Profile: Rachel Tladi – Founder and CEO Uvuko Civils

Rachel Tladi – Founder and CEO Uvuko Civils

Rachel Tladi is the founder and CEO of South African maintenance and construction company Uvuko Civils.

She founded the company in 2002 – at the urging of a client and friend who challenged her to start her own construction company.

According to the company’s website, Uvuko Civils undertakes civil, maintenance and construction work with service offerings that include: project management; civil works – roads and earthworks; cost control; safety health environment and quality management; mechanical and electrical engineering and the construction of new developments – both residential and commercial.

Under Ms. Tladi’s stewardship, the company has grown and employs between 450 – 500 employees, undertaking major civil, maintenance and construction work and according to industry insiders, Uvuko Civils is on track to initiating an initial public offering (IPO) with an aim of raising more capital and will eventually be listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.

She attributes the company’s success and growth to the fact she has a committed team. “They’re young and talented, mostly black women.” And the list is impressive: civil and electrical engineers, project managers, quantity surveyors, health and safety officers, carpenters and shop-fitters.

According to Tladi, business resembles building a house. “If the foundation is strong the brickwork will also be. Get the basics right: make sure your company has a proper internal system, including company policies. And do the right thing. Pay the receiver what you owe him, register with whatever body you need to register and make sure your office is in order. That’s essential for sustainability.”

Ms. Tladi is an accountant by training and a holder of numerous awards which include: The Govan Mbeki Best Woman Builder of the Year award – 2008; Regional Business Woman Achievers Award – entrepreneur category 2010 and was a finalist at the World Entrepreneur Awards 2010.

To be noted and respected as a woman in a male-dominated sector in South Africa, Tladi says it helps to ensure you know everything there is to know about the industry.

More about Rachel Tladi and Uvuko Civils can be found here…