The retail sector can be expected to be seen with a greater access to varied global insights and resources as South African Council of Shopping Centres (SACSC) signed an agreement with International Council of Shopping Centres.
This important deal took place at the 17th Annual Congress of SACSC at the Sandton Convention Centre on 12th September.
With this important deal 2200 members of SACSC will automatically become a member of ICSC. It will be effective from 1st January 2014.
Upon this great deal the SASCS CEO Amanda stops said ”This important deal will bring a revolution in the international cooperation for the shopping centre industry.”
President and CEO of ICSC, Michael P. Kercheval conveyed a few words at the SACSC Congress: “With this important agreement with SACSC we together are striving to make it as easy as possible for our country members anywhere in the world to have an access to goods, services, contacts, ideas and also give business opportunities in their nation and hence Africa can better connect anywhere across the globe.”
He further added that “By providing the SASCS members the membership of ICSC automatically we are opening the doors of many opportunities in our industry. This agreement will bring the future of African industry to a new level and will make all the ICSC resources available to the industry.”
These ICSC resources would include global best practices, professional education and international credentials,advocacy and promotion of the industry, research, knowledge and information as well as networking on global level and access to retailers, capital sources, personnel, jobs, business partners and ideas.
The SACSC president Marius Muller says “By providing our members such an important value, touching the global resources and connecting with the international shopping center community has been a priority for the SACSC in the past year.”
Several national councils including Australia, Britain, France and India have signed these kind of agreement with the ICSC over the past 18 months and SACSC in one of them.
Kercheval said that “Our industry has come together not for protection but for progress. This will include the dynamic African industry at the global stage which is an important and major step for the future of the industry.”
Pointing the delegates at the SACSC Congress, Kercheval recognised that the shopping centre industry is very old. “A safe, comfortable and social environment is created to conduct commerce between people goes back to the earliest souks, bazaars agoras and marketplaces. These kind of venues are most preferred by every city.”
Though the shopping centre is rather a newer concept it is also quite important for our cities and economies as they play an important role in generating jobs, financial and economical resources and also economic strength.
Since around last 60 years ICSC has been the global standing as the global “shopping centre” of this industry where in our professionals came together to learn, trade and socialise.
