The Board of the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber today elected new office bearers, including a new President, who will continue to drive the Business Chamber to new heights in the city.
The new President of the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber is Ian Nicholls, President and Managing Director of General Motors Sub-Saharan Africa. Nicholls brings with him a wealth of experience serving in various leadership roles within the automotive industry at both a local and international level.
New incumbent onto the Board Cumesh Moodliar, Eastern Cape Regional Head of Investec Private Bank, was elected to the position of First Vice-President and MC Botha, Managing Director at Joubert Galpin Searle, and member of the Chamber’s Executive and Governance Committees, was appointed as Second Vice-President.
The new Honorary Treasurer elected by the Board is Simone Mao-Cheia, a Director at PKF Port Elizabeth. Mao-Cheia is also the Chairperson of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants Port Elizabeth District.
Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber CEO Kevin Hustler said he had every confidence in the new office bearers to collaboratively drive the Business Chamber’s vision of placing the business needs of the city on the highest agenda, to ensure a prosperous and sustainable Nelson Mandela Bay.
These appointments come at a critical time as business in the city moves to strengthen its focus on ensuring that an enabling environment is in place which is business friendly. Newly elected President Nicholls said the core areas which impact on the viability and competitiveness of businesses would serve as the primary focal points of action for the Chamber going forward.
“We must get the basics right. We need to lobby to ensure that reliable, and cost competitive electricity, water and other services are supplied to business. Key infrastructure such as roads, rail and the port must be upgraded and maintained. Beyond these essentials we need to ensure that major projects which are earmarked for our city are fully leveraged to ensure that spin-off opportunities are generated for downstream businesses.”
Nicholls said that organised business wanted to interact in a more strategic and focused manner with local government to ensure that the right levels of capacity are established, thereby ensuring the delivery of key services. “This also presents an opportunity for the Metro to move forward in a bid to address key challenges and realise its full potential.”
Nicholls said that he was looking forward to working with the Board, which includes representation across the various sectors of the local economy, with the objective of ensuring that the Chamber plays a meaningful and impactful role in addressing the challenges which face business as a whole.
As per the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber’s constitution, one of the first tasks of the new Board was to elect and appoint new office bearers. A total of thirteen members were elected at the Business Chamber’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) earlier this month on May 13, to complete the board of 25 directors.
Outgoing President Mandla Madwara will stay on as a member of the board of directors of the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber and will serve as the Immediate Past President.
The full complement of the Chamber Board includes: Ian Nicholls (General Motors), Cumesh Moodliar (Investec), MC Botha (Joubert Galpin and Searle), Thomas Schaefer (Volkswagen) Philip Nieman (Coca Cola, Rocco Joubert (First National Bank), Carol Hall (Vodacom), Yasteel Kuseeal (Times Media), Mandla Madwara (Ironman), Kerry Bryans (Umicore), Gary Keen (Tenneco), Saki Macozoma (Volkswagen), Bert Marais (Aspen), Rob Niemand (Labour net), Patrick Monks (Business Connexion), Vuyokazi Lekhelebana (Work Dynamics), Denise van Huyssteen (General Motors), Simone Mao-Cheia (PKF), Andrew Muir (The Wilderness Foundation), Gary Paul (Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University), Pierre Voges (Madiba Bay Development Agency), Michael Brockman (NFO Commodity Services), Chris Mashigo (Coega Development Company) Kevin Hustler (Nelson Mandela Bay Chamber) and Zoe Walters (Nelson Mandela Bay Chamber).
Alan Straton
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