Kgotla@Hub

	Kgotla@Hub

The latest Innovation Hub community communications forum, Kgotla@Hub, was held on the 24th of June in the Auditorium of the conference centre. The forum is structured around informing tenants of the latest accomplishments and undertakings of The Hub, guidance on business opportunities and practices while also serving as a networking medium for tenants and guest speakers of the day.

Paul Bisogno, The Innovation Hub’s Business Development, Marketing and Value-added Services Manager welcomed all the guests and opened the day’s proceedings with an introduction of The Hub’s newly appointed Communications Consultancy agency, Jell-O Communications cc.

Jell-O Communications is an all encompassing Marketing and Communications agency that provides its clients with services ranging from PR and Strategic Communications (media, events, promotions, measurements, issues management, crisis communication); Stakeholder Relations (annual reports, publications, reports) and all Branding and Promotional Marketing (brand architecture, corporate image development, creative/design, marketing collateral, advertising, on-line activation). The company has been employed to further elevate The Innovation Hub’s profile, by creating greater awareness of the CoachLab and Maxum programmes, as well as an introduction of the tenant companies to media and relevant stakeholders.

This was followed by a presentation from Valerie Flanagan, a Chapter Head at Enablis, which is a world class networking association, founded in Canada. The company works in collaboration with other corporates such as Accenture, Microsoft, Revlon, KPMG and HP while Khula and FNB are their primary funders. They provide weekly training sessions to companies, business advice and other related information at their calendared network events. These sessions are presented on bi-monthly intervals and are targeted at entrepreneurs across the country and beyond.

Sharing of information and networking across borders is possible through Enablis’ GENIE portal developed by Microsoft. This is an electronic, member login based, forum with discussion boards containing reliable and accurate information. The portal also includes coaching and mentorship opportunities, news and announcements, a resource library and events calendar.

For more information, visit www.enablis.org

The final presentation of the day was by Vusi Mokoka, Facilities Manager of The Innovation Hub. He has been appointed to administer all The Hub’s common areas; his address was focused on The Hub’s Facilities Management issues.

The Innovation Hub is in the process of improving the Intranet design and functions aiming for it to be efficient and be the source of all information while allowing for interactions amongst the tenants. A survey will be compiled to collect your views on how we can improve the current format and move into a virtual community format. The surveys will be distributed electronically to all tenants once they have been completed. Your valuable input is appreciated in this matter.

Hub Matters:

• The annual Innovation Hub Golf Day will be held on the 19th of August at Blue Valley Golf Estate in Midrand. Sixteen tenant companies have confirmed their participation; Blue IQ will be the official sponsor. This promises to be a fun-filled day with lots of give-away prizes.

Please contact Nkhulu Maboya on extension 0027 for more information.