ENTREPRENEUR OF THE MONTH : AUGUST

Its once again that exciting time where I choose a Business Owner for their meaningful contribution to our town. I am very privileged to announce that our chosen Entrepreneur of the Month for August is Jenny Burnham, the owner of Eye of Africa Tours in Gordon's Bay!

Eye of Africa Tours was founded in June 2001 and is situated in Ryger Street in Gordon's Bay. They are a tour operating company which designs and plans holidays to meet the unique requirements of their clients. They specialise in the Western Cape and Garden Route regions, but can book and recommend Hotels, Guest Houses and Car Rental companies throughout South Africa. They also offer exclusive private tours, fun-filled wine and guided tours with knowledgeable and enthusiastic guides. They also do Safari's to the local Game Parks, tours to the Garden Route Addo Elephant Park, arrange Botanical Garden trips as well as Hermanus and Whale watching trips.

Although most of their clients are international visitors and tourists, Eye of Africa Tours also offer affordable options for anybody wanting to experience our beautiful South Africa. In Jenny's words 'We are passionate about South Africa and love sharing this special country with our guests and have a wealth of travel information to make your vacation unforgettable and magical.'

Their company mission statement is 'We offer value for money and a truly memorable experience' and they have a beautiful and informative Website namely : www.eyeofafricatours.co.za Please do not hesitate to contact Jenny and her team at Eye of Africa Tours for more information. Her email address is eyeofafrica@global.co.za and her office contact tel no. is 021-8561024. Jenny is also on Linkedin should you wish to contact her there http://za.linkedin.com/pub/jenny-burnham/2a/47/939

We wish Jenny and her team at Eye of Africa Tours a wonderful and successful coming Christmas and summer season! Lets all pull together and support our Local Businesses and Entrepreneurs to make Gordons Bay a better place for us all!

ENTREPRENEUR OF THE MONTH : APRIL

As Chairperson of the Gordon's Bay Business Forum, I am proud to announce that our chosen Entrepreneur of the month for April 2011 are Cyril and Lynn Brown, owners of the Gordon's Bay Reviews.

Cyril and Lynn produced the first three editions of the Gordon’s Bay Reviews in May, June and July 2010 in conjunction with the Elgin Grabouwer. They took a break in August and have been producing and publishing the paper independently since September 2010. 

According to Cyril and Lynn, their aim is not to produce a ‘news’ paper as such; rather a monthly review of people, places, history, environment and events happening in and around Gordon’s Bay. They have been constantly amazed at how many interesting, talented and enterprising people there are in our Gordon's Bay  community and enjoy sharing these discoveries. 

In the words of Marcel Proust ‘The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes’, so with that in mind we thought it would be interesting to provide a space for local people to tell their stories, share their interests and experiences, promote events, publish information about community associations, sports clubs and school news and advertise their businesses. 

Their focus remains firmly on positive, motivating and interesting - even quirky – information, (interspersed from time to time with one or two other items that is not specifically related to the town).  Along with their regular contributors, each producing a column in their own fields, they are fortunate to have the services of an excellent copy editor as well as a printing service, all based in Gordon’s Bay. 

The target market of the Gordon's Bay Reviews consists of residents and visitors to Gordon’s Bay who enjoy reading about our town, its people – whether residents or ‘swallows’ - along with articles from enthusiasts who enjoy sharing their passions, e.g. local history, birding, photography, psychology, coin collecting, book reviews etc. and businesses who want to advertise. Lynn says 'It has been surprising to note the number of people that are unaware of the range of services we have available in Gordon’s Bay and we are firm advocates of an interactive and locally supportive community'.

Working from home, they don’t have an office in the strictest sense of the word, as all information, editorial, photographs or advertising can be sent to either lynnhb@mweb.co.za or cyrilb@mweb.co.za. They can be contacted on 021 856 3792 or Cyril can be contacted on his cell phone 082 735 9998.

The Gordon’s Bay Reviews is a monthly publication and is obtainable at: Gordon's Bay BP Garage, GBay Internet Café, Mountain Streams Nursery, Ooksus Fisheries, Solveig, The Gordon's Bay Spar, Talking Books, Vanity and Village Plastics. Please support this wonderful couple in our town as they are making wonderful contribution.

Wish we them continued great success and look forward to reading the Gordon's Bay Reviews each month!

ENTREPRENEUR OF THE MONTH : FEBRUARY

As Chairman of the Gordon's Bay Business Association I am proud to announce that our chosen Entrepreneur of the month for February 2011 is Okkie van der Merwe from Gordon's Bay Security.

Gordon’s Bay Security opened its doors under the leadership of Okkie van der Merwe on the first of August 2001, with a total of thirteen employees and two alarms to monitor. As they have entered their 10th year in the Helderberg area, they have become a force to be reckoned with. 

Their team of armed response officers are a formidable force, trained and equipped to attend any type of situation that presents itself to the fullest. They inspect the premises when alarm activation is received in their  high tech, fully equipped control room, and make sure that all is in order before leaving the premises. Should there be an incident, the SAPS will be contacted and together they will inspect the premises further.

Gordon's Bay Security offers our town an invaluable service and I feel we should definitely support them. Besides offerring Armed Response Service to our community they also cover the following areas :

1) Short Term Insurance (for your belongings and your property)

2) Wireless Internet Service Provider (Their aim is to supply internet and e-mail with the competitive prices to your doorstep)

3) Indoor shooting range facilities

4) Private Ambulance Services

In Okkie van der Merwe's words “People phone us when they are in need of medical assistance or if they need ambulance service, but we could never dispatch these because they are either privately owned or part of the state”, and it is because of this reason that we decided to purchase our own fully equipped, state of the art ambulance. This make us one of a very few companies with its very own ambulance service which is available to our clients at the press of a button. Highly trained and skilled paramedics are standing ready to provide you with the best medical assistance. This service is not only limited to our clients premises, but should anything happen to them within the Helderberg Basin, they will still have the service available to them.

Should you wish to contact Okkie, please do so on accounts@gbsec.co.za or please see their Website on www.gbsec.co.za Their Head Office is situated at 2 Link Road, Mansfield Industrial, Gordon's Bay. 

We wish them continued success in the service that they are offering our community in Gordon's Bay.

ENTREPRENEUR OF THE MONTH : JANUARY 2011

January certainly was a busy month for many of us and 2011 got going at a galloping pace! I am not sure if you agree but time is flying by! As you all already know, it is on my heart to seek out and to encourage all our local Entrepreneurs. This month, as Chairman of the Gordon's Bay Business Association, I am proud to announce to our chosen Entrepreneur of the month in Gordon's Bay for January is Chanel Miller, owner of Sapphire Dawn Jewelry.

Chanel Miller has been actively involved in the local community for the past 11 years. It has been on her heart to educate, empower and uplift previously disadvantaged young women in our local area and surrounds of Gordon's Bay.

Her company, Sapphire Dawn, uses Jewellery design and manufacturing as the vehicle to restore dignity and confidence to her employees who master skills and learn to actively contribute in the workplace. According to Chanel, her girls don't believe in handouts and want to earn a living in a fair and dignified way. Sapphire Dawn's motto is to teach a person to fish instead of handing out fish- with the hope that their lives are forever changed for the better.

In her words 'It is my passion to nurture my own team members at Sapphire Dawn Jewelry as well as seeking to encourage all entrepreneurs to become successful in their own fields. As a business mentor, I am very passionate to see successful development in all people striving to fulfill their purpose in life and honestly believe this is the answer to happiness'

Sapphire Dawn Jewelry are based in Gordon's Bay and are Jewellery Wholesalers who supply shops. Their products are beautiful and the quality is exceptional. The materials they use are a broad variety of Semi Precious Stones, Fresh Water Pearls and hand made glass beads. Please see their website on http://www.sapphiredawnjewelry.com and do not hesitate to contact them should you need gifts that are a true gift of giving as this is truly a worthy cause.

To close, Chanel shared some words of encourangment with us. She says, 'Life is an opportunity to fulfill our Purpose, master Skills and leave a Legacy that contributes positively to our World. This is our greatest challenge, to contribute in some way to making our community a better place for all of our people' We at the Gordon's Bay Business Association wish Chanel and her team at Sapphire Dawn Jewelry all the best and continued success.

DECEMBER ENTREPRENEUR OF THE MONTH

One of my great privileges is to select one Entrepreneur each month for their outstanding work and contribution to our town, Gordon's Bay. This month I am so proud to announce that our chosen entrepreneurs for the month of December are André and Margot Paulsen owners of the BP Service Station.

They took over the BP Service Station in Gordon’s Bay in September 2002. It is situated on the fork as you drive into Gordon’s Bay by Beach Road and Faure Marine Drive. After chatting with them here is the story as quoted by Andre and Margot.

''Our motto is to always provide fast, friendly and excellent service and products. We are open 24/7 and do not have a key to the front door. Our main reason why we have this business, is to provide fast, friendly and efficient service to our customers. We aim for our customers to always have a pleasant shopping experience with us. Many customers become our friends and many we see more than once a day.

We often ask people why they are in business. Most of the times the reply is “to make money”. For us that is not so. If your main aim in business is to make money, it will always keep running away from you. Obviously you have to make a profit, but the main aim is to provide a service. If that service you provide is excellent, the money will come by itself.

We obviously sell fuel, oil, do emergency tyre repairs, have a car wash and sell gas, wood, charcoal and briquettes as well as bait. In the shop we sell electricity; cell phone air time. Our ice is the best price anywhere! From time to time we sell bread; milk at cost price (would like to do it the whole year and are busy with negotiations with BP Head office to be able to do that). Our shop has the basic emergency requirements like toothpaste and toothbrush (for those who do not want to drive home late at night), light bulbs, cereal, nappies, dog and cat food and all kinds of other interesting and essential items.

We have a street map in our shop and many people come to us for directions, whether to visit people and often for people doing deliveries. For tourists we also keep a good selection of maps.

We also have personal contact with our customers and often inquire if there are any specific needs and if possible, will order it in and keep it in our shop for them. When we are able to get stock at an excellent price, we supply these bargain priced items to our customers e.g. for the past few months we have been selling Bar Ones at a price you will not find anywhere else!

We bake all our pies, rolls, confectionery on the premises and they are always fresh. Please remember us for your orders as we also bake to order and have a standing order with the Rotary for croissants. We have the best croissants in town – made with real butter. On Friday’s we have “Friday is Pie Day” which has become extremely popular. Because we are open 24 hours, people can order from our bakery for say, 6am and we will bake it for them.

Every month we hand out a newsletter with some nice positive input. As one customer once phoned us and said that our account is the only one she looks forward to receiving as she cannot wait for the newsletter that comes with it!''

Andre and Margot also strive to give back to our community in Gordon's Bay. As education is important to them, Gordon’s Bay Primary school has been their main area who they sponsor. They had a project where they sponsored the school on a Rand to Rand basis for R100 000.00 where they were the first school in the Western Cape to get interactive white boards for their classrooms. Besides this, Andre and Margot also sponsored the spelling marathon and the BP Fun Walk which is held annually round about September/October each year and has been growing every year. Each participant receives a medal for completing the walk. Next year the marathon will be growing more as they would like to expand it to a whale walk as well.

André & Margot are involved with the Gordon’s Bay Business Association where we strive to upgrade our town to bring more visitors and therefore more business to our businesses and in the process more jobs will be created. Please remember to support this wonderful couple in our town, they can be contacted via e-mail bpgordonsbay@gbsec.co.za or per telephone 021 – 856 2813.

We are thankful to them for their contribution in Gordon's Bay and wish them all the success in their business for 2011.