The end of 2014 is upon us and it is time to take stock of the year that has been, the year that should have been, and the year that could have been. For us at the SAIMC, the past year was very successful and we met most of our objectives.
The main constraint that hindered achieving all of our objectives this year was funding. In order to achieve the ambitious objectives in our business plan, we need additional full-time staff. This is because our dedicated volunteers have time to formulate the plans and strategies, but to execute these plans requires much more time and resources, which they cannot afford as they already have full-time jobs themselves.
We are currently investigating business models that will either enable us to hire a senior manager to manage the organisation and support the president and council on a day-to-day basis. Such an individual will require a significant investment and a self-funding model of some sort has to be created. The other option is to hire a person who will market the organisation more broadly and hence increase revenues from membership fees. Such additional funds can then be deployed to hire more administrative staff to drive the execution of the strategy on a daily basis.
We would welcome suggestions from readers, members and interested parties out there as to what other models we can investigate. In these tough economic times, funding is always challenging. Even though the SAIMC is complimented on a regular basis for the good work we are doing, imagine how much more we could achieve for our industry if we had staff to run the organisation as some associations in other disciplines do? However, despite these challenges, the SAIMC will continue to make progress in its business strategy, no matter how small the steps are. We are passionate about the industry and will do our best under all circumstances.
Vinesh Maharaj.
At this time of the year, we would also like to ask all our members to give careful consideration to joining one of our local committees, or suggest branches that need support to get started. We will have electronic voting at branch and council level this year, so look out for the invitation to nominate people from your region. We welcome new blood to support the growth and diversification of our branch committees and council – there is plenty to be done and we need as many hands as we can get!
In closing, I wish you all well over the festive season and ask that you take care whilst travelling. Merry Christmas to those who celebrate this important event and happy holidays to all!
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