THE Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber has awarded outstanding leaders from its geographical clusters and task teams for volunteering their time and expertise to help create an enabling environment in Nelson Mandela Bay.
Commenting on the recognitions, Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber chief executive officer Denise van Huyssteen said that the Chamber’s success with its action orientated approach in various key initiatives has been achieved due to the incredible work of volunteers.
“Often this work happens behind the scenes, without the individuals seeking any recognition. In fact, I would venture to say the biggest asset which we have in the Bay is our people. We may have wide urban sprawl but if you look at the way the Chamber has been able to mobilise the business community into action, we really have achieved something special and remarkable,” said Van Huyssteen.
Award recipients included Paola Horak, director of Grindstone Property Management, who received the Operational Sustainability Award for her extensive involvement in getting the clusters off the ground and supporting their key initiatives. Tati Tsunke, chairperson of the Beachfront Cluster and general manager of the Boardwalk Hotel, was recognised for his exemplary leadership in driving collaboration and action.
Angus Clark, Struandale Cluster lead and senior manager at Isuzu Motors, was commended for helping to address infrastructure challenges related to electricity outages. David Mertens also received recognition for his work on municipal electricity tariffs, successfully mitigating substantial increases that would have impacted domestic and industrial users. His intervention resulted in savings of well over R600 million for the current tariff year.
Basil Mugwagwa and Gary Koekemoer were honoured for their leadership in helping to improve the metro’s sanitation system through collaboration with the municipality. Mugwagwa is the lead for the water and sanitation task team and currently the head of engineering at Aspen Pharmacare. Koekemoer is a climate change consultant and the lead for the Chamber’s low carbon economy workstream for the Local Economy Reinvention Think Tank. “Their work included an assessment of the system, the development of plans to address issues and ongoing technical support. This resulted in driving the improvement in the efficiency of the system from 15% to over 80%,” said Van Huyssteen.
Kelvin Naidoo, the Overall Think Tank lead and Quinton Uren, the co-lead, both received Visionary Awards for demonstrating strategic vision and dedication which has enabled the Think Tank to progress, while ensuring that the various volunteers working in the various workstreams are getting ahead of the curve. This is critical to saving and creating investment and jobs in the local manufacturing economy.
Naidoo is the vice president of the Chamber and currently technical director at Auto X. Uren leads the altermotive workstream and is the managing director of Jendamark.
“These recognitions underscore the Chamber’s commitment to mobilising the business community for positive change in Nelson Mandela Bay. To all the winners today, we would like to extend our warm gratitude for the sterling work you do for the Chamber as this aligns with our vision of positioning the metro as the Bay of Opportunity,” Van Huyssteen concluded.
The Chamber also handed out the Entrepreneur of the Year award to The Eco Laundry as the 2024 winner. The business provides environmentally conscious laundry services through energy-efficient and self-heating machines with advanced aqua-mixer technology that allows the company to reduce water and energy consumption. The owner, Michiko Mavunga, received various prizes, from MTN and Action Coach, including a R100 000 grant funding towards the purchase of equipment and machinery sponsored by Standard Bank.
The Chamber has established eleven clusters, all driven by a team of committed business leaders from a common geographical area who come together to address operational problems within the sectors of the Bay. Task teams run by the Chamber cover the priority areas of electricity, water, sanitation, transport and logistics, disaster management, safety and security and business enablement.
