Among the top 10 of the new South African Chamber of Businesswomen (SACBW) ambassadors, five are from Mpumalanga. In honour of these dynamic businesswomen, the chamber’s local branch held a celebration and a networking event last Wednesday at Casterbridge Cinema.

Deléne de Lange, Tracy-Erin Duggan, Sandra Jacobs, Sylvia Maseko and Estelle Roe will hold the title of ambassador for a year.

They each received their certificates as well as prizes from the SACBW, ActionCOACH and Seeds of Inspiration.

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Hester du Bruyn, the chamber’s national leader, said due to the pandemic they had to change the format of the annual business recognition awards competition. “We asked the participants to send a one minute video, in which they had to share how they coped during Covid-19, the plans they had to make and how they survived.

In honour of the many businesswomen who have soldiered on during these exceptional times, we changed the format of our competition for 2020 and decided to give recognition to our top 10 ambassadors,” she said. “In the past, it would have been a gala dinner, but given current circumstances, the SACBW opted to host a webinar on which the top 10 ambassadors were honoured.

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During the event, a special message from the chamber’s founder, Rika Venter, to the current generation of businesswomen was shared. Lynette Beer of Seeds of Inspiration, a member of the national executive team, gave an inspirational message. She also received an honorary membership award for her commitment and support to the council,” added Du Bruyn.

The new ambassadors will contribute to the vision of the SACBW in 2021. Du Bruyn congratulated the five local members. “I am sure that the difference they are going to make in this branch will be amazing. I look forward to working with them she said,” she said.