A year of growth and achievement
STAFF at the Durban ICC had a bumper 2016, hosting a record 397 events – and it looks like they will be even busier this year.
“We are going to have to have our roller skates on,” Lindiwe Rakharebe, the chief executive, said yesterday as she predicted that staff would be working 16-hour days during the hectic months ahead.
In May alone, there was the World Economic Forum, followed by the big tourism Indaba trade show, followed by the African Renaissance Conference, she said.
Rakharebe was addressing the media about the award-winning ICC’s annual report, proudly saying the venue had achieved its third clean, unqualified audit, increased revenue and profits, and contributed R4.3 billion to the country’s gross domestic product, with a “staggering” R4.1bn being added to the province’s gross geographic product.
The venue had been profitable for six consecutive years, she said.
The Durban ICC, which celebrates its 20-year anniversary in August, incorporates the much older neighbouring Durban Exhibition Centre, and Rakharebe said the plan was to upgrade it to a world standard.
“We are not happy with it. But plans are in place and the City is going to support us. This is the year we will be finalising talks,” Rakharebe said.
The venue had increased the number of events by 14% last year, and unlike other cities, it did not receive subsidies from the local municipality.
“We take from our own coffers; we don’t touch ratepayers’ money,” Rakharebe said.
The record results were achieved despite tough economic times and despite competition from other conference centres and venues.
“It was a challenging year, but fruitful,” Rakharebe said.
Just to reinforce the ICC’s top status, the team from the Durban North corporate messaging agency, 9 to 5, started yesterday’s proceedings by taking to the stage and praising the ICC’s clean unqualified audit to Tina Turner’s Simply the Best.
Asked what set the Durban ICC apart from other convention centres and venues, Rakharebe said it all came down to service.
The customer satisfaction rating was 94.5% against the target of 90%, she said.
When she was asked to talk about Durban at a gathering in Germany, she proudly explained that the city had the “pristine, clean Indian Ocean… our seasons are summer and summer because we are always warm.”
She couldn’t help ululating with pride when she received the ICC’s award for being the Leading Meetings and Conference Centre in Africa at the World Travel Awards – the “Oscars” of the travel industry – ceremony in Zanzibar last year.
It was the 15th time the honour had been bestowed on the Durban ICC.
The venue was also listed in the top 15 convention centres in the world, Rakharebe said.