Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber’s Nomkhita Mona has
stepped down as its Chief Executive Officer as of March 31, 2021.
This follows her appointment as the new group CEO of the South African Post Office.
On the interim, Prince Matonsi, who is currently the
Operations Manager, has been appointed as acting CEO, a role that he has
previously occupied.
President of the NMBBC, Dr Andrew Muir, expressed his
gratitude to Mona on behalf of the Chamber Board for her contribution to the
organisation during her tenure.
“She joined the Business Chamber in 2017 and during her
stewardship, forged valuable relationships with members, other Chambers and
various strategic partners, under the auspices of the Quadruple Helix Model of
collaboration and partnership between academia, business, civil society and
government. These initiatives have laid a solid foundation for the Business
Chamber to play a key role in driving for an enabling environment in which
local business can operate and grow,” Muir said.
“During this past year, in conjunction with Board Members
and other key stakeholders, she led the formation of the Ubuntu COVID-19 Fund
through which over R130 million worth of donations and equipment was raised
towards saving human lives in the metro – which included major renovations by
Business Chamber members to some of the City’s public health facilities that
needed urgent revamping and the development of a field hospital,” he added.
During her tenure, Mona also initiated much needed
discussions through the How to Build a City Series of talks where business,
government, academia and civil society discussed issues affecting the city and
how best to resolve them.
More recently the Business Chamber hosted several embassies
and ambassadors that visited Nelson Mandela Bay as part of strengthening
business relations in the region. The engagements involved countries such as,
Flanders Belgium, Australia, Mauritius, Vietnam, The United States and France.
In 2018, the Business Chamber, in partnership with Ezethu
Development Trust, launched the BayGrow Development Hub, an initiative geared
towards conducting cluster-based research which would aid effective promotion
of trade and investment in the metro.
Credible strategic relations have also been cultivated with
the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH, often
shortened to simply GIZ to collaborate on activities that create sustainable
economic development in the region and support of COVID-19 initiatives.
“The Board wishes to extend its sincere thanks and
appreciation to Mona for her dedication during the last four years and wish her
well in her future endeavours.”
Muir mentioned that, in terms of the Chamber’s priorities
for the balance of this year, these will be orientated around ensuring that as
organised business, their structures and strategies are optimally positioned to
initiate and support changes which will drive the sustainability and growth of the
local economy.
“Also high on the Business Chamber agenda in 2021 is
economic recovery for the region in light of the impact caused by the COVID-19
pandemic and associated national lockdown. Efforts to access interventions to
support businesses to get back to a viable growth path will continue unabated.
Our work in influencing the ease of doing business in the region will be
pursued with greater vigour.
“The Business Chamber has noted with great concern that
critical infrastructural challenges in the metro have worsened since last year
– which includes the lack of reliable and quality electricity and water supply.
This has been unacceptably disruptive to business operations.
“We have raised these matters during our recent meeting with
the Executive Mayor and his team. We remain confident that constructive
engagement with all relevant stakeholders will ensure ease of doing business
and that challenges are resolved, leading to a better transition in the second
half of this year.”
