A sense of anticipation came over me the day I volunteered to travel to Cape Town to ensure a free and fair AGM is being held and that a new management team is selected for the Cape Town branch. I was excited, but terrified at the same time!
Relaunching can take many appearances, from the complete wholesale of a company/organisations’ inventions, inside and out, including name, culture, values, behaviour and all that entails, with no connections to the legacy entity, to something less dramatic and of a more evolutionary nature in the form of a brand refresh. And this is exactly what it was – the reviving of the SAIMC Cape Town branch.
Members and visitors attending the AGM.
Theodore Levitt once said “Creativity is thinking up new things, Innovation is doing new things” – and it’s precisely for this motive that the re-launch of the Cape Town branch was inevitable.
Meeting the group of members and visitors who attended the AGM and the technical presentation (done by Robert Wright from RJ Connect) on the evening, were all enthusiastic about this revolutionary moment. Not everyone was willing to avail themselves to serve on the committee (afraid of the unknown), but they are keen to follow. This is the success of any branch – to find leaders that are willing to serve in an unselfish manner.
Cape Town Branch – newly-elected committee (Back – from left to right: Riaan du Plessis, Wade Shuttleworth, Johan Maritz and Lyle Munro. Front: Benoit Binwa).
When I asked the audience for any nominations for committee members, I didn’t get any response – to my astonishment instead, I got people putting up their hands and volunteered to be part of the SAIMC management! This makes me proud to be associated with the SAIMC.
Congratulations to the newly chosen committee members of the Cape Town branch and to Wade Shuttleworth who was elected the new branch chairman. My advice – Communicate with all patron members, manufacturers and/or suppliers and offer quality activities for members and visitors and they will reward you with their attendance, participation and eagerness!
“The task ahead of you is never greater than the strength within you” – Unknown.
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