Page 12 - CAO 25th Ann Coffee Table Book

These advancements turned out to be truly visionary as the COVID-19 pandemic that led to the lockdown from the 26th March 2020 put a stop to face-to-face engagements and mass gatherings of applicants and teachers. With schools and universities closed for the better part of 2020/21 and with the restrictions placed on gatherings we were forced to find other ways to communicate with our prospective applicants. Hard- copy applications could no longer be received by us for fear of contamination with the virus. Career Fairs were suspended and communication with schools and applicants were achieved via webinars and electronic media.
In the midst of this buzz of activities and innovations we were constantly reminded of our mortality when at the beginning of 2019 we lost a stalwart staff member when the Operations Manager, Evelyn Watson suddenly passed away on the 4th January. Over the next two years we lost a further three staff members in Pinky Mthembu in June 2019, Sebastian Botha in July 2020, Danny Padayachee in November 2020, and one Board Director in Gift Vinger in November 2019.
It is indeed a remarkable achievement that the CAO could not only sustain itself but, show strong growth during the COVID-19 pandemic while many organisations perished. It is a testament to the visionary leadership of the CEO, George van der Ross, the commitment to teamwork and the culture of service excellence of the staff with the support of the Board of Directors that enabled the CAO emerge even stronger than when it entered the fatal pandemic.
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