Black-owned engineering specialist Tswelopele Engineering is taking part in Power-Gen Africa (PGA) “to enter new markets and to reach potential solution seekers in all of Africa”, says company CEO Bongane Madondo.

PGA, which Madondo describes as a product-awareness platform for engineering products and solutions in Southern Africa, will take place at the Cape Town International Convention Centre from July 15 to 17.

“We want to establish a presence at the event and introduce ourselves as a company with engineering solutions that can be useful to the power industry. “We want to use this as a platform to achieve our goal to be the best in what we do,” says Madondo.

He tells Engineering News that events like PGA assist with the growth of the power and electricity sector in Africa, as they create awareness about new or untested solutions that could be used to advance the power industry on the continent.

He adds that African companies in the power industry can also advance their businesses, as they can use the event to touch base with existing and potential clients.

“To this end, we, as a company that wants to become the market leader in engineering solutions for the power industry, plan to use the PGA as a marketing platform to get our company name out there,” says Madondo.

Company Profile
Established in 1997, Tswelopele Engineering is a predominantly black-managed and -staffed business.

In 1999, Tswelopele signed a distribution agreement with US electrical equipment manufacturer Cooper Power Systems. “Since then, we have averaged a turnover of R20-million a year,” reveals Madondo.

In 2006, Tswelopele diversified its operations by establishing a new company – Tswelopele Solutions – specialising in mass-access control and ticketing systems. Tswelopele Group currently serves the electricity supply industry in South Africa and in neighbouring countries.

Tswelopele Engineering has also established itself as a supplier of voltage regulators, surge arresters and auto-reclosers. Early on, the company set itself apart by investing in research and development. “The only way to survive was to stop being a reseller and to create and develop our own intellectual property. South Africans tend to import everything when we should be developing our own products,” says Madondo.

He proudly adds that, since 2003, Tswelopele has been ISO 9001-certified; standard that provides a tried and tested framework for following a systematic approach to managing an organisation’s processes so that its products consistently satisfy customer expectations.

Tswelopele is also a start-up incubator for new businesses. “Jobs are diminishing, but opportunities are increasing. Entrepreneurship is the only way to create employment in this country and, because Tswelopele has learnt so much about the highs and lows of business, we are optimally placed to help others who are starting out,” concludes Madondo.