Meet an engineer who is helping to change the way the world looks at engineering
Give an engineer a lever, and she’ll use it to move the world. Show an engineer a riverbank, and she’ll build a bridge to span it. Point an engineer to the horizon, and she’ll build a road to reach it.
Engineers hold the power to turn ideas into infrastructure, to lend shape and weight to data and bring blueprints to life.
But the real skill of an engineer lies in the ability to analyse and solve problems, in a way that fuses the fundamentals of science with insight, intuition, and understanding.
That’s why, as a developing country, South Africa urgently needs more engineers, and more like Kurisani Maswanganyi.
She runs an engineering consultancy that specialises in roads and transport, water resource management, electricity distribution, and structures. But more than that, Kulani Engineering Consultancy specialises in the empowerment of women.
Kurisani grew up in Limpopo, where a school career day opened her eyes to the prospect of a career in engineering.
She studied Civil Engineering at Port Elizabeth Technikon, and worked her way through the industry, including a stint in project management at Heathrow Airport, before launching her own company in 2007.
Today, Kurisani is proof that the best way to change engineering, is to engineer change.
Q: What do you love most about change?
Change provides the opportunity for me to redefine and refine my perspective on things. It allows me to grow so that I can continue to make a positive contribution to society.
Q: Where do you go when you feel like a change of scenery?
I love quiet places so when there is no time to go far. I like going to the spa, not located in a mall or built up area, some place where I can access the essence and beauty of nature. I have no option but to shut down and recharge.
Islands with beautiful beaches are always my ideal space. The clean fresh air and the song and dance of nature renews and restores my energy.
Q: What’s your own personal formula for coping with change in your life?
I look internally and find encouragement from deep within. Change requires strength and encouragement and both these things are not found in external forces but internal source of being. So:
1. I try and understand what is the change required and why.
2. I establish what is required of me physically and emotionally to achieve this change.
3. I create the incentive that is required for me to follow through even when it is tough, and I focus on that.
Q: What were your hopes and dreams as a young girl?
I loved life and I didn’t limit myself. I had a mother who said that I should experience everything that life offers me so I participated in almost everything.
I danced, sang, played sport, modelled and belonged to groups with causes to change the world, I went to Sunday school, I became a Sunday school teacher and I believe that from a very young age I knew that I wanted to live an impactful life, increase my circle of influence.
I knew then that I wanted to be great at whatever I set my mind on and nothing has changed since then.
Q: What advice would you give to young women who would like to change the world?
First change yourself, how you view the world and other people, because amongst chaos, there is always beauty that surpasses all. If you can look beyond your reality, nothing will faze you.
Secondly, set the bar, develop the expectation and commit to it. Changing the world requires high expectations in the simplest form and it starts with having faith in yourself, fellow human being, our ability to come together and build lasting legacies and relationships.
It comes easily for someone like me because as engineers, we build things daily and we have to put teams together and work together and compete with one another not against each other, in order to put the best infrastructure for our country.
Lastly, follow through with action. It takes initiative to move mountains. A driven person does not wait for instructions, nor do they take the back seat when they are needed in the driver’s seat. Action is the difficult part because you can go at it alone for a while before you win supporters.
Q: What would you say is the single biggest lesson engineering has taught you about life?
Where there is a will, there is a way. Engineers find solutions to life’s everyday problems and for us where others see no way, we lead the way. I know I possess the DNA of an engineer because “impossible” does not exist in my dictionary.
Q: Do you think women are better equipped than men to handle change, and if so, why?
I think we need both. Men bring the practicality of the problem to the fore and women cover it in empathy and make it real.
Having grown up in a township, I have seen that women tend to accept change much quicker and adjust accordingly.
This comes from the nurturing side of women because they have to handle disappointments from their partners and children and love, encourage and support them still.
Q: How can engineering change the way we live our lives in South Africa?
Engineering has the ability to bridge the cultural, racial and demographic divide.
Through infrastructure we provide access to economic opportunities by linking people through road infrastructure, telecommunication, we bring dignity to people through the provision of water and sanitation, education and health infrastructure.
We provide sustainability by providing solutions to protect and preserve our environment. The question is no longer how can we change but more so how can we build on the change that engineers bring in order to sustain and build our country.
Q: What was the single biggest and scariest change you have ever made in your life?
Everything still looks scary and big for me. It’s still early in my journey of life to conclude that one event has really scared me.
However, deciding to quit a job that had prospects and a secure future was the scariest thing. It was scary because I had no proof that I could achieve what I intended to achieve.I just had so much belief in myself and capabilities so I had to do a lot of convincing. I still get heart palpitations when I think of the day I made that life changing decision but it is one I have never regretted.
Q: What is the biggest change you have noticed regarding the role of women in the South African workplace?
Women are no longer taking no for an answer, they want to take up challenges. But what I get excited most about, is the collaborative networks that women are forming.
We are no longer waiting on the side-lines to be invited to the gentlemen’s clubs, we are creating our own where we exchange information, expand our networks and circle of influence. And because women are engaging and sharing, we are starting to see policies implemented around transformation because one woman was given an opportunity which she demonstrated capability in order to create the next opportunity for the next woman. This can surely come from women not being afraid to fight for what is rightly theirs.
Q: Do you think the world is changing for women, or are women changing the world?
This a glass half full or empty situation. Women are changing the world and the world has no option except to respond to it. On the other hand you can say the world is changing because if it doesn’t, it will do disservice to itself.
The role of women and the positive impact they can have in organisations is unquestionable and we have many examples of that in SA, from women in politics to those in state entities, boardrooms carving the way for the next generation. History has shown that women make a statement and the world has no option except to listen. Our own example is the women’s march of 1956.
Q: What does it take for you to change your mind?
A well-presented case will win me over easily. However, if whatever is being presented does not fit in with my vision and looks to stir me away, it is difficult to change my mind. There needs to be a greater purpose than simply changing my mind for me to consider a new perspective on things.
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