Dear reader, letting go is sometimes a very hard thing to do. However letting go is necessary to moving on.

• We need to let go our egos so that we can empathise with others.
• We need to let go our biases, the cataracts that blur us seeing other realities.
• We need to let go our past success so that we can build future success.
• We need to let go our strategies, in order to be flexible, adaptive and open.
• We need to let go what we know, in order to learn what it is we need to know.
• We need to let go our grievances and grudges, so we can be free.
• We need to let go our sense of normal, so we can discover other ‘normals’.
• We need to let go our insecurities so that we can love and be loved.

(From an article in TomorrowToday)

In this vein, the time has come for me to let go, to step down as managing director of Retirement Fund Solutions in order to make way for a younger generation to lead this great company to greater heights, as I have intimated for quite some time. Deputy managing director Marthinuz Fabianus will thus be taking over the baton as from 1 July 2018.

Marthinuz and I have come a very long way, in fact only surpassed by two people that are still working for RFS today, namely Charlotte Drayer and Frieda Venter, who have accompanied me on my career for longer than he did. He joined UPA in 1994, fresh from school as a filing and delivery clerk. I saw Marthinuz growing up and maturing over the past 24 years. He always had ambitions, but he was always realistic and humble enough to appreciate that one cannot fly before one can walk. Seemingly menial tasks he approached with conviction and dedication and with the eyes firmly focused on a career path that required of him to progress step by step.

Marthinuz always was content with the progress he made at his own pace and never succumbed to the temptation of short-term gain through job-hopping as so many of our compatriots do. He studied and built his knowledge and expertise in the pensions field step by step, year by year over the past 24 years and without doubt he is today widely recognised as a pensions expert. He has proven his skills in people management when he was assigned responsibility for our fund administration team and he built an excellent reputation over the years he has been serving many of our largest clients as client manager. He has shown that he is able to build bridges between cultures and to manage diversity. The fact that he has been with RFS over 24 years testifies that his personal any the company’s philosophy are very much aligned.

As from Monday 2 July Marthinuz is entrusted with the well-being and the destiny of RFS and its staff. I sincerely wish him all strength, empathy, perseverance, faith and wisdom to lead this wonderful company from strength to strength, for the benefit of its staff and in the interests of its clients and the Namibian economy! May he be blessed with health and good luck at all times!

My position will change to that of technical adviser to our managing director specifically and to the company in general on a full-time basis for as long as I can still add value to our organisation and our stakeholders. While Marthinuz has already taken over quite a few responsibilities from me, I will hand over the remaining management responsibilities over the next couple of months with the objective that no disturbance or disruption will be caused to staff, clients and our service levels. I will also continue to act as chairman of the board of directors of RFS.

To all our clients and our staff I would like to express my sincere appreciation for your trust and confidence over all the years you have supported RFS and I had the privilege to serve you. I trust you will bestow upon Marthinuz the same trust, confidence and support. I will of course still be around every day as before and I am sure our clients and most of our staff will not actually notice any difference.

Important notice and disclaimer
This article summarises the understanding, observation and notes of the author and lays no claim on accuracy, correctness or completeness. Retirement Fund Solutions Namibia (Pty) Ltd does not accept any liability for the content of this contribution and no decision should be taken on the basis of the information contained herein before having confirmed the detail with the relevant party. Any views expressed herein are those of the author and not necessarily those of Retirement Fund Solutions.