NMG positive about 2025

Local pension fund administrator, NMG Administrators Botswana, will in the first quarter of 2025 launch cutting edge innovation solutions that will position it as a market leader as its new and highly ambitious Vision 2025 strategy comes under full implementation. NMG Administrators Botswana CEO Motshabi Mokone said Vision 25 is very critical to NMG when addressing media on Tuesday. 

The upbeat Mokone said one of the key pillars of the strategy is excellence and as a result NMG targets to become a world class leading business in offering benefits and administration consultancy services. She said new innovative solutions will enhance the value proposition of NMG in the market. 

Mokone said they settled for a short-term strategy for now because as a new organisation established in 2021, they achieved what they wanted to achieve when they started and they now want to be agile enough to achieve their strategic objectives under the Vision 25 strategy. 

She said after the Vision 2025 strategy, NMG Administrators will come up with a strategy that will drive them post the 2025 growth period and possibly a three to five-year term strategy could be drawn. 

According to her, core of the strategic ambition is to put the customers first through leveraging on sophisticated solutions that will bring about efficiency when processing their employee benefits claims. 

“We are currently the largest employee benefits administration company with the market share of 43 percent. This is demonstrated by our capacity to offer administration to the Botswana Public Officers Pension Fund (BPOPF), which has 163 000 members. This shows how big we are in the market,” she said. 

Mokone said NMG Administrators Botswana took over the administration of BPOPF after the pension fund had to cease self-administration of its fund following changes in the pension fund legislation. 

Mokone said NMG Administrators Botswana leverages on its strong footprint which spans across five continents in the world including the United Kingdom (UK), Canada, North America, South Africa and Botswana. 

The company also has presence in 18 cities across the world while in Botswana it has service centre footprint in places such as Maun, Francistown and Jwaneng. 

NMG provides consulting and administration services to ensure benefits are delivered as planned, with absolute professionalism, precision and up-to-the-minute legislative compliance that one can count on. 

Compliance 

Meanwhile, Legal Manager and Company Secretary Kabo Morokotso said compliance and good governance is paramount to NMG Administrators. He said as a player in the pension fund market and part of Non-Bank Financial Institutions (NBFIs), NMG Administrators is regulated by Non-Bank Financial Institutions Regulatory Authority (NBFIRA).

Morokotso said on its day-to-day operations, NMG Administrators Botswana apart from being regulated by NBFIRA, also subscribes to regulation standards from organisations such the Financial Intelligence Agency (FIA), Botswana Unified Revenue Service (BURS) and Botswana Accountancy Oversight Authority (BAOA) respectively. 

He noted that the Vision 2025 strategy encompasses very rigid regulatory and compliance framework, adding that without that the company wouldn’t be able to create shareholder value to the owners consistently. 

Morokotso said from time-to-time NMG Administrators Botswana will align to the new legislation changes as put forward by the government, noting that the company is keen to support government efforts to strengthen compliance aimed at curbing money laundering acts that can result in the country being grey listed. 

Financial Literacy 

Mokone said they are committed to driving financial education amongst pension funds and the individual members who are clients. She said one of the big challenges that they face is that most of Batswana don’t have pre-retirement and financial planning plans; hence some end up not saving enough and as a result could retire poor. 

Mokone said financial literacy is very important to NMG Administrators Botswana because it can reduce a burden from government whereby those who retire without anything end up relying on government for social amenities which gobble large parts of government coffers. 

“The scenario is very bad because some time for example, a person who retires at 60 or so will be looking to start his or her own home and by that time banks or other financial institutions count them out. We are committed to teach Batswana about the importance of financial planning and we will partner with the government or any other player to do so. There is still a large gap that exists with regards to that,” she said