The alarmingly high rate of unemployed youth is what spurred a young woman in a white male-dominated industry to start a mining training facility, in the hopes of combating the plight of young people in communities.
Working with major companies such as Anglo American’s Mogalakwena mine and the Ivanplats mine in the Limpopo Province, Maggie Moila, the founder of Fundza Training Institute, has been committed to providing the highest quality, needs-based training interventions to its clients.
Moila told Business Report that she started the business in 2015, looking at the lack of knowledge individuals have when it comes to financial literacy.
Formerly a registered debt counsellor, she saw the gap and started training local communities on how to “manage your finances”, as well as SMMEs on business start-up and mentoring.
Through years of training, she then expanded her accreditations into lifting machines, earth-moving machines as well as first aid.
Through the training that she conducted with the mines she noticed most people, especially youth, are unemployed due to a lack of skills.
She took it upon herself to open a training centre to combat this challenge.
“Being a black woman in a white male-dominated industry, I had to work 10 times harder, just to be recognised and taken into consideration, but I saw it as a motivation.”
Moila says that she provides training to workers in the mining industry in the following aspects:
- Earth Moving Machines: Excavators, Rigid Body Trucks, Tractor, Backhoe\Loader, Front-end Loader, Bobcat\skid Steer, Grader, Track Dozer, Tipper Truck.
- Lift Machinery: Telescopic Boom Handler, Mobile Elevated Platform Operator, Chain Hoist, Basic Rigging and Slinging
- Cranes: Hydraulic Crane (Heavy Crane: Code 36), Mobile Crane Operator (Code 33-40), Overhead Crane Operator PR (Code 30)
- Counter Balance Lift Truck: Forklift Operator Code 1-4, Pallet Truck Operator Code 12, 4 Post Operator, Roll Back.
- First aid and Fire fighting
BUSINESS REPORT