{"id":139696,"date":"2019-06-20T15:13:54","date_gmt":"2019-06-20T13:13:54","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2019-06-20T15:13:54","modified_gmt":"2019-06-20T13:13:54","slug":"avks-portia-magongoma-driving-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/avks-portia-magongoma-driving-change\/","title":{"rendered":"AVK\u2019s Portia Magongoma: Driving Change"},"content":{"rendered":"

AVK\u2019s Portia Magongoma: Driving Change<\/a>: <\/p>\n

\"Portia<\/a>
Portia Magongoma has high hopes for the future.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There remains a serious shortage of women in engineering. Globally, it is still a male dominated field. According to the Engineering Council of South Africa, only 11% of the total number of engineers registered with them are female and only 4% of those are professional engineers. Portia Magongoma (32), AVK PVE Production Foreman, is making a difference and inspiring other women to pursue careers in engineering.<\/p>\n

Raised in Pinetown, KwaZulu Natal, Magongoma has a Bachelor of Technology degree in Mechanical Engineering and recently graduated with a BA in Business Administration, both from the University of Johannesburg. She also has a National Diploma in Mechanical Engineering, a Certificate in Operations Management, and is a trained forklift operator. A registered member of the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA), this mother of two says: \u201cIt is possible to have both a successful career and a family.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a newly qualified engineer, Magongoma\u2019s first job was on-site at a platinum mine. \u201cI was, young, female, on my first job, having to give instructions to older, experienced men on a mine!\u201d She recalls how language was the biggest barrier. They spoke Tswana and Afrikaans \u2013 she spoke Zulu and English. \u201cI was giving instructions and discussing safety protocols \u2013 the message had to be perfectly clear.\u201d So, she learned the languages. More and more, her gender and age ceased to matter. What was important was her confidence and ability to do the work well.<\/p>\n

When Magongoma moved to AVK Valves, her experience was very different. \u201cI was far more experienced, had already worked with men and gained confidence in that space,\u201d she says. \u201cAVK Valves has been incredibly supportive \u2013 of me, my studies, and my vision. They have played a huge role in where I am today.\u201d AVK Valves funded Magongoma\u2019s BA Administration degree and she\u2019s looking forward to giving back to the company through her new knowledge, expertise and by inspiring other women to follow their dreams. She says she\u2019s been seen and treated as an individual and not just an employee. \u201cSome people think women can\u2019t do this and can\u2019t do that\u201d, she says. \u201cAVK Valves and Gunric never had those stereotypes. Women can do anything, just like men.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the first one in her family to graduate from University, Magongoma is incredibly proud to be where she is. \u201cI have two children \u2013 a daughter and a 4-month-old son \u2013 and I will always teach them that anything is possible if you put your mind to it and are committed.\u201d Yes, there are challenges \u2013 she has faced them and overcome them \u2014 but the key to success is to know what you want and focus on the goal, rather than the obstacles.<\/p>\n

Magongoma\u2019s vision certainly doesn\u2019t end there. She was drawn to engineering because of its diversity. \u201cI want to be an expert in valves \u2013 every aspect from design to production and quality assurance,\u201d she enthuses. \u201cI love working with my hands and really enjoyed my time on the shop-floor.\u201d Now she has her sights set on bigger things. \u201cI have combined engineering with business administration and management because I want to know everything there is to know about valves and the business of valves. From all the engineering to HR, labour law, finances \u2013 all of it!\u201d<\/p>\n

Change is certainly defined by those who drive it. \u201cThe only thing that convinces people that they can reach their \u2018impossible\u2019 goals is to see a role model actually doing it.\u201d Portia Magongoma has high hopes for the future. With her energy, passion and dedication, she is set to be a pioneer in the engineering industry.<\/p>\n

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AVK\u2019s Portia Magongoma: Driving Change: Portia Magongoma has high hopes for the future. There remains a serious shortage of women in engineering. Globally, it is still a male dominated field. According to the Engineering Council of South Africa, only 11% of the total number of engineers registered with them are female and only 4% of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[18],"tags":[8275,3335,953],"class_list":{"0":"post-139696","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-durban","7":"tag-durban","8":"tag-mydurban-co-za","9":"tag-newspaper","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139696\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}