Jacques Moolman and Derryn Brigg have been re-elected to serve as President and Deputy President, respectively, of the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry for a third consecutive year.
Moolman currently serves as the General Manager of Southern Sun Cullinan Hotel in Cape Town. Brigg is an accredited business adviser specializing in business planning and strategy. Their re-election will undoubtedly benefit the Chamber and its members.
The Cape Chamber thanks Peter Ross for his immense value and long-standing service as Honorary Treasurer since 2017. Ross, will be replaced by Christiaan Vorster from SAICA.
The rest of the Cape Chamber board for 2023 consists of: Peter Ross (ActivPro Business Solutions), Past President Janine Myburgh (Myburgh Attorneys Incorporated), Paul Hartnady (ProfitLab), Thandi Mabena (Thandi Consulting and Trading Pty Ltd), Tilman von Zukowski (Efficient Group), and Professor Justin Barnes (BM Analysts).
The addition of Christiaan Vorster and Professor Justin Barnes onto the board is worth noting. Vorster is the Western Cape Chairperson of The South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA). Besides his role as Treasurer, he deepens the Chamber’s expertise in areas such as governance, in a time when our country is severely challenged.
Barnes who is a renowned world expert in industrial strategy and clustering, has helped countries including South Africa with significant shifts in industrial development. His expertise will strengthen value addition in areas such as industrial competitiveness.
At the Annual General Meeting held at the Cape Innovation Technology Initiative last week, Moolman emphasized the Chamber’s focus on facilitating cooperation and unlocking opportunities for economic growth.
“We firmly believe that networks create opportunities, and we focused on assisting our members and our business partners in doing what they do best, even better,” said Moolman. “It may not be within our control to set all things right ourselves, but we can scale up our united power to influence change, by mobilizing a wide range of strategic partners with the same shared goals”.
“The Chamber’s new strategy includes new service offerings to members, a new business model and new revenue streams with these offerings also addressing the needs of large firms, which are very different to those of small firms.
“After the Board approved the strategy, the implementation strategy included creating, building and leveraging new partnerships to strengthen delivery. Industry partners were mobilised, communications strengthened, and new public-private dialogue channels and processes were established.
“The website has been updated to reflect a professional organization that understands its role in the economy. The role as ‘the voice of business’ was strengthened by ensuring the Chamber voices the right issues, in a manner that ensures that the right decision-makers, hear and respond to this voice,” he said.
Overall, the Chamber’s new strategy has strengthened its ability to serve members, big and small. This reflects in the membership growth trend which is healthy again. Industry associations are increasingly approaching to join the Chamber network of networks.
Senior academics are approaching the Chamber to collaborate, and the social media following continues to grow.
The Chamber will keep strengthening its role in 2023. A year in which efficient cooperation across firms and industries is needed more than ever if we are to overcome the challenges we face.
