President of the EGCCI Mary Reynolds spoke of the highlights of her term in office so far and the projects the chamber is involved in.
In company with many of her predecessors, she says: “I am humbled and privileged to be standing side by side with all our past presidents of the Springs Chamber, now the Eastern Gauteng Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
• Read: Chamber’s 17th President’s Merit awards
“As a born-and-bred Springs girl, I too felt I had to continue to produce a value proposition to you our members.
“To do that the exco and I established initiatives for commerce, industry and the greater good of Springs.”
She spoke of some of these projects which included:
Springs Business Directory App
The Chamber has developed an application (app) to transform their Business Directory from a manual to a digital format directory.
This facility is offered to members free of charge as a ‘value add’, while any other interested parties can subscribe at a nominal annual fee.
The benefits of the apps to companies include raising brand awareness, using them for loyalty programmes, being able to update their details in real time to keep the information current and real, exposing local content and service providers, and advertising and exposing companies to local and national markets.
• Also read: Eastern Gauteng Chamber of Commerce
She thanked Ricky Reynolds for developing the app free of charge to the Chamber.
Clean Springs Project
The Clean Springs Project, which was established by a previous president, continues to make inroads in keeping the town clean.
Included in this project are the main entrances to Springs on the Paul Kruger Highway, Tonk Meters Road, Industry Road in New Era and part of Springs West Road.
“I wish to thank the main sponsors, MPACT and PFG Building Glass,” she says.
The Springs Clean Project is maintained by Vilakazi Garden Services – a 100 per cent BBBEE Springs service provider.
Art Deco Buildings – Springs
The chamber is intent on reviving the Art Deco buildings in town, documenting them and ascertaining their heritage.
O’Hagans
On July 6, the O’Hagans/Square Roots Hairdressers project was established to clean up the area, which has been plagued by prostitution, drugs and littering.
On December 6, the area was visited by the Ekurhuleni mayor, councillor Mzwandile Masina, who gave the Springs Metro a 90-day deadline to improve and upgrade the area and find a potential tenant for the property.
To date, vegetation has been cleared, litter removed and the Metro is in the process of erecting a security fence.
Eastern Gauteng Business Linkage Centre (BLC)
The centre, which is chaired by Suzanne Finney, was established by past President Gerhard Grove in 1999 to establish a link between businesses in Springs and SMEs, and to incubate emerging markets.
Last year was a busy year for the BLC, with over 2 000 visitors.
The BLC maintains a database of legally registered SMEs.
All Chamber member companies are encouraged to use this database and support the BLC.
It is imperative that the BLC continues to function, in order to do the SME screening and registrations of the entrepreneurs.
This will assist Chamber members in choosing SMEs that comply with all the necessary statutory requirements.
Long membership
Several companies received recognition for their years of membership of the EGCCI.
McCain has been part of the chamber for 60 years and received a Platinum award.
Gold went to Atlas Copco-Secroc for 50 years with the chamber.
Impala Platinum Refineries has been a member for 40 years and 20-year awards went to Ace Auto Scrapyard, East Rand Stereo and Clyde Industrial.
