The impact of showing up: why events matter

At CN&CO, events have always been part of how we do business.

Sometimes we organise them. Sometimes we sponsor them. Sometimes we speak, facilitate, host or report on them. And sometimes members of our team are involved because they sit on boards, serve on committees or simply believe strongly enough in an initiative to give it their time and energy.

It is easy to think of an event in terms of what happens on the day: the people in the room, the conversations, the speakers, the food, the photographs and perhaps a drink afterwards.

But the real impact of an event can extend much further.

The 2026 Comrades Marathon provides a particularly striking example.

More than a race

The 99th Comrades Marathon took place on 14 June 2026, with the famous Up Run taking runners from Durban to Pietermaritzburg. More than 20 000 runners started the race, with entrants coming from 75 countries.

But the runners are only one part of the story. A 2026 economic impact study by BDO, commissioned by eThekwini Municipality, paints a fascinating picture of what happens around an event of this scale.

According to the figures, the number of guests attending increased from 21 000 in 2025 to 22 676 in 2026, an increase of 8%.

The economic numbers grew much faster. Direct spend rose from R251.3 million to R311 million, an increase of 24%. The estimated contribution to GDP jumped from R621.8 million to R905.3 million, up 46%. Employment contribution increased from 1 121 to 1 564, while the contribution to household income rose 44%, from R159.4 million to R230.2 million. Government taxes generated increased by 15%, to R53.5 million.

Those numbers put a different perspective on what an event actually is. It is hotel rooms and restaurant tables. It is transport, security, catering and temporary employment. It is someone selling coffee at six in the morning and someone else supplying hundreds of meals. It is flights, fuel, retail spend, tourism and countless businesses, large and small, benefiting from people gathering in one place.

eThekwini Municipality highlighted precisely this multiplier effect ahead of the race, pointing to accommodation, transport, hospitality, retail and tourism as some of the sectors that benefit from the influx of visitors. Durban Financial Services

And the impact is not purely economic. The 2026 Comrades Marathon’s Amabeadibeadi Charity Drive raised more than R7.1 million for six charities. Comrades

Events create ripples

Of course, most of us aren’t organising the Comrades Marathon. But the principle scales. A conference brings delegates into a city. A golf day supports a course, catering teams and suppliers. A webinar connects people who may never otherwise have met. A networking evening can lead to a conversation, which leads to an introduction, which leads to a piece of business. A fundraising event can put money directly into communities where it is needed. Even a relatively small gathering creates activity around it.

This is something we see constantly at CN&CO. Our team is involved in events across insurance, financial services, business, sport, education, culture and the arts. We organise some ourselves and work alongside clients and partners on others. Our people serve on boards and committees, speak at conferences, host conversations, attend industry gatherings and help bring people together.

InsureTalk is one example. The Insurance Conference Western Cape is another. Golf days, awards, webinars, launches, festivals and networking events are others.

The scale and purpose differ, but there is a common thread: people gathering around something they care about.

There is value in being in the room

For all the technology that makes it possible to work, learn and communicate remotely, there remains something enormously valuable about people spending time together.

Ideas move. Relationships deepen. Businesses find customers and collaborators. Knowledge gets shared. Communities form. Money moves through an ecosystem of suppliers and service providers.

Sometimes the impact is measurable in rand and cents. Sometimes it is a new relationship, an unexpected idea or an opportunity that only emerges months later.

The Comrades figures give us a particularly powerful way of seeing those ripples. An event centred on people running from one city to another contributed an estimated R905 million to GDP in 2026.

That is quite a footprint.

So the next time you organise an event, accept an invitation, join a committee, sponsor a gathering, take a seat on a board or simply turn up, remember that what happens in the room, on the road or on the day is only part of the story. And if you need help putting an event together, contact us!

Events have impact – and showing up matters.