimed at increasing capacity and strengthening the qualifying SMME`s and Cooperatives that are owned by Youth, Women and People with Disabilities through the provision of machinery and equipment’s to a limit of R100 000 per application. The fund is further aimed at sustaining enterprises that are facing economic distress, especially on financial and operational difficulties, to prevent job losses and minimise retrenchment of workers.
The injection of the equipment will serve as a stepping stone towards ensuring that their company is compliant with the quality management, health and safety standards.
She also pointed out that Covid-19 has also played a major role as one of the challenges that the company faced because suppliers increased prices of raw materials and this caused a major strain in the business because they would now have to reject service required from their clients.
The company has to date created employment space for five (5) people and intends to employ more people in the future. They also want to secure larger business premises to accommodate all their product range and staff complement.
The company had previously benefitted in Departmental initiatives to showcase their products and these includes Africa’s largest product sourcing and trade events, namely Southern African International Trade Exhibition (SAITEX). For 25 years SAITEX has been the major hub for trade development in Africa, attracting hundreds of global suppliers and thousands of visitors from across the continent. The annual exhibition takes place at Gallagher Convention Centre in Johannesburg, and continues to provide our local SMME’s with a great opportunity to connect with importers, exporters, manufacturers, distributors and retailers.
“Ous Winny” as popularly known to her customers said she is very happy to notice that local brands made specifically by women do not remain within the elite and highly educated women only. “The entrance of women entrepreneurs into the manufacturing space must be widened and be simplified to include those in rural areas to be taken along to create jobs within their locality,” she concluded.
Leshomo urges all women-owned businesses to always be patient when starting a business because it requires a lot of energy and dedication. “Business should not only be done for the sake of generating profit but also to transfer skills to locals. Let’s share business expertise that increases employment and retention of women in the labour force, and improve certification of products made by women working at home.
Source: Government of South Africa