The Women Economic Assembly (WECONA), in partnership with the Small Enterprise Development and Finance Agency (SEDFA), will host the Inaugural WECONA Western Cape Mining Indaba side event, themed “She Mines the Future: From Pit to Port,” on the sidelines of the Africa Mining Indaba on 10 February 2026.
WECONA is a multi-stakeholder platform established in 2021, bringing together government, the private sector and civil society to accelerate the inclusion of women-owned businesses supply chains.
The mining sector offers vast opportunities, yet women entrepreneurs remain underrepresented and under-supported. This side event presents a rare space where policymakers, financiers and industry leaders can jointly identify barriers, align procurement pipelines to ensure that women-owned businesses are integrated from pit to port.
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WECONA will host Minister of Small Business Development, Ms Stella Tembisa Ndabeni, and Deputy Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources, Ms Phumzile Sinclatia Mgcina, in a high-level dialogue aimed at developing a practical roadmap to advance women’s ownership and economic participation across mining value chains. The engagement will interrogate the structural, financial and policy barriers that continue to limit women’s participation in the mining sector.
Women’s economic participation in mining cannot remain aspirational. Therefore, this engagement is critical for connecting women-owned enterprises to real procurement opportunities across the entire mining value chain, policy support and funding opportunities.
WECONA remains committed to advocating for and mainstreaming women’s economic empowerment in line with the National Strategic Plan on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (NSP on GBVF), recognising economic inclusion as a critical lever in addressing vulnerability, inequality and exclusion. The organisation continues to champion women’s participation across the mining value chain, from exploration and extraction to processing, beneficiation, logistics and related industries.
The event will deliver clear pathways for participation and outline how women entrepreneurs can access funding commitments to expand their involvement across mining value chains.
Futhi Mtoba, Co-Chair of WECONA, said the side event represents a strategic intervention to move from intent to implementation.
“‘She Mines the Future’ is a call to ensure women are not peripheral participants, but central drivers of industrial growth and job creation,” Mtoba said.
The WECONA Western Cape Mining Indaba side event takes place on 10 February 2026 in Cape Town, providing women entrepreneurs with direct access to mining sector opportunities, government support, and industry partnerships.
