OUR STAFF & ASSOCIATIONS

 

Richard Zurba (Director)
Richard has been Director of the office since it opened in January 1999. His previous experiences include employment as an export manager for a South African export house, site manager for a large relief operation in the Congo, and real estate in Canada. He has worked in seven different countries on four continents. He has a B.A. from Alberta, an M.A. from the London School of Economics and an M.B.A. from Western Ontario

Christophe Nairac (Trade Advisor)
Christophe works out of Mauritius. He has experience in project related operations in both southern Africa as well as the Indian Ocean islands. He has an M.B.A from Solvay Business School in Belgium, an Honours Degree from Universidad Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, Spain and a B.A. from the University of London in geophysical engineering.

Charmaine Martin (Trade Advisor for State of Pennsylvania)

Charmaine joined the CGLG in 2000 after several years working as administrator for the Africa Round-Table - an association of corporate companies working across Africa. Her many years of experience working with companies from an association and then facilitation perspective are of great benefit. She is currently studying a B. Commerce and is available for part-time administration and outreach activities.

Estelle Welgens (Trade Advisor for the State of Ohio)

Estelle has been involved in U.S. trade facilitation since 2000 with the U.S. Commercial Service in Johannesburg. She joined as a trade advisor in 2007. Estelle has experience in industry research and has published several research papers on behalf of a well-known information resource group in South Africa. She has a BA (Hons) Information Science degree from the University of Pretoria, and a National Diploma in Library and Information Science from the Tshwane University of Technology.

Linde Steyn (Trade Advisor for the State of New York)
Linde worked as an high school educator for eleven years. She obtained her Higher Diploma in Education at the Potchefstroom Teacher Training College, specialising in Languages, Social, Computer, as well as Sport Sciences and completed a course on Adult Basic Education and Training. She also has a Diploma in Accountancy Education from the University of South Africa. Through her work as an educator and her involvement in sport, she has experience in research and event planning and coordination.

 

Berinda Rudman (Office Administrator)
Berinda was previously employed by the Deputy Ministries of Land Affairs and Finance and was later transferred to the South African Revenue Service. She also has experience employee home loans and renting of property for Iscor. Berinda joined Zurcom in August 2008.

RETAINED ASSOCIATES


 

Abigail Ellary (Trade Advisor for the State of Ohio)

Abigail has four years of experience with PriceWaterhouseCoopers and six with the U.S. Foreign Commercial Services. She is located in Durban and assists with projects in KwaZulu-Natal. Abigail has a diploma from the Durban University of Technology in Public Relations Management. Abigal resides in Durban, South Africa.


Allan Brown (Trade Advisor for the State of Ohio)

Allan is a consultant specializing in benchmarking development projects. He has wide experience in advising on development issues in island economies - having worked throughout the West Indies and South Pacific as well as Indonesia, Kazakhstan and South Africa. He designed and implemented performance-based programme monitoring systems which have been used successfully through USAID's global presence. Allan has a Bachelor of Science in Pure Mathematics from the University of Auckland. Allan currently resides in Europe.


Carin Danon

Carin has several years of experience working with the Embassy of Japan in trade facilitation as well as the State of California's trade office before joining Zurcom in 2003. She completed a B.Commerce at Pretoria, an Honours B. of Commerce at South Africa as well as a certificate in Public Relations at the Institute for Industrial and Continuing Education. Carin is re-locating to Melbourne, Australia in the near future.


Ndudi Osakwe

Ndudi operates out of Lagos, Nigeria. His office of four people complements ours in the trade facilitation services. He also manages an outreach office in Accra, Ghana. Ndudi has experience working with two US state governments. He has an M.Sc. from the U. of Jos, Nigeria, a B.Sc in Geography from U. of Ibadan, a graduate certificate from Hebrew University and a post-graduate certificate from Brookes University in the UK.


ASSOCIATION MEMBERSHIPS



Our office has membership in the following business and policy circles:
 

American Chamber of Commerce in South Africa (ACCSA)
www.amcham.co.za

South African Canadian Chamber of Commerce and Business (SACOB)www.sacob.co.za

Johannesburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI)
www.jcci.co.za

Cape Town Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
www.capechamber.co.za

South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA).
www.saiia.org.za