Printing SA hosts Central Chamber Annual Gala Dinner

Printing SA, in partnership with the FP&M SETA, held its Central Chamber Annual Gala Dinner and Awards Ceremony at the Killarney Country Club on 30 May. Sign Africa was a proud media partner of the event.

The event embraced the theme of ‘A Celebration of Excellence and Innovation,’ where members of the print, packaging, and signage industries arrived dressed to impress and ready to honour the outstanding achievements of their colleagues and associates in visual communications over the past year.

The event kicked off with a welcoming from Comedian and MC, Mo Vawda. The official welcome and address was given by Andrew Tinker, Central Chamber Chairperson, who expressed his pride in the industry’s commitment to excellence and innovation.

The keynote address was given by Allon Raiz, Founder and CEO at Raizcorp. The title of his speech was ‘A new way to thank about strategy’, in which he highlighted that most companies fail or do not grow past a certain threshold because they focus too much attention on processes and not enough attention on strategy and innovation. ‘Too many businesses are focusing on the Queen and not the King. The Queen is operations and the King is strategy. By exploring the king – strategy – a company is innovating and looking into something new for the business. If a business is solely focused on the queen – only relying on already solidified operations – there is no room for growth and the business will be brought to a stalemate,’ said Raiz.

Printing SA celebrated the achievements of its top learners, recognising excellence in the Technical Theoretical Module (TT3). Due to a postponement of last year’s Printing SA Annual Gala Dinner, the winners of both the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 seasons were announced. Practical Publishing sponsored the prizes for the podium placers of the TT3 modules.

For the Class of 2023/24, first place went to Clarence Haynes of Business Print, second place was awarded to Thokozani Kenneth Msiza of OH Frewin and third place went to John Koza from SABN.

In the Class of 2024/25, first place was awarded to Colly Mashabela, second place went to Sefufula Nkenana, and third place was awarded to Thando Mgaga. All represented SABN.

The prestigious Gutenberg Award was presented to Mike Bath, Managing Director at Marshall Hinds (Pty) Ltd, for his outstanding contribution to the industry.

The Women in Print Award went to Heilet Burger, Central Chamber Co-Chairperson and Non Executive Director at Printing SA, recognising her leadership and impact within the sector.

The REC Awards honoured a number of individuals for their dedication and service to the industry. These included: Rithesh Nundlall, Teresa Adinolfi, Gene Deerans, Ryan Calvert, Mike Bath, Ayanda Shabangu, Mpho Ratlogo, Andrew Tinker and Heilet Burger.

Steve Thobela ka Mdlalose, former CEO of Printing SA, was invited to the podium to speak about the FESPA Foundation’s message of ‘print for good’ and their global initiative dedicated to transforming the specialty print and visual communications industry through sustainable practices, community support, and educational outreach.