CHAIR REPORT

It has been quite a year for me personally, and for the BWA in the Cape. I am proud of our achievements as a branch, privileged to have an energetic and passionate coordinator, and really pleased to have a solid team in the committee.

Our audience reach during the period under review was 1348 at 27 different functions. I have provided a list of these events at the end of this report. Our current paid up membership varies from month to month as the different members? subscriptions expire. At this time, our paid up membership stands at 275, but our current data base extends to over 900 women, who are all previous members or guests of the BWA in the Cape.

Our networking sessions in the form of Speed Dating has proved very popular to certain parts of our membership. Our events were generally well attended. In Cape Town, we suffer from ?last minute syndrome?, as we could have only 8 bookings a week before an event, 21 people 3 days before, and 40 the day before, with more bookings arriving on the day. This is very challenging to plan effectively.

Our End of Year lunch demonstrated that the members of the BWA in the Cape were of generous heart, as we raised R20 000 for Mama Afrika, Christina Pika. At the Regional Achiever Awards, the guests raised R14 000, and with the contribution from Head Office, our bursary for this year was R31 500.

We have managed to establish an alliance with the Cape Town Regional Chamber of Commerce, in working together in the interest of our members. This year will see a renewal of this alliance in promoting the interests of small business.

We will seek more active collaboration with SAWEN, as we have been unable to link in successfully with their committee to pursue any mutually beneficial initiatives.

CHALLENGES OF THE YEAR AHEAD

In reaching out across the community, we would like to make a meaningful contribution to the ?girl child? this year. In support of this, we would like to reach out to young matriculants with a programme of career guidance and life skills; and also participate in the ?Take a Girl Child to Work? initiative, and register the BWA as a participant. I urge you all participate, and to open your places of work to at least one girl child on 24 May, and open her eyes to the world of business.

Keeping the BWA ?top of mind? to our members and guests is a quest that we will be focusing on, and we will continue to try to offer members true value for their subscription. Our new President-Elect, Basetsane Kumalo has shared her vision for the BWA, and she will definitely be taking the organization to greater heights.

The constitution of the BWA is being reviewed to make it more relevant to our current environment. During the next few months, members will be asked to comment on these changes, and I urge you all to participate in this, as it affects us all as members, and affects the future of the organization.

The BWA will only survive if it has enough funds to sustain itself and its planned initiatives. Our key sponsor, Nedbank generously sponsors the resources and infra-structure of the BWA. However, so much more is needed to make our contribution to women across the business community more meaningful. To this end, we are approaching businesses to partner with us as Platinum, Gold, Silver or Bronze sponsors, and become truly involved in uplifting women.

THANKS

In my first year as Chairperson, I have been fortunate to have Yvonne Finch, our immediate past Chair and National Vice-President providing continuous support. I thank her for taking the time and effort to still be involved in the activities of the branch.

We launched and ran our mentorship programme for the first time. Thanks and recognition for the effort and continuous involvement in this project must go to Elspeth Donovan and Gita Lison. This year, the mentorship programme will be launched again, incorporating the lessons learnt from last year.

We were very fortunate to be granted media exposure and radio interviews on a number of occasions due to the efforts of Rothko, Jane Notten?s PR agency. This year she has given her resources free of charge to promote the BWA, and we thank her.

PriceWaterhouseCooper, has very kindly offered their premises and catering for our functions and committee meetings this year. We have already benefited from this, and we warmly thank Nina Joubert for arranging this.

I must also thank Logandree Gouden, our Treasurer, who works hard on our finances, and Jenna Monk, who is always available to assist with any task at any function. Thanks also to our resident photographer, Rene Bonzet, who is always there to record the moment, and is also responsible for functions in the Tygerberg region. Thanks also to Jill Ritchie for keeping the Helderberg region going.

The 3 ladies who joined the committee during the year, Shafia Mohamed, Janine Nel and Carin Willet, have already become involved, and we are grateful for their fresh ideas and efforts in planning the new year.

Cheryl Steyn, our coordinator went on maternity leave, but still managed to keep the administration of the branch going. I would like to thank her for her tremendous efforts and support during the year.

And to the many women I have met this year, I am truly privileged to know your story and learn lessons from your experiences.

Ferose Oaten, Chairperson
19 March 2007

EVENTS: FEB 2006 - FEB 2007