When South Africa’s Pavati Plastics set out to build a black women-led manufacturing business, the ambition was to develop a sustainable enterprise capable of responding to market needs, developing new products, and replacing products previously imported into South Africa.
Today, the 100% black-owned and black-managed company, with 51% black women ownership, has evolved from a service business into a manufacturing enterprise with capabilities spanning extrusion, printing, and specialised packaging.
The company’s expansion was supported by the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic) through the Black Industrialists Scheme (BIS), which approved a R50 million matching grant in March 2021 for its capital expansion project.
“Between 2015 and 2021, Pavati Plastics evolved from a service business into manufacturing. We were building a sustainable packaging entity with capabilities in extrusion, recycling, and specialised manufacturing. By 2021, the business had moved into a capital expansion phase focused on import replacement,” says Pavati Plastics Finance Director Ntombenhle Nhleko.
The company’s current production capabilities span extrusion, printing, and bagging. The product portfolio includes machine and manual pallet wrap, zip-lock coin bags, cast polypropylene (CPP), and monoaxially oriented polypropylene (MOPP).
Nhleko noted that the infrastructure investment strengthened Pavati’s capacity to meet customer requirements and pursue new market opportunities: “The investment has allowed us to expand our manufacturing capabilities and diversify our product offering. It has also enabled us to respond to customer requirements more effectively and pursue opportunities that were previously beyond our capabilities.”
“We engage with customers to understand their packaging needs and future objectives, conduct market research, and look at industry trends,” states Nhleko, emphasising collaboration with machine suppliers to understand equipment functionality and develop target products.
Nhleko adds that the company’s investment in new manufacturing technology has also supported its sustainability efforts: “Our company’s investment in new technology has also improved the efficiency of its manufacturing processes, and Pavati Plastics was named a joint winner of the Sustainability Awards at the 2024 Black Industrialists Awards. Our newer machinery uses less energy and allows production offcuts to be fed back into the manufacturing process. This helps us reduce waste while improving the efficiency of our operations.”
The Black Industrialists Scheme provides financial and non-financial support to black industrialists to expand existing operations or establish new manufacturing operations. For Pavati, the support was directed towards its capital expansion project to increase manufacturing capacity and produce specialised polypropylene substrates that had previously been imported into South Africa.
In June 2025, the Black Industrialists Financing Forum Adjudication Committee approved a further 12-month extension of the BIS project to 31 May 2026. The approval recorded Pavati’s transition to 100% black ownership.
From a service business to a black-owned manufacturing enterprise, Pavati’s journey reflects its focus on developing local production capacity, responding to customer needs, and using technology and innovation to strengthen its position in the manufacturing value chain.
