October 2020

Dear SARIMA members,

I trust that you are well, and in good health and good spirits.

Despite the many challenges associated with the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, SARIMA has had an extremely busy and productive year. The second SARIMA Digest of 2020 aims to provide you with an overview of some of our activities since our previous newsletter in April.

SARIMA hosted an amazing virtual conference in August, with top-notch international keynote speakers and active and vibrant participation by our members.  I would again like to acknowledge the exceptional contribution to the success of this event made by our conference committee as well as our conference organisers, Conference Partner. You have truly demonstrated that SARIMA is not shying away from being at the forefront of innovation. We are also grateful to our partners and sponsors who made this event possible. Sincere congratulations to the DSI-SARIMA excellence award winners and thank you again to the DSI for their continued support that enables us to make these awards.

SARIMA has gained a number of new members through the conference, and a new members’ orientation webinar was held on 23 September 2020. This was very different from the normal welcoming breakfast for new members that we would have liked to have during our conference, but nevertheless provided an opportunity for new members to get to know more about SARIMA and its vision, mission and activities. We hope that our new members feel welcome, and will actively participate in SARIMA activities long into the future!

Our SARIMA 2021 conference committee is of course already busy planning next year’s conference. Given all the remaining COVID-19-related uncertainties, it was decided to hold this conference in October 2021, and it will most likely be offered as a hybrid event – allowing for in-person (if possible) as well as virtual attendance. So please watch this space!! Don’t forget to renew your SARIMA membership early in 2021, and please join us for another wonderful and exciting conference next year.

We would again like to invite all SARIMA members to engage with us around their individual needs and ideas to become more actively involved in the organisation. After all, SARIMA is all about its members and about the value that you can gain from and bring to SARIMA – as your professional organisation. We want SARIMA to be a source of identity, inspiration, networking, support, professional development – and fun! – for you. We particularly wish to continue to strengthen SARIMA’s network and activities across all the countries in Southern Africa, and are taking active steps to promote the participation of more SADC country R&I managers in the organisation.

I would like to wish you a happy few months towards the end of the year 2020 – one that we will never forget; this is certain – and thereafter a restful holiday period.

Best wishes

Therina, SARIMA President