NMB Chamber’s 7th professional social connect attracts over 100 participants

Over 100 emerging professionals from in and around the Bay attended the Nelson Mandela Bay Chamber’s seventh Professional Social Connect (PSC) on 19 January at Mazars, in Humewood.

The event was the first for this year and was hosted by the Chamber in partnership with Mazars, with First National Bank (FNB) as the main sponsor.

The programme’s purpose and objective is to create a social platform where emerging professionals can meet, connect and network with like-minded professionals. The platform further provides emerging professionals with an opportunity to meet and interact with industry leaders from various businesses across Nelson Mandela Bay, and subsequently secure expert mentors to further support their career or business development. The main objective of the platform is to retain and attract talent in the Metro.

The success of the six previous events which were hosted last year, has ignited interest from professionals as far as Johannesburg and Cape Town who would like to participate in the event.

Last year, through the PSC programme, the Chamber established various emerging professional think tanks whose objective was to propose innovative solutions to the many challenges facing the Metro. The Think Tanks, which comprised an average of 10 participants in each of the five Think Tanks, volunteered their time to develop various proposals from water, electricity, and tourism, to arts and culture.

Commenting on the event’s success, FNB’s Eastern Cape Regional Head Sandile Phillip said “When great minds meet for a greater good, magic happens”.

“I cannot believe that it has been 15 months since we had our first Professional Social Connect session. I have seen new professional relationships bloom, individuals coming out of their shells, new business opportunities being created and professionals meeting other large employers in the city as alternatives when corporate ceilings have been reached,” said Phillips. 

“All of this validates the vision I and some of the business leaders in the Metro have of facilitating a thriving environment for young professionals and entrepreneurs, where networks are built, and new opportunities created. In the process, the Metro gets to attract, retain and develop vibrant young professionals who believe in the city’s growth prospects.”

Phillip said that with more local and international businesses looking at investing in Nelson Mandela Bay, with businesses such as Stellantis, Hive Hydrogen, S4 Automation and Formex Industries already committed large investments, a positive group of young professionals becomes even more important.

“More people are moving towards coastal areas like Cape Town, George, Mossel Bay and others causing an influx.  As such, an opportunity is presented to Mandela Bay and East London to be the next beneficiaries of semigration. Young professionals are an important part of us getting ready for the opportunities this semigration and new investments bring,” he said.

Chamber chief executive Denise van Huyssteen said the attraction and retention of skills are critical if the Metro wants to grow its local economy.

“Young professionals in particular have a key role to play in terms of providing new technology-related skills, as well as driving different thinking and innovation to build a more agile and relevant economy. As highly skilled people, with experience and critical skills, move towards retirement age, there needs to be a new pool of talent to succeed them,” said Van Huyssteen. 

“Young people are typically those who are most agile and open to moving to bigger cities and other parts of the world for employment opportunities. We need to create a local environment which creates stimulating opportunities for young people so that they want to stay here and become the leaders of the future. An important part of this is establishing strong networks among young people and exposing them more broadly to local economic developments.”