The month of March is a landmark month for our fantastic organisation, as this is the month in which we elect the new council and office bearers for the coming year.
This year’s Annual General Meeting of the SAIMC will be held on 26 March at the Shumba Valley Lodge in Lanseria. We hope to see the majority of the Gauteng-based members there, so that they can be part of this democratic process and get first-hand information about the plans for the year ahead and ask any questions they may have. If you have not nominated a member for council yet, time is running is out FAST. Be part of the process, come and meet the incoming president and his team!
I would like to have said ‘her’ team, but we unfortunately do not currently have any women on council. This is very unfortunate and I really encourage our female counter-parts to take an active role in determining the future of the industry and joining the SAIMC council and branches. We need a ladies touch to complement that of our Jane van der Spuy (co-opted to the PR committee), who is a tireless servant of the SAIMC. We could do so much more if we had more multi-tasking women on Council instead of only us men who can only do one thing at a time!
All our branches have also had their respective AGMs so we hope to see some new faces on council in the form of branch chairpersons. We have encouraged all branches to expand their committees in anticipation of the vast amount of important work that lies ahead this year. The mirroring of council subcommittees (as described in my January letter) at branch level will be the impetus behind this.
Our branches have completed their year planners and you will soon be hearing from them regarding meetings, site visits, golf days and year-end functions. The council year-end function is also being planned for the last Friday in October and will once again live up to its reputation of ‘The Premier C&I Event of the Year’. We hope to wow our valuable guests again this year.
All of these plans require human and financial resources to make them a reality. The SAIMC is putting together an operational budget for 2014 which we will present to our stakeholders. There will no doubt be a shortfall, as the current levels of funding versus our ambitions are not congruent. Hence, we will be liaising with our Patron Members and partners like the IIG to assist us with the deficit. The value proposition of the ‘New SAIMC’ is already becoming evident and will increase every year. Hence we do not see any problems in getting this valuable support from our stakeholders. To this end we will be having a special meeting with our Patron Members this month to present this budget and the new Patron Member fee structure.
The human resources we require are that of a full-time manager to execute the ambitious plans of council and be accountable to council. Secondly, a resource dedicated to planning and arranging our C&I CPD accredited training in our various branches, will take the strain off our branch volunteers. This training will be executed by our trusted industry partners with a proven track record of value for money training.
One of the key responsibilities for the new manager will be to engage with the various entities involved in the development or adoption of standards for the C&I industry in South Africa. Very promising discussions have already been held with members of various technical committees at the SABS; however, our volunteers at council are unable to give this important activity all the time it requires, due to their work commitments. For the first time, the SAIMC will have an active role in determining the environment and influencing both standards and legislation that affect our industry. This is in line with our strategic objective of ensuring that the industry’s best interests are protected.
Another responsibility for the manager will be to ensure that our role as a catalyst between industry and education is developed further. We ceremonially handed over the cheque for R200 000 to the University of Pretoria at a regal function earlier this year (you can find the pictures on <a href-http://www.saimc.co.za target="_blank"> www.saimc.co.za</a>). The SAIMC will also be present at the official launch of the First Technology Challenge planned for the middle of the year, for high-school children. These are two very important new activities in the education space and we need to take these initiatives and roll them out country-wide, to complement the First Lego League for primary school children that has been running for many years. The manager will be a driver to find opportunities for the SAIMC to assist at primary, secondary and tertiary level, in addition to securing funding to support these worthy causes. The partnership with ECSA’s Engenius Program (www.engenius.org.za) will be leveraged in 2014.
Any organisations out there that are able to assist us with resources of any nature are welcome to contact me to discuss how they can contribute to the achievement of our goals for our ‘under recognised’ industry.
It has been a great year for me as President and I would like to thank the current SAIMC councillors for all the help and support over the past 12 months. We have achieved a lot, but have much more work to do in order to attain the bold objectives agreed during our strategic planning session in May 2013.
All the best to the incoming council and president!
Please e-mail me your thoughts on [email protected], so council and I can serve you better.
Working together, achieving more,
Vinesh Maharaj, President.
| Tel: | +27 11 312 2445 |
| Email: | [email protected] |
| www: | www.saimc.co.za |
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