Drilling technology solutions provider Rosond and multinational Boart Longyear have entered a partnership to develop local businesses in the Northern Cape. “We have a responsibility towards Enterprise Supplier Development (ESD). We strive to translate new opportunities for Rosond into opportunities for the communities in which we are active, so that our growth in turn benefits these communities,” comments Rosond MD Ricardo Ribeiro. Drilling-service provider Boart Longyear is currently supplying consumables for Rosond’s latest drilling programme at the Sishen and Kolomela Mines of Anglo American’s Kumba Iron Ore.

“ESD is a critical pillar of our preferential procurement, supplier diversity, supplier development and enterprise development policy, linked to our B-BBEE certification, whereby we seek to make a significant contribution to the transformation of South Africa,” adds Ribeiro. “While this contract is anticipated to continue for the next few years, it is important that we play a major role in empowering small business and developing the local community to become an integral part of our own supply chain.”

He adds: “It was therefore logical for us to approach Boart Longyear to suggest an ESD company that we could both develop for the benefit of the local area and economy.” As a result, 36-year-old entrepreneur Clayton Van Der Ross’s Workshop Warehouse will service Rosond’s operations at Kumba Iron Ore with all its Boart Longyear requirements.

“It was important for us and Rosond to find a local company that not only ascribes to our own values and business ethics, but that fits in with Anglo American’s policies as well,” points out Andre van Heerden, General Manager: Sales, Africa at Boart Longyear.

With Workshop Warehouse already established for two years, Van Der Ross highlights that being selected as an ESD partner by Rosond and Boart Longyear will stand the fledgling company in good stead in developing its own regional network and, in turn, empower other local stakeholders.

Rosond strives to recruit local labour and upskill start-ups and small-to-medium business suppliers. It is also committed to employment equity and transformation across all employment levels. The company complies fully with all South African employment equity legislation, with human resource officers based at satellite sites to service the HR requirements of staff on-site.