AGM Minutes

2 March 2006

Welcome

All BWA members present

Apologies

Apologies were received by:

• Julie Mostert
• Tess Rodrigues
• Jane Raphaely
• Ingrid Patersen
• Lucinda Stewart
• Shirley Browne
• Maureen Hargraves
• Michelle Jackel
• Sally Mc Grath
• Shaheema Chilwan
• Christine Rudman
• Lynda Cowen

Establishment of Voting Strength

The quorum for all members meeting shall be 30 people or 5% of Cape Town membership (whichever is greater) of the members in good standing present or by proxy.

• Noted that as at the date of the AGM, BWA Cape Town Branch had 326 registered members
• Noted that the number of members present at the Cape Town AGM was 52, and 6 proxies had been received, totalling 58
• Noted therefore, that the voting strength has been established and that a quorum was present

Confirmation of agenda / new agenda items

No new items

Approval of the minutes of the previous meeting

No corrections or amendments were submitted. A motion was called to certify that they were a true reflection of the last meeting

Proposed: Susan Stelzner

Seconded: Gita Lison

Matters Arising

Yvonne Finch went through the points minuted at last years AGM:

• Accounting income of functions was now seen separately on the financial statements
• BWA policy now is that pre payment for all events is necessary to secure the booking
• It had been decided at council that no extra amount could be added to the subscription fees as each branch is unique and therefore membership would be different and they could not take a broad decision on added amounts
• Membership fee increase is already challenge to what is expected for membership fee so a membership fee increase of 10% was introduced on 1 January 2006 bringing the yearly membership to R 500.00 inclusive of VAT
• The key issue still remains retaining existing membership
• The Cape Town committee have been proactive and taken the exercise of converting guests to members at all functions
• The use of the new Power Point presentation has proved to be very effective in assisting Julie Mostert & Cheryl Steyn, with the membership portfolio & its growth
• Weekly Update ? a regular ?Newsflash? goes out to BWA members updating them on current events & news but we still have to be cautious so that the Association does not flood members with email
• All newsflashes linked to BWA website and Yvonne asked all members to please use the Web as often as possible as it is updated on a regular basis
• Voice of women? Opportunities have been accessed both locally & nationally as can be seen in Yvonne?s Chair Report
• The DTI have formed a National Committee for Business Women?s Organizations. All major organizations meet quarterly and they look at issues around women and share knowledge & expertise. This allows for cross pollinations of information for organizations
• The NCBWO then collaborate and form the voice of all women
• Yvonne Finch did road show with DTI ? on ?The Status Quo of Women in Business?. The key issues that confront women & what may need to go into new legislation were the discussion subject. DTI embarked on a road show nationally to get the opinions of women in business nationally. Yvonne said that the very poor show of members (and women generally) in the Cape was disheartening as in other regions they had hundreds of delegates. If we want to create and have a voice we need to open our mouths & women only have themselves to blame if legislation is created that does not suit all. DTI needed input from both corporate women & entrepreneurs
• The Census Release with take place in JHB on 25 April 06 . Yvonne encouraged members who would be in JHB to attend as it normally had a great panel of speakers & it should be a very enlightening result
• The BWA objective at the national strategy had been to explore ways to grow membership & a formal marketing campaign has been recommended for National roll-out with the focus on ?Membership Value?
• Branches would then be responsible for filling needs of members in their areas and so try to prevent attrition

Chair Report

• The chair report was handed to all present
• All given chance to read through briefly
• Truida Prekel impressed with the running of the BWA CT branch. She said that she couldn?t think of an organization, business or NGO that is better run. She wished to thank the committee. A special thanks to Cheryl who is brilliant & always delivers personal attention to all. She really feels BWA is an example of how an organization should be run and that all members truly feel part of the process
• Sandra Marais wished to comment on the DTI road show and wished it noted that it was cancelled at late notice & then re-scheduled again at yet even shorter notice which made it very difficult to free a day in a busy work schedule
• Yvonne Finch said this was a challenge with working with the DTI, and had a lot to do with the minister & her tight schedule
• Since the DTI road show Truida Prekel had facilitated a session with SAWEN & it was such a enriching experience. She suggested that maybe there is a role where we as BWA can extend our hand to say when & how can we can assist & be involved
• Yvonne reported that the BWA & SAWEN are already talking and working on a collaboration

Chair report proposed by: Jill Ritchie
Seconded by: Truida Prekel

Treasurer's Report

• Yvonne formally thanked Logandree for her hard work & said she was one of the sunniest, happiest accountants to work with
• Logandree Gounden said a report was in each pack & was self explanatory
• The biggest part of income came from functions which had increased & not from membership fees
• She thanked the function committee & Cheryl for this. There had been an 11% increase on function income
• Under sponsorship we also received the following sponsorship: R 2 500.00 Jan s de Villiers for Digital Camera ? which she thanked Jan S De Villiers for
• The key challenge was still growing membership and the aim for 2005 had been 300 members (ex Corporate membership) & to retain the current members
• Expenses increased by 10%
• Profit R 18 000.00
• The CT Branch finances is looking positive from financial perspective

Additional sponsorships received:

• Ernst & Young for a laptop
• Cell C for a mobile phone

Thanks was given to the generosity of these sponsors as their contributions helped us to be effective & we value their support

Proposed: Alison Maytham
?Seconded Unathi Magida

Introduction of New chairperson & Voting

• Yvonne took the opportunity to thank the entire committee & Cheryl & all BWA members for allowing her a very interesting journey as the Chair
• Yvonne would leave the work as chair but remain an ex ? officio of the committee
• The committee had voted Ferose as Chair but Yvonne asked for her position to be ratified by the membership present

Proposed: Wendy Browne
Seconded: Jenna Monk

The floor was handed over to Ferose. She said it was big shoes to fill and looked forward to the support of the committee & the members.

Nominations for Committee

The 3 nominees names were read out:

• Jenna Monk - Holday
• Jane Notten ? Rothko
• Elsbeth Donovan ? GSB

There were no objections. Ferose read the names of all committee to including Rene Bonzet and Jill Ritchie who had been co-opted to the committee during the early part of 2006. All committee were asked to stand and the members ratified that this was the committee for 2006.

Ferose

Ferose mentioned that Yvonne is still national Vice president of BWA

She also wanted to point out a recent ?Value add? to members: P3 personal protection plan / HIV prevention policy on accidental exposure.

If you are a BWA member in good standing you automatically are covered by this policy and would receive treatment for the 1st 28 days and crucial treatment in the first 24 hrs which are the most critical times following potential exposure to the virus

Bursary applicants were handed their cheque?s of R 8 000.00 each. Ferose said that the awarding sub-committee felt the 2 recipients are passionate about giving back to community. They are Parishini Pundit ? Doctor and Diane Smith- Engineer.

The next presentation was the cheque to the Chaeli Campaign of R 22 300.00 which was raised at the end of year lunch. Zelda Mycroft thanked the BWA and said it was really fitting that the BWA made such a generous contribution as the Chaeli campaign was started by 4 young girls who are the future entrepreneurs of the country.

• All guests attending were given sunshine pots ? seeds of hope as a thank you from the Chaeli Campaign
• 7 children?s lives have been changed through the hope the donated money has breathed into their lives
• A Special tribute plaque was given to Yvonne in the presence of the BWA members, honouring her strengths in understating the sprit of women and her long history in the development of women together with her ability to inspire.
• Trudia awarded the plaque to Yvonne on behalf of the BWA
• Yvonne thanked all

Closure

Ferose appealed to all too please submit the RBAA nominations. She then introduced Sunny Stout Rostron

Official closure of the AGM was at 6:45pm