SOJO and partners gather for its AGM, 25th celebration
The AGM and celebration was a successful gathering for the SOJO team
SOJO’s AGM, now fondly branded as The Gathering and 25th anniversary was celebrated by members, local ward councillors, City of Joburg (CoJ) representatives, family and friends at Thaba Eco Hotel.
CEO of SOJO, Nicky Vakaloudis, welcomed everyone and opened the meeting’s order. She thanked Reuben and the Thaba team for their contribution towards a successful event.
“We are blessed and privileged to be standing on the grounds of a great man’s dream, Henk Louw, who left us to be in a better place on September 11.”
Vakaloudis shared her journey with the forum, which began 24 years ago when it was called the Booysens Business Forum in 1998.
Karol Jaroszynski was the first chairperson. He and four other businessmen got together to address council issues with the CoJ as they were tired of seeing Booysens and its surroundings deteriorate.
The forum served as the voice for the business community and facilitated council-related problems to the relevant departments.
This became the key focus and remains to this day. At the same time, Reuben Louw and a few businesses from Turffontein, Rosettenville and Springfield got together to address similar issues which plagued Joburg east-south and called the forum Southern Business Partnership.
The two forums merged in 2003 with an initiative sparked by the former general manager of Gold Reef City Theme Park, David Appleton. The three forums became SOJO Business and Tourism.
Members honoured with awards for long-term service, sponsorship and community involvement included KAJ Investment, Thaba Eco Hotel, Robot Paints & Hardware, Mr Tasty, Ehrenberg Investments, Gold Reef City, Ricky’s Chicken, Howden Africa, MBS Accounting, Plusten Hardware, Ventpro, Anglo Operations, M Lass, Springbok Broom and Brush, Dormas, Joburg Expo Centre, iProp, Compact Cool, Restonic, Vedder & Moffat, B&T Enterprises, De Beers, Oliver & O’Conner, Mawele Metal Works, Aspen Hills Development, Glenvista Shopping Centre, Tanzer Transport, Mall of the South, Balwin Foundation, Heavenly Soap, Icarus Media, The Alternative Board, SFP Financial Planning, The Glen Shopping Centre, SEEFF and Zee Flava Fusion.
New members welcomed were Expo Guys, 4Racing, Carmi Hatters, Aspen Hills Home Owners Association, FNB Stadium, Apartheid Museum, WD Signs, Panorama Shopping Centre, Faith Knight Consulting, Pulse 20 and Serenity Travel Tours.
Ward councillors and the CoJ representatives also received acknowledgement for showing support to SOJO over the many years.
Special partners mentioned include Andrew Barker (chairperson of KlipSA), who supported SOJO’s vision and represented on council platforms over many years.
Chris Morison from Vumacam and Mike Weaver from Centr were introduced as partners on the camera surveillance and security network.
Extraordinary sponsors who contributed to the event were Electro Led for the screens, One Grape Wines for the wine awards, Expo Guys for the SOJO wall plaques and wine bottle stickers, Sinzinani Spa, MOTS Gadget, MOTS Chic Jewelry Boutique and Gold Reef City for the hamper vouchers, Thaba Eco Hotel for the venue, welcome drinks and canapés contributions.
Vakaloudis shared a warm shout-out to the SOJO street monitors Grace, Dorothy, Johannes and Harold for their tireless work through all weather conditions.
She also thanked Kim Ryan, Janine Cameron and her friend, Paula, for assisting in the details of the event. She also mentioned the relationship with the local NGOs, namely Resthaven and Mount Like Eagles Mission which ignited the need to form SOJO Helping Hands Foundation.
SOJO will continue working together for a better south of Joburg.
