Sappi Limited / The Innovation Hub – Sod Turning Ceremony Page 1 of 3

Sappi Limited
Executive Speech
Bertus van der Merwe

The Innovation Hub

Sod Turning Ceremony
Pretoria, Gauteng
Monday, 13 October 2003

Honoured Guests, Business Partners, Members of the Media, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is my honour to address you as a representative of Sappi Limited, the world’s leading producer of coated fine

paper.

In many of the world’s ancient wisdom traditions, it is said that the greatest leap of faith a person can take is to

plant a tree. For, in doing so, one not only enters into a partnership with the timeless ways of nature, but also

places trust in an outcome that may not reach maturity in one’s own lifetime. It is both a humbling and empowering

act.

We at Sappi have learnt to take this leap of faith every day and have been privileged to build a global business

based on it. We are also learning, as our country draws near to celebrating its first decade of democracy, that we

need to be an active part of taking similar leaps of faith in many other ways as well.

It is this that has brought us, as a group, to The Innovation Hub. For today we plant the seed of an endeavour that

will surely become a living legacy - not only for ourselves, but for our children and for their children after them.

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The Innovation Hub is one of the many visionary initiatives of Blue IQ, the Gauteng development agency. Here,

Blue IQ and its partners hope to establish a science park that will equal the best in the world.

Situated as it is, The Hub will be at the epicentre of the greatest concentration of our country’s scientists across all

disciplines. It will draw together their enormous body of knowledge and will match it with the practical, market-

focused research and development capabilities of our largest companies. In this “partnership of the future”, so to

speak, Sappi is proud to be in the final stages of negotiation with Blue IQ to become the venture’s first corporate

citizen.

Although we have research and development facilities in both the United States and Europe, our confidence in

South Africa as a country and in the leadership of the government has made us decide to enrich this group capacity

on home soil. Our intention is to invest in building a facility here at which the entire group’s fibre production

processes will be researched – from land management and seeding through to pulp and dissolving pulp production.

These “raw material” stages of paper and by-product production are the heart of our business and we can think of

no better place to develop them than right here, where we as a group have our own roots. In addition, Sappi’s core

support services will ultimately be housed here, including biotechnology research, mill support, environmental

impact research and environmental management services.

On a macro level, we feel that our participation in The Innovation Hub project will contribute positively to economic

growth and to the fostering of South Africa’s unique human capital. This, we are sure, is a tree that will grow proud

and strong and that will bear fruit for many generations to come. For, not only will our facility house the core of our

research and development programme, it will also be home to the Sappi Paper Academy, where technical training

will be provided for operations personnel at all levels. The Academy will be Sappi's central point of co-ordination

with all of the various industry SETAs, as well as providing industry-related distance learning.

More immediately, we feel this venture will be part of demonstrating to the world a new way of co-operation

between government, academic institutions and business – a way of working that is uniquely African. Based on the

time-honoured concept of “Ubuntu”, the African philosophy of humanism and collaboration, we feel this model is an

invaluable lesson that our country has to bring to the world community. The Innovation Hub is leading the way in

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creating a new, co-operative model of skills and economic development that, we feel, will fully demonstrate to the

world the true power of the coming “African century”.

On a micro level, the benefits of this development will be both real and tangible. Firstly, 70 full-time staff will

ultimately be accommodated at Sappi’s facility and many more will benefit from the distance learning programme.

Secondly – and as importantly – we believe that The Innovation Hub will enable all of the institutions and

businesses involved to leverage off the skills of the others and, in so doing, to create a whole that is infinitely

greater than the sum of the parts.

Of course, every vision requires action, or else it is in danger of dissolving into fantasy. In this case, there are two

people that I would like to thank in particular for their goal-directed actions in the process of turning The Innovation

Hub dream into a reality.

The first of these is Sandy Lowitt, Chief Strategic Officer for Blue IQ. Her drive is awe-inspiring and her commitment

absolute. Without her, a bold concept like this one would never have seen the light of day. We would also like to

thank Neville Comins, the CEO of The Innovation Hub, for welcoming Sappi to this new scientific and technological

family. We look forward to a long and productive association.

In closing, we commend government for its driving role in this and other development initiatives. Slowly but surely,

we feel they are showing the world the power of doing things “the African Way.” Sappi looks forward to being a

valuable and vibrant partner in this venture.

Thank you.

ends.