The Life of a President
Stephen Billingham took over the Presidency of the South African Chefs Association in July 2009 from Martin Kobold, before that Dr Billy Gallagher had been President for 26 years. Although Billy had done an exceptional job as President over nearly three decades; with a newly elected board, Stephen knew that he had to steer the SA Chefs ship in a slightly different direction and champion transformation and cement SA Chefs role in culinary education.
With this focus on diversity, he also needed to expand the SA Chefs member base. Great things had been done by the Association since 1974 and Stephen needed to strengthen and build on them. “I knew that when I stepped down as President, I wanted to leave the Association in the hands of ‘home-grown’ President – and one of the priorities for me was to make the board more representative of our nation. I also wanted to focus on skills development, education and transformation.” All of which have been achieved.
Growth of the Association During Stephen’s Presidency
The Association is financially secure.
It continues to support, develop and nurture the local culinary industry.
Membership is four times bigger. In 2009, the Association had just over 2 500 members. At the end of Stephen’s Presidency, this number has grown to a staggering 9 000 plus members.
Trade exchange has become the patronage system.
Many more local chefs are placed in senior management positions. A vast number of homegrown, local chefs have become Executive Chefs in kitchens and restaurants across the country.
The number of chefs’ schools has increased incrementally. With the rise in popularity globally of the ‘Celebrity Chef’, many more youngsters have entered the culinary industry.
Skills training programme for community caterers has positively affected over 400 local entrepreneurs.
The Launch of the NYCTP has changed the lives of 2500 unemployed youth nationwide.
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