Thursday, June 27, 2013

The winds of change are blowing

Someone's moved my cheese again. I do wish it would stay in the same place for just five minutes!

The great philosophers say that the only constant is change, but they also say that the more things change the more they stay the same.

So which is it? For us at nFold, change has become a habit now. But I now want to leave my broomstick in the same place for a while, to gather a nice bit of dust.

"So what is all this change" I hear you ask, "and how does it affect the wonderful world of proposals?" Well here are the big 5 changes of 2013 so far...stop the world I want to get off!
  1. Next Generation - In April, Anastasia Bizos was born, so Fiona is on maternity leave - with chicken pox, as bad luck has it. Kalli Manitsa has taken over public training co-ordination and Janet Ward has picked up the onsite training.
  2. So long Theresa - In May, nFold director Theresa Monoyoudis succumbed to a 7 year itch and went on sabattical to help her son through matric next year by accepting a marketing job at his school. We miss her, but I do have an excuse to see her at board meetings once a month.
  3. Hello Network - Our new Theresa is called Dheshnee Naidoo. She's doing a great job so far of filling a very big pair of high-heeled shoes. The nFold network has grown to 30 people now, and we welcome new consultants Madi, Florence and Eric.
  4. New Digs - In June, nFold moved into new offices. We now have 10 floating desks and a humming bid back-office. Reminds me of bedknobs and broomsticks. More space has brought our team closer together. We're in the groove! Onward and upward.
  5. Buds of May - May Bradshaw has become a director of nFold. In the last 18 months she's been moving and shaking things up for us, big time. Congratulations May, and welcome to the little boy melon due to arrive in September. Another son of nFold is on the horizon.



Life is a peach in Georgia, as Sandy discovered when she went to the US APMP conference in Atlanta at the end of May. We're rather proud of her for being the first African to serve as a global board member in 2013/2014. Sandy had dinner with proposal star Jon Williams one night and with her all time hero Tom Sant another night. Lucky fish! I'm miffed that she forgot to take me along. But I guess I'll get over it. She bumped into 3 other South Africans at the conference, so at least she had company from someone who could understand her accent. She says that she learned a LOT, hooked up with old friends and made some new friends. What could be better?

I recommend that anyone who wants to learn more about proposals should come along to the local APMP conference in July. Visit www.apmp.org.za to find out more. Sandy will be putting a fresh spin on the time-honoured traditional topic of writing executive summaries, as only she can. Seats are selling fast, so hurry to book before you miss out on all the fun.




Talking about fun, here are some of the 19 people who achieved the fun fun fun Foundation Level APMP certification with Sandy's help this year. As a Strategic Proposals trainer, Sandy still has a perfect pass record. I can't believe they cut me out of the photo. At least I was comfy on Reshma's lap. The total number of people in South Africa who have achieved one of the 3 levels of internationally recognized certification has now reached a whopping 71. Proposal people rock! I really enjoy hanging out with them. Even if they won't let me appear on their photos. Sniff.

nFold's new stratgy seems to be on track. To improve teamwork we now have Training Tigers with Tiger Mother Annatjie Jonker leading the way - spreading the proposal gospel according to Saint Tom. We have Skills Scorpions headed up by Janet Ward finding jobs in our brand new business venture called Bid Skills for Africa. Dheshnee Naidoo is taking on the Software Swans to grow our Qvidian customer base and Sandy is keeping an eye on the Consulting Chameleons to make sure they don't fade into the background.

Never a dull moment at nFold. I think I'll start up my own business unit and call it the Wicked Witchy Wordsmith Wombats or something. Just so that there's a place for little old me. Watch this space as I insert myself into the next photo to appear on this blog. Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha.