What’s happening in the CN&CO Circle of Partners

Sometimes it’s good just to step back and have a look at what’s going on around us. Our partners and clients are doing some amazing work, some of which involves CN&CO and some of which doesn’t.

We put together a very high level summary (with a foreword by Carel) of who’s doing what in our Circle of Partners, just to give some idea of the diversity of the businesses and individuals we deal with – and LOVE dealing with – on a daily basis

Foreword

By Carel Nolte, currently (net)working at Club Med Valmorel

One of the (many) things I love about my work with CN&CO is that I get to assist everyone in the team. So my weeks are diverse. That being said, my main focus in on Club Med, Satrix, EasyEquities, GT247.com, Sundays Insurance and Ince. And with Josie on maternity leave, throw Lombard and ITOO into the mix.

The main, big thing happening at ALL of those partners is that they continue to work at adding real value to their clients. I am continuously struck by this focus by all our successful partners on client first, profit later. Whether it is Satrix working with iMadiba to drive financial inclusion or ClubMed relaunching La Pointe aux Canonniers in Mauritius or EasyEquities driving its baskets and bundles programmes, or, or, or… (you get the picture!)

CN&CO partners want to do good for and with people. Here’s to many more diverse weeks, months and years of adding value, having fun, making a positive difference and helping our clients to get and keep clients.

Here’s a brief summary of some of the exciting things happening in our partners’ businesses:

Dead Reckoning

There are some really exciting things happening at Dead Reckoning with some new product ideas in the pipeline. With sweater weather moving in, keep an eye out for winter hoodies to keep you toasty. On top of that, the Dead Reck surfers have been travelling the country taking on the surf while Karl Bergemann, a professional cruiserweight kickboxing champion and another one of Dead Reck’s epic influencers, has just landed a sponsorship at a gym in Thailand.

Salty Hour is still a highlight across the coast and is certainly a Saturday surf attraction. A special mention has to go out to Pierre de Villiers who continues capturing epic images of the ocean through his eyes. Not to mention a few up and coming chances to win some Dead Reck gear.

Evalex

We’re busy working on a website for an amazing recruitment tool that Evalex has developed called Odyssey. It’s a gamified app that assesses people’s potential, regardless of their levels of literacy or education. There are also new Facebook and LinkedIn pages, in addition to the Evalex Twitter account. Check them out – and have a look at the Evalex newsletter we helped with recently.

The Financial Intermediaries Association of Southern Africa (FIA)

2018 kicked off in great style for the FIA team and its members. January saw the release of the first FIA Insight magazine, followed by five successful power sessions around the country the following month.

The new FIA website is up and running and the next edition of FIA Insight, published in late March, should have hit your desk by now.

Planning has already started for the two FIA highlight events of the year – FIA Awards (28 June 2018) and the FIA Advice Summit (12 October 2018). If you have not yet responded to your FIA Awards invite, here’s the link to use.

2018 is off to a roaring start and the FIA was pleased to invite all members to their morning PowerSessions in George, Johannesburg, Durban, East London and Cape Town.  With a new year comes new challenges and opportunities and these sessions will offer a fresh take on value and benefits to your business and clients. Non of these power sessions could have taken place if it wasn’t for the loyal support from the sponsors Hollard, Tracker, IUM, Sasria, and Liberty. A big thanks to all the regional FIA members for all their help at all the venues.

Fulcrum

Hearty congratulations to Pete Gordon, who took over as CEO of the Fulcrum Group in February. The company is going through some exciting changes and we look forward to joining the team on its journey and sharing all the news as it happens.

Ince

Apart from bringing new products to market that will help companies to present their year-end reports in a way that is easier to understand by all, Ince continues to add to its vision of connecting African investors by bringing its Mauritius office fully into the Ince fold.

We have helped to orchestrate a partnerships with EasyEquities to trial new tech products that bring an angle of responsible investing in South Africa, by shareholders and companies. This is an important direction for investor communications.

Innosys

Internal culture is a focus for Innosys right now, among all the projects it is currently busy with.

If you were involved in the OneCall Golf Day that took place at Lake Club Benoni you would have run into Claire Wood and Alex Castro, who were providing golfers with some delicious gin and tonics on tap. How could you have refused?

ITOO

Following a recent restructuring, ITOO has big plans for the year ahead… and further. With ITOOArtinsure joining the stable of specialised insurers this year, the team has grown not only in number but also in technical knowledge.

This diversified underwriting knowledge will allow for a cross-pollination of ITOO’s products that will add massive value to the business and its clients. ITOOArtinsure is aimed at collectors of a variety of things, including classic cars.

Lombard

As one of the first clients that we signed when we started CN&CO, we have been proud to watch how Lombard Partnerships has developed over the past three years as a division of the Lombard Insurance company.

The iconic Liliesleaf Farm in Rivonia, once the nerve centre for the liberation movement during apartheid, was a fitting scene for Lombard’s recent Partners Day as Jacob Zuma had stepped down as president the night before. Guest speaker Stephen Grootes was on point, as usual, with his analysis of the previous day’s announcement and his speculation of what will happen in the country over the next few months.

Doug Laburn, head of Lombard Partnerships, spoke about where the partnerships division has come from, and what the plans are for the coming year.

For 2018 the business is focusing on five themes:

1. Profitable growth
2. People and the operating platform
3. Regulation and compliance
4. Technology and data
5. Capital management

We can’t wait to see where 2018 takes Lombard as it continues its superb journey.

RMB

The newly renamed RMB Buffalo Regatta featured on Supersport for several days in March, which was very exciting to watch.

RMB also held another extremely successful Starlight Classics in Stellenbosch, featuring the Mzansi Youth Choir. Make sure to get hold of a copy of the latest Classic Feel magazine, which features the event, as well as the choir. CN&CO’s Colin Ford wrote a long-form article on the Mzansi Youth Choir, which is included as an insert in the magazine. But just in case you missed it, you can read Stories of an African Choir on our blog.

On Tuesday 20 February we joined the RMB staff and Mzansi Choir in the foyers as we sand and celebrated the last day at RMB for two of the founders, Laurie Dippenaar and Pat Goss. Check it out:

Wölv

Wölv is currently gearing up for the launch of its next collection, which involves a few awesome collaborations with young South African artists. Watch this space!