President’s End-Of-Year Address 2023

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Distinguished Guests, Members and Guests.

Welcome to the November Networking Meeting of the Australia Africa Chamber of Commerce.

It is of course a pleasure to welcome you in person after the trials and tribulations of the COVID -19 Lockdowns.

I would like to provide you with a review of the year but more importantly of the opportunities for you and your companies and organizations.

As alluded to last year but which has been steadfastly pursued has been the development of our three fundamental pillars;

- Advocacy

- Business Intelligence

- Advisory

We have undertaken Roundtables and Workshops and briefings by Canberra based Africa Heads of Mission along with Africa bound DFAT Heads of Mission before they take up their Posts along with a slew of other activities .

We also continued with the implementation of our software support to meet our future requirements - though not without a number of challenges.

Our major focus though has been the rollout of the inaugural Australia Africa Business Summit which was originally scheduled for October this year but which we postponed and have rescheduled for early May 2024.

It demanded an enormous amount of effort to put together a relevant programme to reflect our core mission - the development of trade and investment with Africa.

This required creating a network of key stakeholders ranging from the Canberra based Heads of Mission for Africa, DFAT Austrade and Export Finance Australia along with Industry bodies like the Business Council of Australia, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and other like type bodies in both Africa and Australia.

Whilst all were supportive as reflected in the quality of Speakers that we were able to secure for the agreed Sectors our Delegate Sales were weak as were Sponsorships.

It was in fact fortuitous that with the admission of Africa as permanent member of the G20 that it caused certain countries to hit pause which directly affected the promised attendance by various Ministers for Trade and other portfolios.

As such we agreed to defer or postpone the event until next May.

This has proved to be a real positive.

We had invited the Secretary General of the Africa Continental Free Trade Secretariat to attend our October event and despite the postponement he and his Executive team still chose to come.

We conducted a Business Roundtable on Thursday 12 October which provided a major platform for the Secretary General and his Executive to present to our broad base of members and other interested parties.

Suffice to say it was a watershed moment.

Our follow up discussions have lead to a Partnership with Africa Continental Free Trade Area with a member of his Executive being assigned to directly participate in our revamped Organizing Committee.

We see this as being a project which is now going to be very much driven and initiated by Africa.

We have revamped the programme and have refreshed the media ready for release along with new Summit collateral - Save the Date, Registrations, Sponsor Prospectus including Exhibition space.

We are actively in discussion to launch a Deal Room to be live at the event but also to meet our ongoing Advisory role.

All of this activity could not have taken place without staunch and capable support.

I particularly wish to highlight the role of Operations Manager taken on by Margaret Brett.

Margaret of course will be very well known to many of you through her 28 years with Global Victoria in various senior Trade roles but also as Manager of International Chamber House where she held the pivotal responsibility of managing strategic relationships between the various international  Chambers and organisations and the Department of Jobs,Skills, Industry and Regions.

We have been very fortunate to have the benefit of her sage experience, contacts and connections.

Supporting her as Communications Manager has been Liep Gatwech.

Liep originally joined us as an Intern but has since very ably taken on this role. A Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Arts he is also currently undertaking a Masters Degree at Monash University

Liep is responsible for the production of the monthly newsletter, promotional flyers and our Social Media platform where he has energised our communications.

He is also has a role in marketing communications and stakeholder communications involving the preparations for the Summit.

Our two Interns Angie Ge and Prerana Naidu have also provided wonderful, dedicated support for our many and varied tasks.

Our current Committee have each contributed by way of their respective roles which has been all important in the ongoing functioning of the Chamber and I thank them for their service.

The addition of Bill Cole to our Committee has been a real plus.

Bill recently stood down as a senior member of BDO but also brings to us his role as Chairman of the body Professionals in International Trade.

I should also report is that John Kuot who joined the Committee just twelve months ago and who in the latter months of this year had assumed the role of Secretary abruptly resigned early this month having accepted a role as a Senior Ministerial Advisor with the Victorian Government which necessitated him immediately relinquishing all other appointments to avoid and conflict of interest.   We wish him well.

This overview is in fact a precursor of the major task we have in front of us to provide you with the services and support that you need and should expect from a Chamber and to bring about a successful Summit.

It is however no secret that we are grossly under funded and under resourced.

Whilst we are keen to secure Memberships and Sponsorships including from those of you in the room this evening we are also actively looking for Volunteers and or Secondees to help us carry out our plans.

Within the Chamber we would welcome those with skills and experience with the following:

• Membership Services

• Government Affairs

• Business Development

• Marketing and Communications

• Finance and Administration and

• Special Task Forces including the forthcoming Australia Africa Business Summit.

Task force support opportunities arise as follows:

• Event Planning

• Logistics Management

• Marketing and Promotion

• Stakeholder Communications

• Onsite Management

• Evaluation and Follow-Up

Issues we need to address include

• Budget Management

• Vendor and Partner Coordination

• Logistical Challenges

• Attendee Experience

• Risk Management

• Adapting to Change

Handling these tasks and issues requires strong organisational skills. Attention to detail, excellent communication and the ability to stay calm under pressure.

Your direct contributions and involvement are sought.

Please directly engage today with myself and members of our Committee and Executive who are known to you to help us tackle these issues.

We would otherwise welcome your questions and suggestions. ‘

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