Here we are already three months into 2022, it seems like yesterday that we were still talking about the “New Year”. But time flies, and things are happening.
On Thursday 17 March we had a meeting with the Executive Mayor Councillor André Truter at the Saldanha Bay Access Complex. He was accompanied by Ms Cornell de Kock, Director of Economic Development and Strategic Services for the municipality.
It was an excellent meeting and a chance for the SBIDZ team to talk with Councillor Truter and Ms de Kock and to hear their views. We also went on a site visit.
The Saldanha Bay Municipality is, of course, a primary stakeholder, so it was time well spent. It reaffirmed a shared vision and what was needed for the region, and how these goals could be achieved by working together.
Earlier this week the Saldanha Bay Innovation campus hosted the second webinar in its series on Energy Transition. The theme was Saldanha as a hydrogen hub. It focused on the role of hydrogen in the energy transition and the areas where South Africa is leading in research, development and innovation in hydrogen development.
The webinar attracted experts in the field, including Thomas Roos from the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). It was a CSIR report into hydrogen fuels that had identified Saldanha Bay as being well placed for the development and export of such power fuels in the future.
Please look out for our magazine, OnseBaai, delivered with the popular newspaper Weslander. There are some lovely photographs of the award winning maths teachers I spoke about last month. And there are wonderful success stories about three local small, medium and micro-enterprises (SMMEs) that are adapting and thriving from the businesses we are attracting.
This is the magazine’s second edition, and I’d love to hear your feedback, comments and suggestions for what you’d like to see on its pages.
As we see pandemic regulations being relaxed we urge you to remain safe – wear face masks in closed spaces and keep hand washing, and go out and enjoy the autumn weather.
