Personality Profile Sponsored by :
PHOPHI NEMATANGARI :
NEW SARACCA NEC MEMBER
By Eamonn Ryan
On 1 November , 2022 , SARACCA appointed Phophi Nematangari ( also known as Nematangale due to a Home Affairs department bungle ) to its National Executive Committee ( NEC ), as well as its Vice Chair .
Nematangari is the owner and managing director of Mumy &
Sons Projects and Construction , a fully black female owned business established in 2009 . The company has experience in HVAC & R , facilities management and project management . Some of its clients include the Department of Public Works ( Pretoria regional office ) and City of Joburg Property Company .
With a father who was a car mechanic and being somewhat of a tomboy not afraid to climb ladders and repair fridges , a trade career was in her blood from the earliest age . And HVAC & R was her choice – not an accident . “ I wanted to work like my father , and as soon as I started working in this field , I felt HVAC & R was where I wanted to be . Now his toolbox is with me ,” she explains .
In 2003 , she responded to a Transnet Properties advertisement for HVAC & R apprenticeships to NQF level 2 to 4 , training for three and a half years at ACRA ( Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Academy South Africa ) under Grant Laidlaw . Following the training she worked as a junior artisan from 2006 for Transnet , using more her project management skills than the technical training – such was the need for completing projects at the Carlton Centre in central Johannesburg .
“ I was one of the first group of four HVAC & R artisans at Transnet Properties ,” Nematangari says . Her functions included managing projects , heat load calculations in order to draft specifications and managing the contractors . “ I got priceless experience and exposure to running projects . This enabled me to join a facilities management company in 2009 as operations manager running all the Presidency facilities , where I broadened my exposure to electrical , access control , building maintenance and general construction . I found my air conditioning and refrigeration technical experience made these other trades relatively easy to learn .
“ The company that appointed me had a contract with Public Works for the Union Buildings and the Presidential residencies , and that contract was extended to five years . Then in 2013 , I resigned and started my own company , which does all the facilities functions I had learned and decided to include in our scope ,” says Nematangari .
It is a facility management company that primarily focuses on building maintenance .
Her love of HVAC led her to a close involvement with SAIRAC and then SARACCA since 2007 , with a strong urge to make the younger generation and her fellow females aware of the opportunities that lie in HVAC & R . “ Anyone who trains to become an HVAC & R technician is guaranteed work – they are snapped up as soon as they qualify , yet so few learners are aware of this brilliant career . My role on the NEC will be to focus on spreading this message ,” she explains .
“ Most South Africans when they want to study further , think of university or civil engineering because HVAC & R is not top of mind . They know little about the sector and its career prospects . HVAC & R companies struggle to recruit technicians , and you find that most of the black artisans in this country are not South African but from our neighbouring countries . The HVAC & R trade is not doing enough to market themselves to school learners ,” says Nematangari . RACA
© RACA Journal | Eamonn Ryan
New SARACCA NEC member Phophi Nematangari .
www . refrigerationandaircon . co . za RACA Journal I March 2023 33