We at SiQ have been extremely blessed during the past year and have managed to date to rise above the current economic conditions. What is truly important to me in this regard is the fact that we have not been forced to reduce our staff count and have managed to keep all our personnel on board.This has not been the case with the majority of organisations out there and recently even one of our major banks is in the process of retrenching some 2200 of their current staff.

It is in times like these that you really need to take a step back and look at your business from the “outside”. You need to ask questions such as; “What am I busy with?”, “What is the bigger picture here?”“What is happening to the industry that I am working in and how will it impact me?” Luckily I love asking these questions and the process of seeking the answers to these questions. A couple of things that stand out in times likethese are:

·       The importance of your relationship with your clients. I do not believe that in business it is all about who you know, but rather about what is your relationship like with the people that you do business with – huge difference there.

·       How much value do you truly add to your clients business? If it is not a great deal of value your services will be the first to be scaled down during times of economic recession. I realised that we truly make a difference to our clients businesses.

By no means can we say that we have weathered the storm as I am of the opinion that the storm has not passed. A wise man once wrote that during these difficult times it is important “to keep on keeping on” and that is exactly what we will be doing.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank our staff for their continuous commitment to the company, our clients for their continuous support and also our business partners for adding value to our business.

 Kind Regards,

Eugene du Preez