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Johannesburg - The Mineworkers Investment Company (MIC) is growing as one of South Africa’s remarkable empowerment companies, according to CEO Mary Bomela.
Bomela, a chartered accountant, took over in 2012 as CEO from Paul Nkuna, had been at the helm for ten years.
“His were big shoes to fill, but sometimes it’s important that you buy your own high heels and increment your shoe size,” said Bomela about taking over the role of CEO.
MIC has a culture of gender equality and leads by example, according to Bomela. About 75% of the leadership in the company is women.
“It’s something MIC is proud of, particularly in the traditionally male-dominated finance sector,” she said.
MIC’s objective is to significantly establish a sustainable asset base for the benefit of mine, energy and construction workers and their dependents.
One of the ways in which this is achieved is through educating the dependents of mining, energy and construction employees including retired employees.
MIC’s net asset value increased by 22% to R2.8bn in 2012. It has less than 5% debt and has disbursed more than R368m to its social development programmes.
Education and training is done through the JB Marks Education Trust Fund and the Elijah Barayi Memorial Training Centre and job creation, entrepreneurship and social development through the Mineworkers Development Agency (MDA).
The MDA supports and retrains retrenched employees, while helping their dependents and communities.
“Mineworkers are among the lowest-paid employees in the country,” said Bomela.
"This highlights their concerns about what would happen to their families if they were to be retrenched or retire. Having only one skill set makes it very challenging for them to cross over into another industry."
That makes the MIC's efforts of reskilling, job creation and training very important.
The MIC has also managed its own successful enterprise development programmes in under resourced provinces such as Mpumalanga and the Eastern Cape.
There it provides emerging farmers with the financial and technical support to transition into commercial farming. Large retailers such as Shoprite, Pick n Pay and the JD Group help in bringing the produce to the retail market.
"MIC is continually pursuing new investment opportunities to add onto its current diversified portfolio in which it owns stakes in companies that are performing well," said Bomela.
"The selection process of which companies to invest in is driven by business principles with a social conscience. They have a need for cash-generative investments with high growth prospects to be able to fund the activities of the trust."
MIC avoids a potential conflict of interest with the NUM in the investment choices.
“The best thing we can now do for our beneficiaries is to ensure that we are more profitable and declare even bigger dividends for our shareholders so we can expand on the programmes to help them out,” said Bomela.
- Fin24
Bomela, a chartered accountant, took over in 2012 as CEO from Paul Nkuna, had been at the helm for ten years.
“His were big shoes to fill, but sometimes it’s important that you buy your own high heels and increment your shoe size,” said Bomela about taking over the role of CEO.
MIC has a culture of gender equality and leads by example, according to Bomela. About 75% of the leadership in the company is women.
“It’s something MIC is proud of, particularly in the traditionally male-dominated finance sector,” she said.
MIC’s objective is to significantly establish a sustainable asset base for the benefit of mine, energy and construction workers and their dependents.
One of the ways in which this is achieved is through educating the dependents of mining, energy and construction employees including retired employees.
MIC’s net asset value increased by 22% to R2.8bn in 2012. It has less than 5% debt and has disbursed more than R368m to its social development programmes.
Education and training is done through the JB Marks Education Trust Fund and the Elijah Barayi Memorial Training Centre and job creation, entrepreneurship and social development through the Mineworkers Development Agency (MDA).
The MDA supports and retrains retrenched employees, while helping their dependents and communities.
“Mineworkers are among the lowest-paid employees in the country,” said Bomela.
"This highlights their concerns about what would happen to their families if they were to be retrenched or retire. Having only one skill set makes it very challenging for them to cross over into another industry."
That makes the MIC's efforts of reskilling, job creation and training very important.
The MIC has also managed its own successful enterprise development programmes in under resourced provinces such as Mpumalanga and the Eastern Cape.
There it provides emerging farmers with the financial and technical support to transition into commercial farming. Large retailers such as Shoprite, Pick n Pay and the JD Group help in bringing the produce to the retail market.
"MIC is continually pursuing new investment opportunities to add onto its current diversified portfolio in which it owns stakes in companies that are performing well," said Bomela.
"The selection process of which companies to invest in is driven by business principles with a social conscience. They have a need for cash-generative investments with high growth prospects to be able to fund the activities of the trust."
MIC avoids a potential conflict of interest with the NUM in the investment choices.
“The best thing we can now do for our beneficiaries is to ensure that we are more profitable and declare even bigger dividends for our shareholders so we can expand on the programmes to help them out,” said Bomela.
- Fin24
