INSOL Conference Feedback
27 July 2022
Dear SARIPA members,
Having just returned from the INSOL International conference in London, I thought that I should just briefly share some of my thoughts and feedback on the conference which took place in London in the period 26-28 June.
As SARIPA, we remain the 5th largest Member Organisation of INSOL in the world. A fact that we can be extremely proud of! South Africa was very well represented at the conference, and from the almost 920 delegates, we had just over 58 South Africans registered for the event. We were certainly one of the largest foreign contingents at the conference and we were also well represented in the technical programme as well as in various ancillary meetings. Of course, our fellow South Africans also represented us well at the large number of cocktail parties, drink receptions and dinners held across London over the few days of the conference !!
The conference had almost a thousand delegates from across the globe in attendance, representing over 60 different countries. There was clearly a huge appetite for insolvency professionals and their advisors (after a long hiatus of face-to-face events) to travel to the conference and to participate in the largest INSOL conference ever held. On the first day of the conference, some of the highlights included, an inspirational keynote address by Priya Lakhani OBE on her life story and leading up to her views on the conference theme of "Control, Alt- Delete - Time to Reboot"; a session on Learning From Failures - CEO's retelling their stories and which featured South Africans Thomas Kgokolo (formerly the interim CEO of SAA) and Khathutshelo Mapasa (former CEO of Basil Read Limited); the INSOL IPG discussion on Reflections on Major Restructurings during a Pandemic, featuring Richard Ferguson talking about his experience as BRP in the Comair filing and Nastascha Harduth talking at the INSOL Fellows forum on aspects of the Steinhoff restructuring. Other interesting sessions included aspects of Recovery of Assets in the Digital Age and Prof Dan Katz talking on The Legal Innovation Agenda meets Insolvency Law.
The second day of the conference highlighted South African Ian Rheeder talking on the Neuroscience of Leadership, a session titled Deconstructing International Restructurings, the Judges session - Practical Tips from the Bench, and a session on Crisis Communication - Managing Stakeholders. The conference ended with three talks titled "Rebooting and Embracing Change" and which included aspects of ESG, Climate change and Diversity insofar as it relates to our profession.
It was a really great two days of learning and networking!! From a personal perspective, it was great to meet up with all of the South African delegates - there is no doubt that South Africans know how to have fun!
Click this link to see some highlights.
We are also very proud to see Jo Mitchell Marais of Deloitte awarded her Certificate for the Global Insolvency Practice Course. Jo is now an INSOL Fellow.
INSOL conferences really do provide, in my view, the best networking opportunities and insolvency technical content available on the international stage! I attach some of the photos from the conference and where many of our SARIPA members feature!!
Hope to see you all at our annual SARIPA conference in November, where we will unpack cutting-edge issues on Insolvency, Restructuring and Business Rescue proceedings in South Africa. The programme will be released shortly. Ensure that you register so that you don’t miss out! Click here for registration and more information.
Warm regards
With thanks,
Dr Eric Levenstein
SARIPA Chairperson