Nedbank uncorks remarkable success at the Cape Winemakers Guild auction showcase:
More than R100 000 was raised for the Cape Winemakers Guild Protégé Programme
The Nedbank Cape Winemakers Guild (CWG) Auction Showcase, renowned for celebrating excellence in winemaking, has concluded, leaving behind a captivating sensory expedition that has broken the boundaries of art and wine.
This prestigious event, organised by Nedbank and CWG, transcended the realms of tradition to embrace the fusion of art and wine, where each wine showcased during the event became a canvas and a reflection of the winemaker’s artistic and winemaking process. To visually encapsulate this unique process, Nedbank collaborated closely with each winemaker, using innovative artificial intelligence (AI) art generation to transform each wine’s evolution into bespoke artworks based on a series of prompts.
The event also offered Cape Town and Johannesburg wine enthusiasts an exclusive opportunity to indulge in the finest South African wines through an informal, walk-around tasting and a silent auction of autographed past CWG Auction and flagship wines.
Through the silent auction, Nedbank as a dedicated partner to the CWG, achieved an astonishing milestone, raising an impressive R102 650. The funds raised at the Nedbank CWG Auction Showcases will be channelled directly into the Protégé Programme, providing vital support, mentorship and opportunities for these budding winemakers, further emphasising the mission to foster and mentor emerging talents in the wine industry.
Khensani Nobanda, Group Executive for Group Marketing and Corporate Affairs at Nedbank, says: “Nedbank’s dedication to nurturing talent underscores both their commitment to the wine industry and importantly, the organisations’ belief in the potential of South Africa’s young winemakers. Nedbank’s commitment is unwavering, and we are dedicated to making a profound impact on the future of the wine industry.”
Gordon Newton Johnson, Chairperson of the CWG, shares: “This Protégé Programme transcends mere success; it acts as a catalyst for igniting a profound passion for winemaking, transforming it into an empowering journey for emerging winemakers. At its core, this initiative champions inclusivity, ensuring that all South Africans, regardless of their background, have an equal opportunity to acquire the skills they need to become successful winemakers.”
The programme reinforces the guild’s dedication to providing invaluable mentorship, guidance, the transfer of knowledge and the promotion of innovation and experimentation in winemaking. The programme is meant to nurture the next generation of winemaking talent, ensuring that the legacy of excellence in South African wine making continues.
Kaylin Wilscott, a third-year protégé, expressed her sentiments about the programme, saying: “This experience has been nothing short of invaluable. We are grateful for the unique opportunity it has given us to not only learn essential skills but also to flourish and evolve within this nurturing and exceptionally supportive environment. It has ignited our passion for winemaking and fostered a deep sense of togetherness and mentorship, which will undoubtedly shape our future in this vibrant industry.”
Nobanda further conveyed her gratitude for being part of the showcase, stating: “We are deeply honoured to have had the opportunity to support the 2023 Nedbank CWG Showcase and form an integral part of this highly successful event. By combining our resources and expertise in support of the Protégé Programme, we are collectively nurturing a future where talent knows no limits.”
The 2023 Nedbank Cape Winemakers Guild Auction Showcase stands as a testament to the power of collaboration, dedication and commitment to nurturing the future of winemaking in South Africa. This remarkable event not only celebrated the excellence of winemaking but also opened more doors to inclusivity and the empowerment of our country’s youth.
For more information, visit nedbankcwg.co.za.
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Africa’s governments must protect subsea cable infrastructure:
During August, South Africans experienced intermittent internet difficulties that endured longer than expected because of a cable break in the eastern Atlantic in the Congo Canyon bordering Central Africa.
Eventually it came to light that four cable systems — the West Africa Cable System, South Atlantic 3, Africa Coast to Europe and an Angolan connection — had been damaged by subsea mud and rockslides. Over time, the Orange Marine, a ship dedicated to repairing cable breakages off Africa, stationed in Cape Town but working off Kenya at the time, fixed the damaged cables to restore connectivity.
What remains somewhat opaque is the extent of subsea cable networks and energy-related infrastructure traversing the oceans off Africa and the growing debate on protecting subsea infrastructure.
This debate is rapidly heating up as instances of human interference act as catalysts, given the 2022 Nord Stream sabotage in the Baltic after the Russian attack on Ukraine, and the damage to the Balticconnector subsea gas pipeline between Estland and Finland across the Baltic in October 2023.
In addition, a quick glance at the map of submarine cables around Africa on the Submarine Cable Networks page offers a colourful snapshot of the current state of multiple and ever-growing networks off the continent’s coast. These provide coastal states and the landlocked countries in their hinterlands with data flows and internet connections.
As we observe Cybersecurity Awareness Month during October, we should also take note of the debate on how to protect the growing physical data and energy infrastructure on the seabed, as well as the products they carry, from human and natural interference.
It is easier to frame and respond to natural and accidental interferences or damage by way of mitigation and responses, as shown by the Léon Thévenin cable repair ship, also dedicated to the African coastline.
Deliberate human interference — by way of sabotage from terrorism and insurgents, as well as state actors, such as navies and shady or non-state entities operating deep-sea vehicles or vessels — is much more difficult to deal with.
The risks, however, remain as the world’s demand for secured energy and data flows grows. Data and energy have become primary sources of economic growth in the 21st century and therefore the demand for secured access has increased and became a critical feature for users.
Turning to Africa, Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want, as well as the Digital Transformation Strategy for Africa (2020-2030), rely heavily on secure subsea energy infrastructure as a fundamental element for delivering services, growth, good governance, commercial goods and connectivity on the continent, with partners in Europe, South and East Asia and the United States.
Africa also houses extensive offshore energy hubs off East and West Africa that contain their own subsea networks to extract, process and shift energy products.
Add to this the growth in demand for clean energy through wind farms at sea, which must connect to other sites and bring power to the African coast, and the current and future scope of safe and secure subsea infrastructure becomes a greater concern. This underlines that the protection of critical subsea infrastructure and data networks is a more difficult domain to master.
The ability to identify threats to, and vulnerabilities in, subsea data cable networks is fairly advanced. They are divided into natural, accidental and systemic. All three offer scope for repair interventions by way of known methods where the private sector tends to take the lead.
Two difficulties hinder the protection debate. First, how to overcome the conundrum of critical infrastructure on the seabed belonging to private corporations and stretching over multiple state and international jurisdictions.
Co-operation, private-public partnerships and offering facilities to house protection and repair operations are ways that governments, and regions such as the Southern African Development Community (SADC), can contribute. This is probably more a question of political awareness and will to understand and respond with regimes of cooperation.
Second, a more difficult issue, is the one regarding state interference by specialised agencies, navies and even front organisations engaging in grey-zone warfare. Protection in this case is much more premised on building global consensus on when subsea infrastructure becomes a legitimate target — whether it involves the physical infrastructure or product flows.
As for the latter, the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research’s programme on building a more secure world plays a leading role in cybersecurity and recently published Wading Murky Waters: Subsea Communication Cables and Responsible State Behaviour.
The overall imperative is to build global consensus on rules and best practices to protect subsea cable infrastructure, which has become a primary conduit for the proper functioning of national and international systems.
This is a slow and difficult process as the systems on the seabed, their protection and the UN Institute for Disarmament Research’s programmes, take place out of sight, and in a world largely invisible to citizens and societies, despite their dependence on the data and energy flows.
Countries such as South Africa can contribute to the difficult protection debate by helping to ensure better safeguarding of the numerous cable networks off the SADC coast and spreading further afield into and from the Gulf of Guinea and the Indian Ocean.
If South Africa is regarded as “the gateway to Africa”, then it must also be the digital gateway and take the lead to make possible the Digital Transformation Strategy for Africa (2020-2030) as well as help Africa move forward in the digital world.
To do this, politicians and key stakeholders in South Africa must team up with their African partners and turn their gaze towards the coast to help protect the vast potential housed in the subsea infrastructure on the seabed of the Indian and Atlantic Oceans washing onto Africa’s shores.
Professor Francois Vreÿ is emeritus professor at the Security Institute for? Governance and Leadership in ??Africa in the Faculty of Military Science at Stellenbosch University.
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Creating the spirit of the game with Avante:
Join the Avante Guarde for greater engagement with your favourite rugby players
Rugby World Cup winning Springbok captain John Smit’s venture into the local spirits market is starting to gain traction.
His recently launched product is called Avante, a proudly Cape made VSOP brandy. It certainly looks the part and is enjoying positive initial reviews as consumers get a first taste of it this month. But what was the inspiration behind creating such a product, and why is this something a rugby legend would get behind?
Celebrity investments in the alcohol space are on the rise as big names aren’t just paying lip service to brands anymore. They are now physically building them.
Evergreen actor George Clooney was a great example of this when he went all in on his Casamigos Tequila brand. There’s always been great tequilas on the market, but Clooney’s influence on the brand made it more than just the liquid in the bottle. The brand mimicked his personality, the premium nature of his personal brand, and with that made it a more interesting product for customers to get behind.
Ryan Reynolds buying Aviation Gin was another telling example of how the personality of a celebrity can give tangible personality to a product. Aviation is now seen as funny, edgy, classy without being pretentious… all things you associate with Ryan Reynolds himself.
So this brings us to Avante. Both Casamigos and Aviation were high quality products before they became celebrity brands. So the first order of business for Smit was to make sure the brandy was top notch. It’s a well made Cape potstill brandy distilled from the finest quality wine, and blended in cognac style to provide something unique as a product.
From here he handpicked 14 other initial investors who are past and present international rugby stars, something which got the ball rolling for this to become the “spirit of the game”.
Avante means to move forward with purpose, something all successful rugby players have had to do in their careers. It’s a sport where there is literally nowhere to hide, and Smit and his team mates in the business reflect on this often.
“Looking back on my career, the big games naturally make up most of the memories. But the shared adversity of facing challenges with fellow and opposing players, and moving forward with them, was always what brought us together after the whistle,” says Smit.
The Avante brand is an encapsulation of this, with the likes of All Black Justin Marshall, Wallaby George Gregan and familiar South African faces Makazole Mapimpi, Jean de Villiers and Butch James to name just a few of this “starting XV”.
These players play a massive role, as purchase of Avante makes you eligible for the Avante Guarde. The brand’s member platform brings fans/customers closer to these players via virtual and in-person events. They receive weekly insights about major rugby talking points via their social media posts and a weekly member newsletter, plus there are ongoing match day experience giveaways and unique merch competitions.
Where the previously mentioned Casamigos and Aviation brands played to their strengths of major Hollywood celebrity personalities, Smit and his team are playing to their strengths of providing genuine fan engagement.
With the ever evolving sports and media landscape, fans/customers are seeking and expecting greater engagement with their favourite players, teams, and of course, brands. So in many ways acknowledging this and learning from the initial celebrity investors making waves in recent years, Avante really is moving forward with a whole lot of firepower in this space.
Another key aspect of the Avante brand is to support those who are fighting unique challenges off the field. Initial proceeds for example are being focused on young rugby player Caylen Venter, who is fighting a rare form of cancer that is threatening to end his rugby dreams.
Further charitable aims are to support rugby development on a broader scale, along with assisting those transitioning away from a career on the field.
To purchase a bottle of Avante, join the Avante Guarde and be a part of this exciting brand, visit your nearest Norman Goodfellows outlet across South Africa, or pick up a bottle from their online store.
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