International President’s Report 2017-18
Dear National Presidents, WIMA Officials and WIMA members,
It has been an exciting and busy year, during which I have been spending time networking with women all over the world – WIMA Presidents, WIMA members, prospective members and prospective new divisions. As no previous contacts were handed over to me, I built my own contact list from the base and I have spent a lot of time on social media communicating with female riders with the primary purpose of spreading knowledge about WIMA and, in addition, searching out women who’d like to be part of our association. As a result, I’m expecting proposals from Greece, Indonesia, Kenya, Nepal, Nicaragua and Pakistan. In addition, I have several other connections that might lead to proposals in the future. Some of these women have found WIMA through our website and many thanks to our web manager Karin for keeping it updated and continuously working on improvement. The website, together with our Facebook fan page, are our second to best advertising. The very best advertising is word of mouth: members and other people spreading their good impressions of WIMA. Thanks to national presidents and individual members, I have made connections that could lead to new divisions. So, to all WIMA members, don’t underestimate your role as a WIMA ambassador when you meet new people – we’re all in this together.
Apart from networking and finding new divisions, I have spent time in WIMA World’s own Facebook group. Our PR officer Israt and I have been working hard on making the group an active one. We want it to be a forum for the exchange of ideas and experiences, as well as a place to network and get to know new people. I am happy to see that the activity on WIMA World’s closed Facebook group has increased, and more and more members are joining. The Facebook fan page has also needed some attention and Israt and I have worked together to create a news feed which reflects the activities in WIMA’s divisions and we have brought life to what was a rather sleepy page. I am ever thankful to all the national presidents who have taken their time to share their activities in the Facebook group and page too. In an effort to make myself more visible as international president, I have throughout the year posted videos and other posts. This is another of Israt’s PR ideas and the purpose is twofold. On the one hand, members who haven’t met me can get to know me a little better, and at the same time it makes WIMA more approachable as an organisation with a visible leader.
As I’m writing this, we have just celebrated the 2nd International WIMA Day and I am very excited about the video competition! Thanks to all members who took part! The International WIMA Day video competition is made possible thanks to team effort; merchandise officer Chris Maria designed the logo, Israt had the idea of hosting a video competition and Karin prepped the website to receive videos. Now it is time to organise the members vote for best video.
Apart from networking and fun and games, I’ve been monitoring the development of Pikilily, WIMA’s official charity; thanks to WIMA’s fundraising contributions, the first female-run motorcycle garage in Africa has been built and five female apprentices have been trained in motorcycle maintenance, skilful driving and road safety. Many thanks to all our members who support the idea of women solidarity and to all who have donated to this cause, especially our newly invigorated WIMA France. At the moment, Pikilily is undergoing structural changes and the full details will be shared in the
charity report which will be released shortly along with a report from Pikilily founder Claire Elsdon. I’m confident that Pikilily will manage this transition well and I look forward to further news from Claire, Mama Rose and the rest of the apprentices.
During the autumn, I dedicated time to arrange paperwork and to communicate regarding the minutes. WIMA didn’t have a vice president at the time so I was doing double duties. Fortunately, the vice president’s position was filled swiftly by Zara, along with the other two vacant positions where Maris stepped up as WIMA’s treasurer and Chris-Maria as merchandise officer. Since December, we have been a full team working for WIMA on an international level and I am very happy to be working with such an enthusiastic team. In addition, it has been good to hear directly from national presidents about what is going on in their divisions and to share ideas.
After spending all this time on the internet, do I still have time to ride my bike I hear you ask. Fortunately, the answer is yes. Here in Spain, where I live, I still ride my Kawasaki Versys and this summer I will not have to choose between riding my bike and seeing my family in Sweden. I have got myself a new bike for Sweden, well new for me; I’m now also an owner of an old BMW GS.
You will see me and my GS at the WIMA rally in Finland, and before that at the Horizons Unlimited meet in Sweden and the FIM rally in Lithuania. Perhaps I’ll see you on the road!
Best wishes and safe riding,
Åsa Öhqvist,
International President of WIMA
