Civil Engineering September 2021 | Vol 29 No 8

Civil Engineering September 2021 51 Entrepreneursh i p What led you to start your own business? NN I spent many years working as an engineer for large corporates, which I found very fulfilling, and I never planned to start a business of my own. I ended up starting Pink Africa at a time when I felt that I needed to take a step back from the corporate world and focus on other aspects of my life. The intention was to remain involved in the industry on my own terms and I only ever intended to work on a part-time basis. Over time my business took off and continued to grow and so I made the decision to become a full-time entrepreneur. How has your business grown and evolved over time? NN When I started Pink Africa in November 2016, I was sub-consulting to a few larger companies, usually on an hourly basis. As time went on, I was presented with opportunities to play a bigger role on projects, and I could no longer manage the workload on my own. I slowly began to bring other staff members onboard, and the company now has four fulltime and three part-time staff members. Expanding my staff compliment was an essential part of growing my business as it allowed me to focus more on the business aspects while they focused on the engineering aspects of the work. I was surprised to find that I thoroughly enjoyed learning about the business as- pects, and it encouraged me to continue to grow the company to the point it is at today. Employing additional engineers also allowed me to expand the company’s service offerings. My specialty is water and sanitation infrastructure, and this was the type of work the company initially focused on. By bringing onboard addi- tional skills, we have expanded our scope to include traffic and transportation, structures, stormwater management, and human settlement and urban design. What are some of the challenges you would like to make hopeful entrepreneurs aware of? NN As engineers we are familiar with the technical and some financial aspects of running a project. However, we are usu- ally not familiar with the various aspects of running a business, like financial management, human resources, IT and the regulatory environment. These are areas that engineers working in larger firms seldom, if ever, get very involved in and I found that I needed to seek outside help and bring in specialist resources where required because you cannot be an expert on everything; although you do need to have a keen un- derstanding of all aspects involved in run- ning a business. This was definitely one of my biggest challenges, which turned out to be an enjoyable one as I learnt a great deal in the process. As the company began to grow we encountered another challenge: balancing the company’s resources with our ongoing projects. This is a delicate balance as we needed sufficient projects to keep our resources busy, while maintaining resources in order to procure new projects. Trying to maintain that balance has been a challenge. I have managed this by employing resources on a contractual basis, as and when required. This is particularly helpful when you need highly skilled and costly resources for specialised projects. How do you assist with the career development of young engineers? NN I have always been passionate about mentoring young professionals and helping them achieve professional regis- tration. By making a difference in their lives I can help them make a difference in the lives of others. Pink Africa currently employs three unregistered engineers and we have a mentorship programme in place to track their progress towards becoming profes- sionally registered with ECSA. As a small business it can be challenging to help young engineers get full exposure and career development because of the nature of our projects. I have identified areas within their development that require improvement. If we cannot provide the necessary ex- posure through in-house projects, I have Words of wisdom from a young entrepreneur This article is a continuation of a series of interviews with young entrepreneurs in the civil engineering space. Civil Engineering spoke to Naomi Naidoo (Pr Eng), owner of Pink Africa Consulting Engineers, about her experience starting a business and her advice for hopeful entrepreneurs. Naomi Naidoo, owner of Pink Africa Consulting Engineers