MARISWE STAFF PUT THE PUZZLE TOGETHER AT EASTERN CAPE INTERNAL LAUNCH
8 February 2019, Mariswe offices in East London and Mthatha
Organising committee
East London office: Bernadette Oosthuyzen, Carin Basson, Siyabonga Sityata and Nobesuthu Mpumpuse;
Mthatha office: Sive Mancotywa, Tamba Gungu and Akhona Nkonzo.
The Eastern Cape organising committee held its first meeting on 16 January 2019, with two more meetings to discuss and prepare for the event. The internal launch was hosted in the East London offices to save costs and attended by 28 East London staff, 11 staff members from Mthatha, as well as the Cradock office staff.
To raise excitement leading up to the launch, the committee created a puzzle of the Mariswe logo. Puzzle pieces were hidden in random locations around the East London and Mthatha offices throughout the launch week. As the pieces were collected, the logo slowly came together to give staff a closer view of what we would look like in the future.
If a staff member was lucky enough to find a golden coin hidden with a puzzle piece, he or she won a mystery prize.
Upon arrival at their work stations on launch day, staff were greeted with the pleasant surprise of the Mariswe-branded gift packs including the new shirts, USBs, notebooks and pens. By mid-morning the office was beaming with smiles and white Mariswe-branded shirts.
Mariswe teardrop banners also made an appearance in the garden in front of the office entrance and staff members held up balloons spelling out the name MARISWE in the canteen to greet everyone arriving at the launch.
Tribute to UWP
Siyabonga Sityata from HYPE, programme director for the launch, opened proceedings and regional manager Wayne Ketteringham welcomed guests. As some staff have dedicated many years of their lives to serving the company, the committee saw fit to provide a platform to pay tribute to the UWP name. Wayne took staff through the archives and, true to character, shared some hilarious legendary tales of his 20-year history with UWP.
The committee organised a ceremonial lowering of the UWP banner and raising of the Mariswe banner to symbolise the transition of the company. Wayne Ketteringham and Steve Richter, another long-term employee, did the honours.
The multimedia presentation on the name change was shown and Wayne explained the Mariswe logo and its symbolic composition. Steve wrapped up the formal programme and staff were invited to ask questions and make their own comments.
Everyone signed the pledge to help improve the lives of people in our communities and then we had fun playing our very own Mariswe “30 Seconds” game. The committee designed this activity to galvanise staff and reignite teamwork based on the 30 Seconds board game, with the words on the cards chosen to reflect Mariswe and its people.
These were a few comments from staff after the event:
“I love the new logo colours.”
“Looking forward to the great opportunities the new change will bring.”
