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sparks
ELECTRICAL NEWS
january 2015
contractors’ corner
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ECA News by Mark Mfikoe, national director of the Electrical Contractors’ Association of South Africa
The ECA(SA) will be rising to new heights in 2015
THE ECA(SA) closed off 2014 with its Presidential
Excellence Awards at the Ruimsig Country Club.
It was the kind of celebration that I cherish with
all my being. Congratulations to the winners and
grateful thanks to the sponsors of the awards
for buying into the concept of rewarding the
top achievers in the electrical industry – may it
continue for many years.
I would like to encourage this year’s winners
– and indeed all the entrants – to go all-out in
2015 and embrace the wisdom expressed in this
quotation by Charles Schultz:“Life is like a
ten-speed bike. Most of us have gears we
never use.”
Training 2015
And talking about gears, the ECA(SA) will
take teaching and training up a gear in 2015.
There is a Chinese proverb:“If you plan for
one year, plant rice. If you plan for ten years,
plant trees. If you plan for 100 years, educate
mankind”.
With this inmind, the ECA(SA) will offer
our members an enriched training experi-
ence as we climb new heights in training
in our partnership with the Construction
Seta. Calli Pieterse, our most recent‘Life
Membership Award’winner, challengedme
to revive the Electrical Contracting Manage-
ment Diploma; and, when I am challenged
to achieve, it not a good idea to bet against
me!
For some time, Calli has been calling for
this diploma course to be improved and re-
vived. It was at the funeral of the late James
Baker – a former national director of the
ECA(SA) – that Calli brought up the subject
again. He said James Baker’s passingmeant
that he was the last one alive of all the
people who had pioneered the introduction
of this diploma course to benefit electrical
contracting business owners.
To throw in another quote, Don Marquis
said that“procrastination is the art of keep-
ing up with yesterday”, which reminds us
that the time to deliver is now.
So this is why we must prepare now and
work towards this goal in the new year.
There are highly skilled and experienced
leaders in this industry but they won’t be
around forever and, at some point, they
would have to be replaced.
Which is why the ECA(SA) must wise up to
the fact that“the best time to repair the roof
is when the sun is shining”…another quote,
this time from John F Kennedy.
Sponsorship
The ECA(SA) is grateful to Crabtree, Heller-
mannTyton, Brother SA and Major Tech for
their continued sponsorship. I look forward
to a long andmutually beneficial relation-
ship with all our sponsors. I hope that still more
ties will be established with other businesses
andmajor role players in the industry over the
course of 2015 with a view to further strengthen-
ing relations between them and our members,
who are the primary users of their products. Be
their businesses big or small, it is a fact that our
members contribute immensely to the continued
growth of suppliers; and I look forward to a time
that the ECA(SA) will become an integral part of
their commercial strategies.
New strategy
At the ECA(SA)’s recent national executive com-
mittee meeting held in November 2014, it was
decided that a strategic conference would be
held early in 2015, which I find very exciting. At
this conference we will shape the strategic direc-
tion of the Association, not only in terms of its
role here on home ground, but the role it can play
north of our border as we look to expanding into
the African continent.
Victor Kgomoeswane, the author of the book,
‘
Africa is open for business’
and who was the guest
speaker at the ECA(SA) Presidential Excellence
Awards, issued a friendly warning, which is worth
repeating.“If your focus does not include expan-
sion into Africa, you will perish!”
The new year
As we begin 2015, I wish every person or busi-
ness associated with the ECA(SA) all the very
best! May you build strong and sustainable part-
nerships where everyone wins. Be courageous
and aimhigh. Enjoy the challenge!
MAKE A SPECTACLE