Hirsch’s Meadowdale hosted its monthly Ladies Networking Morning recently with vibrant women within the community ready to network and talk business with likeminded influencers. 

Stephen Van Basten, the speaker for the morning is a published author, speaker edu-trainer and extraordinary teacher.  He is the Head Relationship Coach for the Real Entrepreneur Institute and a successful Advanced Toastmaster. 

Stephen’s topic for the morning was; How to get  Instant Rapport using Face-Pattern Recognition. 

He started off with a fun exercise regarding facial recognition and how different facial features determine your different traits.  Stephen explained that in order to touch and change other people’s lives you need to get into the highest state of rapport.  He  gave the ladies a few tools regarding facial recognition to build the most valuable relationships with the people they encounter.

 After Stephen’s talk each of the ladies was given the opportunity to present themselves and their business in a 30-second ‘elevator pitch ’, followed by some lucky draws, networking, sharing of business cards and enjoying appetizers.

If you would like to join Hirsch’s Ladies Networking Mornings contact Letitia Haywood on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

So you have decided to sell your Business for 1 or more reasons - it could be because you have decided to relocate or emigrate; you may want to cash in after many years of hard work and retire; or you may have decided to move into a new venture.

Once you have made your decision to sell, you need to decide on the method you will employ to ensure a successful sale. You only have 2 options to decide on - 1) Employ the services of a Business Broker or 2) Sell your Business yourself.

Having sold my own Businesses privately in the past, and having owned my own Business Brokerage and sold Businesses on behalf of clients, I am qualified to give an overview of the pros and cons of both methods.

Selling through a Business Broker: - A qualified Broker can assist you with establishing the correct price for your Business in order to ensure a successful sale. - Allows you the time to concentrate on running your business and preventing the possible decline of turnover and profits. - A qualified Broker knows the most effective process to use from marketing your business, screening and qualifying leads, and negotiating the sale with an interested buyer. - The Broker has the necessary documents to qualify potential buyers, and conclude a sale. - Brokers usually charge a commission of 10% on the sales price of the Business. This could amount to a huge amount of money coming out of your pocket! You need to decide whether you are prepared to give away 10% of the selling price of your business! - If a Broker in a Brokerage needs to meet his target, or is short of personal funds, he or she may push you to accept a lower offer for your Business to satisfy his/her needs.

Selling your Business privately: - You know your Business better than anyone. You are the best person to answer questions on your business. You also know the industry and can suggest ways of improving turnover and profits. You may also be able to point out future opportunities in the industry. - You can save on the 10% commission charged by Brokers. The extra 10% could amount to a substantial amount of money, and will come in very handy with your future plans! Conclusion: - The reason why most sellers do not sell privately is because they actually don't know how! - They don't know how best to market their Business for sale, how to qualify the potential buyers, what steps to follow, and what documents are needed. They also know that they will need to spend an unknown amount of money to have the agreement drawn up by an Attorney.

What if there was another option? - You get a step by step guide to selling your Business; - Your Business is advertised on a premium targeted site; - You receive all leads yourself; - You get all documentation to conclude the sale; - You get access to telephonic support and advice from a qualified Business Broker; - You pay 0% commission!   Biz2Sell have a choice of advertising packages for sellers of Businesses. Biz2sell have also developed a unique option for business owners who want to sell their Business privately and not pay a huge commission. ( Platinum Package.) Biz2 Sell does not charge any commission on Businesses sold through our Premium advertising platform.

To learn more about us and to see our affordable packages please visit http://www.biz2sell.co.za

MathsGenius Leadership Institute (MGLI), a quantitative leadership startup based in Johannesburg, South Africa has launched an audacious program entitled "The Mothers for STEM Initiative".This initiative seeks to empower 150 women with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) tutoring businesses by the end of 2017.  

South African learners perennially do badly in maths and science subjects compared to their peers in other countries as shown by the low ranking in both the TIMSS and WEF reports on educational quality. On this background, MathsGenius a STEM advisory start-up saw it fit to address some of the fundamental problems associated with this failure in STEM.

A study done by MGLI in 2014 showed that the weakest link in the maths and science education learner spectrum were rural and township girls. They are the one who were seen to pose the greatest threat to success of the country in STEM subjects and careers. Upon further analysis a strong correlation between a mother's belief system around maths and science and their daughter's performance was established. 

"The best way to get more girls into STEM is to involve the community especially the mothers", stated Edzai Zvobwo, Chief Genius at MGLI. To put these sentiments into practice, MGLI has embarked on an ambitious project to provide motivation, training and support to 150 mothers who will become STEM tutoring business owners within their communities.

MGLI is looking for willing partners to come into fray and contribute towards the achievement of this goal. The model will see MGLI setting up an online education ERP system and LMS that will allow continuous monitoring of the entrepreneurs and learners and measuring progress and impact as the project goes on. MGLI will provide the prospective entrepreneurs with a "school-in-a-box" solution that they can simply plug and play to the benefit of learners. 

For information on this initiative you can visit Mothers of STEM  or  send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

"5, 4, 3, 2, 1... Pitch and Polish!" 

For the past six years, these sounds have reverberated in community halls across South Africa, as entrepreneurs have presented their business ideas to audiences and expert judges. What began, in Nelspruit in 2010 with an audience of forty people – as a small idea to assist entrepreneurs to hone their business pitches – has grown into a national programme which, in 2015, saw 1680 audience members attend eight workshops and competitions from Cape Town to Klerskdorp.

Now in its seventh year, the ENGEN Pitch & Polish programme has become so successful that Engen Petroleum Ltd. is sponsoring it for a fifth year, with Nedbank coming on board as a major sponsor for 2016. “Seven is a magic number,” says Unathi Njokweni-Magida Engen’s Group Transformation Manager, “and so we are expecting big things from the ENGEN Pitch & Polish programme this year.”For Njokweni-Magida, Engen’s motto ‘with us you are number one’ dovetails beautifully with Pitch & Polish’s purpose. “The programme aims to find the number one unsung entrepreneur in South Africa. This is the person who, in Stage 1 of the competition, has a business idea that we think will succeed. The question is whether the entrepreneur has what it takes to learn the lessons offered by the workshops, and polish their pitch to such a point that success is inevitable,” says Njokweni-Magida.

Nhlakanipho Shange was one such entrepreneur. Armed with a dream, he entered ENGEN Pitch & Polish in Wentworth, in KwaZulu-Natal, in 2013. Although Shange did not win the competition, he attributes his success to the experience he gained as he proceeded from the first to the semi-final round of the competition. “At ENGEN Pitch & Polish I learned that preparation is the key to success,” says Shange. “As an entrepreneur, you never know when someone will ask you: ‘What does your business do?’ If you are unable to answer this question clearly, in less than 3 minutes, you will not be able to access the resources to grow your business,” he states with the self-assurance of an entrepreneur who has integrated the lessons he learned at the workshop. The competition gave Shange the confidence to transform his idea into a fully-fledged business. AD.IT Solutions is fast becoming a pioneer in disruptive digital media technology in South Africa.  And it all began when Shange dared to enter a competition! This year, AD.IT Solution will be providing advertising services for Pitch & Polish. The competition, which started as his teacher, has now become his client. “I understand now that entrepreneurship is a journey, not a destination,’” says Shange.

From ‘Dragon’s Den’ to ‘The Apprentice’, we have become accustomed to watching entrepreneurs pitching their ideas. Pitch & Polish is different in that it uniquely combines training, audience participation and a competition to ensure as wide a reach as possible. Because it is not possible for everyone to participate in the actual competition, every Pitch & Polish Day begins with a workshop in which the entire audience is provided with knowledge and skills to equip them to translate their ideas into businesses, or to take their existing businesses to greater heights. The workshop, based on the best-selling book, ‘Lose the Business Plan’ by Allon Raiz, CEO of Raizcorp, teaches entrepreneurs that starting a business is not about funding. Rather, it is about having a product or service for which people are willing to pay.“Without a paying customer,” says Raiz, “you don’t have a business. Yet, from workshop to workshop, when asked who their target market is, the standard answer given by entrepreneurs is: ‘Everyone’. Pitch & Polish forces entrepreneurs to question deeply and to find answers to the key questions: ‘What do you sell?’ and ‘Who’s buying?’ If you cannot answer these two questions, you do not have a business,” says Raiz. Raiz continues, “Pitch & Polish provides a safe environment for entrepreneurs to learn the lessons – before they have to face the dragons!”Nedbank, one of the sponsors of Pitch & Polish, continues to support SMEs as well as aspirant entrepreneurs through practical solutions. ‘Through our ongoing engagement with small and medium enterprises, we understand the enormous responsibility business owners face in starting up and running their businesses. The Pitch & Polish workshops are a perfect platform to empower businesses with simple tools aimed at refining their ideas and building their confidence for the journey ahead. This is another way we continue to make the things that really matter for businesses happen,’ says Tracy Afonso: Head of Strategy, Small Business and Professional Banking at Nedbank.

Every one of the 1680 people who attended ENGEN Pitch & Polish workshops last year learned something, both about themselves and about business. “If each participant implements one of the lessons in their business, or passes on the lesson to another, the ripple effect of Pitch & Polish on the economy is enormous,” says Raiz.

For a list of this year’s workshops, and to experience the magic of Pitch & Polish for yourself, visit www.pitchandpolish.com.

Pyramid Analytics unlocks new analytics opportunities for SAP customers  

Johannesburg — September 27, 2016 — Pyramid Analytics, the next-generation business analytics platform for the enterprise, today announced new functionality in BI Office that delivers streamlined and governed access to all data sources in the SAP system, including SAP HANA and SAP BW. Using an SAP®-certified connector, customers can unify their SAP data with other critical enterprise data sources within BI Office, empowering both executives and business users to make more informed, data-driven decisions.  “Thousands of the world’s largest enterprises rely on SAP data to run their business. These data sources represent everything from HR records, CRM system data, and inventory management, which, when combined with other data sources, tell a powerful story that informs a better decision process,” said Omri Kohl, Pyramid Analytics co-founder and CEO. “Because Pyramid Analytics is using a certified connector to SAP, our enterprise customers will be able to easily and confidently integrate their SAP data with our best-in-class enterprise business analytics platform. And they can do so in a secure, governed environment while giving their end users the ability to be innovative with SAP data in a self-service analytics environment.” BI Office enables businesses to:

Curate data models in a governed and secured framework: The robust role-based security framework in BI Office enables IT to make sanctioned SAP data available to the business users in a managed and secured way. This creates an integrated end-to-end analytics workflow that ensures everyone is working from the most current information, without sacrificing IT governance or administrative control.

Allow users to connect to all SAP data sources in a self-service environment: With the intuitive interface of BI Office, coupled with the integration of the connector, users can make their own data models to merge SAP data with non-SAP data, create their own dashboards and reports, and even control when the data refreshes— without relying on IT assistance.

Access unified analytics dashboards: BI Office serves as a centralised analytics hub where users can easily consolidate and analyse content from SAP and other disparate sources, apply universal interactions, and change context on the fly.

Share content and context from SAP data sources: BI Office provides a platform for users to share and re-use content and business logic, as well as offer content recommendations and threaded conversations that expose important insights, relationships, and interactions. “BI Office has provided us with incredible insights combined with measurable cost and time savings, making it easy to access relevant and timely data,” said Jo McGurk, BI Manager at Voith FRS. “We are pleased BI Office is certified to integrate with SAP. As our user base expands, this addition to the BI Office platform will allow us to offer an alternative approach to access our core ERP data, helping us gain exceptional insight and understanding across our business.” “We have seen great success driving value for our customers and prospects with Pyramid Analytics’ technology,” said Hermann Hebben, Founder and Managing Director for QUNIS. “BI Office not only increases the availability and value of business analytics for the individual user, but also for the organisation as a whole. Decisions are made faster and with less risk. And now with this SAP-certified connector, organisations will be able to extend the reach and impact of their analytics by pulling critical data from their SAP platform into the decision-making process in a way that is secure and incredibly easy. We look forward to implementing it with our customers as they push forward on their analytics journey.” To learn more about this new BI Office functionality, visit: http://pages.pyramidanalytics.com/BI-Office-Release-v6.3.html  

About Pyramid Analytics Pyramid Analytics is a global leader offering a business analytics platform that enables individuals—from power users to knowledge workers to decision makers—to transform their organization into a data-driven business. As a complete web-based platform, combining self-serve analytics with centralized governance, BI Office demonstrates measurable utility, fosters genuine collaboration, and simplifies complex analysis. BI Office delivers best-in-class analytic functionality for organizations—on-premise or in the cloud. Pyramid Analytics' teams are based in operational centres across the globe.

To learn more, visit http://pages.pyramidanalytics.com/sap-connector.html follow us on Twitter at @PyramidAnalytic, and connect with us on LinkedIn.  

Do you remember when you got your first personal laptop? You probably opted for a stylish one because of its look and feel or what was popular among your peers at the time. Most of the time, all we went for in a first buy is the ability to play videos, games and music. Other people only needed a personal laptop for Microsoft software applications such as Word, PowerPoint and Excel. Wasn’t that one of the advantages of having a personal laptop in tertiary anyway? To ensure computing-life didn’t end when the Internet Centre on campus closed.  

Choosing a small business laptop is a different ball game. One needs to consider their small business needs, employee size and budget too. The kind of features a laptop has then comes into play. Memory, the level of security the laptop offers, battery life, you a name it. The good old days of hardly using a laptop unless you are close to a charging station automatically vanished. If the need to work arises, regardless of where you are, one should be able to get right to it. Making good battery life for a business laptop a necessity in this case.   

The “OS” Operating System:  

What platform are you familiar with and comfortable using? Is it Windows, Mac OS X or Chrome OS? Most laptops come with one of the three operating systems. You can install any of these operating systems on normal laptops. However, the Mac OS X tends to be problematic because of its motherboard configuration. The last thing you need in order to run a productive business is to purchase a laptop with an operating system you or your employees can’t use.  

A variety of laptop makes and models come with Windows thus it’s the most flexible OS of the three. You would want to go for Windows because of its touchscreen feature which Mac OS X does not provide in any of its models. Or find its vast array of its desktop productivity, graphic, video and development software programs as a bonus. Windows 10 also makes it possible to switch between tablet and desktop modes. Best brands to choose from in 2016: Dell, Asus and HP.    

Maybe you are an iPhone or iPad user and would appreciate iOS-like features on a MacBook like Launch Pad for your apps, taking calls and texts from your iPhone. You will love the security feature of the Mac OS X Unix core. It simply makes installing a destructive Trojan or virus impossible unless via typing an admin password. Apple remains the top brand to choose in 2016.  

If you are looking for a laptop that’s inexpensive and will largely be use for surfing the Web, emailing and online chatting then Google’s Chromebooks would be best. It has a similar interface to Windows but Chrome Browser is the main app. It has very few offline apps though and the majority of the ones you can use, don’t always work well. Best brands to choose from in 2016 include: Lenovo, Toshiba and Acer.  

So the options are there.  The applications are there.  Make your requirements list, tick the boxes and choose the laptop to match your needs.

The largest international businesswomen’s organisation - BPW International – has launched South Africa’s first register of board ready women.  

Keynote speaker, Mr Mohale Ralebitso, CEO of the Black Business Council, discussed the long slow haul for gender diversity on boards and the actions that the BBC are taking to ensure a swift progression to change. In addition, Mohale outlined the BBC’s stance on the recent JSE policy requiring listed companies to disclose the female representation on their boards and drive transformation at an executive management level.  

We need to capitalise on every talent available to ensure a South Africa and subsequently an African economy that thrives, and not simply those of a connected few.  

South Africa’s future women directors have organised under the “Get on Board” banner to passionately drive the transformation of boards. These talented women are operating at a high level in companies across industry sectors right now. The first 42 women on our Register all fulfil stringent criteria for corporate governance and legislation and are well trained through the BPW “Women on Boards” Director Development programme.    

It’s time we provide opportunities to more women than just the “high flyers” who currently occupy more board seats than is practical, taking away opportunities from up and coming new talent.  Placing unqualified non-executive female directors simply to tick a box or succumb to boardroom bullying, is neither acceptable nor ethical. Furthermore, the excuse that there are insufficient qualified women to occupy positions in the boardroom is simply a defence for not transforming. The high calibre of women on the Register highlights that there are more than enough eminently qualified women to help lead South Africa’s corporations through the 21st century.  

We are urging companies to heed the “Get on Board” call now, and to profit from this pool of talent and we recommend that all businesswomen join our Women on Boards programme to equip themselves with all the responsibilities and risks associated with taking on board positions to ensure they are able to participate knowledgeably and with confidence.    

Issued by: BPW South Africa

Enquiries:
Ms Toni Gomes President – BPW South Africa

Tel: 011 794-4991 | Fax: 086 551 5859 | Cell: 083 212 9134
Email:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Website: www.bpw-jhbsa.co.za

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world,” said Nelson Mandela. Our society lives by this quote, not purely because it is from the father of the nation and a world renowned leader of his time. Chiefly because from a tender age, the average South African child is taught to aspire towards prestigious educational achievements in order to change his or her life.  

As a child growing up in this society you become accustomed to phrases such as “education will open many doors for you” and with a childlike faith, you grow up and set out to make this happen. This can be misleading and give people the false impression that every educated individual will be successful upon completing school. Many parents overlook the need to prepare their children adequately for the harsh and disappointing reality of unemployment after graduating from college, university or any other institution of higher learning.  

When a fresh graduate is faced with such a predicament, it is best to opt for the entrepreneur route.  What’s better than waiting tirelessly to find employment, whilst frying your brains in your mother’s house, than starting a business of your own? Bearing in mind every prospective entrepreneur starts a business with the hope that it will flourish and be able to address the societal need of providing employment while making profit.  

Congratulations to both our nation’s graduates who were fortunate enough to find employment and a big shout-out to those who started their own businesses straight out of varsity. If you are looking to kick-start something along your interests or qualifications this year or just looking for inspiration while weighing your options, let’s delve into some must-have essentials to position your business to prosper in just under a year:  

• An authentic product or service in demand and can satisfy a need or want in your community. Your business offering needs to be first and foremost attractive to people. If you are already thinking major profits, perhaps you would like to move that down your priority list for later.
• Educate yourself and your fellow business partners. Attend free seminars, small business events and research government funding opportunities. There is a wealth of information in inspirational and educational books from successful businessmen and women you must read to prepare you for challenges you will face in the near future as a business owner.
• Take your business online. Think big, think e-commerce, think digital. You can take advantage of Google Adwords for online advertising and search engine optimization (SEO) strategies. Make sure you have a mobile friendly website and tap into the world of mobile commerce for your business. Your customers are connecting to the internet (google and social media) through mobile devices - meet them there.

You are a young business that is keeping up with the times and your ever-evolving target market. Although Desktop PCs are great for conducting business, I do not see you travelling in-between meetings with one in your back seat. Check out the HP 250 range of entry-level laptops and notebooks for professionals on the move. You need devices ideal for everyday computing on the go. Your business will rarely be in one place.  

“Changing the world is the first step, believing you can is the next step and then aligning this with your passion is the last step. If you do those three things, the money will come.” Some startups might not give the necessary attention to Intrapreneur Tim Denning’s belief and might make up the 90% of businesses that fail within the first five years. Choose not to be part of that statistic.

“Exciting to see that intra-African investment is gaining momentum”

“Investing in the power sector in Africa can be very lucrative and we have the success stories to prove it”, says Evan Schiff, event director of African Utility Week, taking place in Cape Town from 12-14 May. During the largest annual power and water conference and expo on the continent, a high-level Finance & Investment Forum will specifically focus on project finance, risk management, IPPs and case studies.

Says Evan Schiff: “$42 billion a year will be required to meet Africa’s energy demand by 2040, including a private-sector financing increase of up to ten times the current levels. In order to achieve this governments and business must work together and fresh approaches will be vital.”

He continues: “private equity fund raising for Africa increased by 136% in 2013 to US$3.3bn, up from US$1.4bn a year earlier. Greater private sector participation and competition has been encouraged through power sector reform and long-term power purchase agreements through the state utility or other credible off-takers. IPPs are considered a solution to persistent supply constraints. It is also exciting to see that intra-African investment is gaining momentum. African investors nearly tripled their share of FDI projects over the last decade, from 8.0% in 2003 to 22.8% in 2013 according to EY’s latest attractiveness survey.”

The Finance & Investment Forum will also have a special focus on renewables and innovative ways of financing green energy while creating sustainable jobs. Evan Schiff adds: “with the African Development Bank SE4LL Fund recently confirming a $777,000 preparation grant to support a 72MW solar power plant project to become the first renewable IPP in Cameroon, it shows that there are creative investment vehicles and initiatives out there for energy projects on the continent that previously were considered too marginal for project financing”.

Bringing deals to point of bankability
Power Africa, US President Barack Obama’s initiative to improve access to power in sub-Saharan Africa, will be the official country partner of African Utility Week. Power Africa works with African governments, the private sector, and other partners to add more than 30,000 megawatts (MW) of cleaner, more efficient electricity generation capacity as well as increase electricity access by adding 60 million new home and business connections throughout all of sub-Saharan Africa.

Andrew Herscowitz is the coordinator for Power Africa and panellist at the Finance & Investment Forum: ”we’ve seen that there is plenty of investor interest in the continent and there are plenty of people with great ideas and potential to execute power projects, but the problem that we see is getting those deals to the point of bankability.  So I really see that Power Africa has this sweet spot, working with all of our partners including the World Bank, which committed USD5-billion, the African Development Bank which committed USD3-billion, the government of Sweden that committed a USD1-billion, and our private sectors partners that committed over USD20-billion. I think we have this opportunity to align our efforts to figure out what role we can play to bring those projects to bankability so that investors will find a place to put their money.”

More speaker and programme highlights at the Finance & Investment Forum:
•    Case Study:  Lake Turkana Wind Power Project, Kenya
-    Erik Wandrag, Senior Investment Director for Energy, Harith General Partners

•    Case Study: Gigawatt Global, Scatec Solar and Norfund PV Park, Rwanda
-    Chaim Motzen, Managing Director, Gigawatt Global Coöperatief UA (GWG) Rwanda

•    Case Study: “Develop your clean energy projects into bankable opportunities”
-    Peter Ballinger, Managing Director, Africa, Overseas Private Investment Corporation, USA

•    Panel discussion: “The fundamentals you must consider for structuring a bankable PPA”
-    Moderator: Gregory Nott, Director, Africa, Norton Rose Fulbright, South Africa
Open floor discussion on fixed tariffs, foreign exchange, transmission and grid connection risk, off-taker payment support, political FM, dispatch risk, put call option agreements (PCOA) and other PPA elements.

•    Inge Stølen, Senior Investment Manager, Clean Energy, Norfund, Norway
•    Marc Leistner, Deputy Head of Regional Representation for Africa, European Investment Bank, South Africa
•    Roland Janssens, Deputy Head: Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund, Frontier Markets Fund Managers, UK
•    Eric Olojugba, Chief Commercial Officer, North South Power/Shiroro GENCO, Nigeria

Utility professionals from across the globe
The 15th African Utility Week and Clean Power Africa bring together utility professionals from across the globe to learn, share knowledge and debate the key topics that will secure the future development of Africa’s power and water industries. The event is expected to again attract more than 5000 attendees and features 250 exhibitors, 190 speakers, eight conferences, free technical workshops on the expo floor, three high-profile plenary sessions and the coveted industry awards gala dinner.

DNV-GL has already confirmed its exclusive diamond sponsorship of the event while Accenture, Building Energy, MarelliMotori and Edison Power Group are the platinum sponsors.

African Utility Week and Clean Power Africa are organised by Spintelligent, leading Cape Town-based trade exhibition and conference organiser, and the African office of Clarion Events Ltd, based in the UK.

African Utility Week and Clean Power Africa dates and location:  
Exhibition & Conference: 12-14 May 2015
Industry awards: 13 May 2015
Site Visits: 15 May 2015
Location:  CTICC, Cape Town
Website:  www.african-utility-week.com   
Twitter:  https://twitter.com/AfricaUtilities

Contact:
Communications manager:  Annemarie Roodbol
Telephone: +27 21 700 3558
Mobile: +27 82 562 7844
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Notes for Editor
Spintelligent (Pty) Ltd is an African media business, specialising in Exhibitions, Conferences and Publishing. Head-quartered in Cape Town with a team of 90 experienced professionals, Spintelligent is a dynamic and recognised organiser across multiple industry sectors and geographies. A specialist organiser with the ability to deliver key growth projects in the early emerging markets of the African continent. Spintelligent is the African partner office of Clarion Events Ltd, the UK based organiser operating in 36 countries worldwide with 9 subsidiary offices delivering over 500 exhibitions and conferences annually.Spintelligent delivers projects in African growth industry sectors; Power & Utilities; Energy; Mining; Education & Careers; Agriculture; Infrastructure; Military & Defence. Spintelligent delivers projects in the emerging African markets; South Africa; Nigeria; Ghana; Kenya; Tanzania; DRC; Angola; Mozambique; Zambia.

The EWSETA Skills Summit, taking place 17-18 March 2015 at the Protea Hotel in Saldanha Bay, this is a pioneering initiative of the EWSETA to bring discussions around governments broad economic policies including Ocean Economy into a regional forum. The stakeholders will come together to mobilise collaborative skills development programmes that will see gainful employment in the Saldanha Bay Industrial Development Zone (SBIDZ), on South Africa’s West Coast. 

The 330 ha SBIDZ was designated in 2013 as a zone dedicated to serving the oil and gas industry. It has attracted strong interest, mainly from fabricators. On 9 March 2015, the Transnet National Ports Authority announced a R9.65 billion investment in infrastructure projects at the SBIDZ. The project falls under the government's ‘blue economy’ plans of its Operation Phakisa and Oceans Economy initiative, announced by President Jacob Zuma in 2014. 

EWSETA SKILLS Summit makes it possible for stakeholders to express what they are doing in their own capacity to feed into Operation Phakisa and how it can collectively support and unblock the challenges that are faced by stakeholders. 

Theme

Themed ‘A Journey towards Skills Development for gainful employment in the West Coast’, the Summit will address the skills shortages surrounding the SBIDZ development as highlighted through various research reports commissioned in respect to the region.

With a long term goal to shape the landscape of skills development and training in the West Coast the Skills Summit is the starting point of a journey into new and ground breaking efforts by multiple stakeholders to contribute to the decade of the artisan national programme. 

On the second day, delegates broke into commissions to discuss critical issues that contribute to an effective and inclusive pipeline touching on amongst others:

1.       Unlocking the potential of the Western Cape community to meet proposed demands

2.       How can exit strategies for learners from TVET colleges and other technical qualifications be increased?

3.       How can workplace learning be meaningfully addressed? Accreditation, process etc

4.       How can data be shared more effectively in the sector and region? 

Through the summit, delegates will be given the opportunity to hear first-hand from government, industry, EWSETA and other key partners, including CHIETA and other relevant SETA’s on what skills development challenges, benefits and opportunities exist within the West Coast generally and the SBIDZ specifically. They will engage around possible skills interventions that they believe would eradicate poverty and unemployment in the region.  

Speakers

Following the welcome from the Saldanha Bay Municipality, the Summit will be officially opened by the Deputy Minister of the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET), Mduduzi Manana, followed by an address by the EWSETA CEO, Errol Gradwell. Laura Peinke the executive for business development at  the SBIDZ Executive Stakeholder Management, will make a presentation on Realizing the untapped potential of the oil and gas and marine fabrication sectors whilst the SBIDZ associate for skills development Mr. Patrick Lakabane will provide an overview of the SBIDZ strategic skills development objectives. The day concludes with West Coast TVET College deputy CEO reflecting on the ‘Current Provision of a Skilled Workforce in the West Coast’.

The Deputy Minister of the Department of Trade & Industry (dti), Mzwandile Masina, will open the second day. This is followed by a panel discussion, ‘What are the challenges being faced in achieving our skills targets in the region’, facilitated by Lakabane. On the panel will be representatives of the Department of Economic Development and Tourism (DEDT), Department of Higher Education & Training (DHET), Department of Trade & Industry (DTI), EWSETA, SBIDZ, Northlink TVET College, Saldanha Bay Municipality and South African Oil & Gas Alliance (SAOGA).  

Following the commissions delegates will reconvene to report back and pledge their support. 

Proud support from key stakeholders

 “The South African Oil and Gas Alliance (SAOGA) supports the EWSETA Skills Summit in Saldanha Bay, which will serve to bolster the region’s capacity to provide skilled people for the anticipated oil and gas investments.  Skills development is one of the priorities of SAOGA and the industry it serves.  We look forward to the collaborative initiatives that will emanate from the Summit, knowing it will benefit all the roleplayers,” says Ebrahim Takolia, CEO of SAOGA.

“The Skills Summit will give us the opportunity to acquaint ourselves with the needs of industry to ensure that our training is relevant and contributes to local economic development. With the national unemployment rate hovering at 26%, it is of paramount importance that private and public sector join hands and share best practices in order to overcome the challenges hampering skills development. 

“We are proud to be associated with the EWSETA Skills Summit and we are certain that the summit will give as a platform to collaborate and merge training initiatives. Together we can move the West Coast forward and provide a skilled workforce to unlock the region’s economic potential,” says Jooste-Mokgethi