The National Association of Automotive Component and Allied Manufacturers (NAACAM) has awarded its manufacturing-focused 2022 Masters of Business Administration (MBA) scholarship at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) to Modiehi Evodia Phahlo – one of 13 female candidates who applied for the scholarship.

Phahlo is the founder and CEO of Deedee Hygiene Solutions, which has been operating since 2019.

In spite of various global and local studies indicating that gender diversity increases innovation, productivity and sales, NAACAM says the South African manufacturing sector still lacks diversity. It points out that, while upwards of 1.6-million people are employed in manufacturing, less than 35% are women.

The reasons for this are varied, including the limited funding targeted at female education and limited support for women-owned businesses.

NAACAM's MBA scholarship aims to bridge this gap for one African female working in an emerging industrial company.

In establishing the scholarship, NAACAM and the Toyota Wessels Institute for Manufacturing Studies (TWIMS) envisioned that the recipient of the scholarship would be a deserving female candidate of exceptional talent, who demonstrates ‘monozukuri’ (a Japanese phrase describing a person’s pride in making things).

In expressing her gratitude to NAACAM and TWIMS, Phahlo stated that, as a founder and CEO of a small business, the MBA will assist her in further developing her technical and operational competencies.

The once-off and two-year scholarship, awarded in recognition of the late Dr Johan van Zyl, provides for study towards a manufacturing-focused GIBS MBA at the TWIMS in 2022, and is supported by 40 NAACAM members.

Van Zyl was the former chairperson of both Toyota South Africa Motors and TWIMS.

The GIBS MBA taught at the TWIMS campus, in KwaZulu-Natal, is considered to be a “challenging but rewarding manufacturing-focused MBA”, which requires candidates to have a strong academic background and passion for advancing the sector.

TWIMS scholarship committee head and TWIMS's African Trade and Industrialisation research head Mbongeni Ndlovu further mentions that "the scholarship committee was impressed by Phahlo’s passion for manufacturing and her ambitious move to go into entrepreneurship as the founder and CEO of a small and medium-sized enterprise in such a male-dominated sector".

He further adds that "Phahlo’s contribution to her community in her role as an ambassador promoting entrepreneurship in the manufacturing sector, and actively collaborating with other organisations to create awareness of Covid-19, made [her] a noteworthy candidate.”

TWIMS executive director Professor Justin Barnes interviewed Phahlo and believes she will be an asset to the MBA programme.

He believes the strong support network she already has in place will assist her in juggling the management of her small business, motherhood and the various roles she fulfils within her community with the arduous responsibilities of the MBA over the next two years.

NAACAM commercial director Shivani Singh, meanwhile, congratulated Phahlo on the achievement, remarking that "women's participation and representation in the manufacturing sector, especially in leadership positions, is of great importance”.

She adds that “while women may be under-represented in the manufacturing sector, NAACAM and its members are committed to supporting greater diversity and inclusion, and this scholarship is one of many ways NAACAM is driving this ambition”.