2011 Events

Budget Speech & AGM- February 2011

Nicky Weimar untangled the 2011national budget and clarified what it really means. This breakfast event was hosted at the Nedbank Corporate Banking offices in Ordnance Road. Nicky Weimar, Senior Economist at Nedbank Group Economic Unit shared her expertise clearly, demystifying the budget to give the BWA members 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.

The Budget Speech was followed by the 11th BWA Durban AGM, where the members were addressed by Farzanah Mall, the current regional Chair, as well Yasmeen Suliman, the treasurer of the Durban branch, who gave a brief outline of the finances throughout 2010.

Ladies Night Out - March 2011

All work, no play makes for a dull BWA. The BWA members and guests got together for an evening of fun and relaxation as they learnt a little bit of belly dancing.
The evening was hosted at the elegant and beautiful shop The Bedroom, where decadent cocktails and snacks were provided. The evening was a great success with a lot of laughter and enjoyment had by all.

Conversation Café – Bi-monthly, every 1st Friday

This unique and creative Cafe style networking opportunity is held in a coffee shop on the beach front every second month. Each attendee interacts with almost every person face to face by the end of the meeting through a well-designed interactive process. There are groups of four discussing different topics, allowing for each attendee to have up to 20min of allocated time to talk. This is a fantastic opportunity to experience BWA’s exclusive style of networking. The BWA's Conversation Cafe is especially suitable for connecting the intimacy of small group interaction with the excitement and fun of larger group participation and learning.

Past Experiences:

• "I have met women today that could actually bring me leads to clients and I have found a door which I am going to open."
• "I love the fact that I have met other aspiring business people and expanded my social "Business" circle."
• "This meeting brought about immense personal growth and a huge learning experience."

Networking – Monthly, every 3rd Friday

The BWA meets every month in Umhlanga at the Nedbank Private Bank offices for a great opportunity to broaden our network and grow our business. Visitors are most welcome to attend as we form relationships and get to know one another.

What to expect from the meeting:

• A brief introduction to the Businesswomen's Association and what it can do for you
• Advanced notice of upcoming business functions and spectacular events
• Meet women from various sectors in the economy
• Market your company and let BWA help create relevant leads for you

BWA networking meetings take place each month, and Useful Networking Tips:

Keep in mind that networking is about being genuine and authentic, building trust and relationships, and seeing how you can help others.
Ask yourself what your goals are in participating in networking meetings
Effective business networking is the linking together of individuals who, through trust and relationship building, become walking, talking advertisements for one another. - Stephanie Speisman

Census Launch – April 2011

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 eighth 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).

Committed businesswomen are an important part of furthering the empowerment of women in business in South Africa. The launch of this year's report was held at the Belaire Suites Hotel on the beach front and was presented by Nobuntu Webster the current Regional Vice-chair. 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.

The report was followed by a panel discussion. The panellists included Thato Tsautse, Incoming President of the Durban Chamber of Commerce, Prof. Gawe, the Deputy Vice Chancellor of the Durban University of Technology, Commissioner Janine Hicks from the Commission for Gender Equality, Sam Brewer Acting HOD Department of Marketing of the Mangosuthu University of technology and Chris Skinner co-author of The Handbook of Public Relations (4th edition).

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.

Business Workshops

Cutting through the complexity of Tax workshop: how to manage your tax affairs properly – March 2011

Yasmeen Suliman, Tax Director at KPMG, and her team presented a tax workshop aimed at small and medium businesses and self-employed individuals to help cut through the complexity of tax. Yasmeen has an extensive background in tax, having worked at SARS for more than six years. She is a chartered accountant and holds two Masters degrees, one of which is in taxation. Yasmeen is a member of the Tax Committee of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants and is on the Steering Committee on Islamic Financial Services at National Treasury.

SARS has entered into a new era of highly technical tax legislation. Along with this they are tightening the noose on non-compliant taxpayers. So tax is unfortunately something that can no longer just be ignored. It has to be actively managed to achieve tax compliance and ensure that all opportunities to save tax are maximised.

The workshop assisted to simplify the tax legislation and requirements to make it easy to comply. Attendees were provided with insight into tax savings available for small and medium businesses and entrepreneurs.

Topics that were covered:

• Overview of the SA tax system
• Direct and indirect tax
• Tax incentives including Small Business Corporation Tax and Turnover tax
• Employer's duties regarding employees tax
• Provisional tax
• Capital gains tax basics
• VAT basics