When Pavati Plastics Southern Africa 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, Pavati Plastics is a 100% black-owned and black-managed company, with 51% black women ownership, and 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 transitioned from a service business into manufacturing, with its expansion focused on building local manufacturing capacity and replacing specialised products that had previously been imported.
“Between 2015 and 2021, Pavati Plastics evolved from a service business into manufacturing. We were building a black-managed, 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,” said Pavati Plastics Financial Director, Ms Ntombenhle Nhleko.
The expansion has increased the company’s capabilities across extrusion, printing and bagging. Its products include machine and manual pallet wrap, Zip Lock coin bags, cast polypropylene (CPP) and monoaxially oriented polypropylene (MOPP).
Nhleko says that the investment has strengthened Pavati’s ability to respond to customer requirements and pursue new opportunities in the market.
“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,” says Nhleko.
Pavati’s product development process starts with understanding customer requirements. The company conducts market research and trend analysis, engages machinery suppliers to assess production capabilities, and develops and tests products according to customer specifications before obtaining approval from the customer or brand owner.
“We engage with customers to understand their packaging needs and future objectives, conduct market research and look at industry trends. We then work with our machinery suppliers to understand the functionality of the equipment, develop and test the product and obtain approval from the customer,” stresses Nhleko.
She emphasises that collaboration with customers, suppliers, employees, funders and regulatory stakeholders is central to the process, while intellectual property arising from new products remains with Pavati.
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,” she says.
The Black Industrialists Scheme provides financial and non-financial support to black industrialists to expand existing operations or establish new manufacturing operations. The scheme provides a cost-sharing grant of between 30% and 50% of qualifying project costs, capped at R50 million.
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 from 51% 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.