The members of the African SAP User Group (AFSUG) have elected Ian Brown, Exxaro CIO, Sal le Her, Eskom CIO and Andre Venter Macsteel CIO as directors to the AFSUG Board for a three-year term. Previous director, Ashwin Goolab, has left his position at Standard Bank and as a consequence, has resigned from the AFSUG Board. This announcement was made at the AFSUG AGM held during this week’s Saphila conference, the biggest SAP User Group conference in Africa, held at Sun City.

The AFSUG Board of directors now consists of 10 members – eight from the customer base and three from partner members. AFSUG, chaired by Cuan Kloppers, the CIO of Samancor Chrome, is a forum of SAP customers representing their industries, businesses and technological processes whose goal is to accelerate implementation of successful business solutions in close collaboration with SAP Africa and SAP AG.

“We are delighted to welcome Ian Brown, Sal Le Her and Andre Venter to our team.” said Kloppers, “Their knowledge, experience and passion for the User Group will help us significantly in achieving our 2013 growth strategy. This includes the creation of regional chapters across Africa, holding seminars specifically aimed at C-level executives and the dissemination of insights and knowledge to all our members. We value the contribution Ashwin Goolab made to AFSUG in helping establish it as a successful and respected User Group. We wish him well in his new endeavours.”

Commenting on his appointment, Brown said, “I’m excited to be joining the AFSUG Board of directors. Customers are constantly seeking knowledge from AFSUG and we need to meet new challenges and continue to openly share best practices. Saphila’s theme this year is “The Moment is Now” and opportunistically never before has there been more business potential in Africa for SAP customers to leverage.”

Le Her commented, “I am honoured to be elected into this new role and look forward to joining AFSUG on this journey, taking the organisation to new heights into Africa. We are confident that AFSUG will drive our strategy into Africa within the next few years through our special interest groups as well as our alliance with SAP at Saphila.”

AFSUG is a member of the SAP User Group Executive Network (SUGEN), a global network of 16 independent SAP user groups that cooperate globally and create a single ‘voice of the customer’, providing SAP with a sparring partner on all strategic subjects. AFSUG is a non-profit organisation that primarily acts as a forum to influence, innovate and educate SAP customers. All the board members are volunteers.

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