SA Affordable Housing September - October 2019 // ISSUE: 78 | Page 39

PROFILE
to the development of more than 1 000 homes over the
past three years, and have much more in the pipeline.
“Access to credit and building material was one of
the issues we saw as a challenge and we are trying to
address it at Chwai in order for contractors to complete
their projects timeously. However, lack of access to
the industry, particularly within the private sector, by
experienced, skilled and capable small-to-medium sized
contractors is the biggest challenge. The greater part of
the construction industry lies within the private sector
and access to this market is very limited and challenging.
Those that are involved are mostly sub-contracted to offer
just labour. Government is trying to bridge the gap, but
the transformation and available opportunities are still
sparse,” says Njozela.
His message to others is, “Whatever you do in life, add
value. Make an impact and the rewards will follow. Building
lives, building families and building communities is my
life’s objective: I wake up every day to make a positive
impact in the lives of the people on the ground and the
clients we work with. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
“We are going through a challenging time in the
economy of our country right now and with such a young
democracy everyone is going through something, but we all
have a choice. A choice to choose between hope or despair,
negative or positive. I choose to be an agent of hope every
day, I make a choice to be positive, it allows me to see
opportunities. A positive mindset is a problem-solving
mechanism, most importantly you are happy when you are
positive.
“Your mind is like a garden, weed out the negative
thoughts and water the trees and plants that will bring you
the fruits to keep positive in your endeavours – prepare for
the worst and hope for the best,” he says.
“I was born in the former Transkei in Engcobo and raised
by my grandparents who moved to Cape Town, Gugulethu,
in pursuit of greener pastures. I quickly learned hard
work and perseverance from by grandfather who was
a crane operator at Murray & Roberts,” says Njozela. “I
was fortunate to receive a scholarship to study Business
Administration at TSIBA (Tertiary School in Business
Administration, which aims at aspiring entrepreneurial
leaders). This is where my love for business and
entrepreneurship was cultivated.
Due to personal reasons, I was unable to complete my
degree and immediately started working for Nedbank
where I started off as a teller and later progressed to a
Services Manager position within the Business Banking
division, where I was exposed to information about large
businesses and how they operate, financial management
and more. This only further fuelled my desire to get into
business for my own account one day.”
Chwai’s smart sourcing solution is the foundation of
the business. “We supply and deliver building materials
and engineering consumables to state-owned entities;
municipalities, private developers and large construction
companies that subscribe to the broad-base black
empowerment policy. We enlist as a vendor with the
supply chain department and tender, on request, for
quotation and large tender projects,” says Njozela.
Getting into the industry was by pure chance. “An
opportunity to make an impact presented itself and I
was sold. Today we work with private developers, private
homeowners and medium-size contractors in the RDP
housing space, which is dear to my heart. Providing safe
homes and building communities is our main objective
and mission.”
Njozela says his operation has considerable empathy
with emerging contractors because his own business
struggled to get going. “We battled to raise finance to
bridge our customers’ purchases in the traditional way.
My banking experience enabaled me to look at the
relationship in a different way. These are contractors that
do an exceptional job but struggle with finance and issues
such as time management,” he says. “I recognised that we
could make an impact here.”
He lists among his accomplishments every complete
RDP house his company has helped build. “It is always a
great achievement for us. Seeing the sheer excitement of
beneficiaries who have been living in informal housing
for years is always a heart-warming experience. That’s our
greatest success, building lives is what we call it.”
www.saaffordablehousing.co.za
YOUTHFUL INSPIRATION
Njozela transferred his banking experience to the construction
industry to help contractors find that most elusive asset – capital.
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