Andre de Wet, Eastern Cape MEC for Economic Affairs, Environment and Tourism, together with newly appointed ECDC chief Kevin Wakeford, are to canvass for board nominations when they meet the province’s business leaderhips in a series of business meetings later this week.

The briefings, to be held in Queenstown, Aliwal North and Kokstad, are short business meetings which aim to improve communication between the corporation and business. Other briefings will follow in East London and Port Elizabeth.

“We want to encourage the province’s business leaders to become involved in the corporation’s operations at board level. ECDC values and respects the skills of its business community. However, we want to demonstrate this by taking the wealth of knowledge and harnessing it for the benefit of the people in our province - hence the invitation for business leaders to make themselves available for nomination for the board,” adds Wakeford.

The purpose of these initial briefings will also serve to introduce Wakeford to the local business people who, in turn, will share what improvements the corporation expects to deliver in terms of its products and services.

“ECDC has made many changes over the past months. Yes, it has been a difficult time for our people. However, with the changes, has come opportunity which our people seized enthusiastically. We have re-evaluated our services and products and how best to deliver them. The result is a truly people-centric process where service is at a premium and which will be evidenced shortly,” ends Wakeford.