THE Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber Board has appointed experienced local businessman and civil engineer Loyiso Dotwana as its new President, succeeding Andrew Muir who has served in this role for the past two years.
Dotwana, will assume responsibility for leading the board in determining its strategic direction, so as to ensure delivery upon the chamber’s mandate to drive for an enabling environment and economic growth for Nelson Mandela Bay.
“I am greatly looking forward to the opportunity to make a difference in our city, which I believe, despite its challenges has a lot of untapped potential,” he said.
Dotwana has worked as a civil engineer in design and project management for more than 20 years. He specialised in design and contract administration of township services, rural and urban roads and national roads. He has been involved in the conceptual and detailed design of bulk services for the Coega Industrial Development Zone in Port Elizabeth.
He founded Illiso Consulting (Pty) Limited, one of South Africa’s largest black owned consulting engineering companies, of which he is currently a director and the major shareholder.
Other key board appointments include:
- Siya Mhlaluka, who is currently General Manager: Sales and New Business Development at Transnet Port Terminals has been appointed, as Vice President. He previously served in the Chamber President role from 2007 to 2009 and is currently a Member of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University Council.
- MC Botha, who is the Managing Director of Joubert Galpin Searle, one of the biggest corporate law firms in the Eastern Cape, has been appointed as Vice President. He has played a key role on the Chamber Board for almost 10 years and most recently served as the Chairman of its Governance Committee.
- Gugu Nxiweni, who is a Chartered Accountant and Executive Chairman of the Improvate Group, has been appointed in the Treasurer role. He has over 18 years professional experience and was a former partner at KPMG, and until recently served as the National Board Member of the Black Management Forum. He has served on the Chamber Board for three years and has played an active role on the Governance and Finance Committees.
‘It is very exciting to have such experienced professionals serving in key leadership roles on our Board,” says Denise van Huyssteen, Chief Executive Officer of the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber. “This provides us with the broad range of expertise which we need in order to navigate local businesses through a very tough economic and rapidly changing environment. As business we face a perfect storm of challenges from a very serious water crisis, to electricity challenges and a pandemic which is restricting economic recovery. And while we need to continue to lobby and advocate for an enabling environment, we also need to be thinking about the future and the economic opportunities which will emerge from all these changes.”
Paying tribute to Andrew Muir, van Huyssteen said that the Chamber was very fortunate to have had him in the President role at the outset of the covid-19 pandemic. “He is an experienced activist and this is exactly what the Chamber required during this period. He has set a high benchmark in terms of just what can be achieved and that’s why we are very pleased that he will be staying on in the Immediate Past President role.”
The Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber Board comprises a total of 25 individuals who represent a wide range of different sectors of our local economy.
