Women in Mining – Local business woman pleads for more employment for people with disabilities.
Secunda based businesswoman, Merlin Kalikhan is the owner of Broad Based Welding Solutions (BBWS) and one of the 20 beneficiaries of Seriti’s Women in Mining Programme. This programme has now been running for eight months with the main objective of empowering women in business.
The majority of the ladies on the programme are established suppliers to the Seriti Power business and they have each been running their companies for a number of years. Merlin herself, has been in business for 15 years, initially involved in a partnership business, but said that “due to our government always encouraging women to be in business, I saw it as an opportunity to have my own woman-owned business in South Africa.”
Merlin, born and bred in KZN, had moved to Secunda in 2008. This former personal assistant was always interested in business and has a diploma in computer science and banking, specialising in asset-based finance and trade finance. Today she enjoys reading business- and personal development literature by gurus such as Suze Orman, Robert T Kiyosaki, Rhonda Byrne, Warren Buffett and Robin Sharma.
For Merlin, the Women in Mining programme, developed and presented by Collective Value Creation (CVC) has created a “fantastic opportunity enabling me to network and to grow my business through opportunities which BBWS does not have the budget for. An example is that the BBWS website is being recreated through this programme. We also receive education and training regarding SARS which most small businesses lack the knowledge of.
We are constantly being mentored on self-development, growing as individuals and finding our inner strength. It is a wonderful personal opportunity for me to grow as a woman leader in industry; to develop confidence and find solutions on how to handle similar challenges faced by other women in the group.”
Her business challenges echo those of nearly all of the beneficiaries of this programme in that they feel they are not being taken seriously as women and seen as capable to deliver quality products and services with technical support. She hopes that through this programme she will be able to use the network opportunities to create brand awareness. Says Merlin: “as a small business we are constantly measured and expected to have the same credentials as huge entities.
This is a challenge which stagnates growth of small businesses and I appeal to mining houses to give us small businesses an opportunity, for example 10% of the tender value, to prove our services, abilities, and the value we can add and deliver to the industry.”
Also read: Women in Mining – Khuliso Munyembane participates in Seriti’s programme
On a personal level, Merlin feels that something which is grossly overlooked by many businesses is the employment of people with disabilities. Being the parent of such an adult child, she has first-hand experiences of the challenges involved. “Very few are employed, most stay home and do nothing. Like any other human being, they need a purpose for their lives; they need to be independent and feel worthy.
Their disability is not their choice.” Talking to Merlin and getting a sense of her passion for her business and her family, it would be no surprise if she could one day fulfil her big dream to build a facility for disabled young people to be skilled and trained in various trades, ensuring they can contribute towards their own future.
Sharon Sprenger, sales coach to the entrepreneurs said “working with the ladies on an individual level has been both inspiring and rewarding as we assisted them in developing their sales skills so that their businesses could grow and expand. To see how the confidence and attitude has shifted in each of them over the last few months as they tapped further into their potential, has been extremely satisfying to experience.”
