 |
 |
|
|
||
|
||||||
|
You are here: Home > Search Venues > Free State > Transgariep and Goldfields Region > Bloemfontein > Kopano Nokeng Country Lodge > History
History of Kopano Nokeng Country Lodge Conference Venue in Bloemfontein, Free State
 Kopano Nokeng (Sotho for “gather by the rivers”) was the brainchild of Dr JDE Cronje and his late wife Annemarie. Formally known as “Klub tussen die riviere” the 7O HA premises consisted of a residential house, a small building used as a clubhouse for members, several natural dams and a natural wetland. In 1999 the residence was rebuild and converted into a 12-room guesthouse. The clubhouse was rebuild as a 2-room conference venue and a small kitchen and restaurant. These venues could accommodate between 40 and 80 delegates. Annemarie Cronje and Helena Botha (first manager at Kopano Nokeng) was the driving forces behind the development of the initial gardens, interior and services. Starting out with a staff of only 9, Kopano Nokeng today has a permanent staff of 21 and a casual staff of between 30 and 100. Between 2001 and 2002 the Guesthouse was enlarged with 4 additional rooms, the existing conference center was enlarged and game was settled on the premises. In 2004 a new hall was build that could accommodate 540 conference delegates. This opened the door to accommodate bigger conferences and functions that includes the Inauguration gala luncheon for Free State Premier B. Marschoff, the opening function for the Free State Legislature, Volkswagen vehicle launch and many more. With an enormous growth over this 6-year period, Kopano Nokeng is growing from strength to strength. Between 2004 and 2005, with the help and guidance of the Tourism Enterprise Program, Kopano Nokeng has been evaluated and graded by several organizations such as AA and TGCSA. Thanks to TEP delegates of Kopano Nokeng could attend the Tourism Indaba in Durban and will also attend the Meetings Africa Exhibition in Sandton in 2006. Kopano Nokeng has also recently been nominated as a SAACI member. This puts Kopano Nokeng amongst the major roll players in the industry and would never have been possible without the financial backing and personal relationship of TEP and more specific of Ben Cederstroom and his team. Kopano Nokeng has many success stories of personal growth of employees and one of them is the one of Selina Hlopo. She started out in 2003 working part time as the current Guest House chef’s cleaning lady and he started training her to help him with the pre preparation of the food and garnishes. With no formal training and only helping out for a few months, Selina learned the finer details of food preparation with eager. When the chef suddenly had to leave, Selina stepped in and with the help and support of the other staff and training courses, took over operations in the Guest House kitchen. She is today kitchen manager in the Guest House and she is getting loads of “compliments to the chef” With the help of TEP Selina is currently attending further training courses.
Booking/Enquiry Form |
