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“Success is a process, not an event.”
That’s Max Maisela’s advice to young entrepreneurs and aspiring businessmen.
“Go back to the basics: roll up your sleeves and soil your hands.”
Award-winning CEO and chairman of NBC Holdings, Maisela knows what it takes to start with nothing. He singles out the suffering and deprivation of his early childhood and a promise he made to his mother as the driving forces for practically changing the face of the retirement industry in South Africa.
By pioneering the formation of a company that now has more than 500 employees and offices throughout Africa he honours his commitment to his mother changing thousands of lives. NBC is an independent black-owned and -managed company focusing on employee benefits and various related products and services.
Maisela’s teens were particularly difficult. “My father died when I was 14 and three years later my mother had a stroke – I believe as a result of the strain to provide for our family with my father’s small pension. I had no choice other than leave school and earn an income to support my mother and five siblings. With no formal education I had to find a job.
I sometimes had three to four jobs simultaneously to make sure hospital bills and school fees were paid.”
Years later – on her deathbed – Maisela promised his mother he’d do his utmost to prevent such tragedies.
As a young adult, Maisela made rapid progress in the financial services sector, first at the Benoni Board, followed by Price Forbes (later Alexander Forbes). In an effort to understand the employee benefits industry and the structuring of funds, he committed himself to research. His frustration escalated as he discovered increasing shortcomings.
“Products offered were totally deficient, given the needs of black workers. First, the life expectancy of blacks was much lower than the white-based rates used to structure policies. Second, no provision was made for funerals – a very important aspect of a black person’s life.
Another problem had to do with the payment of retirement money, as many people retired to remote areas with no banking facilities or postal and telephone services.”
Maisela was eventually asked to complete his research under the auspices of the then Department of Manpower. “What I discovered instigated the whole idea of what the NBC offers today. The principle is that you can’t assume how and when a person is going to retire.
Consultation is essential. You have to find out what an individual’s needs are and design something that will work for him specifically.”
He also demanded legitimate representation in the management structures of retirement funds. “Even if a person didn’t attend school or doesn’t have a degree it doesn’t mean he doesn’t know what his family’s needs are. And besides, they’re a partner because they also invest in this fund – therefore they have a say.”
As a result, direct-member representation on a board of trustees was legislated in 1996 for all registered retirement funds in SA.
In the political environment of the early Eighties, Maisela endured extreme political resistance (even death threats). He was regarded as an enemy and many of his associates turned their backs on him. Yet he fearlessly continued in his quest to change attitudes. By the Nineties he was deputy MD at Alexander Forbes and had started his own small division that catered for the unique needs of that market. Maisela later negotiated a management buyout of his division and NBC Holdings was founded 1 April 1998.
Apart from seven offices in SA, the NBC is represented in Namibia, Mozambique, Ghana, Lesotho and Swaziland, swiftly becoming a leader in employee benefits throughout Africa.
The company administers various funds across blue chip, Government and sector funds, including Toyota, BMW, Firestone, Cadbury, Nestlé and many others. It’s also involved in numerous corporate social investment programmes aimed at developing opportunities for black children and young black graduates from disadvantaged communities.
Maisela was recently awarded the Johnnie Walker Celebrating Strides Award 2010 in the Business Category, a highly coveted entrepreneurial award.
- Finweek
That’s Max Maisela’s advice to young entrepreneurs and aspiring businessmen.
“Go back to the basics: roll up your sleeves and soil your hands.”
Award-winning CEO and chairman of NBC Holdings, Maisela knows what it takes to start with nothing. He singles out the suffering and deprivation of his early childhood and a promise he made to his mother as the driving forces for practically changing the face of the retirement industry in South Africa.
By pioneering the formation of a company that now has more than 500 employees and offices throughout Africa he honours his commitment to his mother changing thousands of lives. NBC is an independent black-owned and -managed company focusing on employee benefits and various related products and services.
Maisela’s teens were particularly difficult. “My father died when I was 14 and three years later my mother had a stroke – I believe as a result of the strain to provide for our family with my father’s small pension. I had no choice other than leave school and earn an income to support my mother and five siblings. With no formal education I had to find a job.
I sometimes had three to four jobs simultaneously to make sure hospital bills and school fees were paid.”
Years later – on her deathbed – Maisela promised his mother he’d do his utmost to prevent such tragedies.
As a young adult, Maisela made rapid progress in the financial services sector, first at the Benoni Board, followed by Price Forbes (later Alexander Forbes). In an effort to understand the employee benefits industry and the structuring of funds, he committed himself to research. His frustration escalated as he discovered increasing shortcomings.
“Products offered were totally deficient, given the needs of black workers. First, the life expectancy of blacks was much lower than the white-based rates used to structure policies. Second, no provision was made for funerals – a very important aspect of a black person’s life.
Another problem had to do with the payment of retirement money, as many people retired to remote areas with no banking facilities or postal and telephone services.”
Maisela was eventually asked to complete his research under the auspices of the then Department of Manpower. “What I discovered instigated the whole idea of what the NBC offers today. The principle is that you can’t assume how and when a person is going to retire.
Consultation is essential. You have to find out what an individual’s needs are and design something that will work for him specifically.”
He also demanded legitimate representation in the management structures of retirement funds. “Even if a person didn’t attend school or doesn’t have a degree it doesn’t mean he doesn’t know what his family’s needs are. And besides, they’re a partner because they also invest in this fund – therefore they have a say.”
As a result, direct-member representation on a board of trustees was legislated in 1996 for all registered retirement funds in SA.
In the political environment of the early Eighties, Maisela endured extreme political resistance (even death threats). He was regarded as an enemy and many of his associates turned their backs on him. Yet he fearlessly continued in his quest to change attitudes. By the Nineties he was deputy MD at Alexander Forbes and had started his own small division that catered for the unique needs of that market. Maisela later negotiated a management buyout of his division and NBC Holdings was founded 1 April 1998.
Apart from seven offices in SA, the NBC is represented in Namibia, Mozambique, Ghana, Lesotho and Swaziland, swiftly becoming a leader in employee benefits throughout Africa.
The company administers various funds across blue chip, Government and sector funds, including Toyota, BMW, Firestone, Cadbury, Nestlé and many others. It’s also involved in numerous corporate social investment programmes aimed at developing opportunities for black children and young black graduates from disadvantaged communities.
Maisela was recently awarded the Johnnie Walker Celebrating Strides Award 2010 in the Business Category, a highly coveted entrepreneurial award.
- Finweek
