WOMEN IN MINING PROGRAMME BENEFICIARY AIMS FOR ECONOMIC GROWTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL BALANCE
“The world is bigger than you thought.” Eva Masemola
Talking to local businesswoman and one of the twenty beneficiaries of Seriti’s Women in Mining Programme, Eva Masemola, one cannot help to come under the deep impression of this thirty-three-year-old woman’s maturity and sense of responsibility for her discipline.
Growing up in Polokwane, Eva left Limpopo with an Anglo-American bursary to obtain a degree in Geology and Environmental Science at Rhodes University. She went on to obtain a Master’s degree in Hydrogeology at the University of the Free State.
Armed with her education and a love for the environment, she started a business, Nabla H, and since 2019 has been the sole owner, providing an advisory service to clients in the mining industry. Her focus is on groundwater and assisting in managing water-related risks for her clients. (Nabla is a mathematical notation used to simplify complex differential equations.)
Eva applied for the Women in Mining programme in order to build and enhance an improved strategy for her business as well as build a successful professional career. She further hopes to gain more courage to excel and grow the potential of her company.
Many people see environmental health and economic growth as complete opposites but Eva believes that it is a fine balancing act and that it is possible to maintain a sustainable equilibrium, provided you follow sensible processes.
Obstacles are many, especially in a one-woman business, and she has not been spared the anguish of finding clients and new projects. Gaining trust in the industry is a constant challenge as well as ensuring you grow professionally and as an individual.
This is where the programme, developed and managed by Collective Value Creation on behalf of Seriti, tries to make a difference. This holistic development programme aiming at empowering women entrepreneurs in the Emalahleni/Middelburg area was launched during May this year and includes individual mentoring apart from group training sessions.
Also read: Women in Mining – Ayanda Ngwane participates in Seriti’s programme
Amongst other aspects of business, financial training is high on the priority list and the financial trainer/mentor on the programme, Mphiri Phalane, explains that the “programme offers an insight into the financial understanding for the SMME’s and the aim is to help the businesswomen understand the financial behaviour of their business. It is also important that they respect and understand compliance.”
Eva is grateful to the sponsor of the programme and appreciates the amount of support provided to her and her fellow entrepreneurs. “They see you as an individual and provide a relationship of support. The program showed me that we all have challenges although our experiences are different. We are not isolated. This training gave me an opportunity to also evaluate how far I’ve come.” She is looking forward to boosting her confidence as a result of the gained knowledge as this confidence would help to push her forward and achieve more.
Outside working hours, Eva enjoys going to the gym to stay fit and learn new languages. She has taken up Spanish a few years ago and is currently learning Korean – just because it sounds like a beautiful language to her!
Indeed, for Eva, the world has become much bigger than she thought.
