OD Connect is a group of like-minded people that has enriched each other’s lives over the past 13 years with interesting conversations, business opportunities, capacity building for existing opportunities, friendship, and learning. This initiative started on 28 February 2007 with the OD team of Absa in Pretoria inviting a few friends for breakfast. It soon became a tradition with more people being invited along. Olga Coetzee was the convener of the breakfast in Absa and when she left the corporate world to start her own business back in 2009 it was just natural to maintain the tradition. Up to now we have had 77 breakfasts! We have always been abundant in our approach, which is why there is currently such a variety of people in the network: Industrial Psychologists, Coaches, HR and HRD Executives, OD Specialists, Academics, Consultants, vendors of HR and OD products and services, Research Psychologists, Industrial Engineers, and others.
Apart from the breakfasts the network list has been a source for members to connect with each other for ad hoc needs.
There are only three membership requirements:
- Having strong common ground with the existing membership.
- Providing your details for the network list.
- Attending at least one breakfast per year since this is a social network and not a social media network (of course this requirement has been waived in 2020...).
There is no membership fee.
How the breakfasts work: Breakfast times are from 07:30 to 09:30. There is no formal agenda. You are therefore free to connect to specific people for whatever purpose, or to mingle with everyone. The biggest secret of networking is curiosity. If you are interested in others they will respond in kind. Everyone pays for their own meal/drinks. Please feel free to join for a quick coffee if you can’t stay for two hours, or to extend your stay to meet with specific people on the list.
The breakfast venue for 2020 is Cappuccino’s in Southdowns.
The dates for 2020 are as follows:
- 7th February
- 3rd April (cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic)
- 5th June (cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic)
- 7th August (cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic)
- 2nd October (will possibly be cancelled)
- 4th December (hope to have this one!)
Should you be interested in joining OD Connect or have any queries, please contact Olga: olga@olgacoetzee.com
We look forward to meeting you!
