WOW - Outeniqua Women's Club 2.4

WOW - Outeniqua Women’s Club (the former BPW - Outeniqua) was incorporated in July 2016.

WOW Outeniqua Women is more than a club for business women. We are a club for ALL women, from ALL walks of life! There are so many different ways in which women are influencing everyday life, whether it be as Corporate businesswomen, Entrepreneurs with their own businesses, Women working with husbands, Women working from home, Mothers, Retired Women, Politicians, Women in teaching, training, catering, consulting, Women working in the community, in homes…….there are just too many to mention. But we all have one thing in common ….that is the need for fellowship!
With the modern working environment being so different, it’s not as simple as meeting the girls ‘from the office’ for a coffee, or a drink after work. These days, often there is no office or, its’ been outsourced, or moved, it’s a ‘virtual’ office or you might not even need one at all!

That’s where OUTENIQUA Women’s Club comes in!

OUTENIQUA Women HAVE integrity, ambition and a passion for what they do!
OUTENIQUA Women NEED like-minded friends, support and time to RELAX!
OUTENIQUA Women WANT to be understood and valued for who they are!
We are WOW Women!

Outeniqua Women’s CLUB is not your typical networking group. We are not about collecting business cards and competing for positions or popularity, while we do network and develop viable business contacts, OUTENIQUA Women are so much more and we have always been about empowering women and believe together we will get there.

Our monthly meetings are a relaxing night out. We offer friendship, understanding and a sense of humour to cope with the stress of life. We have speakers on different topics of interest and amongst us, some insight on how to tackle the challenges of juggling work, play and family. Being involved in the community, we also give back and identify issues where we can help women in communities that are less fortunate than ourselves. So…if this sounds like a place where you’d like to be, to wind down, kick back and not have to impress anyone but yourself! Then this is the place you have to be. Why not try us out?

A Little bit of History, before the change!

To give you a little bit of history about our club, we originally started out in George 30 years ago as ‘BPW – Outeniqua’ and we were affiliated with ‘Business and Professional Women – International’ which is an organisation with member clubs all over the world.
Business and Professional Women is a recognised voice at the United Nations and also has consultative status at the United Nations Economic and Social Council. Since its inception in Geneva, Switzerland in 1930, the major priority of BPW International has always been the empowerment of women so they can claim economic independence and take control of their lives.
When we joined BPW locally, we were part of the South African Federation, with local clubs in most of the bigger towns in SA. During the 90’s BPW was the place for every eager business woman in George. It was also the time of the big property boom and George was expanding in all directions.
Unfortunately it didn’t last and by 2008 BPW Outeniqua was the only club left in South Africa. We drifted away from the international format and developed our own unique format for our monthly meetings.
However with the increase in international fees and the depreciation of the Rand especially after December 2015, we could no longer sanction the expense of being part of BPW International and in 2016 we decided to re-invent the club with a new identity.
While it is very sad to dissolve the former BPW Outeniqua, we would like to acknowledge what a remarkable club it has been and as any successful businesswoman acknowledges, the world is ever changing and we all need to adapt to remain relevant in our local environment.
It is the same spirit that we intend to carry forward to the new club,