In 2005, Eskom’s Horticulture Services Department decided to outsource their services. This affected many employees, including Ms. Lebo Ramakuela, who had worked at Eskom for 9 years. Ms. Ramakuela, a young black South African horticulturist, and her colleague Christo Saaiman, a landscape technologist, saw an opportunity to create a company to deliver horticultural services to Eskom. They became business partners and started Libra Landscape (http://libralandscape.co.za/), focusing initially on horticulture, landscaping, and maintenance services, and later expanding to cleaning services.
In 2012, Ms. Ramakuela was introduced to SASDC during an exhibition that took place at Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand. She was impressed by SASDC’s offering to black businesses, in terms of exposure to large corporations and training opportunities, and became a SASDC certified supplier. She enthusiastically used various SASDC opportunities to build the capacity of Libra’s employees and to promote the company.