15 years in retrospect - Nampower Convention Centre 26 September 2014

A speech given by Tilman Friedrich

Thank you Daisry, Master of Ceremonies. Thank you for having opened this occasion and for having observed all protocol and all formalities so that I can get straight into the purpose of my taking the stage.

Good evening ladies and gentlemen, trustees, principal officers, business associates, friends and last but certainly not least, colleagues of Retirement Fund Solutions.

Retirement Fund Solutions was registered by the Registrar of Companies on 19 August 1999. The company commenced with two employees who were the sole shareholders and directors of the company. Today 6 staff members are also directors of the company supported by one non-executive director, Mr Festus Hangula. Today all staff have a beneficial interest in the company through a Staff Share Trust and RFS Holdings CC.

Effective 1 September 1999 the company was awarded its first appointment as broker to the Westair Aviation Pension Fund and as consultant to the Taeuber & Corssen Namibia Retirement Fund effective 1 October 1999. On the 1st of October Charlotte Drayer joined the company as its first non-shareholding staff member and we moved into our office in Namlex building. On 1 October 2000 the Cymot Pension Fund and the Taeuber & Corssen Namibia Retirement Fund appointed the company as its administrator.

On 1 January 2000, the Benchmark Retirement Fund was launched. Along the way we passed many other key milestones, many of which have since recurred numerous times and all of which we have reason to celebrate today as part of our 15 year anniversary.

I would at this juncture like to express my sincere gratitude to all our clients who have afforded us their trust and confidence and have supported us over the past 15 years – thank you so much without you I would not stand here tonight.

At the occasion of our 5th anniversary in 2004 at Hotel Thule, we proudly announced that the company was now administering 8,000 members with total assets under administration of N$ 1.3 billion, cared for by 15 staff members. The Benchmark Retirement Fund at the time had 1,300 members and assets of N$ 60 million. 5 Years later at our current offices at the corner of Feld and Newton streets the company was administering 21,000 members and assets of N$ 6 billion, cared for by 41 staff members. The Benchmark Retirement Fund had grown to 3,700 members with assets of N$ 212 million. After 15 years in the business, we are now administering 35,000 members with assets of 14.5 billion and we employ 59 staff members. The Benchmark Retirement fund has grown to 9,000 members with assets of N$ 1.5 billion. Assuming an average family size of 5, RFS is touching the lives of close to 200,000 people in Namibia.

With these statistics we are fully cognisant of the responsibility this places on us to plough back into the communities that are paying for the services we provide. Over the past year we invested N$ 330,000 through directors’ social responsibility projects and other sponsorships. This represents 0.8% of total revenue and even significantly exceeds the allocation defined in our policy. Our staff is encouraged and supported financially to become members of and involved in industry bodies and in their communities. Sincerity requires personal involvement rather than throwing money at projects but not identifying with these.

• Projekt Lilie (promoting education);
• SKW/RFS annual Youth Soccer tournament;
• Delta Secondary School Windhoek annual Soccer tournament.
• Namcol and Polytechnic bursaries.
• Okanti Foundation (medical support of children with rare diseases)
• K5 Sport sponsorship for the development of u/12 and u/14 indoor hockey players.
• Benchtest newsletter (educating the public in matters affecting their retirement provision).

Starting up a new business is never an easy task and always faces many challenges. Will the business be able to get off the ground, and if so, at such a pace that the business will be able to survive financially yet at the same time in a measured fashion to cope with growth? Will the business be able to attract the right staff at the right time and will it be able to retain its staff? Will the office space accommodate business growth at the right time? Will the business have a sustainable ownership model that will withstand tough times which are bound to happen? This list of questions can be extended significantly and our business too has been facing these challenges.

Start-up businesses usually have to initially take certain business risks generally relating to governance for reasons of affordability, risks such as adequate insurance cover, back-up arrangements for all key resources and disaster recovery arrangements. We have been successful in managing most of the risks and challenges that we faced over the past 15 years however, we have to be extremely grateful about the way in which many developments over the past 15 years, that were totally out of our control, supported and promoted the successful establishment and growth of our business. Today, we measure up well against any medium sized organization in all areas of business governance ranging from extensive business risks insurance cover, dual system of back-up power supply, a disaster recovery site, an internal audit function and independent governance and compliance expertise serving on our board of directors in person of Festus Hangula. Festus, in your absence I nevertheless with to thank you sincerely for your contributions and your dedication at our board level, at this juncture!

First and foremost however, it is you here tonight and those clients and associates who could not make it tonight to whom we have to be grateful for your support over so many years, for your trust in our abilities and for the wonderful spirit in which our staff has been able to serve you and in which our company was able to prosper and grow. Ladies and gentlemen, I would fail my responsibilities if I were not to give special recognition to the support, trust and confidence placed in us by our client trustees and by the two most prominent, independent employee benefits consultancies in Namibia – NMG Consultants and Actuaries and Elite Consulting. Kobus, Marc and Trevor, thank you sincerely for your support! Special mention also needs to be made of our good friends SternLink, with Jankie, Willie and Marios, whom we also owe a huge thank you for the support you have given us over the past 15 years! Without this, we would certainly not have been where we are today! It is great to work with you and I am sure our mutual clients take comfort in a team of independent complementary service providers, each offering unique skills and expertise, in a spirit of mutual trust and cooperation! We look forward to continue these relationships in the interests and for the benefit of our clients and stakeholders. We also say thank you for the good spirit of cooperation, to all insurance companies, asset managers, auditors and actuaries who all have a key role to play in providing our mutual clients with a service package that meets their requirements and needs!

I trust we have been able to meet and exceed your expectations of superior fund management, and I would like to assure you that the shareholders, directors and employees of Retirement Fund Solutions will all personally do everything in their power to ensure that we honour our commitment to you, our clients! We believe that retirement funds are best served by a team of independent but compatible service providers, i.e. administrators, benefit consultants, investment consultants and actuaries.

An important topic that I am sure you all ought to be interested in, is the status of our succession planning. As an owner managed business, ownership continuity is not automatically assured as it is in publicly owned enterprises. It is unfortunately a fact of life that we all grow older and reach the stage where we will no longer be involved. Those ardent readers of our monthly newsletters will have noted that our first employee, Charlotte Drayer, recently reached retirement age. This did not come as a surprise and we have been planning for her succession for quite some time. Fortunately though, Charlotte has merely migrated to a new employment arrangement with the company where she will be focusing on staff training and the development of new products, services and systems, something for which one hardly finds time when one is fully consumed by day-to-day routines. Next one in line is me, reaching retirement age at the end of next year. I will remain actively involved in the business for as long as I am of sound mind (given that you cannot judge your own case) and sound health, but will transfer my management responsibilities to a highly competent, qualified and experience management team.

I would now like to introduce you to our executive management team, most of whom will be familiar to most of you. Can the members of our executive committee now please join me on stage so that our guests can see you:

• Marthinuz Fabianus, deputy managing director and managing director designate;
• Günter Pfeifer, director operations;
• Louis Theron, director support services;
• Kai Friedrich, director operations;
• Frieda Venter, senior manager fund accounting;
• Hannes van Tonder, senior manager fund administration and
• Sharika Skoppelitus, senior manager client services.

Ladies and gentlemen, it should be comforting for you to know that amongst our 59 staff we offer an average of 14 years and an aggregate of over 800 years’ relevant experience, an

average of 5 years’ service with the company, 23 holders of a relevant diploma or certificate, 17 graduates and 11 staff that are members of a relevant professional association, 4 of which being chartered accountants, the profession probably most relevant and appropriate to any financial services organisation. I do not think there is another company in our line of business that can offer you such wealth of knowledge and peace of mind!

Having said this, I must emphasise that our focus is on providing the best service and giving personal, hands-on attention to our clients from our most senior staff to our friendly and helpful reception staff.

No doubt this has been an important reason for us never having lost a client to a competitor yet with whom we had entered into a business relationship, but rather having attracted all our clients from another competitor!

Ladies and gentlemen I thank you sincerely for your patience and wish you an enjoyable and interesting evening and thank you most sincerely for your support over the past years! I hope that you will be able to take something home tonight and I am not referring to anything tangible but rather to that intangible knowledge and insight we hope you will gain from the presentation of our guest speaker Lynn Baker, that no one will ever be able to rob you of!

Thank you! I wish you all an interesting and enjoyable evening