2016 Women in Construction Awards winners announced

Over 300 guests from the construction, cement and concrete industry applauded the finalists and celebrated the various winners.

Awards winners:

Individual categories:

Pioneer of Innovation: Noluthando Molao, associate sirector, Turner & Townsend, Johannesburg
New Starter of The Year: Etheldreder Koppa, assistant project manager, National Housing Corporation, Tanzania

Organisational categories:

Excellence in Career Development: Thobile Bhembe, junior site agent, Inyatsi Construction Group Holdings (Pty) Ltd, Swaziland
Most Innovative Women Training Programme: The City of Cape Town's Transport Authority, Cape Town

“Winning the award is recognition of all the hard work I’ve put in over the last ten years while building my career. I’d like to encourage other women wanting to break into the construction industry by saying that anything is possible with hard work, perseverance and a plan. It’s vital to remember no-one wins alone. I have learnt that different people have different strengths and one should be able to acknowledge this and draw from this,” said Noluthando Molao, winner of the Pioneer of Innovation award.

L-R: Marissa van Zuydam, marketing executive at Inyatsi Construction; Thobile Bhembe, junior site agent at Inyatsi Construction; Slivia Ngwenya, communications manager at Inyatsi Construction

Excellence in Career Development award winner Thobile Bhembe also commented on her achievement: “I am honoured to be recognised by receiving this award. I am also proud to be the first female site agent at Inyatsi Construction Group Holdings. I’d like to remind the youth interested in the construction industry to not only like Mathematics and Science, but work hard at it too. Construction is not a just for certain people, it’s for everyone.”

The call for nominations for the Women in Construction Awards resulted in 37 nominations. A panel of judges - which consisted of 19 global industry experts - identified five individual finalists, representative of three African countries and six organisational finalists.

“The Women In Construction Awards is an enabler, which shows women that their efforts within the industry are recognised. Seeing and hearing about women excelling in the construction sector proves that there is support for women in this male-dominated industry,” said Women in Construction Awards director Athi Myoli.