In South Africa, women represent only 13% of STEM graduates – significantly lower than the global average of 35% and only 23% of the total STEM workforce are women.

Supplied by PinPoint Stewards

Pinpoint Stewards, a 100% women-owned Level 2 B-BBEE conferencing firm, is tackling these statistics head-on. Their upcoming, annual, two-day conference serves as a high-impact platform to benchmark best practices, challenge industry stereotypes and profile home-grown talent driving South Africa’s engineering, infrastructure and innovation sectors.

“Each year, a new faculty of 12 speakers is profiled who have made notable contributions and strides within these fields and the great news is that we have not run out of options, which means we have home-grown, capable talent right here to draw expertise from,” says the organisation.

“With the help of our media partners, we can profile individuals who are driving innovation and breaking barriers to gain ground in previously male-dominated sectors, setting an example for younger generations to choose a career in STEM.”

Under the theme: Developing, Uniting and Empowering: It’s DUE! – This landmark event brings together the public and private sectors to look at critical infrastructure, current opportunities and foster equitable workplace cultures. By focusing on high-impact projects, the conference aims to attract a new generation of innovators and regain momentum to support the cornerstone of progress and expand the talent pool of change-makers to enter and stay in these sectors, forming the foundation of economic growth.

With a South African-led speaker faculty and partnerships with the Western Cape Department of Infrastructure and Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport, the conference is geared towards infrastructure reforms by looking at high-impact projects in critical sectors.

Featured 2026 speaker faculty and panellists:

  • MEC Tertuis Simmers – Minister for Infrastructure, Western Cape Government
  • MEC Kedibone Diale-Tlabela – Roads and Transport, Gauteng Government
  • Mirriam Mosia – Provincial Head (NW), SANRAL
  • Mpai Letebele – Chief Engineer, Eskom
  • Rakeshnie Ramoutar Prieschl – director, University of Pretoria
  • Sandra Wakeford – Group Sustainability officer, Raubex
  • Sadhna Manraj – SMD Production manager, British American Tobacco
  • Stephanie Muller – Technical lead, Quantum Applications, IBM
  • Pfumelani Mbulayeni – managing director, PM Aviation
  • Vishaal Lutchman – Group chief executive, Gibb
  • Malebo Mohale – Industrial Engineering manager, Conlog
  • Karushna Ramcharan – Commercial Innovations Product manager, ABINBEV

 

Some of the critical topics up for discussion include:

  • Crisis deferring engineering – Identifying risk and vulnerabilities in advance and applying targeted preventative designs and measures to avoid a further collapse of services
  • Examples of preventative engineering to mitigate possible failure or disaster – using engineering minds to create a better South Africa in transport, energy, digital infrastructure, water and sanitation and social infrastructure
  • Positioning South Africa on the map of large-scale infrastructure projects to promote global trade and provide opportunities in healthcare and communications, etc.
  • How women led global expansion of local technology: Examining the specific challenges and successes of women-led globalisation projects using local engineering technologies as well as developing new commercial innovation that places South Africa on the Global Innovation map
  • Towards a gender equal future – act now for a sustainable future
  • Moving from a technical role to tech leadership – what skill sets are required for the transition process of a leader
  • Integrating AI into engineering

 

Join the movement

With current partnerships including the Western Cape Department of Infrastructure and the Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport, this event is the premier destination for those looking to build the future of the South African industry and tap into opportunities, projects and public-private partnerships by addressing the country’s challenges and unlocking its potential.

Organisations are invited to join as empowerment partners by hosting a table of their key minds driving change and innovation during the two-day conference.

In attendance: Sudhira Sewsunker, Co-owner of Pinpoint Stewards says: “Participants each year include key private sector industries and government entities who share their efforts and dedication to create broader access to opportunities and improve essential services, while creating jobs, boosting investment and supporting the National Development Goals.”

The event is purposefully called “women and leadership” to include both men and women, with a strong focus on developing and including more women to build an inclusive and impactful industry landscape, since diverse teams amount to higher profitability.

A legacy of impact in closing the gap: over the past five years, Pinpoint Stewards have been able to sponsor the attendance of over 80 young professionals, actively matching them with a mentor or career opportunity at their in-person conferences. This commitment to develop and close the gap is what sets the event apart.

 

Who are we?

Pinpoint Stewards was born out of impossibilities (during Covid) to lead as entrepreneurs. We started our own 100% women-owned, Level 2 B-BBEE training and conferencing company. With over 20 years’ experience in research, management and arranging onsite and online training and conference networking platforms. Bringing leaders from the public and private sector together with one goal in mind – Developing, Uniting and Empowering leaders – It’s Dwomen-owned UE!

To register, visit  www.pinpointstewards.co.za. For enquiries, they are reachable at info@pinpointstewards.co.za.