15/12/2015
Dear YPO and WPO Africa Members
As we draw this calendar year to a close and mark the half way point of the 2015-2016 YPO fiscal year – we wanted to take this opportunity to reflect on the first 6 months of our YPO-WPO year and share a few regional highlights;
• We are thrilled to have won 10 international awards for FY15 including best WPO Region for the second year in a row. Details of these award winners are contained in this month’s regional flyer, the Africa page and Africa regional page on the Exchange.
• Growth continues to be a regional focus to ensure the health and sustainability of our chapters. We have recruited 38 new members this fiscal year and launched new chapter initiatives in Uganda, Mozambique and Senegal. We also have a keen focus on the under 35 membership base and as such have developed a focus group to strategise on improving our offering to this niche market.
• An integrated Communication Strategy was developed which encompassed the appointment of a Regional Communications Officer, as well as a Communications Administrator to roll out and maintain communication platforms. Incumbent of the strategy we launched an YPO-WPO Africa closed Facebook group which already has 330+ members/spouses, a public Africa page, a Africa LinkedIn group as well as introduced a monthly ‘Fast Five’ feature. We re-engaged our alliance with CNBC Africa which saw over 10 African members being featured on various segments since July.
• Our flagship International event, the Africa Family Safari Experience, again excelled participants’ expectations rating 4.92 out of 5, with the Botswana Academy rating 5/5 and the Victoria Falls Academy 4.5/5.
• We completed a very successful travelling resource programme in November 2015 with Bernie Tenenbaum from the USA visiting and 7 chapters benefitting from the programme.
• YPO and WPO Cape Town hosted a phenomenally successful inter chapter event with the YPO Hong Kong chapter in October 2015.
• We launched the Africa Chapter Health cup initiative via forums to assist to improve engagement and communication with members.
• Mentoring continues to grow with YPO-WPO Durban and YPO-WPO Lagos having launched their Mentoring programs.
• Africa continues to have the highest regional percentage of spouse/partner access to the Exchange (75% at 1 November 2015).
• We are thrilled that the Chapter Youth Exchange between our Johannesburg chapters and Mumbai is taking place this month and that our YNG groups and forums continue to gain momentum, particularly in Johannesburg, Nairobi and Cape Town.
• Finally, after the tremendous success of the Africa Ignite event in 2014 and 2015, we decided as a Region to expand on this and create the “Africa Ignite Regional Conference” to be held in Johannesburg in October 2016 - to create our very own regional conference for Africa by Africa. Dates to follow.
Our Region is in good shape and in many ways punching above its weight. The continued improvement of the member experience in the Africa Region is key to our regional strategy hence we encourage you to please reach out to us with feedback and/or recommendations to ensure that we continue to thrive as a Region going forward. Key to improving our member experience is good chapter exco succession as well as GLC and CLW registration as chapter officers who are trained are well prepared for their role. We are also excited at the growth of YNG+ which adds value to our overall member experience.
May we take this opportunity to wish those of you taking a well-deserved year-end break a restful time with your loved ones – and may 2016 be a peaceful and progressive year for this continent we hold so dear called Africa.
With best wishes
RIEL MALAN
YPO Africa Regional Chair
2015 - 2017
GARETH ACKERMAN
WPO Africa Regional Chair
2014 - 2016
