Grace Motau’s secret to winning in the procurement arena is treating every task with the same level of seriousness no matter how small. As Khanye Colliery’s procurement administrator, Grace is responsible for a variety of tasks including buying workshop materials such as service kits for the mine’s fleet and ensuring that orders are processed on time.

After finishing her matric, Grace enrolled for a mechanical engineering diploma at Mpondozankomo FET college in Nkangala but soon realised it was not for her. She switched to finance and administration which led to a fruitful career in different industries including retail and transportation. As the years went by, procurement piqued Grace’s interest and she says working at Khanye has provided the perfect challenge. “I am used to high pressure environments. The bigger the challenge the better for me. Challenge might be scary but its good,” she says.

Grace also learned that having dedicated co-workers is important because the support is invaluable. But most important for her field, is getting things done so that at the end of the day everyone on site has what they need to work. “Take everything that comes your way seriously and treat it as high level because one loophole has the potential to create a mess,” Grace says.