This month:
We celebrated Dr. A’s work anniversary.
We introduced the A Star Crew Award - The first Star Crew Member to receive the award was Vincent! Well done! Awards also went to Justin for his outstanding sales talents and Ingie for her contribution towards the Lexis Nexis partnership.
Dr. M, Vincent and Carina continued with their LinkedIn postings.
Our Virtual Coffee sessions with questions were interesting and we recalled listening to Leader of the Pack!
We celebrated International Women’s Day on 8 March
Dr. M attended the EY Entrepreneurial EMEIA Annual conference from the 22 -24 March, which was held at the Mount Nelson Hotel in Cape Town
Lunch and Learn this month was a little different, in that we had Albé Albertyn, who communicates telepathically with animals as our guest presenter.
Congratulations!
We congratulated Vincent on being appointed co-CEO of Pétanque NXT.
Ktlank Ktlank
We sold our first Business X-ray AND the condensed Business Destination Map – well done to Vincent for finalizing the sale – he will be doing the delivery to the client at the end of March.
Well done to Jeanne for excellent client engagement. The client requested a top-up of her hours to 80% capacity for their Business Process Engineering, Change Management and Data Office Project. This project will run for the next 6 months.
Sanlam Emerging Markets CURA project has been extended to the end of 2023, with Ingie leading the implementation, supported by Carina. Well done to Ingie for wowing the client and Justin for excellent negotiations and to Carina for support.
And for the Team News:
Dr. M: It seems that March, for the 3rd year in a row, is quite a month!
On the business front:
We moved ahead of the plan to establish the co-CEO function and I was proud to announce Vincent taking up the role alongside me. And a special thank you to Vincent for new initiatives in email marketing, and website updates along with Abby and an improved marketing machine with Moira, Abby, and Carina.
We are engaging with many more leads, and I receive at least two comments per day on the email campaigns.
The EY Winning Women Entrepreneur Event at Mount Nelson was truly brilliant, and I do hope we will gain some traction with EY and this group of EMEA businesses.
The LinkedIn campaign with YGV is bringing good impressions and well done to Carina and Vincent on posting good content.
Also want to thank the finance team, Tanya, Anton and Vincent for concluding the AFS and managing our payroll.
To Elmarie, thank you for taking on the new project, challenges and all.
To Justin and Carina, along with Ingie and Annerie, thank you for the delivery and for continued exploring with LN.
And well done to Jeanne for delivering quality work at Santam, to the extent that they have asked for more hours for the next six months.
To MJ, for quietly running with AppletonGreene work and delivering to Masana, thank you.
Ines, well done on the new work with TTS!
On the personal front,
I learned all about radiation
I had a very quiet but lovely birthday
Finalised my return plans to The Hague
Only to have to redo it after contracting Covid.
Had the house painted as my previous colours did not conform to estate colours!
Looking forward to a less trying March 2024!
Tanya: March was a very interesting month and path that I'm walking with my oldest daughter. All Drs diagnosed her that she has ADHD but we were referred to a therapist who tested her. The short of it is, she might have a little but has a "processing" shortage. Been through a lot of sessions and she's a different child without her medications. Why I'm mentioning this is, it’s easy for a Dr to diagnose something but not look deeper into a matter. And it's life-changing for me and my business as well.
MJ: I continued to work with Masana, mapping their processes for a new offer to Transnet. It’s been interesting, working with ex-colleagues from BP and new people from Masana, Transnet and FNB. I'm learning a lot about card systems. I reconnected with the MTO Group and secured them a free Presto license. Now I'm working with them to get Presto set up and working, Presto has some great improvements, making it easier to use - if anyone needs a demo, let me know.
Annerie: I completed and submitted the draft training manual for SEM Bridger Users in the last week so for now, it is back to business as usual. Still waiting in anticipation for our project with LexisNexis to kick off.
Moira: We have been busy with the email campaign, following up every week, and the Vlog campaign as well as the Marketing meetings. And enjoyed the Virtual Coffee Questions sessions!
On a personal note, have been to two concerts – Ronan Keating at Kirstenbosch gardens – what a venue! The Mountains, the sunset, and the music! And also Jonathan Roxmouth’s “Key Change” which I would recommend – if it comes your way – grab a seat. Very entertaining and talented musician. Why did I give up piano lessons?
Best of my hiking trails this month – Mont Rochelle, Kalk Bay Peak and Plaisir de Merle.
Jeanne: Currently, same old same old at Santam. But, I was in the office for the first time since we started at Santam in 2020! I attended the CEO roadshow with Tava (the new-ish) CEO. It was great to meet the people whom I only saw via Teams before.
Abby: I am in amazement that the first quarter of the year has come & gone! I am thankful for how busy I am and for my skillset that continues to grow. March started tough with my husband being admitted to the hospital and having to undergo surgery but thankfully things took a turn for the better and the prolonged recovery we anticipated, was no longer needed. He is recovering very well.
Marlene: Just busy with PrivIQ for The Source and Magnascape
I might be doing PoPIa Training in April/ May for a client (but Vincent is busy with the proposal).
Ingrid: CURA is progressing well albeit seeming chaotic from a group programme perspective. Our client and I are finding it very frustrating, but we are hoping all will fall into place. We take baby steps every day. We have launched the 2023 AML/CFT programme for Sanlam Group. This time of the year is always very busy with tight deadlines and waiting for information to come back from all businesses. For the LexisNexis partnership, no traction has yet been achieved but we are hoping something transpires soon.
Carina: I could sense a faster tempo and traction in March, a busy month at work with a strong emphasis on sales.
The public holiday was a bit disruptive workwise but the plus side of that is that a lot got done in the garden! 😊
Even though we are encountering some difficulties and delays, the Sanlam Emerging Markets CURA project is also gaining momentum. I feel privileged to be a part of this project and learn from Ingrid as she is doing such excellent work on the Implementation Plan!
Annerie and I are performing simulated configurations of the Bridger Insights system at LexisNexis Risk Solutions to identify the areas in which we will need training before beginning work for future Bridger customers. Because Annerie is an expert in configurations, I am learning a lot from her and receiving guidelines on more specifics. Thank you for your tolerance of me, Annerie.
I am now regularly doing Anti Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) posts on LinkedIn as part of the AML practice.
I value any Like/Comment/Share you give me! 😊 Every post provides learning opportunities, and the AML/CFT environment is becoming more fascinating and varied every day.
It is great to be part of a highly effective PNXT Marketing team led by Vincent. They are moving and shaking with reach outs to the database and I am eagerly looking forward to the team starting Vlogs/Podcasts soon.
I began reading Charles Dickens' biography last month, and I anticipate it will continue to be covered in this news for the foreseeable future, LOL.
I am trying to get into the habit of writing down just 2 things that I am thankful for every morning before starting work. It seems to bring a different and more positive vibe to my day.
I work with a fantastic team and am appreciative of all the support and leadership they provide.
Vincent: As I type this my one cat is meowing more than a verbose parrot squawks 😊 and I am reminded of the Lunch and Learn with Albie – I have certainly taken her inputs to heart and talk to my pets telling them how wonderful they are and re-iterating to my two Jack-Russel cross Dachshunds that while I love them I think they should bark a little less.
I am soon to start reading “We Are Legion (We Are Bob)” and hoping it is going to be as hilarious as it sounds. Will keep you posted
From a work front, I recon everyone has got everything covered so I won't repeat what has already been said. I am most proud of our marketing team and the content we are creating and I now pray that it will yield inspired results creating abundance for the most wonderful team of people I have worked with – that’s all of you: Pétanquers 😊
To each and every one of you, Thank you!
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
And most important of all THANK YOU to the person who thought of National Chocolate Mousse Day!!
Peeping into April
April is named after the Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite.
The name April comes from the Latin word meaning "to open."
April is a month full of holidays and observances around the world, from religious festivals to cultural celebrations to quirky occasions and these are a few:
April 3: National Chocolate Mousse Day
April 4: World Rat Day
April 12 Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day
April 22 Earth Day
And we have Easter weekend – Good Friday on April 7 and Family Day on April 10...
And for us in South Africa, with cooler weather coming in, we have Freedom Day on the 27 April.
