Logistics supremo wants to attract more members

Q: If you could achieve all you wanted in your one-year term, what would it be? BM: There are three things. One is to gain membership, two is to make an impact and become an advisory body to the authorities by being of substance, and thirdly to be of relevance. We do not want to be an organisation that serves no purpose. Our ideal would be a body that has valuable input at policy level as well. Q: You are the local chapter of an international London-based organisation - will this relevance extend overseas as well? BM: We think globally as CILTSA but focus on our immediate sphere of interest which is South Africa. We are mindful of all the trends in logistics management internationally but we must be locally relevant to appeal to our membership. Q: Recently you announced that the Logistics Institute of South Africa (LISA) would be absorbed into CILTSA and this immediately increased your membership significantly. Is that how you intend to increase the membership? BM: CILTSA’s strategy has a strong focus on gaining membership. We are targeting previously disadvantaged people to entice them into the organisation as we realise that we are lacking a representative membership and also aware that there is a need to support professional development at entry level into the profession. We intend to introduce development programmes that are geared towards increasing the professionalism and attractiveness of logistics so that we play a more active role in creating a pipeline of professionals within the discipline. We have targeted institutions to talk and interact with students to get them interested in what CILTSA does and why it will be useful for them to be a member. We understand that affordability is an issue at entry level but preferential rates coupled with a value added package will result in increased membership. Q: That in itself is duplication as it is a Sectoral Education and Training Authority role is it not? BM: No, we are trying to find a home for many professionals that are out there looking for a body that represents their profession, one that brings about a networking opportunity and provides relevant events development opportunities like mentorship. CILTSA also endeavours to bring about an ethic and professionalism in the profession through its members. The networking opportunity that CILTSA provides also assists members with regard to employment opportunities through regular bulletins. Our mentorship programme features highly as a capacity development objective. This value add should attract young graduates because many of our members have shown a willingness to mentor but there is no way to link them with the pool of keen and qualified graduates looking for a mentor. Q: What is your membership now and what would you like it to be at the end of your year at the helm? BM: It is about 500 – including the additional members that we gained from our recent amalgamation with the Logistics Institute of South Africa (LISA) - and I would like it to expand by about 20% to 600. I believe that is manageable as we will also be looking to attract more corporate members rather than the dominant individual numbers that we have at present. Although it is a national organisation, CILTSA has not really been represented throughout the country. LISA introduced a much greater national platform for us, so that will also help us. Q: Where do you see CILTSA fitting into the National Freight Logistics Strategy? BM: We are part of the Forum of Professional Transport Associations representing seven intermodal transport professional bodies. It meets quarterly with the Minister of Transport to report on trends and keep updated on developments from the side of the authorities. We believe that the Minister uses the meetings as a sounding board to get ideas as to what the industry is thinking. We have a close relationship with the Department of Transport and we believe that our advisory role will become more and more important.