The motor industry’s next biggest challenge is skills shortages, says Mika Heeraman, owner of Unique Auto Panel and Paint, in Tongaat, Kwazulu-Natal. She believes women can play a pivotal role in taking the industry to the next level. A challenging start Mika opened her own auto body shop at the age of 26. Three years […]
Meet Winny Vilankulu, the teacher with a passion for cars who runs a thriving business, Senatla Panelbeaters in her community. This Women’s Month meet some of the successful women in our industry and get inspired to start your career in motor body repair.
Bela-Bela’s Santie is no wallflower in the automotive industry Growing up with brothers is where Santie Boshoff from BB Auto Body Rebuilds says her love for cars started. They wouldn’t let her play with their cars so she would build her own. This can-do attitude has held Santie in good stead since she married into […]
Fresh from school to boss lady Thembi Sithole’s journey in the motor body repair industry is the quintessential success story. She started at the bottom fresh out of school, cleaning cars and doing plastic bumper repairs then progressed to receptionist and administrative assistant. Fast forward three decades and this 54-year-old farm girl from Ladysmith is […]
Women in the motor industry. Amidst the tough news circulating daily about businesses impacted by the global pandemic, it is inspiring to hear about those that are surviving and thriving in this difficult time. Meet the business owner and job creator, Nosipho Kholutsoane from Mount Fletcher in the Eastern Cape who is changing the course […]
For 54-year-old Thembi Sithole, moving into the motor body repair industry was pure chance. She came to Johannesburg from Ladysmith after matriculating to visit her sister and saw a local panel shop, Ventura Motors in Strijdom Park, who wanted someone to clean cars. It wasn’t long before she was doing any odd jobs that needed […]
