RBAA Winners Breakfast – September 2010
The Businesswomen's Association hosted its annual
Regional Business Achievers Awards gala dinner at the Durban ICC in July 2010.
The BWA took an opportunity to highlight and showcase the high achieving,
dynamic and successful women who were announced as these Winners in their
respective categories. The BWA members were able to meet and network with the
Regional Business Achiever Award Winners for 2010. We held a breakfast event to
celebrate their success and listen to a brief presentation on their journey
towards that success, the sacrifices, the good times and the bad. The guests
left feeling motivated and inspired by their stories as well as having enjoyed a
decadent breakfast.
Cash Flow Management Workshop – December 2010
This seminar was run by Margaret Host of Margaret
Host Consulting.
Two major benefits to the business owner:
-
The system is designed around ensuring that the
business achieves its growth targets
-
All problematic issues to be identified
as early as possible, enabling the owners to rectify the situation before it
impacts on the bottom line profitability of the business.
The system design goal is:
- Improving cost effectiveness by eliminating
wastage of time and materials
- Increasing efficiency, in terms of output
and control
- Improving the overall levels of service rendered to both
clients of the business and management
- Establishment of key management
controls
- Identification of the key business processes
- Design a high
level management control for the key processes
Each delegate was given
templates of budgets, cash flow, breakeven, and performance bonuses.
Year
End Breakfast & BWOYA Roadshow – December 2010
BWA hosted their annual
Year End Breakfast as we celebrated another successful year. We were thrilled to
have Ms Santie Botha as our guest of honour who scooped the 2010 Businesswoman
of the Year Award in the Corporate Category at the prestigious BWA Annual
Businesswomen of the Year event held at Vodaworld, Midrand, earlier in 2010.
Santie Botha is the Executive Director - Marketing for the MTN Group and
sits on various boards including Tiger Brands. Her previous positions include
Executive Director at ABSA Bank and working for Unilever in both Durban and
London, where she spent 6 years as the Commercial Sales Director. Santie has
received numerous awards including Marketer of the Year and Business Person of
the month by the Business Times.
The festive morning included
entertaining comedy by Durban Comedian Carvin Goldstone, a scrumptious
breakfast, an opportunity to meet and network with other phenomenal women in KZN
as well as the awarding of some fantastic prizes and all guests walking home
with a wonderful goodie bag!
The BWA not only aims to be a platform for
the inspiration and empowerment of women, we also hope with your support, to
make a difference to the lives of others. This year a portion of the proceeds
raised from this event were donated to "Reach for a Dream" to help fulfil the
dreams of children with life threatening illnesses. In total we managed to
donate R10, 000 to this cause.
The Truth About Trust Breakfast
Wed 18th August, 2010
We were joined by international speaker Vanessa Hall, the Founder and Director of Entente Pty Limited, Australia. Vanessa is an award winning Author, Speaker and Advisor to business leaders and individuals alike. Vanessa's business and personal experience has ignited an unstoppable passion that has made her an outstanding entrepreneur and globally recognised thought leader on trust.
Vanessa's Award winning book, The Truth About Trust in Business, has set a new standard as to how any successful business should be operated.
The Truth About Trust:- You know you need it in business with your customers, employees, shareholders, managers, business partners.
- You know you need it in your home, in your marriage or partnership,with your children, with friends, in all your relationships.
- You know you need it in your community, in schools, with neighbours, in your government.
- What you don't know is how trust actually works - know this and you have the key to amazing results, retention and relationships!
Through an insightful and dynamic presentation we left with a fresh understanding and perspective on how trust really works.
BWA Bursary Awarded to a Deserving Candidate
4 August 2010
The Businesswomen’s Association is more than a networking organization! Juggling professional careers and family commitments, members of the BWA still find time for an array of projects designed to develop and support other women in business.
One such project is the BWA Bursary Scheme, awarded to an exceptional woman who must have completed her undergraduate degree and be registered for postgraduate study. She must have demonstrated outstanding academic achievement and financial need. And she must stand out from the crowd. The woman who wins the BWA Bursary must be destined to make their mark on South African business.
Nontobeko Mkhize is the 2010 winner of the KZN Businesswomen’s Association Bursary. She is currently pursuing an honours degree in finance at UKZN and aims to enter the financial world next year. This will be a new phase, but not her entry into the working world, as Nontobeko already has plenty of work experience having taken on a variety of jobs to support herself during her studies. She currently tutors 3rd year students but modestly says that this is not entirely selfless, as she uses this as a learning opportunity. Determined and focused, Nontobeko is a member of the Business Management Forum at UKZN, and is planning on starting an investment club for students. She believes that real world experience will strengthen her abilities in the employment market next year.
Nontobeko has been awarded a bursary of R10 000 and a year’s membership to the Businesswomen’s Association. The BWA wishes Nontobeko every success in her studies and in her professional career, and is delighted to be able make a contribution to her future.
Regional Business Achievers Awards
Wed 28th July, 2010
The BWA DUrban Branch celebrated KZN's phenomenal business women at a gala evening of extravagance and sophistication.
All the guests dressed up in style and joined us to honour these remarkable women of SUBSTANCE! With a mouth-watering three course meal and delectable wine, they evening went down as a night to remember.
The evening of the Gala dinner and awards ceremony welcomed many honourable guests. With Nic Nortje, Director of NKR, leading the order of events as the Master of Ceremonies, the evening was met with fantastic entertainment as Angela Altern set the mood with romantic Jazz singing. The BWA were also proud to welcome Themi Venturas, one of Durban's best known and accomplished theatre personalities, as the evening’s guest speaker. After much anticipation and suspense the winners of the awards were announced and were overwhelmed by the recognition and publicity they received for their good works and hard efforts.
The Winners Of the 2010 Regional Business Achiever Awards were as follows:
- Social Entrepreneur: Thora Mansfield, Open Door Crisis Centre
- Emerging Entrepreneur: Hilda Tod, The Bedroom
- Entrepreneur: Ronel Stevens, Speciality Papers
- Professional: Linda Ness, Linda Ness & Associates
- Corporate: Nombuso Afolayan,Vopak Terminals
Social Media Networking Breakfast
Thurs 27th May, 2010
Social Media is the new buzz word in marketing, but do you really need it?
- Will Tweeting grow your business?
- Is Facebook only for teenagers?
- Is a blog a business tool or a waste of time?
The BWA members and guests enjoyed a delectable light breakfast overlooking the Green with Envy Nursery and the Indian Ocean.
Then Charlotte Kemp, a Social Media Explorer, displayed how a well-executed social media plan can promote your brand, find you leads, develop a loyal clientele and enhance your offline marketing with very little additional expense.
Charlotte led us through the virtual world and showed us how to best use the new tools, create a realistic plan and develop our online business presence.
Moses Mabhida Stadium Tour
Tues 18th May, 2010
The BWA Durban Branch met at the Durban Stadium for a general tour of our new tourist attraction. We were joined by those who were searching for a better appreciation and understanding of our phenomenal stadium.
Those that were interested made their way to the top of the arches in the SkyCar where they took in the beauty of the sun setting over the City of Durban.
Whiskey Tasting Evening
Wed 21st April, 2010
The BWA Members and partners enjoyed a complimentary Whisky Educational Evening sponsored by Brandhouse Beverages and facilitated by the College of Whisky.
This evening event was hosted at the Westville Country Club and was one to be remembered.
Census Launch
Wed 14th April, 2010
The Durban BWA South African Women in Leadership Census, sponsored by Nedbank is acknowledged as the foremost source of information that measures the advancement of women leaders at executive management and director level. The census is now in its seventh year and is conducted under the auspices of the BWA and sponsored by Nedbank together with the Gauteng Enterprise Propeller (GEP), and the Department of Trade and Industry (Dti).
As a group of committed business women we are an important part of furthering the empowerment of women in business in South Africa. Hence we were highly honoured to have those who attended the launch of this year's report, which was followed by a panel discussion.
This year's report included women in government in order to showcase the advancement made by our government towards transformation and advancement of women leaders in our country. Our belief as BWA is that until we reach acceptable numbers of women executives, we need to measure and highlight progress as much as we can in order to raise transformation to its highest level.
Two high-powered women in business joined us to answer questions that arose from the results. These ladies were Gugu Mazibuko, CEO of the Durban Chamber, and Khosi Sithole, Business Support and Markets Unit eThekwini Municipality and Programme Manager of the Women Empowerment programme.
AGM And Budget Speech
Thurs 25th Feb, 2010
Nicky Weimar, Senior Economist at Nedbank Group Economic Unit, shared her expertise - clearly demystifying the budget and gave us a real understanding of what it means.
Nicky has vast experience including advising government on economic procedures and policies in her capacity as an economist in the then Central Economic Advisory Service, but her current focus is on trends in the overall economy, cycles in the economic growth, inflation and interest rates.
Nicky is a highly sought-after speaker, with the uncommon knack of pitching her presentation to each particular audience. Based in Johannesburg, where she lives with her husband Stefan and their two sons, Nicky visited KZN specifically to present to BWA members and we were delighted to have her share such insightful information.