We spoke to the roofing entrepreneur to hear about her unorthodox journey in construction. After ten productive years, serving her community still puts a smile on her face.
Mogwase-based Sally Boikanyo runs Motion Innovation, a specialist timber and light steel truss manufacturer. But that’s not even the start of the whole story. Sally’s business journey has seen her defying expectations and breaking into the construction business with nothing but sheer entrepreneurial grit.
Anyone who meets Sally agrees that her enthusiasm and raw potential are simply unmissable. The MiTek team has been supporting her with training, mentorship, and encouragement for years. With such a deep-rooted relationship comes a wealth of experiences to share.
So, we sat down with Sally to hear more about her background, her business motivations, and her big plans for the future.
Laying the groundwork for a meaningful career
Sally’s first steps into roofing came through curiosity, while visiting local builders in her community.
“I’d spend a day with them when I could and see what they do. I liked the roofing side of things, butterfly-style roofs were interesting. Very unique compared to how we grew up, where it was all scotch roofs or flat roofs,” she recalls.
She began supplying sheeting from her small office, which quickly expanded into full roofing requests. To keep up, she visited houses under construction to see how steel structures were put together.
“I got a basic understanding of steel structure,” she says. That’s when someone advised her to connect with MiTek, who could provide a licence and training in light steel—and open the door to a whole new chapter in her career.
Never stop learning, growing, thriving
The rest, as they say, is history. With MiTek’s guidance, Sally’s professional growth rapidly accelerated. As well as formal learning, she also got hands-on experience on projects including a fire station. She widened her network of professional contacts and won even more work, including library renovations.
With such an expanded base of knowledge, Sally’s work supplying Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) low-cost housing projects thrived. She’s supplied over 400 units in the past year alone. Other companies have a habit of oversupplying RDP projects, which drives up costs on a low-margin product. She knew she could do better.
Instead, Sally audits each site and finds out exactly what they need. There’s no waste. Costs are reduced, and she wins incredible amounts of trust and goodwill from grateful clients. As she says, winning that trust comes with multiple benefits.
Paving the way for women in construction
With business on the up and up, Sally’s goal is now to have her own fully furnished manufacturing facility. She’s already secured some prestigious contracts; hospitals, residential developments, and some buildings so large they can only be accurately measured by drone.
And in doing so, she’s educating customers and creating opportunities for other women to follow in her footsteps. Her advice is characteristically bold and straightforward:
“Don’t be afraid! It’s not easy, this business is mostly men, but do what I did. I said I was going to learn, even if I didn’t know what I was doing at the start, and I did it.
“Find what makes you different. Me, I’m a problem solver. I don’t want to just supply materials and leave. I’ll give a quality, affordable service. I’ll walk with you, assist your contractor. That’s why people trust me.
“Get out there, meet experienced people and learn from them. Through MiTek, I met this lady who used to be a contractor for 35 years. She encouraged me, she’s the one who showed me the sky’s the limit. She said ‘Sally, do what you love. You’ll always find me in the office because I love being there.’ She’s got her own farm now, and she loves that too.”
With her business on a firm footing, Sally already has plans to expand as far as Botswana and Zambia. But incredibly, she still names her ongoing RDP work as her favourite work. Service to the community means more to her than big award-winning contracts.
All it takes to start a business is one moment of inspiration. MiTek are committed to helping entrepreneurs like Sally put inspiration into action. If you’re driven to build, or curious about developing your career in construction, talk to us. Maybe we could help you go further than you dared to dream.
