SDT industry conference gets big thumbs up

SDT, the life assurance specialist in the JSE-listed SilverBridge Holdings group, recently hosted its life insurance industry conference at the Emerald Casino Resort, with delegates giving the event an unqualified thumbs up.

"I found the conference very informative, the content very interesting and useful and the conference was very well organised," said Irnest Kaplan of Kaplan Equity Analysts.

"I was really very impressed at how well the event went. I attend many local and international conferences, and this was up there with them," said Chris Holland of Nedbank Group.

"The conference was exceptionally well planned, the speakers were experts in their field and the presentations very professional,"reported Jaco van der Westhuizen of LegalWise.

The event, titled “Strategic Insight into Life Assurance Opportunities on the African Continent”, was characterised by a high calibre of speakers and 100% attendance. Grant Driver, a renowned business coach and international speaker, headlined with his talk on "What now? How to survive and thrive in the global meltdown".

Jaco Swanepoel, CEO of SDT’s holding company, JSE-listed SilverBridge Holdings, presented on "Convergence of products in financial services:

A look at what can be done and has been done in the world". He visualised a world where financial services products are transformed into services through technology, with customers choosing to acquire and pay for their required service where it suits them, and through the channel appropriate for them.

Other speakers who ensured a standing-room-only conference included Professor Niek du Preez, CEO of Indutech, and Bernard Katz, business engineering services manager at Indutech; John Turnbull, MD of Hollard partner The Best Funeral Society; business consultant Johan Reyneke; Magnus Rademeyer, MD of AfriGIS; and Colleen Velleman, head: management consulting and support at Ones&Zeros.

"We have run conferences like this one before, and they have all been valuable, but this conference exceeded all expectations in terms of quality of delegates, high percentage of turnout, extraordinary quality of speakers, and the range of social activities on hand," says Gawie Erasmus, CEO of SDT.

"We thank all involved for their participation, and for making the SDT conference such a success.”