A conferences profiling Invest North West, the development and promotions agency for the North West Province of South Africa, which took place in London at the Royal Over-Seas League at the end of a high profile week for South African Industry in the United Kingdom - the South African delegation in London included President Thabo Mbeki, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel and Minister of Trade and Industry Mr Alec Erwin - also some 60 SA businessmen.

A number of one-one one meetings were convened by Omega/Sakaza for the visiting members of the Invest North West management team on the days prior to the conference and our feedback directly after the conference indicated that a number of positive ventures were forthcoming - especially in the aviation and automotive sectors.

The conference programme included a number of exceptional presentations by UK speakers including Adam Fleming of Harmony and Lord Renwick of Clifton.

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Owen Ryan's presentation was most informative and gave attending delegates a knowledgeable insight into not only the SA/North West Province mining industry but also a forward perspective of the platinum sector.

Koosum Kalyan of Shell International - certainly dynamite in a small package - was as we at Omega have come to know her over the years, as erudite as always.  Hilary Oakley, of the UK's IDC, in his presentation gave delegates an insight into SMME spin-offs and opportunities that were to be had.

Of the INW presenters - the passion of the leadership of this Province was evident to all in Premier Popo Molefe's keynote address, likewise in the closing summation of Maureen Modiselle, MEC for Economic Development and Tourism. On the latter aspect, the larger-than-life Charles Ndabeni is very obviously the driving force behind the tourism drive in the North West Province.

The passion and fervor of the speakers mentioned above was complimented by the factual project presentations by Nick Serfontein and Chappy Holtzhausen - respectively Chairman and Marketing Manager for Invest North West.

Overall this event, in spite of a number of confirmed delegates not making an appearance on the day, was both from the networking and conferencing aspects very successful - and this was clearly conveyed post-conference to the Omega/Sakaza team in a speech by Piet Smith, CEO of Invest North West.