As CFO and MD of Metrofile, Shivan Mansingh brings deep financial expertise and strategic insight to a business powering Africa’s digital and sustainability evolution. He discusses how data, compliance and governance are unlocking growth and resilience across the mining sector and beyond.
Can you elaborate on the services Metrofile offers and how you are positioning the company for long-term growth across African markets?
Metrofile offers a comprehensive suite of services to manage, protect, and optimise data across industries, particularly in compliance-heavy sectors such as mining. Our key offerings include:
• Digital Transformation Services: Transitioning mines from outdated paper-based systems to digital platforms to ensure data accessibility and scalability.
• Compliance and Governance Solutions: Enabling full compliance with regulations through accurate, consolidated data management, centralised repositories, and verifiable records.
• Disaster Recovery Services: Protecting critical data from operational and natural disruptions with robust backup and recovery frameworks.
• Workflow Automation: Streamlining processes to improve collaboration and reduce inefficiencies.
• Cloud-Based Solutions: Ensuring secure, remote access and scalability for mines managing large, diverse data sets.
Our solutions are rooted in unlocking growth by reducing risk, improving efficiency, and meeting evolving compliance demands.
How does Metrofile support mining companies through their energy transition?
We support mining companies in their energy transition by digitising their record-keeping, reducing reliance on paper and physical storage. This shift not only contributes to environmental sustainability but also significantly improves operational efficiency. Additionally, we help clients establish robust data governance frameworks to track and manage Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance.
What are the compliance gaps you’ve identified in the mining sector today?
The mining sector frequently struggles with:
• Scattered training records across paper files, legacy systems, and physical locations, resulting in inefficiencies and heightened compliance risks.
• Manual processes that delay the retrieval of critical information needed for audits, incidents, or investigations.
• Gaps in meeting the constantly evolving Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) compliance requirements.
Metrofile addresses these issues with a centralised digital repository that securely stores training records, ensuring accuracy and accessibility.
How is Metrofile enabling standardised ESG reporting for miners?
Metrofile supports mining companies in achieving standardised ESG reporting by providing the tools and infrastructure required for real-time data consolidation and audit readiness. Through our digital repository and workflow automation solutions, we help mines collect accurate, up-to-date information.
Are there new opportunities emerging as industries digitise their compliance and ESG reporting?
Absolutely. The digitisation of compliance and ESG reporting creates opportunities to:
• Improve decision-making by analysing consolidated and accurate datasets.
• Enhance legal readiness through real-time access to critical records during audits, incidents, or investigations into fatalities.
• Boost operational efficiency, enabling HR, safety, and training teams to focus on core activities instead of time-intensive manual processes.
• Strengthen data integrity, reducing errors in record-keeping and verifying certifications or training histories for compliance purposes.
For example, mining clients who adopt our digitisation processes have reported a 90% improvement in data integrity and a significant reduction in the time spent locating and compiling records.
Are you seeing an increased demand from mining companies looking to digitise legacy systems?
Definitely, many mining companies are now recognising the risks posed by legacy systems, including compliance gaps, the high costs of manual data management, and integration challenges. Our solutions effectively support this transition by providing enhanced benefits such as:
• instant retrieval of critical training records during audits or incidents, reducing regulatory risk and improving legal readiness. We work across HR, Safety, Health and Environment in this regard.
• full compliance with DMR requirements, thanks to centralised storage of training records and verifiable certifications.
• improved operational efficiency by helping teams cut down on time spent on manual tasks, enabling a focus on core business functions.
How do you ensure strategic alignment across such a geographically and operationally diverse organisation?
To align strategies across different mines, each with its distinct challenges and methods, it’s crucial to establish a system that works effectively for all employees within those environments. This involves utilising technology to streamline workflows for the entire workforce and ensure that each person can swiftly and conveniently access the information they need.
By merging modern tech solutions like converting paper documents into digital files and employing internet-based storage with conventional practices like storing physical documents at an off-site location, we aid mines in operating more coherently and ensure that all members within these operations are working towards the same objectives.
An example of this occurred when we were approached by a mine for basic storage services. An on-site assessment revealed significant inefficiencies: record-keeping was fragmented across multiple offices, particularly in the HR, HRD, Planning, Community Development, Engineering, Finance, and Geology departments.
We introduced an integrated storage strategy combining off-site physical storage, document digitisation, and a digital repository platform. By digitising and centralising records, the need for physical document retrieval was eliminated, which was critical given the long distances between sites. The solution provided the client with secure, instant access to essential records, which was particularly beneficial for compliance audits and day-to-day operations.
This transformation led to enhanced operational efficiency and reduced administrative burden. It sparked interest in extending the digitisation to include historical records, paving the way for broader implementation across the organisation – a win for all.
