On 26 August 2011 the Eastern Cape chapter of the Exporters Club of South Africa hosted their annual prestigious Exporter of the year banquet.
380 guests were treated to high quality entertainment by local artist Niqui Cloete-Barrass, and her team, at the “Champers and Chandeliers” themed event hosted in the Feather Market Convention Centre.
The independent judges for the awards were Zodwa Kepeye – ECDC, Anne Marie Van Jaarsveld – past councillor of economic development and tourism, Sam Venter – NMBBC, Francious Truter – DTI, Lance Schultz – AIDC, Neil Matteus – ABSA
Significant contributions by the sponsors made this event possible. ABSA was the Platinum sponsor of the event. The other sponsors for the event were Transnet National Port Authorities (gold), the Eastern Cape Development Corporation (silver) , Credit Guarantee (silver), SJM Flex Bronze) and KPMG (bronze). The Weekend Post was the media sponsor.
The guest speaker on the night was Marcel de Klerk, Absa Business Bank’s Head of Product. Marcel has been involved in the banking industry since 1994 and spent four years offshore working in international markets, corporate and merchant banking.
More entries were received this year than ever before and, according to Quintin Levey, the Chairperson of the Exporters club of South Africa – Eastern Cape, the calibre of entries was very good.
The winners on the evening were:
- Morgan Cargo (Pty) Ltd: Best provider of services to exporters (This category is for service providers to the export industry, usually forwarding and clearing agents, shipping lines and agents, other forms of transport including courier, insurance agents, underwriters, financial services providers). A merit award was presented to Jas Forwarding Worldwide for entrepreneurial flair displayed during the year.
- Howden Donkin (Pty) Ltd: Best exporter – small business (This category is for direct and indirect exporters with export turnover up to R25 million).
- Valor Fruit Processors (Pty) Ltd: Best exporter – medium enterprise (This category is for direct and indirect exporters with export turnover between R25 and R100 million)
- Volkswagen Group South Africa: Best exporter – corporate (This category is for direct and indirect exporters with export turnover greater than R100 million) In addition merit awards were presented to SJM Flex SA (Pty) Ltd (for increase in staffing over the year), BASF South Africa (Pty) Ltd – Catalysts division (for their increase in turnover and profitability over the year), Ford Motor Company (for their significant investment during the year) and Shatterpruffe, a division of PG Group (Pty) Ltd (for their significant water and electricity savings project)
- Volkswagen Group South Africa: Exporter of the year 2011 – The winner of this award is the entity that in the judge’s opinion achieved the most success in the period under review.
Quintin Levey, the Chairperson of the Exporters club of South Africa – Eastern Cape, David Powells, VWSA Managing Director and Marcel de Klerk, ABSA. Image: Quintin Meier.
