Journal of Coaching, Consulting and Coaching Psychology in Africa July 2014

For many years, Coaching has been growing and the debate has been whether or not it is a profession. At the ABCCCP we believe coaching is not only a profession that has come on its own, but is also growing fast. This is why we thought it necessary to establish a platform that will ensure the body of knowledge for coaching is recorded and shared. The Journal of Coaching, Consulting and Coaching Psychology in Africa marks a shift in the position of Africa in the global development of coaching.

Since 2004 Master and PhD programmes have been running in academic institutions- and many of these programmes involved a submission of either a mini-theses or dissertation of sorts. “And as such there is enough research out there to keep the journal running with cutting edge research every year” Said Mongezi Makhalima, Chairperson of the ABCCCP. 

What is important now is to position the journal within Academia and Practice realms to create an interface of useful research across the continent relating to Coaching & Consulting. We know based on our initial research there’s a lot happening within the areas of coaching and consulting, but a lot of it is scattered all over. We feel as the continent we also have something to contribute to the global world of coaching and what this journal does is serve to play an integrating role in the evolution of Coaching and Consulting on the African Continent- and we are looking forward to working jointly with both academia and practitioners to grow Africa’s voice in these domains.  

“It is important for businesses operating across the African continent to understand that a good grasp of the socio-cultural context of their businesses, and of their people, is a critical element for long-term success. We cannot be importing and swallowing whole models and frameworks developed elsewhere. Africa has a wealth of wisdom that directly informs how Africa does business”, said Dr Dumisani Magadlela, Board Member at the ABCCCP & Editor of the Journal).  

The Journal is now available from the Amazon and Kalahari bookstores, as well as national libraries across the country.
Members of the ABCCCP may order their free copies from:

012 751 7608
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.@abcccp.com (Members Only)

Website: www.abcccp.com

They are in South African companies and industries right now, although they may not be part of traditional networks and are unlikely to be present at the higher levels of management in the same numbers as men.  It is for this reason that BPW SA and the Department of Trade & Industry (the dti) have partnered in an unrivalled “Women on Boards” director development programme to create a pool of female leaders in SA who are excellently trained and are therefore highly sought after by Boards.  

Most people today have no knowledge about the makeup of corporate boards, even in the companies they work for. These people would be surprised to learn how little diversity of thought and experience exists in the corporate boardrooms and executive suites of South African businesses. Why should you care about board composition? Boards of directors make decisions that can impact you, your community, and the country.  That’s why it’s important that membership on corporate boards be representative of a company's constituents.

Boards of directors choose CEOs. They make decisions about executive compensation, whether to buy, sell, or merge with other companies, where corporate offices close and relocate, and how much priority a company gives to issues other than profits, such as social responsibility.  

Our Women on Boards programme will give you the expertise and exposure needed to be part of the right networks.  It is an eight-part program — strategically placed over the course of 8 months, due to the complexity of the material — equips women with the knowledge and tools needed to elevate themselves to the C-suite and beyond.  In a supportive and highly interactive atmosphere, an impressive roster of top government and corporate experts will guide skilled female executives through a rigorous program of intensive classroom instruction, case studies and simulations. Every element of the program is focused on strengthening and broadening the leadership talents of the participants and delivering positive results for their companies and organizations.  They will improve their understanding of the responsibilities of board membership and develop the skills and strategic insight needed to become a more effective director.     They will improve their understanding of board governance while heightening their financial literacy and increasing their understanding of relevant legislation.  Amongst others, specialist training is also provided by the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) with regard to corporate governance and understanding of JSE terminology and the Commonwealth Business Council (CBC) (London) who will impart their expertise on personal and reputational risk.  The dti will convey their expectations of board members and corporate experts will present, and execute simulations, on media and presentation skills to enhance leadership effectiveness. The programme is certified by the dti.  

For more information, please visit our website at www.bpw-jhbsa.co.za  .or contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 011 794-4991.

Business & Professional Women (BPW SA), and the Department of Trade & Industry (the dti) are hosting a business breakfast on 7th August 2014 to launch a unique 3-day Women’s Empowerment Programme in South Africa to provide registered SME’s with the legislative knowledge required to effectively run their business within the parameters of South African law.  

The breakfast is hosted by DDG Mr Mojalefa Mohoto and DDG Mrs Pumla Ncapayi from the DTI and BPW South Africa as well as senior representatives from the JSE and UN-Women and the Commonwealth Business Council.  Various international Ambassadors and High Commissioners will host tables at the event.  A sponsorship fund will be launched at the breakfast for qualifying enterprises.  

Organisations of all sizes in South Africa need to develop and apply sound governance, risk and compliance principles and institute high ethical values. Failure to do so will have devastating consequences for the organisation, including penalties.   For SMEs, the biggest challenge is a lack of understanding around the difficulties associated with becoming compliant.   Understanding the ever-changing regulations makes the difference between a small business thriving – growing the economy and creating jobs – or closing its doors, and thus closing the door on job creation.  

Simply put, you need to know your laws. Know your rights and obligations. In this way you mitigate risk to yourself, your business, your employees and your customers. If done well, it helps to improve business performance and ensure financial success.   If you would like to be part of this Women’s Empowerment Programme, we invite you to join us at this Business Breakfast – tickets are R500 per person or R5000 per table of 10.   

For more information, or to attend the Business Breakfast,
please visit our website at http://www.bpw-jhbsa.co.za/index.php/events/30-future-events/98-business-training-courses.
Website: www.bpw-jhbsa.co.za

Esquire Technologies, an international award winning company and one of the leading distributors in southern Africa of IT, mobility, digital and consumer lifestyle products from international vendors,  has announced it has reached a milestone of 30 000 online orders place on its website to date.

This was confirmed by Mahomed Cassim, CEO of Esquire Technologies, who said the company commenced  online sales four years ago. “In the first two years of starting this online drive we notched up only 5000 sales –but this figure has now jumped to 30 000, which is a 600% growth in two years. We are expecting this figure to rise significantly in the next few years. because many of our clients are now seeing the value of placing orders 24 x 7,” he said

Esquire is currently one of only a few distributors in South Africa which offers an online ordering facility for all the products they distribute.

“We are extremely bullish with our six-fold increase in online sales. All the hard work and sleepless nights THAT IT took to populate the website with content and information relevant for each product is starting to bear fruit with the growing amount of orders being placed online.

”Esquire has also developed and  pioneered the world’s first Virtual Reseller Network (VRN), with its own subsidiary, ImproWeb, an e-commerce solutions company.
Currently over 500 resellers are plugged into the Esquire backend, which allows them to trade with their own e-commerce web-sites, using Esquire’s Infrastructure. Earlier this year the company’s VRN won an international award – the EMEA Channel Academy Multichannel Initiative of the Year Award for 2014. The EMEA Channel Academy 2014 Awards took place in Monaco in February- in conjunction with the regional event, DISTREE EMEA. Distributors, retailers and vendors operating in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region submitted application packs to enter the Multichannel Initiative award.

A VIP Jury of international channel experts met in Monaco to assess the submitted entries. The VIP Jury selected Esquire’s world first Virtual Reseller Network (VRN) as the winner of the 2014 Multichannel Initiative Award. “We are definitely seeing that people and companies are feeling much more comfortable – and eager – to buy online. Revenue from online sales is already sitting at 10% of our total revenue, with this expected to rise to 20% by 2016.”  Commenting further,  Cassim said that by joining the Esquire VRN resellers were provided with immediate access to the company’s entire stock holding without having to invest in stock.
“This is a totally different way of conducting business in the  distribution channel.  Our VRN resellers don’t have to  HOLD any stock. They have immediate access to our stock – which is updated every few minutes. As we update our stock our resellers are given immediate access to this new stock as well. “This is going to make a significant impact on the e-commerce space in South Africa,” he said.

Indie games are fast becoming a trend in South Africa, catching on from the overseas markets. These days, children and adults alike are playing mobile games as never before. People are always hungry for something different, which is where indie games – or ‘independent’ games – come in, providing players with something other than the mass-produced mainstream products.

Now, Somerset West can boast with its very own game studio that started turning its cogs in February this year. For its first month of existence, the studio was run out of the founder’s mother’s basement – typical indie game studio protocol, if history is anything to go by. Now, running from a house close to De Hoop Primary School, the studio focuses on creating mobile games (such as their recently released Afrikaans game, Fanie de Beer) and has oodles of style, creativity, skill and initiative.

While the Apmil Game Studio has only been up and running for a few months, the people who daily put their shoulders to its wheels have been building up relationships for the last three-and-a-half years. Even though the studio officially started up in February, the idea of an indie game studio had been brewing in the mind of Studio Head, Pierre Bezuidenhout, since 2011. Pierre started lecturing in the Animation Department of Cape Town’s City Varsity in 2011 – and this is where he met the three students who would later join him in this grand venture.

Pierre, as leader of the team, is Apmil’s Programmer and Technical Director. He has previously worked in advertising and animation for Wicked Pixels in Woodstock and held the position of lecturer at Concept Interactive as well as at City Varsity. His impressive skill set includes a sharp eye for detail as well as design flair and programming aptitude in different digital languages and platforms – he is also quite the people-person. Altus Barry is the Technical Lead, taking charge of rigs, renders and other related tasks. Mabet van Zijl did her major in 3D Narrative and, as Generalist, leads Apmil’s marketing and writing in between her usual workload. Louren Hattingh takes the roles of Lead Animator and Concept Artist. While each person has their area to lead, the workflow runs with a ‘rock-paper-scissors’-style in which one falls under the delegation of another while dealing with respective area-specific tasks. Sitting around a whiteboard, each armed with a marker, they discuss character design, story line, player motivation, level arrangement, time constraints and load division before jumping in with the actual development.

The first released game, Fanie de Beer, is a 100% physics-driven, full 3D, indie puzzle game with a distinct South African flavour. Playing as Fanie de Beer, a 12-year-old farm-boy, the player utilizes simple little rocks by tapping once on the screen to clear best friend Jaco Kriel’s fields of strategically placed, ancient landmines. Built in Unity, the game takes place in a single day – with the story starting early in the morning and ending in the evening – transporting the player through a dynamic day/night cycle and colourful, saturated farm fields as they progress through the 84 levels, meeting new mine types and increasingly difficult challenges as they go along. Written and designed in Afrikaans, then carefully translated into true farm-style English, this game is unique, fun and proudly South African. The demo is available for download from the Google Play Store, while the full game can be purchased on Samsung Apps and Amazon.

The next game in the pipeline is different from Fanie de Beer in virtually every way. Where Fanie is a very colourful 3D puzzle game with just enough back-story to set the player up for the context and flavour of the game, the current project is a heavily story-driven platform-game that takes place in a fictional world made up of parallaxing silhouettes and strange characters.

Apmil Game Studio has not only been created as a platform to build games, but also as a springboard for fellow animators, developers, designers and illustrators. It’s a breeding ground for collaboration, ideas, innovation and learning. Each person hones their skills while doing fun and challenging work through creating games and stories as well as fulfilling the creative needs of small to medium-sized businesses in the Western Cape and Gauteng.

Apmil Game Studio services include animation, app creation, game creation, rendering/stills, asset creation, video editing and UX. The creative division of Apmil, led by artist Janet Botes and writer Michelle Albinson, offers logo design, graphic design, online/web design, interactive design, writing, editing, proofreading and illustration.

Apmil prides itself on being different: Fresh ideas, innovative applications, strange and wonderful games – they are all things that receive the studio’s love and attention to detail. To find out more or to get involved, contact Pierre Bezuidenhout at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call him on 082 499 3133

Studio ingredients:[A]ltus makes the bus and [P]ierre drives the bus; [M]abet takes the bus t[i]ckets and [L]ouren makes the bus move. Thus, [apmil].

Free demo: Google Play – bit.ly/fanie_demo 
Full version: Samsung Apps – bit.ly/fanie
Official Trailer: Youtube – bit.ly/fanie_trailer 
Apmil page: Apmil/Fanie – apmil.co.za/fanie-de-beer 

PRESS RELEASE
12 June 2014

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

StateoftheART is proud to present 'A Reflection Of Us', an exhibition of mixed media, drawings and paintings by Lisette Forsyth on the Exhibition Wall.

"The present and the past meet by some divine intervention called art . A reflection of us. I work on found surfaces from 1860s Government Gazette pages to scrap pieces of wood. The surface dictates the subject: the people, their body language, unique style and characters all develop into a perfect match." - Lisette Forsyth

Lisette constantly experiments with media and subject matter. Her compulsion to recycle pushes her towards mixed media. The contrasts and contradictions of Cape Town and its people provide the inspiration for her work.

Opening 3rd July @ 6pm closes Saturday 19th July @2pm

61 Shortmarket Street, Cape Town.
Gallery hours: 10am-5pm weekdays, 10am-2pm Saturdays.

The exhibition will run concurrently online from the 2nd July - 19th of July.
For more information please contact Jennifer on 0724709272 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Green is our favourite colour!

City Lodge is big into helping to protect the environment. ‘Sustainability’ is the buzzword around here and accordingly we’ve been busily greening our practices, like installing power-saving LED light bulbs in our hotels as well as providing dual-flushing toilet systems.

As of today we’re also launching our City Lodge Earth Day campaign, which is about promoting green practices amongst our staff and guests. It’s just one more step in trying to reduce our impact on the environment.The idea behind City Lodge Earth Day is that every day is a good day to focus on the environment.

So you will be seeing many educational and encouraging messages on our social media channels and within our hotels about ‘going green’ and how you can be part of the movement. Because the thing with green practices is that the more people you can get on board, the more beneficial they are. Together, we really can make a difference!

Small changes that together make a big differenceThere are many small changes we can each make in our daily behaviours, especially in the context of our own homes, to reduce the impact of man on the environment. But let’s take a look at just a few that you could embrace when staying at a City Lodge Hotel…

Actions that save energy include:

1. turning off lights whenever not in the room
2. making sure windows are closed when the air-con is on
3. unplugging electrical equipment when it’s not in use
4. dressing warmly in winter so that you don’t need to turn the heat up as high
5. not filling the kettle up to the top when you only need hot water for one or two cups.

Actions that save water include:

1. choosing to shower instead of bathing
2. turning off the tap while soaping your hands
3. only using the little button on the dual-flushing system when appropriate
4. always making sure all taps are properly turned off.

Other actions that help protect the environment include:

1. using environmentally friendly shampoos and soaps, like those supplied by City Lodge Hotels for our guests
2. using towels for longer than a day – this saves both water and power as fewer towels need washing.

LED lights up our world!

LED light bulbs and lamps are far more energy efficient than their incandescent or fluorescent equivalents. They are also vastly more ecologically friendly, as they contain no toxic materials and are 100% recyclable.

Knowing this, we at City Lodge Hotel Group have over the past year installed roughly 40,000 LED globes in our hotels, 26,000 of which were within hotels that are part of the City Lodge Hotel brand. In addition, over 4,000 other lights were also converted to more energy-efficient options.

Speaking about all the green changes that have been taking place in City Lodge Hotels, Chief Executive Clifford Ross says,“We remain committed to the journey which we embarked upon some years back to reduce our impact on the planet. Our journey meant that we critically evaluated all aspects of our business to positively influence our planet.”

So as you can see we’re going to be doing things a little differently around here from now on and we encourage you to do things a little differently with us!

In association with Rexel Office Products South Africa, the Association for Office Professionals of South Africa’s search for South Africa’s supreme office professional is now underway.

The winner will be recognised for their achievement with the title of the best office professional in South Africa and a host of prizes including a R15 000 cash prize, courtesy of Rexel Office Products South Africa and a place at Office SA, South Africa’s most innovative conference for office professionals ( sponsored by Siyanqoba Private FET College).

The OPSA/Rexel SA National Office Professional of the Year Award is South Africa’s longest running and most prestigious award for administrative professionals in South Africa. Now its 32nd year, it offers a unique opportunity to acknowledge office professionals who show a high level of initiative, a commitment to developing the profession and mentoring others and a strong understanding of the way in which business works.

“Rexel Office Products has been the proud sponsor of the OPSA SA National Office Professional of the Year Award for the last six years. The Office Professional of the Year Awards programme serves to acknowledge and reward skill and competence in the office environment. High capacity  PA’s and Office Managers play an important part in the overall success of any organization. We further recognise and respect the role that these individuals play as decision makers in the procurement of office supplies. It is therefore our aim to ensure that they are kept informed and have access to the latest stationery and office products, which are designed to help them increase productivity with minimum effort,” says Bill Bayley, Managing Director of Rexel Office Products South Africa.

Judging combines a peer review panel in the early rounds made up of previous winners of the competition, judging by a panel of experts and voting by OPSA members. The winner will be announced on Secretaries Day which takes place on 3 September 2014. Office professionals can enter themselves or be nominated by their boss or a colleague. 

The application form is available for download on the OPSA website (www.ops.org.za).  All applications and nominations need to be received by 15 July.   For further information visit: www.opsa.org.za or call the Award Convener Samantha Brown on (012) 993 0881 or email her at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Leading South African Payment Gateway, Setcom Payment Solutions, today announced their partnership with innovative e-commerce solution provider, Digital Planet. This partnership will enable Setcom to introduce a wider range of e-commerce services to their existing portfolio of online credit card processing, SID Instant EFT and mobile payment solutions.

“We feel that Digital Planet’s services would be of great value to our client base, as they have a proven track record in terms of optimising efficiencies across the entire e-commerce value chain. We look forward to collaborating with Digital Planet to provide our clients with holistic e-commerce solutions that will have a positive impact on their business performance,” said Setcom CEO, Kumalan Naidoo.

Digital Planet has been assisting some of South Africa’s biggest businesses and brands for over 15 years by enabling e-commerce efficiencies and helping their clients realise e-commerce goals. Running a successful e-commerce business can be very challenging, as it requires efficiencies in a number of areas, such as website design and development, payment integration, digital marketing, fulfilment, customer service and logistics. This is where Digital Planet’s expertise can help improve and streamline competencies across the board.

“Digital Planet continually strives to add value to our clients, and working with Setcom has allowed us to offer more flexibility to our clients when it comes to online payments. This is very important to us because secure payment methods are one of the most important consideration factors for online shoppers in South Africa,” added Cassie van Wyk, Head of E-commerce at Digital Planet.

Setcom facilitates secure credit card and SID Instant EFT transactions across multiple channels, making them a one-stop payment solution partner. Setcom’s payment infrastructure paired with Digital Planet’s e-commerce expertise will surely make for a winning combination for years to come.

About Setcom:

Setcom has been one of South Africa’s most trusted Payment Gateways since 1998. They offer secure online and mobile credit card payment processing, SID instant EFT and fraud prevention services to entrepreneurs looking for a reliable, affordable payment solutions partner.

Part of the Setcom methodology is to offer traditional and non-traditional payment types across multiple channels, partnered with an effective reporting and reconciliation platform that enables efficient processing of payments. The offering is further enhanced by a fraud and risk management system that operates across multiple channels to ensure optimal business performance.

As payments evolved through traditional retail environments and the Internet, Setcom has been at the forefront of developing products that not only differentiate, but allows business to partner with technology to expedite growth and revenues. For more information, visit www.setcom.com.

About Digital Planet:

For more than a decade, Digital Planet has helped companies build and manage profitable online businesses. They offer a complete solution: world-class e-commerce websites, back-end order management systems, e-commerce expertise, online marketing, call centre services and fulfillment services.

Digital Planet was founded in September 1999 when they launched the Digital Planet online electronics store. It was early days for the e-commerce industry in South Africa and there weren’t many skills available, so they built our own end-to-end solution for the business. This solution included the front end marketing, merchandising and technology, as well as the back-end logistics and customer services. They mastered all the nuances of a virtual business in South Africa.

They soon had customers knocking on their door to help them build and run their own online businesses. Digital Planet quickly won clients including the major brands Hewlett-Packard and Discovery Vitality, both of which are still with Digital Planet today, more than a decade later. For more information, visit www.digitalplanet.co.za.

Cape Town, South Africa June 2, 2014 - Every year many people take a visit to South Africa, or the Rainbow Nation. However, most of them don’t get to experience the true South Africa or to enjoy the authentic South African culture. However, a company called Pozay is about to change all of this.

Pozay.com enables visitors to South Africa to better integrate with its people by allowing them to join up with a host family. This means that rather than going to a restaurant in South Africa, or taking the usual, well-worn tracks, tourists have an opportunity to better explore South Africa and its culture.

Instead of dining at the usual restaurants or tourist venues, Pozay.com allows visitors to Cape Town to dine with a family. This can be a rewarding experience for everyone and provides the opportunity to discuss culture, find out more about each other, or just have fun together.

Pozay.com already has many satisfied customers. One said:“A Brilliant idea! Wish this was available in every city. It’s a fantastic way to explore the culture of a place.”While another said:“This was amazing. Beats another dinner in another anonymous restaurant (that could be anywhere in the world). Was the highlight of my trip!”

Many tourists prefer to use their own vehicles, however, Pozay.com can also arrange the transport, ensuring the tourist gets safely to their destination and back. Integrating with a family will help to give a unique experience and provide a holiday that the tourist will never forget.

Our host families come from a diverse range of cultures, allowing the tourist to choose the culture that they want to experience. Pozay will then arrange an unforgettable event for the tourist.

Bookings for this unique experience can be made via the secure online payment system; for peace of mind, all of the host families have been carefully vetted.

To find out more about Pozay, or to book an experience, visit the website at:http://www.pozay.com/

About:

Pozay.com is based in Cape Town, South Africa and provides tourists with an unforgettable experience by allowing them integrate and mix with local cultures.

The network of host families allows the holiday maker to witness the real South Africa and experience the diverse culture of Cape Town.