The Cluster hosted its Annual General Meeting at the Cape Town Hotel School on the 16th of May. The AGM provides both members and non-members with an opportunity to review the Cluster’s interventions and financial results over the past year and gain insight into the budget and activity plan for the year ahead.

Outgoing chairman Bobby Fairlamb from K-Way Manufacturers delivered the chairman’s address. While recognising the constrained economic environment, he expressed reason to be optimistic about the CTFL industry in the form of retailers increasingly looking to source locally and government’s renewed commitment to supporting the industry.

The guest speaker for the event was HSBC retail analyst, Jeanine Womersley. She provided empirical detail and historical context to the currently soft retail environment and warned that this is likely to continue into the foreseeable future. More positively, she highlighted the opportunity for domestic retailers to derive competitive advantage in the form of shorter lead times through greater alignment with domestic manufacturers.

Jake Morris from B&M Analysts (the appointed service provider to the Cluster) then presented a review of 2016 and the programme for 2017, boosted significantly by grant funding secured from the IDC to the value of R27 million through to the end of 2019.

Finally, the guest speaker and Gavin Smith, Senior Account Manager at the IDC, assisted with the handing out of awards to Sheraton Textiles (Best Participation Award), K-Way Manufacturers (Lean Improvement Award) and retailers TFG and Woolworths for their continued support to the Cluster in 2016.