IT was an inspiring evening of glitz and glam and the finest entertainment Durban had to offer as members of the Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) hosted its prestigious annual gala dinner at the Durban ICC
This year, there was much to celebrate as the Chamber, now in its 159th year, inaugurated new president, Mr Zeph Ndlovu. Mr Ndlovu, the general manager of Transnet Port Terminals has been actively involved in the Chamber for the past 12 years. Over the past four years, he has served as member of the Board in his capacity as vice president. He now takes over the reins as president for two years, along with five new board members who were announced at the gala event. These include deputy president Mike Jackson, vice-president of finance, Muhammad Seedat, vice-president Claudette Sigamoney, vice president Vani Moodley and immediate past president, Akash Singh.
More than 1000 guests, many of them the province’s finest businessmen and women, attended the evening extravaganza. Customary to the annual gala dinner was the announcement of the Alec Rogoff awards in the category of B-BBEE. Now in its eight year, this award category celebrates organisations with enterprise development programmes that encourage and contribute to economic empowerment and to the development of small black enterprises.
The 2015 Alec Rogoff Award winners were Aqrate KZN in the qualifying small enterprise category, W O A Fuels and Oils in the large corporations (generic enterprises) category and SAPREF in the best supplier development project/programme category.
Guest speaker for the night, Suzanne Ackerman-Berman, a successful South African businesswoman who currently serves as director of transformation at Pick n Pay Holdings Ltd., gave an inspiring speech in which she share essential business insights and tips as she led the topic of South Africa staying afloat in tough economic times.
“We need to share our knowledge and offer real mentorship to those entering the business commuinity,” she said, adding that small entrepreneurs were in desperate need of skills development and life skills tutoring.
“We need to teach people the capacity to change and adapt to changing needs of consumers and the capacity to absorb new concepts and ideas. We need to expose them to new technologies and to assure them that it is okay to fail. We need to try change the way we treat society and individuals. We are all African and Africa needs us,”she said, to applause from the audience.
She concluded her talk by appealing to those present to assist those who have been disadvantaged to be able to access the formal economy. “Do it for the right reasons. Reach out and make a difference,”she said.
