Welcome Message from the CEO, Lindiwe Rakharebe

Welcome to the “Second Summer” edition of the Sanibonani Newsletter! We are blessed in Durban to have two summers a year so we couldn’t really call it our “Winter” edition.

As this is the first edition of this Newsletter since joining the Durban ICC in April this year, let me add my personal greetings to all of you.

I would like to wish all our strong and beautiful women a Happy Women’s Month and let’s remember to celebrate and honour our ladies every day, not only during August!

I must say that I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at the Durban ICC so far. The business events industry is very exciting and it is a great honour to take the reins of this world-class facility.

I am passionate about teamwork and plan to work very closely with our stakeholders to ensure that the world recognises our potential. I believe it is important to develop synergy together and work collectively to achieve the best results.

In the past few months, I have been able to witness some amazing events first-hand. Some of my favourites were the MTV Africa Music Awards, INDABA 2015 and Joyous Celebration. Other highlights over the past few months included the Wellness Day which was enjoyed by all our colleagues and the Nelson Mandela Day Million Meal Challenge which afforded us the opportunity to give a little back to those less fortunate than ourselves.

I am also eagerly looking forward to some of our upcoming events in the months ahead. We are excited to welcome The Loeries to Durban in August and in September we look forward to hosting three major world congresses, namely the 14th World Forestry Congress, the World Social Science Forum and the World Routes Development Forum 2015.

In this edition of Sanibonani you can read more about some of our social responsibility projects, a few of the awards we have won recently and you can also get to know a couple of our staff members a little better! This edition also profiles a selection of value-added services we offer and some of the innovative packages we have just launched for our clients.

Let me end off by adding my congratulations to the Durban ICC for completing 18 successful years of operation! This achievement would not have been possible without the loyalty and support of our clients, suppliers, stakeholders, strategic partners and most importantly the Durban ICC staff. We thank you for the contribution you have made towards the Durban ICC’s on-going success and with your continued support, we look forward to taking the organisation to even greater heights in the future!

– Lindiwe