Global meeting of By Peta Krost Maunder bright minds W HEN BUSINESSMAN BERNARD Seeff’s father-in-law was diagnosed with throat cancer, he wanted to make sure he got the best doctor to deal with it. Within 24 hours, he was on the right track and his father-in-law was heading for a small town in Germany for surgery by a doctor known to be the best in this field. Seeff was unlikely to have had access to this information at that speed, had he not been a member of YPO (Young Presidents Organisation). All he did was put it out on the network of 17 000 young business leaders internationally, and the response was swift. This is just one of the many perks of a being a member of this worldwide networking organisation. To become a member, you have to be younger than 50, run a company with an annual turnover of no less than US$8 million and employ a minimum of 50 employees. Seeff was 32 and the MD of a large family-owned company in Gauteng when he joined YPO more than 20 years ago. “I joined because it can be lonely running a business without a network of people who are not involved in the business, but who understand your issues,” Seeff says. “YPO offered networking possibilities with top executives, and provided a network from which I could learn and share business ideas without any expectations of financial gain.” The YPO logo really resounded with Seeff – ‘Better leaders through education and ideas exchange’. But he soon realised it was not all about business, as he suddenly had access to unique experiences for himself and his family. When South Africa was at war in Angola, he and other local YPOers went to meet Jonas Savimbi, the country’s opposition leader. They visited the South African army in the Caprivi Strip, when only the army had access to that area. “We went to the best place to view Halley’s Comet with one of the world’s top astronomers, and we went on a trip on the QE2 with two heads of state on board, “ he said. “These are not trips you do with Thompson’s Tours. What’s more, you get to do them with fascinating, likeminded people.” Leora Rajak, a local YPO member, recalls sitting face-to-face with the founder of Facebook at Stanford University more than three years ago. “I hadn’t even heard of Facebook back then, and being able to have lunch and speak to this guy was phenomenal.” Salim Dewji, who has been involved with YPO for the last four years, will never forget being able to attend the Grammy Awards last year, just because he was a YPOer. “The organiser is a YPOer, and every year she invites YPOers to attend the award ceremony – and some of the top parties too, if you want,” Dewji says. “It was amazing, as was the lunch we hosted for Rwandan president Paul Kagame when he was in South Africa briefly. He is an honorary YPO member, and agreed to bring his top ministers to have lunch with a few of us in Cape Town. We chatted about philosophies on leadership and issues in Africa.” As Dewji explains, being a YPO member is not just having access to world class events, “it is being able to have ‘only-in-YPO events’ that far surpass anything most people experience.” YPO encourages people to interact and, when a new member signs up, he or she is given a book (which is now accessible on the Internet) with every member’s name, photograph, address and contact details. The interaction between YPOers internationally is astounding. Most members speak about the kindness shown to them by foreigners in their home towns. It is simply a matter of contacting them, and the nature of the network is that people help each other wherever they can. “I went to Berlin and contacted a YPOer there, and he came Better leaders through education and ideas exchange. 100 www.wbsjournal.co.za • vol 1, 2010 • issue 20