SA Man of the Week: Nick Stodel

Nick Stodel (36), Managing Director of Stodels Garden Centres, has been appointed as President of the International Garden Centre Association (IGCA) today (12 September) at their international congress (from 11 to 16 September 2011) held in South Tyrol and Lake Garda, in Italy.

FIRST AFRICAN TO TAKE OVER THE REIGNS OF THE INTERNATIONAL GARDEN CENTRE ASSOCIATION

The International Garden Centre Association exists to provide a forum for the mutual exchange of information and benefit of similar minded independent garden retailers on a world-wide basis. This objective is achieved through an annual congress held between August and October, in a different host country each year. The annual congress comprises of a business meeting, which elects officials (e.g. the IGCA president is chosen by the board and is a vote) and administers the affairs of the Association, a concentrated business study tour and an excellent social programme as well as individual study tours organised on an ad hoc basis by national groups which have special learning requirements.

Says Stodel, who is the first African and Southern Hemisphere President: “There have been South African board members before, but not a President. They seem to have kept it to Europe and North America before me. I was asked to join the IGCA board 5 years ago. As a member of SANA (the South African Nursery Association), one automatically becomes a member of IGCA. The IGCA is an international association of National Associations.”

His main responsibilities as President will be to facilitate networking and communications between garden centre owners and association administrators. “We do this via forms of online communication, an administrators’ meeting once a year and a tour of garden centres in a specific country once a year. It is also the President’s job, and that of the board, to ensure that we make the right choices on which countries to visit and that the standard of the tours are exceptional.”

The administrators of IGCA are employed full time and work for the various garden centre associations worldwide. “You can imagine that a lot of the programmes they run and think up can be used in other countries, and so the administrators share these ideas to the benefit of the national garden centre associations.”

Before Stodel joined the board of IGCA, it was made up of older people who had retired from the business. “IGCA felt they needed younger generations in order to help grow the organisation. I was brought in to help with that. In the time that I’ve been there, the board has changed a lot, the biggest change being a decision we made to move the Administration and Secretariat from Switzerland to Canada, which allowed us to have a fresh approach.”

As Vice-President since 2010, Stodel sits on the finance and protocol committee and has been very instrumental in putting modern day processes in place. With regards to his membership in IGCA, Stodel feels getting ideas from around the world and networking with people who are able to give very detailed information about their businesses because they do not compete in the same country, offer real benefits. “Very often ideas in Europe are a season early, so we are able to go there, get ideas and then bring them to SA. I make sure that I go over at least twice a year, three times if I can.  Being on the board also gives me access to so many more people who I’m able to visit, see their garden centres and talk about their ideas. Understanding a business isn’t only about seeing ideas, but also about viewing their systems and understanding how they work. This I find very interesting and motivating.”

Stodel will serve as President of IGCA for two years, and then as Past president for another two.