IPMA Young Crew Africa global conference – an unforgettable experience!

IPMA Young Crew Africa global conference is now in history as the first Young Crew event in the African continent and an excellent example of the successful collaboration of IPMA Young Crew, IPMA South Africa and the City of Cape Town administration.

Why will participants remember it?
Young Crew events format balances learning from the exchange between participants and learning from keynotes. That’s why the African global conference was filled with organized networking and exchange opportunities.

50 delegates from South Africa, Peru, Portugal, Italy, Germany, Austria, Russia, the USA, Finland and Iran were familiar with each other during a social program at Table Mountain, Groot Constantia Vinery and the shark experience aquarium. But the cherry on top of the social program was attending a rugby game at DHL Stadium as an example of a highly strategic and sophisticated teamwork sport.

Experience sharing was embedded into the program almost in every session. Nominees of the City of Cape Town project awards, Kyle Loff, Mark Cawood, Juane Brits, participated in a panel discussion, which was turned into a reverse panel with delegates sharing their opinion and experience.

Tiago Ramalho, a member of the IPMA Young Crew Management Board, conducted a workshop on building a local project management community based on the Young Crew experience shared by representatives of almost all present countries.

The business program was also balanced between technical and emotional perspectives.

The event started with the outstanding contribution of the Mayor of Cape Town, Mr Jordan Hill Lewis, who addressed participants of the event with an opening speech sharing his professional experience. Afterwards, Ben Peters, Corporate Project, Programme and Portfolio Management at the City of Cape Town, and Chiara Haenel, Chair of IPMA Young Crew, also addressed their welcome to all the attendees.
Partner at PwC South Africa, Craig Kesson, shared insights on global project management trends according to the latest research. Medupe Segwe delivered a keynote with practical summarization of tools and techniques that enables project managers to maximize value.

Leon Du Toit, a coaching professional from South Africa, conducted a demonstrative coaching session with one of the participants to show how it works in practice. Tim Jakes, a teambuilding expert from the USA, conducted group coaching sessions which enabled all delegates to work on their life strategies and assemble plans with specific action points.

At the end of the event, many participants reflected that the IPMA Young Crew Africa Global conference was one rare event where they were present and involved close to 100% all the time.

IPMA Young Crew team expressed gratitude to the team conducting the event at a high professional level.

Project Board – Ben Peters, Jarina Crause, Vladimir Polkovnikov
Project Manager – Mark Cawood
The Team – Yvonne Du Toit, Juane Brits, Medupe Segwe, Macaela Scheepers

All the team and delegates are sending best wishes to Samuele Ditsele, leader of IPMA YC South Africa, who kicked off the project but was captured by illness and didn’t manage to continue.

Quotes of delegates
«IPMA YC delivered a high quality and thought-provoking inaugural African Conference. Brilliant speakers brought content relevant to the daily challenges that all project managers deal with. I thoroughly enjoyed my time at the three-day conference.»
Kyle Loff – Senior Project Manager at the City of Cape Town

«I thoroughly enjoyed the conference as it was a good balance of social and professional engagement. The speakers and delegates provided a variety of PM insights from both hard and soft skill perspectives, the human/ stakeholder element being a prominent and constant feature. The biggest highlight for me was meeting project managers from all over the world and learning about their professional and personal journeys.»
Nozipho Madlala, Senior Professional Officer, Property Management Department

«I enjoyed the conference it was informative in terms of work-life balance and having fun while doing your work. In Project Management, it is important to have a functional team and ensure everyone is on the same page regarding what you are trying to achieve ( project  goals).»
Cebisa Ratshitanga: Project Manager, City Of Cape Town.

«To date, my conferencing experience has been stiff, kind of formal and stuffy, but the IPMA Young Crew event truly flipped the script. It was personable and intimate and created a space for all of us to be vulnerable and to create connections beyond swapping business cards. I loved every moment. Thank you all for a remarkable 3-day meeting of minds and hearts.»
Caryn Jeftha: Senior Professional Officer for Investment Promotion @ CityofCT

«I was not sure what to expect when joining the IPMA YC Global Conference, but looking at the agenda, I knew it was something I had to be part of, learn from and be stretched! Each Speaker delivered a wealth of experience and easily digestible knowledge. The valuable insights will surely be applied not only in my professional life but my personal life too. I observed a room holding talented individuals from 11 countries, where meaningful conversations were held, valuable interactions exchanged, and lifelong connections were formed. As cliché as it sounds, my personal experience of the Conference was life-changing.»
Tarryn Voigt-Mallum, Senior Professional Officer at the City of Cape Town Municipality