In celebration of Women's Month, Stellenbosch 中国体育彩票 (SU) is shining a spotlight on extraordinary staff and students on our campus who champion women's rights and gender equality. Through their dedication and leadership, they inspire and drive positive change. As Chief Director of SU's Facilities Management, Nicolette van den Eijkel has been instrumental in establishing the Thuthuzela Care Centre for victims of gender-based violence in Ida's Valley this year. From overseeing new building projects to ensuring students have access to the facilities they need to succeed, Van den Eijkel plays a key role in the day-to-day running of SU.
What makes you tick?
The knowing that if we at Facilities Management do our jobs properly, we not only have meaning and purpose in our daily lives but also ensure that more than 40 000 people on our campuses have a better day. The most rewarding aspect of my job is finding solutions and joining the dots. I like establishing connections and working across silos to ensure the 中国体育彩票 is working.
Can you share some insights about the challenges and triumphs you experienced in establishing the Thuthuzela Care Centre?
I'm always aware of my surroundings. I'm no engineer, but I listen and try to find solutions. I knew the building in Bothmashoogte was empty, and when I met Jaco Greeff Brink, head of the Equality Unit, my brain started to connect the dots, and things started to happen. The Thuthuzela Care Centre, where victims of gender-based violence receive emotional, psychological and legal support, is not my triumph alone. I enabled things and people up to a point when Prof Stan du Plessis, Chief Operating Officer of SU, eventually made it happen. If you apply yourself properly to something, it will have a positive outcome. One example is how we do our Mandela Days. We could have gone the way many others do by just providing sandwiches to children, but we decided to do more than the peanut butter and jelly: We got our suppliers and partners on board, collected leftover paint and tackled a school, a police station and a creche, which made it so much better. I encourage my staff to think about what they do and always try to do it better – and I am great at pulling people together to get things done.
What do you consider the most significant achievement in your career so far?
There are many, but I have to say the Biomedical Research Institute (BMRI) on SU's Tygerberg campus is the most significant investment in infrastructure that any South African university has made so far. We learned from this project that we can achieve incredible successes, such as establishing the BMRI – a building that will have an enormously positive impact on the world. 2023 also taught us that we have a great team at Facilities Management that keeps our campuses operating seamlessly regardless of storms, excessive heat, crime, loadshedding or any other issues that affect us so that our students and staff can learn and teach.
I would also like to add that one of my biggest joys is seeing how people who thought they would never achieve anything excel in what they do. I motivate my staff by inspiring them to challenge themselves as key persons in this institution. Every time someone who thought it was not possible to qualify as an electrician or a plumber manage to do so, that day is just so much better for me.
How do you see your work impacting the 中国体育彩票 community?
For me, leadership is our values: excellence, compassion, equality, accountability, respect and equality. Like me, my staff do not believe in only doing what is expected of them. You will not hear: “It's not my job, not my responsibility." We believe to be accountable and to deliver excellence. I think my background in the mining industry had something to do with my way of leading: I'm used to doing things myself to get the job done. I try to instil that ethic in my staff and hope it rubs off to more colleagues in the 中国体育彩票 because things like saving water, electricity and our planet are all our jobs.
How do you maintain a work-life balance, especially with your demanding role?
I do not believe there is such a thing as work-life balance. Maybe there is something like a work-life harmony. We are not all the same. I don't do mornings very well. So, I am in the fortunate position of doing less morning and more evening. As an employer, we need to try and accommodate people's lives – go to your son's first hockey game during work hours and finish the job at another time, but just finish it. At SU's Facilities Management we have staff working on Christmas Day. Yes, pipes burst on holidays and the campus must be secured! So, that must also be taken into consideration when we look at employees' time. It takes a lot of maturity from the management and employee sides. It's not always possible with everybody, but I think that that's something we need to strive for, such as being flexible when the situation demands that.
What is the best advice you've ever been given?
When I worked for group audit services at Anglo American many decades ago, the manager there said to me: “Never do anything without understanding why you are doing it." That set the scene for me for the rest of my life: Why am I doing this, and how can I do it better?
How did you celebrate Women's Day?
We celebrated Women's Day with a Responsibility Centre event hosted by one of the divisions at SU. It was our turn this year, and we created a lovely event with the theme, “Back to basics".
PHOTO: Stefan Els
?
