Note that sponsorship and donations are two entirely different things. Sponsorship is marketing and a business expense. Donations is a decision often made without logic being involved, and is only a business expense as far as the SARS rebate goes, when applicable.

Now how does one know whether a proposed sponsorship will be worthwhile from a marketing perspective? Let’s take an example.

I was looking for a cycle jersey to cycle the Argus bike race in. The cost of a jersey with your company branding on it would be around R700. Should you go for it?

The first thing to look at is exposure. How many people will see the jersey and the company logo on it? I would guess in this instance not many. So it does not look like a good deal.

This is where we often overlook the more important aspect of the secondary exposure, or, as I like to call it, the conversation effect. I talk, I tweet and I blog. If someone sponsors me with a cycling jersey I am going to talk about it, tweet it, post it to Facebook and tell others about it. I won’t necessarily promote the company or what it does, but I will express goodwill towards the company, and that is often enough.

A company that is seen to be interacting with the community at large is seen as being willing to engage with its customers, and this is a big deal, certainly not to be ignored. Often you can magnify this effect by engaging on the same social media channels. Reply to my tweet, Facebook post or blog, and that way drive the online conversation.

I for one like to do business with companies that engage. If they are always out there interacting with their customers you know they will stand behind their products and services.

The Chamber welcomed 8 new members for 2013 during November of 2012 and 10 new members during February of this year.The growth of the Chamber continues to strengthen the Chamber’s voice in providing advocacy for the business community.

Regular interactions with key people has been, and continues to be, a fundamental necessity and is an ongoing process/activity. April of 2012 saw the George Business Chamber arranging a networking evening in Thembalethu with main sponsorship being provided by Algoa FM and supplemented by the George Business Chamber. A record number of 230 people attended this historical event. The first and certainly not the last of its kind.  The intention was,and remains, an important strategy to create an environment where mutually beneficial co-operation between businesses in George, Thembalethu, Pacaltsdorp, Blanco and other areas in the Greater George Area can be encouraged.

The Garden Route Business Forum has focused on regional economic development and enjoys the attendance of representatives from a broad spectrum of key players. Together with the Provincial Economic Development Partnership (EDP) the regional collaboration have already resulted in significant benefit to the region.

There have been numerous Economic Development workshops, notably the PACA (Participatory Appraisal of Competitive Advantage) project which was launched by the George Municipality in February 2012. The George Business Chamber, as a stakeholder, participated in areas where it was pertinent to do so. One of the main findings was the need to provide businesses with affordable training interventions that could enhance business opportunities through improved customer service and sales techniques. This was co-incidentally the same outcome of the independent survey conducted by the Chamber where members expressed the identical needs that were revealed during the PACA process. To this end, a series of morning workshops were designed and the first Customer Care workshop was facilitated in September 2012. Mini courses are designed by accredited training facilitators and the content is designed according to the expressed needs of Business owners and the members of the George Business Chamber. Training interventions are scheduled for every month during 2013.

In August of 2012, the city of George welcomed a delegation of 15 people from Port Elizabeth. The delegation consisted of members and a few staff of the Nelson Mandela  Business Chamber. The delegation was welcomed as guests of the Protea Hotel-King George who sponsored the accommodation for the duration of their stay.

Upon arrival, the members of the delegation were treated to a sumptuous dinner where they were introduced to The Executive Mayor of George, Charles Standers and some representatives of the council and businesses which were scheduled for site visits. The purpose for the Trade mission was to explore potential business and marketing opportunities across the region, and several actions have already flown out of this.

This initiative was made possible due to the support and generosity of George Herald, Protea Hotel-King George and Tours for South Africa. It is also pertinent to thank the businesses which “opened” their doors so that the visiting delegation could observe some of the business development in George.

There is a second in-bound Trade Mission scheduled to visit George in April this year. This delegation is from Cape Town and any company that would like to be considered as a possible candidate for a site visit should contact Ingrid at the offices of the George Business Chamber.

We have had talks with the consul General of India to South Africa, Dr Swati, and together with her we are planning an inbound trade delegation of Indian businesswoman to visit George in the coming year.

It has been a very busy year with many activities promoting the Chamber and serving the members. These activities included the following :

• The Outeniqua Wheelchair Challenge.
• The Annual golf day at Kingswood Golf Estate where some of the funds raised were used to support a Christian movement that bought blankets for the needy. A total of 40 blankets were sponsored by supporters of the Golf day. Please support the 2013 Golf Day so that we can support another needy charity with part of the proceeds of the day. This year’s Golf Day is scheduled for 30th May 2013 at the Kingswood Golf Course. The invitation will follow soon.
• The Gala Dinner honouring the Business Person of the Year 2012 as well as Entrepreneur of the Year 2012 was the social highlight of the business year. The guest speaker was Minister Alan Winde whose message about the economy and our place in it was informative and somewhat sobering. The event was held at the Protea Hotel-King George and sponsored by the Headline Sponsor-Nedbank Business Bank and co sponsors Die Burger and Cape Consumers. Once again, the event was well attended and all available tickets were sold.
• The monthly networking evenings and “Morning Marketing”  events  proved again to be very popular and continue to be so.
•   November 2012 saw the year-end Business breakfast which was sponsored by Airports Company South Africa and held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel-Oubaai. Members and guests were treated to a personal insight on the history, biodiversity & geographical changes within the Kruger National Park since it’s inception by Mitch Reardon, prolific writer of numerous books and articles for National Geographic.
• The upgrading and modernisation of our webpage is enjoying a lot of enthusiastic attention and is a work in progress. You will have all noticed that the newsletter is constantly “morphing” . Please let us know what content you would like to read. Similarly we are expanding our presence on Facebook and twitter, and will be using these mediums more and more in the coming year.
• The ongoing drive and need to be fully representative of all business in George initiated discussions between George Business Chamber and 15 key individuals representing other black business entities. To this end, a working breakfast was hosted by the George Business Chamber and sponsored by the Outeniqua Protea Hotel. The “workshop” elicited some interesting discussions and ideas which shall be explored as we move forward through 2013.

The 2012 – EXCO have contributed, through their committment, to achieving and exceeding set goals. My personal thanks to Dr Willie Cilliers, Brenda Moses, Koos du Plessis, Madeleine Goldie, Niel de Necker,Nadia Abrahamse,Carli Bunding-Venter, Ingrid cronje and Lesley Warner.

My thanks to a great team who worked to meet the demands of the Chamber and to you, the loyal and supportive members. We look forward to your continued support during 2013.

Outgoing President – Imel Rautenbach

George Business Chamber

12 March 2013.

GEORGE NEWS – A plan to kick start the economy of the region on a sustainable basis, using smart city technology has been taking shape over the past few months.

Citizen connectivity, environmentally friendly transport, sustainable natural resource management and a knowledge economy is all part of the master plan.

The brains behind the concept – George Business Chamber President, Imel Rautenbach and technology strategists Rudie Shepherd & Nathan Jeffrey  – will in mid-January be tabling their roadmap plan for Outeniqua Smart City Corridor (OSCC) at a joint session with the four mayors of the Garden Route, and the Western Cape Finance and Tourism Minister Alan Winde.

Central to the concept is the idea that when the towns in the Outeniqua Corridor from Mossel Bay to Plettenberg Bay join forces to tackle common regional issues, the opportunity arises to gain the benefits of Smart City designs and technology – otherwise reserved for the mega cities of the world. “We should not wait until we develop the problems of urban sprawl, pollution, traffic congestion and technological apartheid. Now is the time to design the future place we will all love to live in,” said Shepherd.

“We already have had significant buy-in for our plan, and believe this collective thinking power can be put to use, for it is our intention that this master plan for making us internationally competitive must be refined and be implemented – as soon as possible,” said Rautenbach.

Chances are that it could become a futuristic, yet practical model that other towns in SA and the rest of Africa will look to as an example. Furthermore the blue print can be exported and rolled out elsewhere. “As a region we have more potential than each town on their own. We are inspired by the Hessequa water management and recycling successes just to name one example. It shows that African towns can come up with solutions for African problems.”

Wireless canopy 
One of the pillars that the Smart City Corridor will be built upon is the Wireless Canopy concept which will ensure that all communities have access to the Internet and become empowered through the knowledge it brings. “Access to broadband is like having access to a river.

The resource is there, but it is worthless unless they have a way to drink from it. We need to give people both the water and the tap. Access to the Internet should be a basic human right,” said Shepherd. To this end the blue print proposes a far reaching wireless network that goes hand in hand with affordable smart devices.

“The $35 tablet from India will change the world. There is a free education waiting for anyone with just basic access to technology. How can we deny our nation access to such a life-changing resource?”

Rautenbach commented. He is currently making progress with linking a rural farm school near De Rust in the Klein Karoo, to a supporting private school in George as a prototype. This enables rural children to receive maths and science tuition through a digital link-up from a teacher hundreds of kilometres away.

“If the model works here, it – and other local innovations like it – can easily be replicated elsewhere.” This is the key to Smart City Corridor philosophy – let’s collaborate to apply our solutions and resources in a smart way for the good of the region.”

Retain quality of life 
The two idealists want to see the towns in the region become prototypes for the rest of Africa to follow. “We don’t want to develop from towns to sprawling cities in the traditional sense. It is still early enough in our development not to make the mistakes of metropolis-thinking.” Outeniqua Smart City Corridor can grow pockets of excellence, and a sense of community will be encouraged with small self sufficient neighbourhoods sprouting up rather than densely populated central districts.

“Industrialisation and centralisation took away our freedom to live in open space by forcing people to live close to where they make a living. Technology and a knowledge-economy can give quality of life back to our children. I really admire Kent Larson’s thinking on Compact Urban Cells” said Shepherd.

Rautenbach says “We shouldn’t need to choose between the Garden Route lifestyle or financial prosperity associated with living in a big city. We must be competitive and business must find products and services that will make us internationally relevant.

“The development of exportable Smart City prototypes can be done anywhere you have talented people and common local challenges. I have seen both right here and I have no doubt we can make something of it. As a region we can work together and increase our chances to produce something others will be willing to pay to also have.”
Sustainability

“Green” is the latest buzzword and everyone seems to be climbing on the bandwagon. Solar, wind and hydro power, electric cars, LED lights and Carbon Credits are all the rage. These are all things that promises to save the planet (or mostly money) if we buy them – but can we buy our way to a better tomorrow? The answer is not likely. We have to adopt sustainability as a core principle in our daily lives to make a difference.

At present a large percentages of our fresh produce is imported from Gauteng, which is bad for the environment and the local economy. Do we not have a local solution? Perhaps we can tackle food sustainability by communities being trained to take part in food security gardens and enabled to sell their produce via a digital market, connected by the Digital Canopy. That is a smart thing to do.

“If we had a micro-rail system to shuttle people between Mossel Bay and Knysna, perhaps we wouldn’t have as many cars and buses on the N2 and we can stimulate a brand-new type of tourism in the process.

“If we had neighbourhood campuses, our children could have a world-class education right here in the most beautiful place in the world and contribute to building a knowledge economy.

“Is all this just dreams and talk? An agency in the form of a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), will be established for driving this concept. It is a public/private partnership with local municipalities, the community and the regional government. Getting people to be part of the project is therefore crucial.

“We have enough skilled people to carry out the Outeniqua Smart City Corridor concepts, but we can’t leave it to government or municipal officials to carry it out – they already have their hands full. We will have to work together with a common vision and get wider support to make it work. Once we have a smart solution to a common problem, we can document, package and export the blueprint as it becomes our intellectual property, and the rest of the world will have to pay for that know-how,” said the two men, who have put together a series of images which explain their citizen-friendly, livable city idea.

ABI Research predicted that while $8,1-billion was spent on smart city technologies in 2010, that number is likely to reach R39,5-billion by 2016. There are 102 smart city projects world-wide but only six in the whole of Africa. In isolation our African cities are considered to be “too small to be smart”; if we join forces however, we are small enough to be agile and big enough to be relevant. “Why ask Europe to solve Africa’s problems?” asked the gentlemen in conclusion.

The South African ISP’s & Telecoms providers that attended, talked and exhibited there are seriously out of touch with the cloud reality. These included the likes of Telkom, Huawei, Alcatel-Lucent & Ericsson & Nokia.

All of them mentions the “internet tsunami”, talking of an overwhelming demand for data and connectivity. None of them realises that the demand is actually for services. There response is entirely based on data volume and how to scale it.

A further failure is the absolute lack of realization that cloud services and virtual server hosting is not the same thing. Moving your physical server to a hosted virtual server (VPS) does not mean you have now cloud enabled your applications. It simply means you have moved your hosting.

We are still seeing virtually all local ISP’s tout VPS as cloud services. It is not the same thing.  Allowing users to increase or decrease the capacity of the VPS still does not make it a cloud. VPS is simply one of the building blocks of a complete Cloud infrastructure.

Clouds must come with a scalable services as well. No one does this as well as Amazon, which offers an overwhelming array of cloud services. They offer countless API’s, SDK’s and developer tools for storage, queues, db transactions, payments etc.

I develop mobile apps and their accompanying cloud backends, and as a result use Amazon’s Web Services  and Rackspace’s Private Cloud services on a daily basis.  I use them not because they are cheaper than the local alternatives, I use them because there is no local alternatives.

The SA startup scene is buzzing with activity, and almost all startups these days are building web and mobile apps. Those that need real cloud services are forced to use on of the bigger international players.

I would love to see some like Afrihost, Web-Africa or RSA Web pick up the challenge and create a true cloud service, hosted right here in SA. Imagine if one of our local ISP’s decides to become the SA Startup partner and give the startups the tools they need to build new world class apps. Once a startup has gone live on a specific architecture it is hard to migrate, so the first ISP out of the starting blocks may well have a customer for life (depending on their service level of course).

In the Garden Route we are building a local ICT incubator for our own startup scene, and am going to put together a ‘startup cloud’ for this purpose. We want startups to focus on building their app & their business, not on first building the building blocks for their app, which is how it works today.

Are there any SA ISP’s out there up for the challenge of building a true cloud platform?

This is the second in a series of posts identifying and substantiating several ICT projects to stimulate and grow the Garden Route ICT industry.

It is undeniable that the Garden Route offers a superior lifestyle and great infrastructure. This combined with a talented and motivated workforce, strong ICT skills pool and an effective and efficient local government makes it a top investment destination. In fact, two of the Garden Route towns have recently being identified by FinWeek’s as two of the top 10 of SA’s best places to do business.

All the requirements for a strong BPO destination is being met:

• We have a strong pool of english speaking matriculants.
• We have a strong pool of technical skills available to support the establishment and support of BPO operators.
• We have a well motivated and competent local government in place committed to helping grow the BPO industry in the area.
• We have local government incentives in place to help existing BPO operators establish a presence in the area.
• We have fast and reliable fibre connectivity connecting the region to the bigger cities, as well as multiple fibre rings within the George CBD and surrounds. The area is further covered by multiple fast Wireless networks.
• We have quality CBD office space available for quick occupation.
• We offer a productive and virtually crime free lifestyle with a minimal commute and excellent quality of life.
• Labour and property costs are well below those of Johannesburg and Cape Town.

Ask anyone outside the region what the Garden Route is all about and they will tell you it is a place of beaches, lakes, rivers, mountains and forests. Ask them about the business that happens in the region and they will give you a blank stare.

This is the single biggest obstacle the region face in growing the local economy. Overcoming this must be the first step in any economic development initiative planning on attracting more business to the region, even tourism business.

In recent industry workshops run by the George Municipality it became clear that all the key industries in the region (Tourism, Manufacturing, ICT, Agriculture / Agri Processing) want to do better collective marketing and is dependent on business coming in from outside the region.

I propose that we create a single marketing message that goes out with all communication, for example

• marketing material
•  invoices
• quotes
• correspondance
• rates bills
• websites
• email signatures
• etc

Something like “The Garden Route is open for business“ should do the trick.

This statement can easily be backed up by real data on the regional economy, which includes diverse industries such as airplane manufacture, electronics R&D and development, medical research and serious agri processing.

A clear and concise web page with the relevant background can be used to get the message across. Simple, do-able, quick to action and with massive impact.

This is the first in a series of posts identifying and substantiating several ICT projects to stimulate and grow the Garden Route ICT industry.

In a previous post I gave some background as to the startup scene within the Garden Route. The area is full of promise and talent, and serious startups are already operating from the area, with others relocating to take advantage of the superior lifestyle and great infrastructure.

The Garden Route is the ideal place from where to run a software factory. Over R750 million worth of software development work is exported form the Western Cape alone to India and other off-shore destinations. The Garden Route has the skills, capacity and experience to attract a significant number of these currently off-shored projects. The close proximity to Cape Town combined with the skills base and business experience should make the shift from India to the Garden Route and obvious one.

The Garden Route ICT Incubator in George is the ideal place to locate such a software factory. It has the physical space, the required infrastructure and a bunch of highly skilled individuals which can meet any demands.

So what is required to make this happen?

• We need to convince the companies in Cape Town and Johannesburg that currently export software development off-shore that there is a credible alternative right here.
• We need to prove that we can deliver. We start of with a single manageable project from a corporate and we deliver a superior result, in every way.
• We need to work together, to ensure we can deliver. All the skills is here, it is simply a case of creating a project team per deliverable.

We have the will, and we have the way. The next step is an easy one. We must identify the opportunities, and create the capacity to deliver at the scale and quality required.

I suspect that several large ICT companies from Johannesburg and Cape Town will move into the region soon and establish their own outsourced ICT services divisions to serve their own needs, just like some BPO operators are doing already. This will help accelerate the growth of the local ICT industry and will not only create serious critical mass but will also create the much needed credibility of the region as a serious ICT destination.

Over the next year the Garden Route ICT landscape will undergo serious change as it transforms from a place of small lone IT companies into a region of ICT excellence.

Upcoming posts in this series will include the following:

• The Garden Route, the best kept secret of the South African BPO Industry
• The Garden Route as the agri & tourism R&D destination of choice
• The Garden Route as the prototyping destination of choice

The Garden Route is open for Business!

We are seeing this more and more, as the Garden Route evolves from a sleepy holiday destination into a serious player in the economy, manufacturing everything from aircraft to furniture to electronics, and everything in between.

Combining this with a serious skills base we have a highly credible business destination.

We are fortunate that the Garden Route has it’s own pool of talent, both in the technology sector as well as on the business and mentoring side.

The ICT sector is particularly active, with well over 100 ICT companies operating from George and surrounds alone. These includes a mix of software, hardware, training and consultancy, providing a nice mix any startup would need in order to succeed. Regular industry get togethers like geek breakfasts result in a well connected network of entrepreneurs.

In a previous post I laid out the case for a local ICT incubator, based in the Garden Route. In the last 6 months this idea has flourished, with committed support from SEDA, provincial and local government, as well as the local industry.  We are on  roll and plan on opening the doors to a permanent incubation / innovation hub in the coming weeks.

Some of the existing successful startups that have their roots firmly in the Garden Route includes AppCRAFT, PlotMyRide, Micket and MiMiles. AppCRAFT and PlotMyRide are both award winning startups, the latter having turned down Google investor funding to rather pursue a more owner influenced route.

The success and number of startups in the region is an indication of the enormous talent pool in the area. This combined with lots of highly experienced semi-retired business skills available in the local economy makes it the ideal breeding ground for startups.

Creating a physical space where entrepreneurs can mingle and grow their businesses will further increase our ability to create the businesses of tomorrow. This space will not only be a technology hub, but also a business mentoring and collaborative marketing space. This will be combined with various training and marketing programs that will enable startups to grow and expand their ideas and operations.

Silicon Cape’s Startup Academy aims to connect startup’s with those that can offer sound advice re finance and getting a business off the ground, based on experience and lessons learnt. We will be introducing something similar, regular startup coffee sessions where local startups can quiz those that are further down the road, and can bounce ideas of experienced business brains. We will also be connecting potential VC’s to promising startups.

Towards the second half of the year we will be hosting a Garden Route technology expo, which will also include a startup competition, with potential prizes including seed funding, business mentoring and marketing exposure. The competition will be along a similar format to the innovation competition currently being run by The Hub Johannesburg. Several VC’s have already indicated interested in coming to the region to participate in this exciting event.

We want innovative ideas, great prototypes and awesome pitches. Anything less belong in the big cities.  Some of the unique strengths of our region lies in the tourism and agri sectors, where innovative high tech startups have a wide open playing field.

The local infrastructure is well evolved and includes a first rate airport, stable power supply, fast reliable fibre connectivity, backed by high speed wireless networks even in the remotest parts of the region. Plans are underfoot to cover George with free wifi, just as Stellenbosch has done. We have a stable and committed local government and business chamber that is actively participating in growing the region as a technology destination. Initiatives are underway that will make it much easier for new startups to do business with local government, regional business and beyond.

All this offerred in a super environment, abundant natural beauty, significantly less crime that the big cities, no traffic congestion, etc. The list goes on and on.

With all this going for the region we expect some formidable startups to emerge and operate from within the Garden Route in the next few years.

The Chamber has enjoyed a very positive term resulting in a growth of membership, an enhanced community profile and services provided for the members. In addition to consolidating its financial position, the organisation has successfully developed its internal capability, providing a strong foundation for continued growth.

Exceeding 300 members was a notable achievement for the Chamber .The growth of the Chamber continues to strengthens our undertaking to be the leading voice of business in the region.
Regular interactions with key people has been, and continues to be, a fundamental necessity.

August saw the George Business Chamber arranging an informal breakfast, for members and interested parties, with Minister Allan Winde, MEC for Finance, Economic Development and Tourism. The intention was create an environment where identified issues that had been identified by local and regional business, could be openly discussed. Minister Winde announced the “Red Tape” initiative which has been a catalyst in the improvement of some businesses that have put this initiative to the test. The “Red Tape” initiative has been put into place so that incidents or matters that hinder the progress of  business’ advancement can be investigated and hopefully removed.

Another milestone has been the formalisation of the Garden Route Business Forum which focuses on regional economic development and enjoys the attendance of representatives from a broad spectrum of key players across the region. I would like to acknowledge MEC Winde and his department for their commitment to working with us and the Regional Business Forum towards strong economic growth for our region.

During the last year our ties with Provincial Government has strengthened significantly, and we now have the commitment from MEC Winde that George is not the step child of the Province, but a key player in the economy of the region. There are several provincial initiatives underway that aim to grow the economy of the region.
I would like to thank MEC Winde for the continued support from him and his department.

We have also had a very successful year in dealing with Local government. Carli Bunding-Venter from the LED department has been co-opted onto our exco and continues to play a vital role in helping each organization understand and work with each other. Some key economic development initiatives from the Municipal side is being fully supported by the Chamber and will be making a visible difference to many sectors of the George business community.
I would like to thank the George Municipality for their visible and continued support of the George Business Chamber.
There have been numerous Economic Development workshops held during the year and the Business Chamber has been involved at these, and provided input on behalf of the members. Various matters are getting attention. (Local tender process etc.)

The EXCO also successfully lobbied the airlines for more flights to and from George and we are pleased to announce that there are now 4 new early flights, per week, leaving at 06h20am from George. This ensures that people can get to Johannesburg and back in a day and not need to stay over.
We will be continuing our lobbying of the airlines in an effort to get the airfares to and from George reduced. Once reduced we should see a strong increased in business and tourist travel, which will make a significant difference to the economy of the region.
It has been a very busy year with many activities promoting the Chamber and serving the members. These activities included the following :

We assisted at the Outeniqua Wheelchair Challenge in 2011 and we’ll be assisting again on the 18th February 2012.

The Business Breakfast in March 2011 was sponsored by Ernst and Young Chartered Accountants. Guest speaker,Prof Matthew Lester, entertained the guests with a simple but comprehensive outlook for the Economic year.
The Annual golf day at Kingswood Golf Estate where some of the funds raised were used to support the PDSA.

The Gala Dinner honoring the Business Person of the Year 2011 as well as Entrepreneur of the Year 2011 was the social highlight of the business year. For the first time there were two runners up per
category and recognition for finalists was given. It was held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel at Oubaai and was attended to capacity.

The monthly networking evenings and “Morning Marketing” events proved again to be very popular and continue to be so.

During the November Business breakfast, sponsored by Airports Company, the guests were reminded of the importance of “Branding and Marketing You” and were motivated by guest speaker, Donna Rachelson – well renowned Keynote Speaker .

The upgrading and modernization of our website have allowed us to further enhance our serve to members.
The arrival of ALGOA FM in the Garden Route has been well received. The move has been a few years in the making and the Business Chamber had a hand in making this happen.

In a drive to be fully representative of business in George the chamber has initiated discussions with the Business School of NMMU. This is to encourage business students, who will be the young business managers/owners of the future as well as the consumers and customers of tomorrow, to explore the different aspects of Leadership and practical experience in Business. These interactions led to the establishment of a youth Leadership group who are called “Pathfinders”.

We realize the need to further strengthen our relations with other business oriented bodies in George and surrounds, and have started on the path to increased integration and representation at all levels within the Chamber and its functions. This will not only help us to better align our effects, but will also result in increased business success all round.

Our aim for the future is to be the leading voice of business in the region, and I am happy to say we are achieving this through continued growth, excellent service delivery and meaningful engagement with other stakeholders in our local and regional economy.

The 2011 – EXCO have all contributed, through their commitment, to achieving and exceeding set goals.
My personal thanks to Koos du Plessis, Dr Willie Cilliers, Ingrid Cronje, Brenda Moses, Madeleine Goldie, Niel de Necker , Neville Prins, Nadia Abrahamse and Carli Bunding-Venter. Also Thank You to Lydia Barrett , who loyally supported the George Business Chamber for 2011 until her resignation at the end of last year.

We would like to welcome Lesley Warner who now holds the secretarial position at the Chamber Offices.
My thanks to a great team who worked to meet the demands of the Chamber and to you, the loyal and supportive members.
We look forward to your continued support during 2012.

Thank you all for your attendance this evening

Imel Rautenbach
President
George Business Chamber
7 February 2012.

Looking at the speaker lineup and focus areas you could easily be mistaken that tech4africa is for high tech city folk alone, but there is another side, which I would like to call “the end of the rural disconnect“.

As a technologist living in the Garden Route I experience on a daily basis the pain caused by poor connectivity, disconnected services and isolated thinking.

Traditional business in the rural economy is based around small free standing business. Whilst this has worked fairly well in the past it is now becoming more difficult for these small businesses to compete against the larger companies that are moving into the rural economies. The economic downturn has also meant that doing business within the local rural market is tougher to sustain.

Now, how does this all relate to Tech4Africa?

This conference is not only bringing creative and technology minds together, it is the platform and becomes the catalyst that we need to get the rural economy into the technology discussion.

Once we realize the incredible potential locked up in the rural African economy we need to start connecting the disconnected. This means breaking down technological barriers & isolated thinking, and start building a new rural economy centered around mobile & cloud based technology.

This is easier than many thinks. In our discussions around the formation of the Garden Route ICT Incubator we have identified countless opportunities that can be enabled by connected thinking.

Agriculture alone is a vast field of untapped potential, where technology can and will make an enormous difference to the entire continent. Imagine increased efficiency, increased productivity, far better management information, better integration of service delivery and much higher yield management. Once conference alone can get us pointed in the right direction.

Tech4Africa has the right mix of people with vision, and can be the platform that starts the conversation that unlocks our rural potential. I urge everyone that sees the potential and shares the vision to attend (Jhb, 27-28 October) so the conversation can begin.