ChamberRoosta No7 | 2024 : Oakleigh Funeral Home
About Oakleigh Funeral Home
Oakleigh Funeral Home, established in 1999, and based in the two main centres of Pietermaritzburg and Durban, offers a personalised turnkey funeral service, where their clients are placed at the core and centre of what they do. Their mission is to “walk alongside you” when you face the death of a loved one, with compassion and quiet professionalism. They are a small family enterprise with a massive heart and huge capacity.
The “Something to Crow About”
At the beginning of autumn 2024, Senior Living Magazine (SLM) and Oakleigh Funeral Home (OFH) partnered to launch a heartwarming campaign aimed at helping those in need during the cold winter months. What started off as a plea for people to “lend a helping hand on Mandela Day”, quickly snowballed into a much longer-lasting initiative. The ” Blankets, Beanies and Booties” campaign reached out to elderly residents in retirement villages and skilled knitters in the community, asking them to contribute their talents to provide warmth to newborn babies and other vulnerable individuals, without adequate clothing for the cold winter season.
The Oakleigh team were deeply humbled by the outpouring of support from the KZN community. Their collection boxes overflowed at all four of the Oakleigh branches as well as in the reception areas of many retirement homes, showing how eager people were to help.
To date, they have collected and distributed over 2,377 items (mostly handmade!), including beanies, booties, children’s clothing, scarves, socks, blankets, gloves, mittens, and granny squares… and are still counting! These donations have not only provided much-needed warmth to the recipients but has also given the knitters and donors a renewed sense of purpose and connection to the community.
ChamberRoosta No6 | 2024
Entrepreneur Junade Sewhurichand of Bosch Express PMB
About JS Automotive
ACS Autoworx was established in 2010 by entrepreneur Junade Sewhurichand with a staff compliment of 9.
- In 2015 ACS Autoworx’s extended their footprint into Amanzimtoti.
- During Covid lockdown they extended their footprint into Howick – very brave!
- In 2024 ACS Autoworx rebranded as JS Automotive.
The “Something to Crow About”: Opening of a new Branch!
From humble beginnings Junade and his team have worked passionately and with determination to achieve incredible growth. He had 9 Employees in 2010, now employing 35, and they have just opened a brand new branch of JS Automotive called Bosch Express Pmb, situated at 340 Victoria Road.
Bosch Express PMB is a premium car service centre inspired by the demands of today’s high paced lifestyle. They have tailored solutions that make the experience as seamless and convenient as possible. This includes their easy to use online booking system. Bosch Express Pmb is tailored for individuals who value both time and excellence, their state-of-the-art facility offers swift, high-quality automotive services designed to keep your vehicle performing at its best.
ChamberRoosta No5 | 2024
Rashmee Ramdeen, Owner/CEO of Zilon Trading
About Zilon Trading
Zilon is a manufacturer and distributor of industrial packaging materials based in Merrivale. The core focus of the business is to use a hybrid sourcing strategy to manufacture and/or procure and distribute high quality FIBC bulk bags and other PP bags using locally produced raw materials. Rashmee is one of the PMCB’s GEAPers (Global Export Accelerator Programme participants) and has excelled on the programme.
The “Something to Crow About”
The chamber hosted a Dragon’s Den type event on behalf of member PDC, at which eligible businesses pitched for enterprise development funding, explaining what they’d do if they were successful in securing it, and how that would affect their sustainability and/or bottom lines.
Rashmee’s pitch on behalf of Zilon Trading was successful and secured her an interest-free loan (repayable in three years) to purchase equipment that will help her scale to meet growing demand.
She was awarded a ChamberRoosta for successfully securing this loan for Zilon Trading.
ChamberRoosta No4 | 2024
Nomandla Ngcoya, D Chem Group
About the DChem Group
Nomandla is a PhD level Chemist and a formidable entrepreneur. She is the founder of the D Chem Group, which is a detergent and cosmetic manufacturing company. The D Chem Group also refines and repackages traditional medicine. Nomandla is one of the PMCB’s GEAPers (Global Export Accelerator Programme participants) and has excelled on the programme.
The “Something to Crow About”
The Chamber hosted a Dragon’s Den type event on behalf of member PDC, at which eligible businesses pitched for enterprise development funding, explaining what they’d do if they were successful in securing it, and how that would affect their sustainability and/or bottom lines.
Nomandla’s pitch on behalf of the D Chem Group was successful and secured her an interest-free loan (repayable in three years) to purchase a large piece of equipment that will help her scale to meet growing demand.
She was awarded a ChamberRoosta for successfully securing this loan for the D Chem Group.
ChamberRoosta No3 | 2024
Pictured with Jaco Wiese, MD of PDC
About Pressure Die Castings (Pty) Ltd
PDC is an innovative supplier of brass, aluminium and zinc castings to the South African and international markets. They are a specialised high pressure die caster, delivering high quality complex castings since 1952.
Their approach is to start from their customer’s need, exploring various design options until they identify the best process solution. This approach is valued by their customers, who are then confident that the process they design for them will best meet their requirements.
The “Something to Crow About”
Pressure Die Castings (Pty) Ltd (PDC) has invested in the success of two of the chamber’s GEAPers (Global Export Accelerator Programme participants) and contributed SED funding to support entrepreneurial development programmes run by the chamber.
PDC allocated the majority of their ED funding to assist PMCB’s GEAPers to scale their businesses to meet growing demand. The support is in the form of interest-free loans repayable after three years. The chamber hosted a Dragon’s Den type event, at which businesses pitched for the funding, explaining what they’d do if they were successful in securing it and how that would affect their sustainability and/or bottom lines. The D Chem Group and Zilon Trading were successful in securing significant loans to purchase game-changing equipment for their businesses.
In addition to this, PDC contributed SED funding to support more businesses joining the PMCB’s GEAP programme. There are currently 60 black-owned enterprises being supported by PMCB’s GEAP.
Melanie Veness: “It is so important for Pietermaritzburg businesses to use their ED and SED funding effectively in Pietermaritzburg, so that we can grow the businesses in our community and employ more local people. We’re having remarkable success with our development programmes, both in terms of turnover growth in these businesses and employment numbers. It takes a village to raise and support SMME’s and the effect is exponential when businesses being incubated by the chamber receive access to finance support such as this. Definitely something to crow about!! Thank you PDC”.
ChamberRoosta No2 | 2024
Awarded to Sugeshnee Naidoo, MD of Enermous Investments
Pictured with Wade Foster from Xtec Pmb – campaign sponsors
About Enermous Foam Tapes & Pressure Sensitive Adhesive:
The primary focus of Enermous Foam Tapes & Pressure Sensitive Adhesive is the manufacturing of value-added polyurethane and pressure sensitive adhesive products, widely used in the automotive, building & construction and, white goods industries etc. Backed by 12 years of industry expertise, they offer value for money, technical solutions for a broad range of sealing and insulation.
Enermous is 100% Female-owned and a Level 1 BBEEE Contributor.
Sugeshnee’s factory was burnt to the ground during the July 2021 riots, she started from scratch on another site and then got flooded, but that hasn’t dampened her entrepreneurial spirit. She is on our Global Export Accelerator Programme (GEAP) and pursues every opportunity with passion and vigour and her business is flying – watch this space!!
The “Something to Crow About”
As part of an Accelerator Programme fuelling the growth of high potential SMEs in the local automotive sector, 29 SME business owners were invited by the Durban Automotive Cluster to craft a compelling business pitch aligned with customer requirements.
The top candidates had the opportunity to pitch their value proposition to a panel of leading customers (Toyota SA, Hesto Harnesses and Toyota Boshoku) looking to find and develop future, local suppliers. Enermous Investments’ pitch was to localise a product currently imported for OEM’s, specifically 3M adhesive, which they have become distributors of – Sugeshnee was awarded the Industry Game Changer Award, an outstanding achievement which bodes well for the future success of Enermous!As part of an Accelerator Programme fuelling the growth of high potential SMEs in the local automotive sector, 29 SME business owners were invited by the Durban Automotive Cluster to craft a compelling business pitch aligned with customer requirements.
The top candidates had the opportunity to pitch their value proposition to a panel of leading customers (Toyota SA, Hesto Harnesses and Toyota Boshoku) looking to find and develop future, local suppliers. Enermous Investments’ pitch was to localise a product currently imported for OEM’s, specifically 3M adhesive, which they have become distributors of – Sugeshnee was awarded the Industry Game Changer Award, an outstanding achievement which bodes well for the future success of Enermous!
ChamberRoosta No1 | 2024
Awarded to business owner Nokulinda Mkhize of Mashoba Media
About Mashoba Media:
Mashoba Media is a boutique creative agency and production company. They specialise in Pan-African broadcast, music and entertainment content, creative campaigns and large-scale live events. They help ambitious brands to build, reach and grow their impact through the power of creativity and storytelling. Mashoba Media is a Midlands based company, and is a 100% black female owned Level 1 BEE company.
The “Something to Crow About”
Mashoba Media have been awarded 12 Promax Awards for work produced for Netflix, a Loerie Award for work produced for Netflix and an Emmy nomination for “The Mandela” Project, produced for Paramount and Netflix Originals. They are currently ranked by the Loeries in the Top 10 Small Agencies in Africa and the Middle East.
