Valentines Masked Ball – 15 February 2008
This event was attended by 10 members and 44 non members. This event was coordinated by our Vice Chair Lizelle Maurice, it went very well and it was the first of its kind. It was then agreed that it be an annual event.
Breakfast Workshop – 19 March 2008
This event was attended by 6 members and 6 non Members. It was the first Workshop for the year and the guest speaker was our 2007 Corporate RBAA Winner, Lorraine Govender. Although the attendance was very low the ladies enjoyed the morning and got to speak to our winner directly so they all had a wonderful time.
Networking Function - 3 April 2008
Five new members were inducted at this event. The event was attended by 15 members and 9 non members. We also managed to sign up 2 new members on the evening. This event had no cover charge therefore there was no profit expected. However, from this experience we have decided to link our induction evening to on of our planned events to cover costs and make it more exciting to the new members.
Golf Day – 10 April 2008
This event was organized by DI STAP COMMUNICATIONS, a well respected events management company owned by one of our members Di Stap. This event was attended by 47 players. This was very good networking opportunity for many of the players. The function was attended by both men and women and it was a very successful day.
The event was mainly sponsored by, Billion Group who committed to future BWA events. We are confident that 2009 event will be even bigger and better as we already have 6 teams signed up and a potential sponsor commitment for our Golf Day of 23 April 2009.
Wine Tasting Networking Function – 8 May 2008
This function was attended by 9 members and 10 none Members and was held at Sublime Living, a coffee shop in an art gallery. We have come up with a new concept for our networking functions to give our members and local businesses the chance to advertise their businesses by sponsoring a networking event at their venue. This worked out very well as the ladies get to relax and enjoyed the evening even more.
Breakfast Workshop – 15 May 2008
This function was attended by 14 members and 5 non members. Our Guest speaker, Mr G Sharpley, the former Buffalo City Municipal Manager, gave us an inspirational talk.
Breakfast Workshop - 28 May 2008
This function was attended by 9 members and 31 non members. The event was fully sponsored by Deloitte & Touché. Due to the professional manner in which this partnership was managed by our capable coordinator, Deloitte & Touché welcomed the idea to co-host future events with BWA. Our interaction with this company has helped us build our database especially with the public entities.
Networking Function – 5 June 2008
This function was attended by 4 members and 10 non members. This event was sponsored by a property investment company called Bluezone. The response to this was very great as the topic on property investment at this point is a very topical issue. As these networking events are free to members, and are meant to promote member interaction, as well as serve a platform for recruitment, we expect each member to at least invite a non-member friend to these functions and promote our organization.
RBAA Gala Dinner – 26 July 2008
This event was the highlight of 2008 events with 170 guests in attendance. Both our President Basetsana Kumalo and the then CEO graced this occasion and many corporate companies booked tables. Our winners received good prizes, thanks to the generosity of our members and the local business community. We enjoyed great media coverage for this event. We are well on our way with preparations for our 2009 RBAA, it’s going to be a blast and we encourage everyone to forward their nominations before the closing date of Tuesday, 31 March 2009.
Census Workshop, Breakfast with RBAA Winners and New Members Induction – 26 July 2008
This event was attended by 37 guests and we had the CEO of BWA, Yvette Montalbano, as our guest speaker presenting the 2008 census report. It was the first interaction of our RBAA winners with the members after the RBBA event. They each gave a brief presentation on their experience in business and everybody was very pleased to meet them.
A total of 10 members were inducted at this event and they were very pleased to be part of this very important event.
Spring Day Extravaganza – 9 September 2008
This event was attended by 6 members and 14 non members. This event was held at East London Harbor and the all the ladies had a great time in the sun enjoying the spring air. It was great fun with ladies pulling out all the stops to dress according to the theme. The Best Hat award: a wrist watch sponsored by Galaxy Jewelers Retail park went to Wendy de Bruyn & Roma Bam received a nice Busby bag from Seager`s Luggage. Edgar’s Store, Beacon Bay, gave a presentation on professional make-up application and how one can lighten up for spring through correct make-up application. A dietician from Nestle gave a presentation on healthy eating habits and gave everyone diet packs to take home.
Corporate Woman Leaders Summit Sponsored by ECDC – 18 September 2008
This event was attended by 37 guests and the feedback from this was absolutely great. Amongst the speakers was our BWOYA winner, Mardia Vander Wolt Korsten, whose topic was Leadership with a Soul. The venue was sponsored by ECDC. This is one of the events that most corporate organizations are interested to support in the year 2009 and they commend the BWA for this initiate as they believe it is aligned to their strategic goals around Equity Employment and women empowerment; especially they own employees.
We hope to extend invitation beyond our region and develop this program to a point of our BWA being self-sustaining
Business Empowerment Opportunities Presented by IDC – 30 October 2008
This event was attended by 45 guests of whom 4 were males and the rest females. This event was a huge success as the topic of discussion was of very great importance. We have so many up and coming businesswomen who are in need of funding, mentoring and business management skills and this is what this workshop was about. This event was fully sponsored by the IDC. We are looking forward to similar joint events with the IDC for the year 2009.
Monthly Networking Function Presented by Edgars - 6 November 2008
This was a great way to end the year as this was our last networking function for 2008. We had the ladies from our Edgar’s Beacon Bay branch come and educate us on how to apply make up and the do’s and don’ts when using color on our faces. The ladies all got great gifts from Edgar’s and everyone had a marvelous time.
BWOYA Roadshow Sponsored by Old Mutual – 17 November 2008
This event was sponsored by our local Old Mutual branch and we have approached them to sponsor this event in 2009. We had 30 guests at this event. This event was a success and all the ladies enjoyed chatting one on one to our winners. The messages the ladies gave us were very inspirational and the event went off well. Mr Mvenge, the Manager of Old Mutual, was the only gentleman at the event but he too enjoyed himself with the ladies.
BWA End of Year Charity Ball – 29 November 2008
This year we teamed up with our 2008 Social Entrepreneur Winner, Melonie Gobel from Living Waters. Christmas gifts were collected and donations to Living Water at a Christmas Party held at the premises on the 5th December 2008. J & J came on board with toiletries for the kids. One of our members, Michelle Coetzee from Siyaphambili Staffing Solutions, sponsored some gifts for the children and her and her team assisted with the set-up at the venue. Zane from Stirling Conferencing & Events sponsored all the snack platters and refreshments and Healthcor sponsored party packs for all the children. We are grateful to have such committed members on our team.