Chamber president to set the tune

The new man pulling the strings at the Ilembe Chamber of Industry, Commerce and Tourism is not quite what you might expect from a civil engineer by trade.

Recently elected chamber president Dominic Collett is a creative soul at heart, moonlighting as a double bass player in the Durban City Orchestra.

“It was actually at a chamber function about three years ago where I first decided to start playing. When I saw the double bass player on stage I fell in love with the instrument.”

He could read music from having played the piano as a child and, with regular lessons, quickly picked up the new instrument. You might have seen him on stage at the Botanic Gardens when the orchestra performed with the Parlotones earlier this year or at another of their performances.

But do not blame yourself if you did not make the connection across the boardroom table at Dutch conglomerate Royal HaskoningDHV in Ballito where he is principal and market segment leader in urban drainage and sanitation.

Collett has been a member of the chamber’s executive committee for the past four years and represents the chamber at the critical infrastructure forums and working groups at both local, district and provincial government level.

Explaining the difference between his new role and that of the CEO, Cobus Oelofse, Collett said the CEO is responsible for the daily running operations.

His job is to ensure that the organisation is strategically on course. But he does not get paid for his time because while it operates like a business the chamber is not about making profit.

“The chamber is the voice of business for the community. We provide a platform for government to engage with business as a collective,” said Collett.

Collett lives in La Lucia, being a Durban resident since high school. But he has been very involved in the local community since his company identified the Dolphin Coast as a growth node eight years ago.

“The company encourages employees to ‘enhance society together’. We are not just engineers, we are part of society. And as an engineer I enjoy solving problems so I guess that is why I have so enjoyed working with the chamber. So much of what we do involves finding solutions for local business.”