After gaining years of experience in construction and tired of being seen as a paper pusher in the male-dominated industry, Kokeletso Moiloa decided to use her know-how to start her company, Blue Dot Consulting.
Founded in 2015 and based in Johannesburg, Blue Dot Consulting is a construction company that focuses on building construction, building renovations, development, and maintenance of infrastructure, engineering, and consulting quantity surveying.
Moiloa told Business Report, “After working in the construction industry for a while, I saw that the construction industry is still one of the industries that are still not really welcoming for women to operate in it. Women are just viewed as paper pushers only suitable for roles in administration and finance. There are fewer women in managerial positions and other top positions within the industry,” Moiloa said.
“The future of Blue Dot Consulting is aligned with the motivation of starting the company. I want it to empower as many young people as I possibly can through Blue Dot Consulting. Other than that, I see Blue Dot Consulting being one of the big players in the construction industry,” she said.
Moiloa said she empowers women based on what they urgently need at that particular time.
“I would have a specific way in which I can say I empower women. The empowerment of women through Blue Dot Consulting is mainly through equipping, educating, and opening up opportunities for women to find their feet within the construction industry. We normally target women from disadvantaged areas to acquire developmental skills and experience to flourish in the industry.”
“We also have young women from technikons and universities where we are exposing them to the industry by allowing them to come and do their practical work with us. We also nurture and offer employment to entry-level matriculants passionate about the construction industry,” she said.
Moiloa is also a cancer survivor, which she says motivated her to start a foundation that she has used as a vehicle to help young people with challenges such as cancer, traumatic experiences, drug abuse and teenage pregnancies.
Kokeletso Moiloa Foundation
She loves helping people and has a strong passion for making a difference.
“Growing up, I wanted to be a social worker but having to grow up in a very small village where resources were not made available to us and our education system was not on the level where we understand things outside of what we are being taught at school, and the internet did not even exist.
“I chose an engineering career which made sense at the time, as I went to technical high school, but later in life as I was growing up, my passion for helping people and my love for children took root. I started by volunteering at different orphanages, then I started a soup kitchen for children in the informal settlements,” Moiloa said.
“Later, I registered my foundation. I did woman empowerment, and a lot of initiatives that involved children and elderly people. Seeing the pressing need of abused and neglected children, the trauma people are going through on a daily basis, and the lack of social development of youth and the community as a whole, it then sparked the social work career.
“But I wanted to be more and do more, that’s how I got to do a counselling and communication course, followed by a trauma-counselling course and life coaching training,” Moiloa told Business Report.
"My organisation has given me purpose. I have given my entire life, energy, and time towards growing my foundation, that my engineering career came secondary.“
“I believe in healing and letting go of the pain so we can live purposefully. I have done a lot of healing from my own painful life experiences, which I believe built my strong character. I also do corporate wellness, trauma debriefing, conflict resolution, an employee assistance programme, wellness workshops, and team-building,” she said.
BUSINESS REPORT