News Article
28th June 2012
National review 2011/12 from the KSA National Committee
On the 14 June 2012 the KSA national committee held its annual budget meeting to review the 2011/12 financial year:
Nationally the KSA has lost twelve members due to closure, liquidation or resignation, however, we have during the year brought on sixteen new ordinary members and five new affiliate members two of which are national affiliates.
On the administration, advertising and marketing fronts the year brought the following highlights:
• The publication of the 2012 KSA brochure – this brochure and the articles in it has proven popular with members, the public and industry professionals.
• The introduction of the KSA members’ flyer – this was introduced at the request of the membership to allow members to have literature that they could give to prospective customers that would encourage consumers to make use of them as a KSA member.
• The KSA has contributed editorial materials and articles to editions of the following magazines: To Build, Timber iQ, SA Homeowner, Habitat and House & Leisure.
• There has been a consolidation of administrative procedures and duties nationally
• A national marketing plan has been drafted
• Work has begun on the amalgamation of all three regions as one KSA company.
• An industry specific review of the Consumer Protection act was done by the KSA attorney.
• The KSA attorney redrafted and updated the KSA standard trading contract to ensure it was compliant with all new legislation including the CPA. This is available for all members free of charge.
• A proposal has been put together for updating the membership categories and subscriptions.
• Additions were made to the KSA web site in the form of a classified page (members can advertise their company, advertise for staff or advertise the sale of machinery at affordable rates via the KSA classifieds) and the Kitchen info page (this page includes all articles compiled by the KSA for the public and members to use).
• Statistics show that the KSA web site is becoming a good industry tool. Web site stats analysis shown a continued growth in visitors with the site receiving 135,586 hits in May with 2326 visitors staying on the site for prolonged periods and visiting multiple pages.
• Andre Hacquebord has been working with the KSA to update the KSA installer’s course and to develop an intermediate and advanced course that we feel will benefit installers that have been working within the industry better.
On the staffing front the 2011/12 year saw some huge changes. A national admin coordinator was appointed based in Gauteng (Melissa Sasman). KZN and Gauteng appointed new regional managers: Alecia Andrews was promoted to the position in Gauteng and Lorraine di Pietro joined the KSA bringing her vast experience in the industry to KZN. Stephanie Forbes, regional manager of the Western Cape, was appointed to the position of National coordinator.
The year has also been a busy one on the events front. Cape Town assisted four members with industry launches. All three regions held successful golf day with it being KZN’s first. Gauteng and Cape Town had an increased participation at Decorex. KZN began their partnership with the East Coast House and Garden Show and Cape Town had their first KSA pavilion and best stand award at Homemakers. All regions continued the success of the affiliate product evenings. Cape Town collaborated with KDMax on a ‘Design a kitchen’ competition and started a pilot work shadow project with The Carpenter’s shop charity.
Despite the industry experiencing some tough times over the year the achievements and growth of the KSA has been superb. The National committee thank all members for their ongoing support and congratulate the KSA team on their hard work.