With the help of SANRAL, Simphiwe Mhlongo has paved the way to a better life for her loved ones and the 11 employees of her company, by procuring work on the N3 Ashburton Interchange and the associated R103 Pope Ellis Drive upgrades. Mhlongo, 40, from Lynnfield Park, near Pietermaritzburg in KwaZulu-Natal, was barely making ends meet as an events coordinator before she got involved with a cement manufacturing company and formed Sister’s Brain Construction with assistance from South African Women in Construction. She is now a subcontractor to MMP Contractors, responsible for some of major road upgrades in the country, and Rumdel Construction, a multi-disciplinary civil engineering construction company. Mhlongo said “The best part is that the workers are from the area. This means that locals are getting a chance to uplift themselves. It’s a real blessing to them, as well as to me.”