General Assembly Minutes 2014

On January 18, AWiB members gathered at Hilton hotel to discuss agenda items for the year ahead
Venue: Hilton Hotel
Date: January 18, 2014
Time: 9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
AWiB’s outgoing President, Billene Seyoum welcomed participants of the assembly and presented the nominated chairperson, W/ro Tsege to chair the meeting and the GA endorsed the chairing.
W/ro Tsege took over the stage and presented the Agenda items for the day.
Agenda items:
- Audit report for the year 2013 – by Representative of the Audit Firm
- Activity report for the year 2013 – by Billene Seyoum
- Financial plan for the year 2014 – by Billene Seyoum
- Introduction and endorsement of the President and board members for 2014
- Discussion session – by Seble Hailu
- Signing of General Assembly meeting minutes
- 1. Audit Report for the Year 2013
W/ro Tsegie invited representative of the Audit Firm to present the audit report. The report for the year 2013 was presented and endorsed unanimously.
- 2. Activity Report 2013
AWiB’s outgoing president, Billene Seyoum, presented the technical report of the year 2013. She began her presentation with a remarkable note why she stayed in AWiB and reasons for enjoying her year of presidency. She stated, “AWiB’s passion for women and their development issue, the networking opportunities it provides, the team energy and dynamism among the leadership team and the never ending lessons in leadership are some of the key attractions that sustained my involvement with AWiB”
The activity report highlighted the following:
2.1 Milestones
- Sustainability
- In terms of location AWiB has now rented a one-room office and furnished it.
- Hired an Executive Director and a part-time finance manager.
- Visibility
- In terms of creating a platform to reach members, AWiB has a dynamic website that is run by a Web Administrator. The website displays key AWiB’s information including the Pinnacle, Spotlight and Focus slots with leadership directory, upcoming events, event recaps, tids and bits, training materials and weekly blogs on various topics.
- Financial Sustainability
- AWiB signed partnership agreement for one year with ADC Reseach and Development, Commercial Bank of Ethiopia, Dashen Bank and EthioJobs.
- AWiB in return gave back to community by promoting and awarding the Woman of Excellence with 100,000 ETB and sponsoring AAU students for May event.
2.2 Creating Networking and Learning Platform
- AWiB organized monthly events depending on the year’s theme, “Transformation and Innovation”.
- In May 2013, an annual forum was organized with a motto of “Unlocking Potential Driving Effectiveness”. The morning sessions were led by four prominent facilitators and attended by different influential women and men from various walks of life and professions. More than 500 people attended the event at the UN-ECA.
- AWiB’s Women of Excellence Gala Dinner was held on October 2013.
- Membership drive sessions were undertaken in June and July 2013.
- A 12 week conversational English class was offered to members.
- Free e-learning courses were given by AWiB board member, Maskram Haile, a certified Life Coach.
- Free self-confidence class was offered by Nahu Girma
- Round table discussions were started with Nahu and Seble once a month, and
- One-day training was offered on discovering our purpose by an expat from Genuine Contact organization.
2.3 Membership Benefits
- Discounts were given to AWiB members from various services and products in town,
- The WoE gala dinner was subsidized including the monthly events.
2.4 Challenges
- Not being able to ensure corporate partnership as many as possible.
- Members’ participation and response in terms of communication and utilizing benefits was low.
- 3. Financial Plan for the Year 2014
Billene presented the summary of year 2014 budget.
Both the technical and fiscal reports and budget were endorsed by the General Assembly unanimously.
- 4. Introduction and Endorsement of President and Board Members for 2014
The following members were presented:
Seble Hailu – President 2014 Tehtina Legesse – Board Member
Blen Sahlu – Board Member Kebkab Sergue – Board Member
Linda Lapiso – Board Member Meseret Belachew – Board Member
Sara Yirga – Board Member Sehin Tefera – Board Member
Tigist Abate – Board Member Tizita Abeje – Board Member
Since the board is a voluntary work and focused on excellence, it requires the involvement of dedicated board members who would divide work amongst themselves to lead the Association successfully; hence, three more volunteers were asked to work at the board level.
Two members, Muna Fejiru and Jaleli Djeregna volunteered to serve as AWiB’s board members and a third one, Emawayish Seme was nominated in her absence and she accepted the nomination by telephone. All the three were asked to introduce themselves to the board and they gave their short profile.
The GA endorsed all board members.
- 5. Discussion Session
This session was facilitated by Seble Hailu on why members are not utilizing their membership privileges and how we can maximize members’ use of services as well as attend the monthly meeting.
One of the reasons mentioned was lack of sense of ownership and the need for consistent push. Thus, participants brought valuable recommendations as to how to tackle this problem. Some of which are:
ü Create a regular system for the follow up of registered members and encourage the sense of ambassadorship,
ü Create a small group and assign a leader from the board so that they keep closer contacts with each other and bring their experiences to the bigger group,
ü Acknowledge and appreciate members that are working hard to bring in more members,
ü Continue the early tradition of meeting in small groups, but this should be every member’s responsibility,
ü Conduct a needs assessment to be able to provide services that members’ need and based on the findings, take action,
ü Increase visibility through social media and any available means,
ü Increase programs like the one conducted on understanding one’s purpose, through facilitating self-awareness sessions,
ü Create self nominating members that know their worth and are willing to work to empower and be empowered,
ü Encourage informal get together and brainstorming session to identify gaps,
ü Conduct passion assessment and think of ways AWiB members could contribute to community.
- 6. Signing of General Assembly Meeting Minutes
Finally the minutes were prepared and signed by the General Assembly members and the meeting was adjourned at 12:30 p.m.
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