Growing, Innovating and Leading South Africa’s Infrastructure Future
At Naidu Consulting, we believe engineering excellence grows when people are given meaningful opportunities, trusted with responsibility and supported to develop. This Women’s Month, we celebrate six women in engineering whose careers show how mentorship, curiosity, innovation and courage can shape both people and infrastructure.
The journeys of Fisiwe Ngilande, Mavis Masemene, Segakweng Khutlapye, Tarlia Gerald, Thobekile Ngcobo and Sarah Collinge follow different paths, yet share a common thread: progress rarely follows a perfect plan. It is built through opportunities accepted before confidence feels complete, people willing to offer support and professionals prepared to keep learning.
Confidence Grows Through Opportunity
Fisiwe’s journey reflects continuous learning, perseverance and self-discovery. Her work across water, sanitation and stormwater infrastructure, together with increasing technical responsibility and multidisciplinary collaboration, has strengthened her confidence and contribution.
“My approach is simply: Show up. Do the work. Keep learning. Take the opportunity. Add value.”
Tarlia’s career demonstrates the same principle. After joining our Pavement Engineering and Construction Division in 2022, she was entrusted with a pavement design project under supervision and progressed into project leadership. Her work in Naidu Consulting’s Integrated Climate Solutions Unit connects engineering delivery with climate resilience, carbon management and more sustainable infrastructure.
Thobekile’s development adds another dimension. Since joining the Bridges & Buildings Division as a graduate engineer, infrastructure assessment, design and rehabilitation have expanded her technical responsibility. The rehabilitation of the fire-damaged Sarnia Road Bridge challenged her and led to an opportunity to present the team’s work at an international concrete repair, rehabilitation and retrofitting conference.
“You do not need to know everything before stepping forward, because I believe confidence is often built by having the courage to begin.”
Growth Beyond What Is Familiar
For Mavis, joining Naidu Consulting after achieving registration as an Engineering Technologist meant learning new systems, building relationships and adapting to a different environment. She embraced that change as an opportunity to strengthen her knowledge, confidence and contribution. Her journey reminds us that professional registration is a milestone, not the end of learning.
“Growth begins the moment you step beyond what is familiar. In engineering, every challenge is an opportunity to learn, adapt, and build something better than before.”
Sarah’s path brings this theme to life in a different way. Engineering was initially a backup to architecture, but her equal interest in maths and art later found a home in automation and computational design. During a quieter period in the Water division, she completed online courses and began automating parts of her own workflow. An unexpected opening on a local bridge project then gave her the move into bridges she had been seeking.
Determined to continue developing her design experience, Sarah relocated to Pietermaritzburg, where mentorship and a close-knit Bridges & Structures team became central to her growth. She later followed Gerrit to Naidu Consulting, crediting his people-centred leadership with shaping her career.
Creating Space for Digital Engineering
Sarah’s story also shows how an open-minded culture can turn an individual interest into organisational capability. At Naidu Consulting, she found space to combine engineering and automation, an intersection that has developed into our Digital Engineering Division. For Sarah, this is the achievement she is proudest of at Naidu Consulting because two interests that once seemed separate now have a shared purpose.
Building something without an established roadmap can bring uncertainty. Sarah speaks candidly about comparing herself with knowledgeable colleagues and learning that feeling unsure does not mean she is on the wrong path. Her experience reframes empowerment as being trusted with an opportunity before feeling fully ready and having others support the idea anyway.
“You don’t need to have it all figured out to grow. Some of the best things that happened in my career were things I stumbled into, not things I planned for.”
Leadership Beyond the Job Title
Segakweng’s journey shows that leadership is built through technical credibility, varied experience and courage. She joined Naidu Consulting as a Resident Engineer and later became Sector Manager: Construction, Bridges & Buildings. Her experience spans structures, water infrastructure, roads and project management, supported by postgraduate study in Sustainable Urban Planning and Development.
“Empowerment isn’t being handed a seat at the table; it’s walking into the room already knowing your identity … and choosing to hold the door open for the next woman behind you.”
Mentorship That Multiplies Opportunity
Mentorship runs through all six stories. It may be a technical review, constructive feedback, advice after a difficult meeting, encouragement to voice an idea or a team taking a chance on a proposal. Fisiwe supports students and young professionals; Tarlia contributes through our Academy of Excellence; Segakweng recognises leaders who invested in her career; Mavis values experienced colleagues; Thobekile credits senior engineers with strengthening her judgement; and Sarah’s growth reflects a mentor who cared about people as well as technical output.
This creates a multiplier effect. Opportunity given to one professional becomes guidance for another, strengthening teams, the engineering profession and the future pipeline of talent.
Engineering With Wider Impact
Together, these stories show how engineering responds to community, safety, environmental and digital needs. Tarlia connects climate adaptation and carbon management with infrastructure delivery. Fisiwe’s civil infrastructure work supports community benefit. Segakweng integrates technical, contractual, management and sustainability perspectives. Mavis brings curiosity and continuous improvement. Thobekile’s bridge rehabilitation experience reinforces resilient infrastructure, while Sarah’s digital engineering work shows how automation and computational design can improve how engineering challenges are approached.
Our Commitment to Women in Engineering
Supporting women in engineering at Naidu Consulting extends beyond Women’s Month. It is reflected in how we create opportunities, develop capability, encourage professional registration, welcome new ideas and enable people to contribute throughout their careers.
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- Investing in continuous technical and professional development.
- Providing meaningful project exposure with guidance and increasing responsibility.
- Encouraging professional registration, lifelong learning and multidisciplinary growth.
- Strengthening mentorship, coaching and knowledge sharing across generations.
- Creating opportunities for women to lead projects, sectors and emerging areas of practice.
- Supporting digital innovation, sustainability and climate-conscious infrastructure solutions.
- Building an inclusive culture in which people are respected, heard and empowered to succeed.
Celebrating All Women
Beyond the six featured stories, we celebrate all women across Naidu Consulting whose expertise and everyday contributions strengthen our projects, teams and organisation. Across engineering, project delivery, technical support, corporate services and leadership, every contribution forms part of our success.
We thank the women who lead, mentor, collaborate, innovate and create opportunities, together with the colleagues, clients, partners, families and communities whose support helps women thrive. We also honour women throughout engineering, the built environment and beyond who lead with purpose, overcome barriers and make a positive difference.
To every woman at Naidu Consulting, across our industry and beyond: we see your contribution, value your voice and celebrate the impact you make. Thank you for continuing to grow, lead and inspire.
Growing, Innovating and Leading Together
There is no single route to success in engineering. Growth may begin with curiosity, professional registration, a demanding project, an unexpected opening or an idea without a roadmap. What matters is the willingness to begin, learn and contribute, supported by people who make opportunity possible.
This Women’s Month, we celebrate Fisiwe, Mavis, Segakweng, Tarlia, Thobekile and Sarah, as well as every woman contributing to Naidu Consulting, our industry and society. Their journeys reinforce our belief that when women are given room to grow, trusted to lead and encouraged to innovate, engineering moves forward.
At Naidu Consulting, we are proud to keep building that future, together.
