Launch of new local tourism and investment entity

Ray Nkonyeni municipal manager, Max Mbili, told Ugu District Municipality’s political heads and administration that the newly launched South Coast Tourism and Investment Enterprise is not one of its portfolios.

Mbili said the South Coast Tourism and Investment Enterprise will operate according to the Companies Act, saying that it has executive powers to take decisions.

He was speaking at the launch at the San Lameer Resort Hotel on Friday last week.

The launch was attended by tourism product owners and mayors from the different municipalities within Ugu. CEO of the former Ugu South Coast Tourism (USCT), Phelisa Mangcu is now the CEO of the newly launched entity, while Dr Sipho Nzimande is the board chairperson, and Joy Crutchfield is deputy chair.

Speaking to the Fever, Crutchfield said she thought putting USCT and the Ugu South Coast Development Agency (USCDA) together was a good idea. She added that the way the amalgamation was done, which was driven by Max Mbili, was done excellently.

“I am very excited and I think it will strengthen the offering we had before, we will become more affordable, more efficient. There is no change to South Coast Tourism, we are still working as the regional tourism organisation and we still have our members that are tourism products owners and we still work through tourism area committees. All that has happened is that the work of the development agency and tourism are now together,” she said.

She added that there were so many overlapping areas of business in any event so the transition will make it easy to streamline the business and make it more efficient economically.

“Imagine sitting with two boards, two CEOs, and two financial managers. Now the emphasis is on tourism and investment, we go out together marketing the South Coast, one talks to the tourists and the other talks to the investor but at the end of the day, we have a department that can do both,” said Crutchfield.

Meanwhile, RNM’s Mbili said clear goals need to be defined in terms of reporting protocols and operations so it does not kill the entity. He said the CEO reports to the board but there are matters where they will have to consult with the municipalities.

“On a quarterly basis, reports will have to be shared with all four local municipalities so that it will be easier to synergise programmes of the municipality and programmes of the board,” said Mbili.

Meanwhile board chairperson, Sipho Nzimande said the South Coast is a region of unlimited potential and opportunities, from tourism and agriculture through to film and real estate investments, adding that there is incredible potential to turn this interest into a success.

He said the formulation of the South Coast Tourism and Investment Enterprise as the official economic development arm will allow them to proactively identify and unlock the full tourism and investment potential of this region.

The South Coast Tourism and Investment Enterprise (SCTIE) board also said that the entity will attract investment to the region across all sectors through pro-active packaging of investment opportunities, linking business and government, as well as businesses with various sectors and value chains.

It added that it markets business offerings of the district, and positions the region as a one-stop-shop for business support, opportunities, and information; saying that it will also be linking emerging businesses with funding opportunity agencies.

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