Dear fellow C&I Professional,
Wow, but this year certainly has flown past!
No sooner had I taken over the reins from the very capable Johan Steyn in April this year, when after receiving the umpteenth reminder from Technews that I need to submit my contribution for the magazine, that I realised that it is October already and time waits for no man!
With an enormous amount of activity happening in our institute and various positive developments afoot, there is a lot to say.
For starters, our various branches are extremely busy with monthly meetings being sponsored by companies and individuals providing very educational topics, to their numerous educational and social events including site visits, golf days, presentations to tertiary institutions and handing out of grants and medals to deserving students. In early April, we launched the Innovations Sub Committee specifically tasked with finding new and better ways for the institute to add more value to you, our valued members.
A number of great ideas emerged from the collective brainpower of these dedicated individuals including marketing activities, streamlining our administration, stronger interaction with other similar bodies, and working together with industry in addressing the very real issue of dwindling numbers of the very special breed of people known to us as C&I professionals.
One very exciting project is the re-development of the SAIMC website, which has up to now received less than the needed attention. The new website, which is expected to 'go live' in late October, early November will offer cutting-edge features such as on-line booking for SAIMC events, on-line shopping for SAIMC merchandise, an expert communications forum where you can post technical queries, and an area where members will be able to view and update their personal information. All in a secure password protected environment.
The new website will play a key role in our strategy to make the SAIMC more valuable to the C&I fraternity.
Excellent news from beyond South Africa's borders is that we have again made contact with a very passionate group of C&I people from the heart of the Copper Belt in Zambia. This group, under the very capable leadership of Mr Jones Kalela have firmly embraced the establishment of the SAIMC branch in Zambia.
On my recent visit to Kitwe, I was welcomed by Mr Kalela and a core group of his team, who really amazed me with their enthusiasm and dedication to getting their branch going. I received no less than 60 membership application forms, and by current planning, we will be officially launching the Zambia Branch of the institute in November this year.
Please join me in wishing them all the best in this exciting new venture.
On the local front, the institute has a number of events planned for the remainder of the year, not least of which is the annual Banquet, which will be held on 23 November at the Bryanston Country Club. Our guest speaker is Justin Cohen who will share the very topical concept of Emotional Intelligence with us. If you have not received your formal invitation yet, please contact us urgently as this promises to be an event not to be missed!
Now, before I use more than my allocated space in this edition of the magazine, I will end off with wishing you all a very successful last few months in 2004, and extending an invitation to those who would like to contribute to making our institute more active and professional.
Have a fantastic October.
Best regards, Cornu Perold,
President, ctr@saimc.org.za
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