Business Weekly - Cambridge, UK

Honorary Consul, Anne Page

It has created seven honorary consuls to Great Britain including the experienced Anne Page to the East of England.

While the initiative remains in its relative infancy, there already appear to be synergies that can be optimised in fields such as Higher Education and Renewable Energies – including environmental technologies.

In the short term, for East of England universities and HE institutes and for the region’s growing cluster of world-class renewables companies, there promises to be a pot of gold at the business end of the Rainbow Nation.

Anne Page will be part of an East of England International trade mission to South Africa in February 2009 where the focus will be renewable energy and environmental technologies.

Marguerite Meyer, regional team manager – East at EEI, says: “We believe there is a lot of scope in these two sectors, with a number of regional based companies able to take advantage of getting first in the door.

“We will be working with the South African High Commission and our Consulates in Johannesburg and Cape Town to put together an excellent programme for both companies and selected universities.

“One of the objectives of this mission is to develop links for our universities regarding potential technology transfer opportunities as well as providing access to key organisations that have an interest in these sectors.”

Anne Page believes there is much scope for genuine two-way collaboration. A graduate from Cape Town University following her family’s emigration to South Africa when she was in her teens, Anne also helps raise funds and profile internationally for Fort Hare University.

Fort Hare – whose alumni include Nelson Mandela – was a key institution in Higher Education for black Africans from 1916 to 1959.

She said: “My father took the family to South Africa when he was chairman of Reckitt & Colman, a long established Norwich company.

“After graduating, and with the political situation in South Africa fraught, I returned to London and went on to work with the developers of Canary Wharf who sought to engage liaison with schools and Higher Education institutions in the East London area.

“I have continued helping Fort Hare and believe there are many South African Universities that would benefit from working with their world-class East of England counterparts.

“I think the standard of HE establishments in the region is phenomenal – not just Cambridge at the apex but also the wonderful new Suffolk University venture and all the other institutions that have attained world class.

“I also believe that there are many contemporary institutions in South Africa that have become exemplars and the time is certainly ripe to get the principal players in each region together.”

Anne believes the same can be said for the ‘greentech’ segment. “South Africa has quite a few companies leading the way in this field and it is fair to say that the East of England is building a world-class renewable energy & environmental technologies cluster. Here too, there is scope for beneficial two-way collaboration.”

Anne believes the climate is perfect for both regions. “South Africa has come a long way from the bad old days of apartheid and trade sanctions imposed by world powers. I have been encouraged to see how warmly its progress has been embraced by East of England companies.

“They only see the trade and investment opportunities and it is wonderful to see the lines of communication opened between these two highly fertile territories.”

• For details of the East of England mission to South Africa next February and to explore two-way trade opportunities, contact Marguerite Meyer at EEI on +44 (0) 1223 450 450 or email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it