Happy 2023 from England. I would like to take this opportunity to wish the MPA members, the clients, customers and painting partners a very happy and prosperous 2023.
Many within the industry would know the journey that I have travelled to end up of all places in the U.K and of all things in the employ of a publishing house. There is a reason for everything and in time a lot more will become clear.
Since April 2020 when the whole of South Africa was shocked by unprecedented and unheard of measures to curb the spread of Covid 19 a lot has changed. We became used to hearing words like lockdown, quarantine, social distancing and vaccination. For more than two years this cloud of uncertainty dominated many peoples psyche, more so the consumers we rely on to make decisions on maintenance and painting. Slowly but surely the grip was loosened and at first the more optimistic of us endeavoured to move forward and began to plan for survival and recovery and rebuilding. In fact one member I spoke to was already in that Rebuilding stage as soon as mid 2022. Many are still in recovery phase and some will spend a little while longer just surviving.
In some way this year feels to many as the first time since 2020 where we are actually able to move forward and make plans to actively market businesses. This feels like the most positive start to a year if you believe some economists, although they aren’t always right. Being upbeat about the start of the new year is a right we have earned through the resilience of the last two years.
My wish for this year is for those who are recovering to recover fast, those who are rebuilding, build strong foundations, those who are surviving move into recovery and the obstacles we face pale in comparison to what we have already survived and conquered.
The best is yet to come.
Regards,
Mark Warneke