BarnOwl Municipal Risk Management Forum
It was with great excitement and pleasure that BarnOwl hosted its first Municipal Risk Management Forum. A cold Johannesburg winters morning saw delegates welcomed to the BarnOwl auditorium for some breakfast that offered some fantastic networking opportunities for colleagues from the local and national government sphere.
Proceedings kicked off with a fascinating presentation from Betty Spencer, Director of Risk Management at the Department of Arts & Culture, on the value of risk management where she offered great advice on using the various tools at our disposal to navigate risk management more effectively. Betty emphasised that in order for there to be a movement, there need to be movers.
Totyelwa Nonco, Manager of Risk Management at the Office of the Accountant General spoke about “The State of Risk Management in Municipalities” where the overall theme was concentrated on the desire to advance all municipalities to level 3 of the Financial Management Capability Maturity Model (FMCMM). Totyelwa did a great job highlighting the steps that need to be taken by municipalities in order to move forward and improve.
The attendees thoroughly enjoyed the interaction with our third speaker, Thembani Loliwe, Chief Audit Executive at Bitou Local Municipality. Thembani addressed the audience on “Risk Management Implementation Challenges and Possible Actions”. He gave some incredibly perceptive, practical examples of how the work done, competence of and attitude of the various role-players within a municipal environment has a massive impact on the effectiveness of the risk management strategy.
After the lunch break, Ronald Moyo, ex-Director at Sekela Xabiso, and a man with a lot of experience dealing with municipalities from within and outside of government structures presented on “Transforming the Maturity of Enterprise Wide Risk Management in the Municipalities”. Ronald stressed the importance of a thorough assessment and understanding of exactly what our strengths and weaknesses are within ERM with special emphasis placed on the role of people.
Cobie van Antwerpen, a director within the Business Risk Services Division of Grant Thornton Johannesburg raised some hard-hitting, yet often highly entertaining viewpoints in her presentation on “Good Governance and role of risk management”. Cobie’s opening line of “The ship is safe in harbour, but that’s not what ships are made for”. Aside from all the recommended governance frameworks, ethical leadership, zero tolerance for corruption and reckless behaviours, and clearly defined roles and responsibilities are vital to the success of any risk management process.
The event was brought to a close by Jonathan Crisp, Director at IDI Technology Solutions, who provided the delegates with some final thoughts on the role of software and automation of the risk management framework and process. Jonathan’s presentation provided some good insight on the importance of software, and how the implementation thereof can lead to great effectiveness and efficiency within risk management, and throughout the organization.
To view the presentations please click on the below:
Transforming ERM Maturity by Ronald Moyo
Governance and the role of Risk Management by Cobie van Antwerpen
The Value of Risk Management by Betty Spencer
Risk Management & Implementation Challenges & Possible Actions by Thembani Loliwe
Role of software in GRC & Audit by Jonathan Crisp
State of RM in Municipalities by Totyelwa Nonco
Congratulations and thank you to all involved, and we are looking forward to the same levels of enthusiasm, if not more for our next forum event.