SANLAM EMERGING MARKETS ANNOUNCES EXECUTIVE APPOINTMENTS

The Sanlam Group is pleased to announce key leadership appointments which will support and further strengthen the Group’s Pan-African growth. This is also in keeping with the Group’s expanded footprint on the continent following the recent acquisition of a 30% stake in Morocco-based Saham Finances. 

These appointments will result in four distinct regionally focused units within Sanlam Emerging Markets (SEM) - Southern Africa; East Africa; North and West Africa; and South East Asia.

With effect from 01 September 2016:

· Mr Julius Magabe, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Sanlam Life Insurance in Tanzania since 2011, will assume the position of Regional Executive: East Africa for SEM. Magabe will remain based in Dar es Salaam. He will join the SEM Executive Committee and will be responsible for businesses in Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.

Among his successes at the helm of Sanlam Life Insurance, he is credited for growing the business and achieving 60% of the market share.

Magabe is an alumnus of the Johannesburg-based Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS). He also holds an MBA from the Eastern and Southern African Management Institute (ESAMI) and is a graduate of the Institute of Finance Management Tanzania in Insurance and Risk Management. He joined Sanlam Life Insurance in Tanzania (formerly African Life Assurance) in 2007 as Head of Corporate Business. In 2010 he was appointed as Managing Director of the company, a position he has held up to now.

· Mrs Margaret Dawes, currently SEM’s Executive Director: West and East Africa, will take up the position of Executive Director: North and West Africa. A Chartered Accountant, Dawes also holdsaBSc (Hons) Biology (London) and anHDip Tax Law (Wits). 

She joined Sanlam in 2005 as the chief financial officer for Sanlam Developing Markets (now SEM) and has held various other positions within SEM. In her new role, Dawes will be responsible for the SEM businesses in Nigeria, Ghana as well as those businesses in the North and West Africa region which are part of the recently established partnership with Saham Finances based in Morocco.

Earlier this year, the Group made the following appointments:

· Mr Gaffar Hassamas SEM’s Regional Executive: Southern Africa responsible for SEM’s businesses in Namibia, Botswana, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe. 

An MBA graduate from Oxford Brookes, Gaffar is also a fellow member of Chartered Association of Certified Accountants (FCCA). Prior to his SEM appointment, Hassam was the Group CEO for Botswana Insurance Holdings Limited (BIHL) since 1 December 2011. Hassam joined BIHL in April 2003 as the Group Finance Manager and Company Secretary and held several positions within the Group, includingamong others, Head of Finance and Chief Operating Officer.

· Mr Prasheem Seebran as SEM’s Regional Executive: South East Asia responsible for all SEM’s businesses in Malaysia. 

An Actuary, Seebran is currently completing his MBA at Henley Business School. He began his career at Marsh and held various positions at Guardrisk and Telesure before joining Sanlam in June 2013. In September 2013, hemoved to Malaysia where he has been responsible for all risk and capital related areas within Sanlam’s short term insurer, Pacific &Orient (P&O). He has also been in charge of developing P&O’s actuarial capabilities and has worked with the regulator on developing the risk management function and optimisation of capital.

In June, Sanlam Group also announced the appointment of Mr Junior Ngulube as the Chief Executive Officer of SEM. Dawes, Hassam, Seebran and Magabe will report to Ngulube when he takes over from Mr Heinie Werth on 01 October 2016. Werth has been appointed the Group’s Financial Director with effect from 01 October, succeeding Mr Kobus Möller who will retire.

Commenting on the appointments Sanlam Group CEO, Mr Ian Kirk, said: “On behalf of the Sanlam Group Executive Committee, SEM and staff, I wish to congratulate these colleagues. We are confident that they will continue to add value to the SEM business and support us in our journey as a Pan-African leader in financial services.” 

“We are pleased to have been able to fill the majority of these positions from organically grown Sanlam candidates through our succession planning and leadership development programmes, while balancing that by bringing in the right type of external exposure and experience.”The Group is in the process of appointing Magabe’s successor at Sanlam Life Insurance in Tanzania and an announcement will be made in due course. 

Ends

Issued by Sanlam Group Communications

ABOUT THE SANLAM GROUP 

Sanlam is a leading financial services group listed on the JSE Limited and the Namibian Stock Exchange. Established in 1918 as a life insurance company, the South Africa-based Sanlam Group has transformed into a diversified financial services business. 

Through its business clusters – Sanlam Personal Finance, Sanlam Emerging Markets, Sanlam Investments, Santam and the newly established Sanlam Corporate - the Group provides comprehensive and tailored financial solutions to individual and institutional clients across all market segments. The Group’s areas of expertise include insurance, financial planning, retirement, trusts, wills, short-term insurance, asset management, risk management and capital market activities, investment and wealth. 

The Group operates in Southern Africa through Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Zimbabwe and Zambia; East Africa through Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda; West Africa via Nigeria and Ghana and in India and Malaysia. It has an indirect presence via associate companies in Burundi, The Gambia and Lesotho. The recently announced acquisition of a 30% interest in Morocco-based Saham Group will further extend the Group’s footprint into an additional 20 countries mostly in Francophone Africa. The Group also has business interests in the United Kingdom, the USA, Australia and the Philippines. It has a stake in leading global micro-insurance specialists, UK-based Micro-Ensure Holdings Limited. For further information, visit www.sanlam.com. 

ENQUIRIES 

Pearl Majola, Sanlam Group Communication 

+27 11 778-6305 or +27 83 286 7476 or pearl.majola@sanlam.co.za