NEF injects R35m funding into cement , BUSINESS REPORT (Mercury)

BUSINESS REPORT (Mercury) Page 20

The National Empowerment Fund (NEF) has advanced R35 million to two black entrepreneurs to buy a further 25.1 percent stake in a cement producing company. The funding will enable Jabulani Cekwana and Siphindile Ngiba to increase their shareholding in Value Cement to 73.79 percent. The investment will also facilitate a 43 percent female participation and a 57 percent direct and operational involvement by black management. The funding will also enable I Value Cement to own the property, the plant and the equip- 1 ment it is renting as well as create 50 full time jobs. Cekwana is the managing director of Value Cement while i Ngiba is the financial director. The local cement industry is 1 dominated by multinational 1 corporations, with no black 1 entrants to date. The NEF said Value Cement produced and sold cement to a wide range of customers across the country and had a strong pipeline of customers interested in its products, including elsewhere in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region. Value Cement has a fiveyear off-take agreement with the Mica hardware group and has 145 outlets nationally.