Stepping through Open Doors
In South African business, access to opportunity is only ever half the story. What separates a company that merely survives from one that truly thrives is something harder to hand over: the willingness to open yourself, as a business owner, to every opportunity that comes your way, and the enterprising mindset to turn that access into real, tangible growth.
For Cape Town-based Zhac Construction, opening doors has never been a passive activity. Since partnering with Inyosi Empowerment, the 100% black-owned maintenance and construction firm has leaned into every resource, connection, and funding mechanism placed in its path – from acquiring high-grade equipment and welcoming young people onto its team, to sitting across the table from some of the country’s biggest corporates. Zhac’s story is less about strategy, and more about showing up, consistently, and putting its best foot forward. Zhac’s journey with Inyosi started the same way every borrower’s does: an application, a pre-assessment, due diligence, credit approval, and the legal work behind getting a loan deployed. What has followed since is what makes Zhac’s story worth telling. Every time Inyosi has extended a new opportunity, whether a funding facility, a spot on iHive, or a seat in the YES programme, Zhac has shown up and made the most of it. It is this consistency, more than any single transaction, that has opened the doors that followed.
Founded in 2009, Zhac Construction was built to address a distinct market gap: the need for reliable, high-spec building maintenance and structural works backed by transparent governance and strict health and safety compliance. At the heart of the company’s success is a leadership pairing with complementary skills, and an even rarer complementary work ethic.
Managing Director Faheem Harris brings an extensive background in mechanical engineering and architectural design, and a hands-on approach that keeps him close to the work – translating complex client specifications into durable physical realities, from industrial retrofitting to commercial wood-frame assembly, while maintaining client satisfaction ratings above 90%. Alongside him is Shahima Harris, the Financial Director whose financial discipline has helped the business navigate an industry notoriously vulnerable to cash-flow volatility. She governs costing, compliance, risk management, and capital allocation, keeping Zhac’s books tight enough to scale smoothly. Together, Faheem and Shahima have built more than a business; they’ve built a culture grounded in professionalism, safety, and genuine respect for clients and crew alike – and it shows the moment you meet them.
Growth in construction requires physical capacity, and when Zhac approached Inyosi Empowerment, the goal was simple: acquire equipment that would boost efficiency, cut turnaround times, and expand what the business could do in-house.
Through Inyosi’s loan funding, Zhac acquired an industrial-grade, high-precision commercial table saw. Previously, specialised woodworking and timber profiling meant expensive third-party sub-contractors or labour-intensive manual work. Bringing this capability in-house immediately sped up lead times for bespoke partitioning, ceiling retrofits, and custom cabinetry. It also put quality control back in Faheem’s hands on the workshop floor, while improving margins through lower production costs and a stronger position in corporate refurbishment tenders. Rather than treating the funding as short-term relief, Zhac put it straight into an asset that keeps generating value.
Capital is only one part of building a business; people are the other. To help address South Africa’s youth unemployment challenge, Zhac integrated participants from the Youth Employment Service (YES) programme, hosted in partnership with Inyosi. Rather than treat it as a box-ticking exercise, Zhac folded these young people directly into how it operates. Mentored on site and in the workshop, candidates picked up practical training in health and safety, structural maintenance, project costing, and site management. In return, Zhac gained a pipeline of motivated junior talent to grow alongside its expanding client base.
Getting in front of the right people is one of the steepest hurdles facing emerging black-owned businesses, and Inyosi works hard to close that gap. Each year, through its investor relationship with the University of Cape Town, Inyosi is given a handful of tables at the UCT Vendor Exhibition to share with its iHive beneficiaries, a rare chance to sit face to face with university departments and procurement decision-makers. Inyosi offered Zhac exactly that: a table, two chairs, and an opportunity. Zhac filled that table with its awards and certificates, let its track record speak for itself, and let its own openness and personality do the rest. Their table drew a steady stream of visitors throughout the day, and their determination to make the most of the moment led to several new contracts from that single event. Zhac’s presence on Inyosi’s pre-vetted iHive Procurement Portal, which connects businesses to over 600 corporate investors seeking reliable BEE service providers, has worked much the same way: it is not the listing itself that wins the work, but how consistently and warmly Zhac follows up once the door is open.
That same openness carried through to a more informal moment: a casual event hosted at Inyosi, where Shahima had the chance to meet Patrick from Nestlé, who was keen to connect with some of the borrowers making use of the YES programme through Inyosi. There was nothing calculated about it. Faheem and Shahima simply continue to show up as themselves – hardworking, honest, and easy to talk to and it is that natural warmth, more than any pitch, that leaves a lasting impression
Ultimately, capital and connections are catalysts; what a business does with them determines the outcome. Zhac Construction is exactly what Inyosi hopes to see more of.
They did not just accept an equipment loan; they turned it into machinery that multiplied their productivity.
They did not just host Inyosi’s YES participants; they mentored them into skilled team members.
They did not just list on iHive; they turned visibility into closed corporate contracts.
And they did not just show up to a casual introduction; they left people wanting to work with them.
Inyosi builds the portals and opens the doors, but it is Faheem and Shahima Harris who walk through them, every day, with the hard work and humility to make the most of what’s on the other side.
As Zhac Construction continues to grow across the residential, commercial, and industrial sectors, it’s story is a simple reminder for any business owner weighing whether to take the leap: the opportunities are there for those willing to commit to the process and show up, again and again, exactly as Zhac has. Inyosi may open the door, but it is Zhac’s own dedication and hard work that stepped through it.