Celebration of endurance at Exporters Eastern Cape AGM

Aptly themed “Resilience”, it was a joyous occasion as Exporters Eastern Cape recently hosted its first in-person annual general meeting in two years.

Exporters came face to face on Thursday to share their post-pandemic experiences at the 42nd AGM, following two years of attending the meetings online.

The event was hosted at Standard Bank in Gqeberha.

Exporters Eastern Cape is a nonprofit organisation focused on growing the province’s export market by representing export companies, freight forwarders, financial institutions and shipping lines.

Despite the challenges experienced due to the global pandemic, Exporters Eastern Cape had a productive year of hosting more than 15 online and in-person events, as well as facilitating regular meetings of the Export and Collaboration Forums.

Eastern Cape Exporters chair Quintin Levey said both forums met quarterly to collaborate on industry challenges and wins, as well as public-private partnerships.

“We want to encourage our members to participate in our events and forums, to add to the value proposition of Exporters Eastern Cape,”  Levey said.

The epitome of resilience was the guest speaker for the evening, Bruce Fordyce, legendary South African marathon and ultra-marathon athlete, best known for having won the Comrades Marathon a record nine times.

While Fordyce said endurance did start in the mind, it was not something to achieve on your own — in sport and in business.

“You simply cannot do it on your own, you need a great team to support you.

“You have got to run with people,”  Fordyce said.

He said his support team was instrumental in helping him win the Comrades, since they supplied him with important information and encouragement.

“Endurance is given to you by the people, your team,”  Fordyce said.

“That’s the barrier breaker ... when your team tells you that you’ve got it.”

An inspirational speaker, Fordyce encouraged members of Exporters Eastern Cape to continue leading bravely in whatever place they found themselves.

“The wind blows coldest in the front; you need to demonstrate resilience and endurance as a leader in the front.

“And one thing you need to understand about endurance is that there is no finish line for winners,” he said.

New Exporters Eastern Cape committee members elected during the meeting last week were:

• Celestin Ndhlovu (Isuzu Motors SA);
• Sujit Bhagattjee (Transnet National Ports Authority); and
• Selwyn Willis (Community Chest).

The full 2022/2023 committee for Exporters Eastern Cape is:

• Quintin Levey (KPMG);
• Deon Joubert (SJM Flex SA);
• Pravika Chetty (Lumotech);
• Andre Swartbooi (Acoustex Group);
• Willis;
• Brenden Adriaanzen (DG Incentives);
• Greg Billson (Enterprise Development Consultants);
• Ndhlovu;
• Oyama Sidlabane (Lizwe Fuels);
• Loudeaux Minnie (LX Events);
• Lee-Anne Vasi (Nelson Mandela University Business School);
• Siphokazi Ngombane (Nelson Mandela Bay municipality);
• Neil Barker (Oracle Media);
• Bhagattjee; and
• Ronel Marais (Volkswagen Group SA).

HeraldLIVE