Plastics|SA has just released the exciting line-up of speakers who will be presenting at its industry-specific conference on 16 March 2016 as part of the Pro-Plas Africa Conference. Taking place from the 15^th to the 18^th of March 2016 at, the event is being held at the Expo Centre, NASREC, south of Johannesburg.

The theme for next year’s conference is “The Triple Bottom Line and the Plastics Industry”, and will see local and international speakers discuss the issue of how people, planet and profit are affected by the current and future plastics environment.

“Following on the success of our first-ever conference that took place three years ago at the last Propak Africa Expo, we look forward to continuing the dialogue and discussions.  We expect that the 2016 event will once again draw close to 300 key role players and decision makers of the plastics industry as we get together to discuss and learn more about issues that have a direct impact on our businesses, day-to-day operations and future prospects,” says Anton Hanekom, executive director of Plastics|SA.

Guest speakers and presentations

The programme has now been confirmed with the following presenters:

• Dame Lesley Anne Glover: A Scottish biologist and academic. She was Professor of Molecular biology and Cell biology at the University of Aberdeen before being named Vice-Principal for External Affairs and Dean for Europe. She also served as Chief Scientific Adviser to the President of the European Commission from 2012 to 2014. Glover is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Institute of Biology, the Royal Society of Arts, and the American Society for Microbiology and was a council member of the Natural Environment Research Council from 2001-11. She was recognised in 2008 as a Woman of Outstanding Achievement by the UK Resource Centre for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology. In February 2013 she was assessed as the 19th most powerful woman in the United Kingdom by Woman’s Hour on BBC Radio 4. Glover will be the first opening keynote speaker and will share her views on how the global plastics industry is rising to the challenge to improve its triple bottom line.
• Alec Erwin: Minister of Public Enterprises in South Africa from 2004 to 2008. Prior to this he was Minister of Trade and Industry. Erwin will be the second keynote speaker of the day, and will focus his talk on what the local plastics industry should do to ensure that it not only survives, but thrives in a challenging economic climate.
• Jason J. Drew: Described as one of “Africa’s most inspiring green leaders” by Leadership In his talk entitled, “From Industrial revolution to sustainability revolution – the business of fixing our future”, Jason will give a unique business leader’s insight into the future of business, the environment. He will also provide an insight into some of the remarkable and profitable green businesses he has started and invested in both in Africa and Europe.
• Mefane Makhutla: HR Director for Astrapak. Drawing on his substantial experience managing the human element in the workplace, he will be sharing his expertise on how the plastics industry’s leaders can maximize, motivate and maintain their most valuable resources – people.  Mefane specialises in offering advice and support to divisional teams on all HR-related matters ensuring compliance with company policy and current labour legislation.
• Meluleki Nzimande: Involved in various investigations into customs duty amendments, including anti-dumping and other trade remedy investigations. He has also advised on bilateral and multilateral trade agreements to which South Africa is party, including the EU-SADC Economic Partnership Agreements, the SACU Agreement, the WTO Agreement and others. He will be explaining the profit aspect of the day’s theme, addressing matters relating to mergers and acquisitions, anti-corruption law and general commercial law.
• Dion Chang: A man who needs very little introduction as South Africa’s leading corporate trend analyst and design consultant, as well as freelance journalist, columnist and social commentator, who currently runs his own company called Flux Trends. Chang works both locally and internationally.

Registration information

“Creating a platform for discussions that are lively, relevant and interesting is part of the service we believe we should offer to our members.  To this end, we have kept registration fees to an absolute minimum in order to allow as many people as possible to attend,” Hanekom says, adding that it is his sincere hope that as many people as possible will be able to attend the conference.

Members of Plastics|SA only pay R1 200 per person and non-members pay R1 400.00 for a full day conference of international standard, lunch, coffee and tea breaks and a cocktail function afterwards. Seats are limited and available on a first come, first served basis.  To register visit www.plasticsinfo.co.za or email the organisers at conference@plasticssa.co.za for more information.