Mass Excavation
Ready Mix Concrete Mixer
Road Compaction
Crushing Machine
Jones Yaw MarfoFrimpong is one of South Africans black entrepreneurs who have built a successful business in one of South Africa’s restrictive province; the Eastern Cape. Since his youth, Jones has always been interested and attracted to Civil Engineering and its potential to improve existing infrastructure and this saw him enroll for Civil Engineering at Walter Sisulu University (WSU). His passion saw him being employed by a Civil Engineering company where he gained valuable experience in Project Management, Construction, Water and Road Construction among other skills. In 2000 he founded GcinaSonke Consulting Engineers a company primarily involved in Civil Engineering Consulting. After successfully setting up the consulting business his passion to grow led him to diversify and embarked on his Entrepreneurial journey.
In 2008 he expanded his business by creating a manufacturing division under the consulting arm; identifying the need to start the precast factory that produces cement blocks, pre-cast concrete products (pit latrine toilets, kerbs, gullies, water channels and concrete palisades) resulting in local empowerment. This is the only successful precast factory in the former Transkei Region, employing over 250 employees with majority from the local community. The manufacturing division has recently in 2013 expanded its operations internationally with a new factory been commissioned and operational in Shai Hills, Ghana. Optimism and resilience are the hallmark traits for Jones and this helped him to see GcinaSonke Engineers to grow in leaps and bounds.
In 2009 he diversified his business interest further to the telecommunications industry and formed Ko’wenim Investment which houses the Eastern Cape Franchise of South Africa’s 3rd Largest mobile operator, Cell C, with 9 franchise outlets within the Eastern Cape panning from Mthatha through to Port Elizabeth as well as East London, Uitenhage, King Williams Town, and Queenstown, the business currently has an annual turnover of over R48 million.
Investments into property has also been interesting for him, this had always been done on small unconsolidated scale, however the need for property developments led to establishment of Frimpong Development Holdings, which holds the investments in properties and the expansion thereof.
Nelisa Inga Mbalo completed her Bachelor Degree of architectural Studies at University of Cape Town and is registered with the South African Council for the Architectural Profession. She also furthered her studies at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (formerly University of Port Elizabeth) studying occasional economics (architecture).
She has been involved in countless projects where she gained architectural experience and managerial skills.
In 2002 she started her training at one of the leading architectural firms in the Eastern Cape, where she was involved in the documenting of various houses, including many others projects such as Ntabankulu Municipality Phase 2, Cremone State in Port St John’s,Qaukeni Queen’s Chamber.
In 2005 she set up Sleep and Dream Guest House which has now developed into an AA highly recommended quality assured tourism graded establishment. The guest house hosts people from all walks of life including VIPs.
She has worked on architectural projects in other African countries such as Mozambique, Angola, South Sudan and Ghana. Some of the specific projects she was involved in are:-Vilanculos holiday resort in Mozambique; Community Centre with clinic and school in the state of Abei state - South Sudan; Housing development in Juba - South Sudan. She has also worked in agricultural retail centre project in Rooderport Gauteng; development of architectural language and guidelines for Blinkwater Estate in Bela Bela Limpopo; design of a visitors Information Centre in Rustenburg North West; converting a heritage building to a visitors Information Centre Bloemfontein Free State; design and document a state of the art horse racing academy in Johannesburg Gauteng and as well as an office park in Pretoria Gauteng to name but a few.
In 2010 she became a partner in GcinaSonke Engineers where she has acquired 51% ownership of the company where she looks after architectural services, management and administration in the business. In 2011 she single handily designed the multi- million rand and multiple storyproject of Wesley flats which are now fully let and operational and various other projects in Kokrobite, Tema, and Shai Hills in Ghana.