Welcome to our new regular item on CIMAsphere where we celebrate those group leaders who have played an active part in making CIMAsphere a vibrant, active community. There are over 50 groups on CIMAsphere - many of them student and member-run - and some are really buzzing.

Volunteering to take on the group manager role is a great opportunity to proactively champion the interests of CIMA members and students, and that's why Kelly Parkhurst - a CIMA student based in Cape Town, South Africa - has been chosen as our first ever Group Manager of the Month!

Why Kelly? Because she suggested the CIMA South Africa group and then took up the commitments required of the role easily and with enthusiasm, and because of the smart and light-touch nature of the posts she put up to seed and kickstart discussions. In turn, Kelly has a willingness to listen and respond to people in a genuinely welcoming fashion.

Thanks in no small part to Kelly’s efforts, the South Africa group is a great example of a recently started group that has quickly taken off and become active.

When I emailed Kelly yesterday to let her know the news, the enthusiasm in her reply was palpable. “Wow, thank you for the nomination! I think it's a great idea to start a feature like this, hopefully it will inspire more managers to get involved and get people joining.”

Kelly’s role as “group host” embodies the spirit of much of what we are aiming to do with CIMAsphere overall, which is to facilitate a platform and an atmosphere where students and members are empowered to tap into each others’ knowledge and support, and to organise themselves, for the benefit of their studies and professional lives.

Kelly contacted us to suggest the CIMA South Africa group at the end of last year, it was set up on the 15th December 2010, and now has 108 CIMA students and members in it networking and swapping study tips and other advice.

“I enjoy social media and was surprised by how many people hadn't joined up with CIMAsphere," Kelly observed. "Considering many of us study through correspondence, being in study-mode can become a bit of a lonely place (especially when it nears exam time!). I think that's why I've been trying to keep the group relevant and current.”

“I was in touch with someone at the local CIMA office, about trying to get them to mention the group in one of the South African newsletters so that more people can join, hopefully they will!”

It’s still early days for the group, and all the group members along with Kelly are equally to be congratulated for getting involved. If you're in this, or any other group on CIMAsphere, what are your thoughts on how it's going so far and how could it be improved?

[NB. Group discussions, events, news and documents are only visible to group members]

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This is the first in a new series of posts celebrating the members and students running successful groups on CIMAsphere.

See also:
Group manager of the month: Gerard Eaton