Careers
Downloads 
B-BBEE
Akhona Mining Services is a B-BBEE Level 1,
black owned and controlled company.
The company has a diverse set of shareholders, is wholly black-owned and over 60% black women owned. Key stakeholders are:
- Akhona Group – a 100% black women owned investment holding company led by former investment banker Ms Noluthando Gosa;
- 777FL – a mining-focused investment vehicle led by Thato Makgolane, a Canadian qualified CA with extensive mining and investment banking experience; and
- F11 Pty Ltd led by Frans Baleni, a former trade union veteran turned businessman.
Shareholders are actively involved in the day-to-day running of the organisation, as well as providing strategic direction.
Transformation
At Akhona Mining Services we are committed to playing our part in transformation within the construction and mining industry. As a majority black women owned company in an environment dominated mainly by men, we are particularly passionate about championing the development of females, and black female owned businesses in the sector.
In addition to skills development for our own staff (our focus is on community and socio-economic development, including localising procurement spend wherever feasible (PPE, training, consumables, IT, branding, medicals and so forth).
Executive team
Chief Executive Officer and co-founder
Ms. Noluthando Gosa
Ms. Gosa – an investment banker (formerly with Investec Bank) turned entrepreneur – is the Executive Chairman of the Akhona Group (Akhona). She earned her MBA from the University of New Brunswick in Canada, as well as a post graduate diploma in Business Administration, from Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada. Ms. Gosa founded South Africa’s first black women owned property management company, Akhona Properties, which managed, amongst others, properties owned by Investec Properties, the PIC, Joburg Property Company and Pareto.
Read more
Her excellent skills as a business strategist laid a firm foundation for strategic acquisitions, and over the past 17 years Akhona has invested in retail and commercial property as well as in the manufacturing and industrial sectors. These investments include, amongst others, companies like Vukile Property Fund, ArcelorMittal SA and KBR. She is a strong proponent and advocate for empowering women in the workplace, and many of these acquisitions include black women shareholding.
Ms. Gosa is a member of the advisory boards of Invest in Africa Mining Indaba, and the Southern Africa-Canada Chamber of Business. These positions have afforded her access to business leadership, as well as insight into the issues faced by the mining sector at both domestic and global level. She has also served and continues to serve on numerous blue chip company boards, including ArcelorMittal
SA, AON SA, Investec Asset Management, Verimark (as Chairman), Broll Property Group, and the Investment Committee of the National Empowerment Fund. She currently sits on the MTN Group board.
She was appointed by the President of South Africa, together with other South African luminaries, as a Commissioner of the National Planning Commission that drafted SA’s economic blueprint, the National Development Plan and Vision 2030.
Non-executive Chairman and co-founder
Mr. Frans Baleni
Baleni – a former trade unionist with vast experience in mining and energy – held the position of General Secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers (South Africa’s largest trade union) from 2006 to 2015. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree and began his career in the mining industry in 1979. He was elected as a shop steward in 1983, and in 1988 became Branch Chairman at the Western Holdings Gold Mine in Welkom.
Read more
After joining the operational arm of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) Baleni held a variety of posts. Prior to his election in 2006 to the position of General Secretary, he served as an educator, running the first trade union training centre in SA; as a health and safety representative for the Free State Province; and as the union’s chief negotiator in Eskom, in the Gold and Coal sectors, and at some Platinum mines. As Chairman of the Mineworkers Investment Trust, he oversaw assets in excess of ZAR5-billion.
In the 1980s Baleni joined the United Democratic Front (UDF) in its battle against apartheid. In the early 1990s, he served on the negotiating team at the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) seeking to level the political playing field.
Baleni brings his sound commercial, risk, governance and compliance skills to Akhona Mining Services. In addition, the company will benefit from his invaluable experience and expertise in health and safety; government relations and collective bargaining processes; negotiations; industrial relations and human resources. He will also chair the safety, health and employment governance committee.
Independent Non-executive Director
Ishara Ramsunder
Ramsunder is the founder and CEO of Catalytic Advisory, a specialised transformation advisory. She is a qualified Chartered Accountant (SA) with over 20 years of local and international experience spanning auditing, corporate finance, leverage finance, private equity and debt capital markets. She has held senior positions at Deloitte & Touche, JP Morgan (London), Investec Bank, Standard Bank and Transaction Capital.
Read more
She currently chairs the Investment Committee of Investec Entrepreneurship Development Trust and is a member of the Investment Committee of Khulasande Capital. In addition, Ramsunder is an Audit Committee and Board member of Idwala Industrial Holdings Ltd.
Ramsunder will contribute to the sound corporate governance of Akhona Mining Services by chairing the audit committee, in her capacity as an independent non-executive chairman.
Non-executive Director and co-founder
Mr. Thato Makgolane
Makgolane is a well-known South African entrepreneur, well versed in the country’s mining and related sectors. He has a Bachelor of Commerce Accounting degree from the University of British Columbia (Canada) and holds an IB Diploma from Waterford Kamhlaba UWC. Makgolane is a Canadian designated Chartered Accountant and investment banker, with over 10 years of experience (gained in Canada and South Africa) in investment banking, auditing, accounting and operations finance.
Read more
He has worked for listed goldmining companies; and for Macquarie’s advisory division in South Africa, where he was involved in deal structuring and execution.
In 2019 he established 777FL (Pty) Ltd as a vehicle to enter into strategic partnerships. Through 777FL he oversees the accounting, finance and strategy functions for Powers and Phuti Industrial Suppliers (Pty) Ltd (PowersPNP). PowersPNP specialises in material handling and is the only 100% black-owned company in the country that provides end-to-end operating solutions to South African smelters, in particular to ferrochrome smelters. He is also a director of Mine Restorations Investments Limited, a JSE AltX listed company, that is – as part of its revitalisation and growth strategy – in the process of finalising a R550-million chrome mine acquisition.
Akhona Mining Services will benefit from Makgolane’s strong financial acumen and experience in the mining sector.
Project Manager
Gerrit Schutte
Schutte is a highly experienced hands-on operations manager, with an almost thirty-year career in mining and engineering services. He has successfully led project teams in the civils, mining services and mine rehabilitation projects. Schutte excels in delivering projects on time, on specifications and with maximum efficiency.
