Minister Winde Welcomes New CEO Of Wesgro, Wishes Mr Flaatten Well

On 10 December, the board of the Western Cape’s Tourism, Trade and Investment Promotion Agency, Wesgro, announced its new CEO. Mr Tim Harris will take the helm of the agency on 1 January 2015 to commence a three year term.

Western Cape Minister of Economic Opportunities, Alan Winde, welcomed the announcement: “Tim is a fantastic choice to lead the agency. He has an deep understanding of both the challenges and opportunities inherent in our economy and what it will take to achieve greater growth and job creation. As the new CEO, he will be in charge of growing the Western Cape’s footprint on the global map, and I would like to wish him every success in this exciting endeavour”.

“I would also like to thank all the many members of the business community who applied for the position. The vast number of applications received, and moreover their quality, speak to the strength of Wesgro as an agency, and the excitement around the growing business brand of our region”.

Minister Winde thanked the previous CEO of Wesgro, Mr Flaatten, for his hard work over the years.

“Nils Flaatten has been at the helm of Wesgro since June 2010.  During his four and a half year tenure, he served the province with vigour and great passion. A key result under Nils’ leadership was the successful merger of CTRU into Wesgro, positioning the agency as the Tourism, Trade and Investment Promotion Agency for Cape Town and the Western Cape. Nils was also instrumental in realising the successful completion of the Saldanha Bay IDZ (SBIDZ) pre-feasibility study, feasibility study, business model composition and operating permit”.

Leading the facilitation of  Trade and Investment Promotion in the province, under his guidance, Wesgro brought in R6 685 783 383 in foreign direct investment into the Western Cape, resulting in the creation of 4 613 jobs across the province.

During this time, Wesgro assisted 2 678 companies to participate in outbound missions to drive exports and 1 200 companies attended Wesgro’s export development programme. The agency also successfully bid on conferences that resulted in an economic impact of R47 381 000. In addition the agency also received two clean audits, two gold awards at the annual Tourism Indaba, and the 2014 SAACI Member’s Choice Award - Best Convention Bureau, accolades of which the agency can be very proud. 

“I would like to wish Nils well in his future endeavours”, concluded Winde.