Glencore making dreams come true!

Rustenburg – Neo Mohammed, director of Ntofontofo Company, has a good reason to look to the future with optimism thanks to Glencore Ferroalloys. 

On Wednesday 1 June, the company officially handed over a tissue manufacturing machine worth over R600,000 to Mohammed – a development that will enhance the capacity of Mohammed’s business to generate more income. 

Mohammed, who is from Tlhabane, ventured into the toilet tissue manufacturing sector at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic after realising a gap in the market. 

Speaking during the handover at Ntofontofo’s factory in Rustenburg, Mohammed expressed her gratitude to Glencore.

“I was raised by entrepreneurs, so the entrepreneurship bug had me from an early age. I’m grateful for the pandemic, only for the sole purpose of pushing me out of my comfort zone as this is when the idea of Ntofotofo came about.”

“I would like to give thanks to Glencore for taking a chance on me and I know that I can only go from strength to strength from here onwards,” she added.  

Glencore Ferroalloys chief corporate social responsibility officer Conroy van der Westhuizen said assisting black female entrepreneurs was an important aspect of the company’s policies.

“We are honoured to be able to play the role of developing a black female local entrepreneur, especially one that has shown innovation and great courage.

Glencore is not a company that solely acts based on compliance, but more so because of our commitment to help the people within our communities progress together with the business. We applaud Neo for seeing an opportunity and grabbing it with both hands. Moreover, her business also speaks to the value of sustainability. 

For Glencore that is something we care deeply about.  

He added: “We urge and encourage the people of this community to support this business because it is locally made and by one of your own.”

Rustenburg Local Municipality (RLM) local economic development unit manager Tebogo Sehloho congratulated Neo for the strides she has made in making her business a growing success. “As a municipality, we have identified a couple of sectors which are key to developing the economy, and we found that manufacturing and industrial development form part of these because they speak to job creation. 

Ntofotofo Company started off with four fixed contract employees and due to the support from Glencore Rustenburg Smelter, her company will now employ four more employees and intends on training an additional eight to assist with the production volume. 

The company’s target per month was to produce 150 bails of tissue and with the arrival of the new machine the production will be more than double those production targets.

#FosteringASenseOfCommunity