Steering AlexForbes Namibia into a new era

B7: What is your educational background?

FM: I matriculated at Windhoek High School. Afterwards I obtained a B.Com (Mathematics) degree at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa, majoring in statistics and actuarial science and economics.

Postgraduate I the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation from the CFA Institute. I also obtained a postgraduate Diploma of Financial Planning from the University of The Free State and was awarded the Certified Financial Planner (CFP) designation.

B7: What are some of the new roles and responsibilities you have as managing director?

FM: I lead a team of investment professionals, overseeing strategic initiatives to expand the investment business in Namibia. In addition, I manage strategic relationships.

B7: Can you explain your management style?

I have a combination of collaborative and delegative management styles.

I like to get team members’ input and views on matters, since they have different perspectives and bring innovative ideas to the table.

I also believe employees should have a level of autonomy and control over their own work, as this typically increases their creativity, motivation and job satisfaction.

B7: What are your short-term goals? What do you wish to greatly focus on in your role?

FM: My main short-term goal will be to create greater awareness of the advantages of Alexforbes’ multi-manager products.

Other short- term goals would be to provide existing clients with best-in class services. We also want to continually improve our investment products, always thinking creatively in terms of our investment strategies and products.

Finally, we would like to launch new innovative investment products.

B7: You mentioned that Alexforbes Namibia is a multi-manager of assets. What does it mean to be a multi-manager of assets?

FM: Essentially, what this means is that Alexforbes picks asset managers for our investment portfolio. In other words, we do not pick investment instruments like shares, but rather our underlying asset managers would pick the investment instruments.

The way that we typically would construct investment portfolios is a so-called three-step process: that is, we first do the asset allocation for the portfolio based on the relevant investment objectives, then we would do the strategy selection for the various asset classes.

We would, for example, consider active strategies, passive strategies and alternative strategies like hedge funds and finally we would pick the asset managers for the selected strategies based on our manager research.

Typically, our investment portfolios include a variety of underlying asset managers, each with distinct but complementary investment styles. For equities, these styles might include value, growth, quality, and momentum.

B7: What are the advantages of multi-management?

FM: We believe that there are many advantages that the multi-management approach offers, like improved diversification and reduction in volatility of returns.

In addition, we believe that our approach not only enables us to deliver competitive risk-adjusted returns, but also to deliver these good returns consistently. Our medium to longer track record provides proof of the success of Alexforbes multi-management approach.

B7: There is a perception in the market that multi-management is expensive as there are layers of fees. Is this true?

FM: It is actually the opposite, as our multi-management portfolios are priced very competitively.

We frequently compare the fee structures of our portfolios relative to the relevant peer group and what we found is that our fee structures are often cheaper than the average fee structures of the relevant peer group.

The reason we are able to do this is we negotiate competitive fees with our underlying managers by using our large assets under management as leverage.

Keep in mind that Alexforbes is the only multi-manager in Namibia and in South-Africa we are by far the largest multi-manager with significant assets under management.

In addition, we use Mercer as our global partner. Mercer is also one of the largest so-called investment consultant managers globally.

B7: What advice do you have for retirement members in terms of their investments?

FM: Firstly, do not focus on the short-term performance of your retirement portfolio.

In the short term, there is a lot of so-called noise and if you focus only on short term results, this may result in you making the wrong investment decisions. As an investor, try to be patient and take a long-term perspective.

Secondly, try to preserve your retirement money when you move between employers. Many members take their retirement savings in cash when they resign, and this could potentially derail your retirement outcomes if you have to start saving all over again.

Thirdly, and this is not only for retirement members but all young people, is to start saving from a young age. Compound interest is known as the eighth wonder of the world, so you should use this to your advantage.

B7: Do you have plans to introduce new investment products this year?

FM: Yes, we continually try to be innovative and we are planning to launch a so-called smoothing product shortly.

We believe it is an excellent product because it is expected to provide real returns of 5% per annum over the longer term, but at significantly less volatility than products with similar return objectives.

We also plan to launch our own unit trust portfolio range later this year.

B7: What does the Alexforbes Investments brand stand for?

FM: I believe our brand already stands for excellence and trustworthiness.

We would like to become one of the most well-known and trusted brands in Namibia. One way to achieve this, is to meet the expectations of our investors and to continue to provide excellent risk-adjusted returns.

I believe our brand already represents excellence and trustworthiness. Our goal is to become one of the most renowned and trusted brands in Namibia.

To achieve this, we aim to meet our investors' expectations and consistently deliver excellent risk-adjusted returns.

B7: Are you excited about the future of the Namibian economy?

FM: Yes, I am very excited.

We all know about exciting projects being developed or in the pipeline like the green hydrogen projects, a second desalination plant at the coast and a huge highway from Windhoek to the Hosea Kutako International Airport. These are all projects that will help to stimulate the economy and grow the economy.

The big game changer is of course the recent oil discoveries and the potential production of oil offshore. Look across the Atlantic at Guyana, a South American country where oil was discovered in 2015 and first oil production started in 2020. They have registered GDP growth of about 40% per year in the first three years since 2020 and their economy is expected to grow at a rate of 20% per year for the next few years.

B7: What would your advice be to young people to make a success of their career?

FM: Work hard.

There is no substitute for hard work.

Always have a positive attitude. Always believe in yourself.