As we celebrate Women’s Month this August, we raise our hard hats to recognize and celebrate all Concor women and the exceptional work that they do daily. A special mention goes to Concor women working at opencast mining sites. A team of passionate and brave women is crushing stereotypes in a male-dominated industry.

At the heart of one such site, are 13 dump truck operators who operate the CAT 777, Komatsu 785 dump trucks and track dozers, some of which stands a massive 90 tonne.

Mmola Langa is dwarfed by one of these gigantic machines that she operates on a 10-hour shift, five days a week. “I love my job and the enormous work I am able to do with the Komatsu Dump Truck. These big machines have become a part of my life and I enjoy time alone during the shift. As I operate the 777 Dump Truck, either dumping or moving substances to where they are required, I get quality time to think about life and my future”, she said.

Just like most of the operators on site, Langa underwent an operator training program and received on-the-job training before becoming a certified operator. 

"I encourage other women, especially young ladies to consider our field of work and not be intimidated by the size of the machines”, says Sarah Mashaba, a team member.

The women showed great love and passion for their work but like any other job or industry, they face many challenges daily.

• Language barriers make it difficult for people from different ethnic groups to work together effectively. "Broken communication and misunderstanding slow down productivity and can even cause accidents", says Florence Matjiu, a dispatcher.
• Some men still doubt the abilities of women and think they are more experienced and better at operating large machines than women. “Men like to overpower us and take control, they do not trust our abilities, especially when it comes to reversing the trucks”, says Fortunate Mnguni. 

“We have no room for failure but room for the next attempt. We fight for success until we achieve it, then make it a habit. We are exceptional women and by obtaining competency in operating big machines such as the Komatsu 777 Dump Trucks and Track Dozers, we have made history at Concor. With power, strength, and patience – we overcame obstacles and we conquered. We are extraordinary women #BerekaMosadi”, a message from the group of Concor women.

“The strength of these women is incomparable, and they hold so much resilience. Organizations need to make time to appreciate women, to motivate and encourage the young ones to be resilient, to reaffirm them and support ongoing training and development”, says Donique de Figueredo, Employee Engagement Manager at Concor.

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This article was published by Archy Hlahla, Hlengani Communications on behalf of Concor Construction. 

As the Women’s Decade 2010-2020 of the African Union draws to a close, women the world over are standing firm in their push for gender equality – and they want men to walk and work with them, to change perceptions of how women are viewed, and implement changes right where they are. This is at the very core of the United Nations HeForShe campaign www.heforshe.org – a place where men can feel powerfully emboldened to be part of the movement and the solution.  

The strides governments are making are laudable, says Anne Githuku-Shongwe, Representative at the United Nations Women South Africa Multi-Country Office. However, the real work of gender equality has to continually happen in our communities, in our thinking, in our advertising and our perceptions of women. “That’s what the United Nations HeForShe campaign is all about,” she says. “Taking personal responsibility and change that will cascade into thought and community change.”  “With the advertising industry, we’ve created the Unstereotype Alliance, and we’re really challenging private companies who spend billions on advertising to make sure that every single advert that goes out does not stereotype or reinforce images of women as weak or as sexual objects, but actually promotes the image of the future that we really want, which is one where gender equality thrives,” explains Githuku-Shongwe. 

The Unstereotype Alliance is a thought and action platform which uses advertising as a force for good to drive positive change. It seeks to eradicate harmful gender-based stereotypes in all media and advertising content. Convened by UN Women, the Unstereotype Alliance contributes to empowering women in all their diversity (including race, class, age, ability, ethnicity, religion, sexuality, language and education) and addressing harmful masculinities to help create a gender equal world. 

The Loeries, the globally recognised awards for the advertising and communications industry across Africa and the Middle East, are Ally Members the Unstereotype Alliance. One aim is to engage with communications students through a dedicated Unstereotype Alliance and HeForShe Facebook Challenge http://bit.ly/2QLhbFL. “We really want students to engage themselves on the issue of stereotyping. If we can begin to impact on students who themselves are moving into this creative industry that shapes how we believe men and women should be in society, if we can start changing that, and every billboard that comes up, every ad that is on the table, imagine what that would do? A strong woman with a strong man, positive families. These are the images we want portrayed. And just one powerful ad can make such a difference.” “This is the kind of conversation that we want to have at Loeries Creative Week in August this year, with men who are not ashamed to promote feminism, and who can stand and be counted as a feminist.

We’ve got to impact everywhere there are influencers. Creatives are influencers, so if we can influence the influencers to influence the world, then we’re really influencing.” Anne Githuku-Shongwe explains that “in much of Africa and the Middle East, gender-based violence is normalised. It actually should be considered a state of emergency, the way you would deal with a cyclone or other disaster, because really there is a serious issue here. Rape in particular, and sexual violence, is prevalent in many countries, and it’s an area that really has to be dealt with because women will make progress in their education and in their economic advancements, but then they get into a situation of rape or some form of violence from a loved one, and all of that reverses,” she laments.  

Gender equality has to go far beyond just the number of women who sit in high positions, it has to translate to having actual impact on women’s lives. Economically, governments spend billions on procurements every year. “Barely one percent of that goes to towards women-owned businesses. Barely! And that’s a global average,” says Githuku-Shongwe.  “Just imagine if 50 percent of government procurement went to women-owned businesses? That would transform the world, because we know that women-owned businesses employ more people and impact on more people just because automatically they are households.

So the economic upliftment of women is not something to do just because it’s cute, it actually makes transformational economic sense. It’s good business actually. And it starts with changing the way women are viewed and treated.” Anne Githuku-Shongwe will be speaking at the Unstereotype Alliance Masterclass as part of Loeries Creative Week, 22-25 August. More info can be found at Loeries.com. 

Major Partners:      DStv Media Sales, Gearhouse               

Category Partners:     AB InBev, Barron, Brand South Africa, Facebook, Gagasi FM, Google, JCDecaux, Nando’s, Tsogo Sun, Vodacom, Woolworths               

Additional Partners and Official Suppliers:   AAA School of Advertising, Antalis South Africa, Aon South Africa, Backsberg, BEE Online, First   Source, Fresh RSVP Guest Logistics, Funk Productions, Gallo Images, Grid Worldwide, Hetzner,   Mama Creative, Newsclip, Paygate, Rocketseed, Shared Value Initiative, Shift Social Development,  Vega School, VQI Communications Nigeria               

Endorsed by:      Association of Communication and Design, Brand Council South Africa, Commercial Producers    Association, Creative Circle, EXCA, IAB, South African Institute of Architects, IID               

Official Media Partners       Bizcommunity.com, Book of Swag, Brand Communicator Nigeria, Business Insider by Pulse, Campaign Middle East, Film & Event Media, Modern Marketing,The Redzone.               Twitter: @loeries        Instagram: Loerieawards        Facebook: The Loeries         

Distributed on behalf of the  Loeries  by:      Riana Greenblo Communications Date: June 27 2019         For more information, interview requests or high-res images, please contact:        Riana Greenblo on 011 3256006; 0825675159 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. McGloughlin on 0113256006 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (mornings only)   

5Inc is honoured to have been part of Tushiyah Advisory Services' Women in Business networking breakfast on the 8th August. The breakfast was held to celebrate Women's Day and to recognise female business owners. 5Inc was asked to provide the gifts for the delegates with the specific brief of having the gifts created by women.

5Inc's business focuses on creating products from waste material, whilst upskilling unemployed individuals.These individuals are taught technical skills such as woodworking, glass-cutting, sewing, and working with paper. During the training they are also taught to create products which are marketed by 5Inc on their behalf or which they can sell privately. This has the triple effect of teaching skills; allowing the individuals to create an income; and of instilling a revised attitude to items which would normally just be sent to landfill.

For the Tushiyah event, we provided succulent planters made from wine bottles. The wine bottles were cut by a gentleman who is trying to start a business in glass-cutting, and the planters were assembled by 2 unemployed ladies.

The event was held at La Vie en Rose at Killarney Country Club, and the owner of the venue was so impressed with the gifts that she is looking to purchase a range as decor.