THE WOMEN IN MINING ISSUE | MARCH 2020
WOMEN IN BUSINESS
Breaking barriers
Running a sustainable and successful business is not easy, even more so when you are a woman operating in a historically male-dominated industry. Inside Mining speaks to Lindiwe Nakedi, owner and CEO of Gubhani Exploration, who shares her experiences as a woman with a business operating in the mining industry.
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s the CEO of Gubhani Exploration, Nakedi has many responsibilities, which include business development, strategic management and giving direction to the business. In addition to that, she also oversees the day-to-day operations of the business. The fact that Nakedi had no mining background did not stop her from establishing a business in the industry. “Because I did not study anything in the mining industry, it took a lot of learning to adjust to such a heavy-engineering-type environment. I first ran a recruitment company, which was good practice to develop a certain amount of resilience to tough market times, a good work ethic, and the people skills needed for any business,” she explains. Gubhani Exploration’s core focus is surface exploration and core drilling services – a tough area to break into. Nakedi explains that the drilling business required a lot of dedication and perseverance to build, as well as capital. It was only after nine years that the business started growing and registering profits.
Conquering the challenges Entrepreneurship has always been a passion for Nakedi, and she was determined to make a success of it. “I’ve always known that I would like to own my time and be able to do things that would give
Lindiwe Nakedi, owner and CEO of Gubhani Exploration (Credit: Cebisile Mbonani)
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