Real fiscal discipline amongst young people is not all that common but an up and coming Mpumalanga construction company owner is fast setting the records straight and showing what benefits this can bring.

Lucky Masanabo’s started working in his father's hardware retailing business soon after matriculating in 2004. “I drove my father’s 8-ton truck that was used for deliveries but since a young age, I have dreamt of being self-employed, just like my father,” he says. “I made this dream come true in 2008 when I registered my company Somthwalo Construction and immediately signed up for the Civil Engineering Potential Emerging mentorship programme.”

By 2010, Lucky and his fledgling company were re-gravelling rural roads in the Mpumalanga town of Belfast, armed with a Grade I certification in the CEPE mentorship programme. Diligence and learning about the business paid off and soon Somthwalo Construction graduated to a Grade II certification which provided for a bigger re-gravelling contract, this time in Delmas.

Growing in confidence and skills, a Grade IV certification saw the company venture into water reticulation projects, successfully completing a 320 metre long water supply project to 15 communal taps in the village of Marapyane as well as erecting a 4 000 litre steel water reservoir, six metres above the ground.

“Digging deep trenches manually for the laying of pipes is not an easy task when one is sticking to the conditions of your contract and I had bought a used tractor loader backhoe (TLB) in 2009, but due to its high hours, it kept breaking down and delaying our work,” Lucky says. “I knew that at some time, I would need to buy a new machine.”

Bell Sales Representative David Papi had passed Lucky’s office on an earlier occasion and left his business card and a brochure for a Bell 315SJ 4x4 TLB. This prompted Lucky to contact David, who arranged a demonstration of a Bell 315SJ TLB at Bell Equipment’s Jet Park premises.

“We were impressed by Lucky’s level-headed business sense and the fact that despite starting up his business a mere four years earlier, he had saved enough money to pay 50% of a Bell 315SJ 4x4 TLB in cash,” says Papi. “We contacted a facilitator from the Department of Trade and Industry’s Black Business Supplier Development Programme (BBSDP) to see if they could assist Lucky.”

This was done and Lucky took delivery of his first new Bell machine in August 2012, at the tender age of 26 years.  The BBSDP make grants according to strict criteria, some which state that a business must have been registered and in operation for at least 12 months, must have an annual turnover of between R250 000 and R35 million and have audited financial statements. Somthwalo Construction qualified on all points.

“We were amazed at what an immediate difference this powerful Bell TLB made to our projects as we could now work uninterruptedly,” Lucky smiles. “Digging one-metre deep trenches was now easy using the bucket and boom and backfilling with the front bucket and all-wheel drive traction, even easier.”

“And what impressed us too was that David and everyone we dealt with at Bell Equipment took us seriously and made sure that we were buying the right piece of equipment.”

Completing subsequent road rehabilitation and water reticulation projects on time and on budget, has seen Lucky buy a 2013 model Bell 315SK 4x4 TLB, again with assistance from the BBSDP after putting down 50% in cash. This new machine was delivered in June 2013 and is being used on a roads project in the nearby village of Skimming.

“Bell Equipment does all our servicing while the machines are under warranty but with their quick response times, we’ll have them maintaining the machines even after the warrantees have expired,” Lucky says. “Looking to the future, I’m again putting aside some money and plan to buy a smooth-drum roller next and following that, an excavator - and of course, I’m sure to talk to Bell Equipment first.”