The Specialised Underwriter

As a Specialised Underwriter, PARTNER RISK is an underwriting management agency registered in South Africa, who provide tailor-made insurance solutions offering unmatched services while assisting clients to achieve a more sustainable business.

PARTNER RISK humble beginnings started as a direct response to the need to form a hub of underwriting excellence for large commercial risks in the Southern African region.

It was with this vision that PARTNER RISK was borne, with the purpose to create sustainable risk and insurance solutions, while delivering responsible, reliable and relevant service to our partners, viz. brokers and insured clients.

PARTNER RISK humble beginnings started as a direct response to the need to form a hub of underwriting excellence for large commercial risks in the Southern African region.

Our greatest asset

At PARTNER RISK, our team is the heart of our organisation. Your success and everything we do is as a result of our efforts and teamwork. Our ability to deliver specialised insurance solutions and secure protection for our clients starts with our dedicated team of professionals.

We pride ourselves on our ability to provide innovative solutions to clients, created around our 3 pillars of success, always with our clients’ needs in mind. We share a mutual passion for the industry and excelling at what we do.

We believe that together there is nothing that we cannot achieve. Our team of smart, innovative and professional experts are unique as they are individually and practice good faith, fairness and honesty in everything that they do.

At PARTNER RISK we value integrity and thrive off watching one another succeed. We celebrate each other’s strengths and motivate each other to not only do the best but be the best.

The PARTNER RISK Team

Our customers chose us because of our professionalism, value and commitment to providing our clients with leading, integrated insurance solutions. The PARTNER RISK approach delivers unmatched services via a dynamic team of highly skilled and passionate insurance professionals.

By holding ourselves accountable and taking ownership of our actions, we continually move forward as a responsible company, who meets client demands to pave the way to creating sustainable businesses for our clients.

Our PARTNER RISK team is the holy grail of our business. We embrace diversity and treat each and every individual with respect and dignity, celebrating each other’s achievements.

PARTNER RISK’s knowledge of the industry and combined years of experience have helped us transform underwriting excellence to deliver tailor-made solutions that create a real impact. By being committed to being socially responsible, we create a positive impact while contributing to the creation of improved communities.

Meet our Underwriters

Our team at PARTNER RISK is our recipe to outstanding results & success.

Gareth
Baines

Managing Director

Gareth started PARTNER RISK on 1 March 2017. GB for short, boasts extensive knowledge in P&C insurance and bancassurance in Africa. GB served on the board of IRMSA and various non-Life and Life boards between the years 1992 – 2004.

He also held executive roles for Guardrisk, AIG, Absa Bank, and Nedbank, gaining valuable experience and crucial skills in structured insurance, personal, commercial and niche insurance product lines.

GB has a B.Bus.Sc. (Finance Hons), MBA. He has the RE1 and RE5 regulatory qualifications in South Africa.

Charlton Grootboom

Underwriting Assistant

Charlton joined PARTNER RISK on the 1st December 2022 as an underwriting assistant under supervision. With 8 years of experience in the short-term insurance industry, Charlton brings his youthful exuberance to the PARTNER RISK team. He hopes to complete his RE5 in the early part of 2023.

Charlton started his career with Factory & Industrial straight out of school and PARTNER RISK will be his second Employer.

He is probably one of the most likeable people in the Industry. In his spare time Charlton considers himself to be quite handy with a set of golf clubs.

Lazaros
Sibanda

Head: Technical Support

Lazaros re-joined PARTNER RISK in November 2022.

With 30 years of experience in the short-term insurance industry, Lazaros brings tremendous technical experience to the PARTNER RISK team having honed his property underwriting skills in both corporate and commercial property at the likes of OMI, Aon, Hollard and The Lion of Africa.

In addition to the above experience, Lazaros also holds a RE5 qualification. When he is not working his interests are watching sports, farming and religion.

Lekang
Motaung

Underwriting Manager

Lekang joined PARTNER RISK on 1 June 2020. Lekang joined the P&C insurance industry in South Africa in 2006 and worked for Marsh in Johannesburg for 11 years as a Placement broker handling banking, manufacturing and mining clients.

Before joining PARTNER RISK, Lekang gained experience in sales, underwriting and reinsurance, and worked as a Property underwriter.

Lekang has a Licentiate in Insurance, and is studying toward his Associateship. He obtained his RE5 Level 1 regulatory qualification in 2012.

Leslie
Mitchell

Head: Operations

Leslie joined PARTNER RISK on the 5th July 2022. Leslie is an experienced leader with a demonstrated history of working in the commercial insurance industry having served as the Managing Director of the UMA, Garagesure in South Africa for 12 years.

Leslie is skilled at business development and the operational requirements of an insurance practice.

In addition to his South African RE1 and RE5 regulatory qualifications, he also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa.

Meet the rest of our team

Meet the brilliant individuals behind the scenes.

Sipumze
Ngobo

Underwriting
Assistant

Sipumze joined PARTNER RISK Solutions on 1 November 2021.

Sipumze came into our underwriting team after completing his BCom degree in Finance at the University of Johannesburg in 2020.

Sipumze is currently studying towards a Post Graduate Diploma in Finance at UNISA.

Kalpana
Dullabh

Administrator
Credit control

Kalpana, also known as “K” prior to joining PARTNER RISK on the 1 July 2018 was at Hollard Insurance for 6 years in the capacity of a credit control team leader who managed 8 to 10 staff members.

K’s experience for the past 21 years in credit control has been gained in various well known Insurance companies in the Industry such as Mutual & Federal, Sage Life and Old Mutual.

Working in both short term and life insurance areas further exposed K to commercial, personal lines, corporate, marine and offshore policies by interacting with brokers and direct clients extensively, allowing her to give expert administration to our clients.

Noël
Rossouw

Administration Manager
– Insurance

Noël joined PARTNER RISK on 1 March 2019. After 5 years as a Loss Adjuster, Noel joined Marsh as a Claims advisor where he spent the next 5 years in corporate assets and liabilities matters.

Noel has a B.A in political science, and an honours degree in Criminology. He obtained his RE5 Level 1 regulatory qualification in 2015.

Ruwaidah
Marian

Underwriting
assistant

Ruwaidah (Ru) has over 15 ys experience in the short-term insurance industry spanning policy, claims, administration & finance areas of personal, commercial, corporate as well as niche areas of insurance.

Exposed to various functions across the insurance spectrum including systems and programmes “Ru” has gained relevant & valuable experience to the advantage of our clients.

Group structure

Organisational structure

Our 3 pillars to success

Our business functions, value proposition and everything that we do at PARTNER RISK is centered around our 3 pillars to success:

Speed Wins
Payback
Risk Management

By embracing these 3 pillars we, as a certified risk manager, are able to able to stand with the commitment to be our best and do our best in offering the finest value to our clients.

Speed Wins

We focus on delivering fast turnaround policy services and strive to make speedy payments, on valid claims, while embracing new technology and systems in order to ensure we deliver on our promises.

Payback

We believe that success is shared in a 3-way partnership: Insured – Broker – Insurer, when we are successful, our clients are too.

The Payback undertaking is an actuarially determined performance bonus, used for investment in approved risk management improvements for qualifying insured clients.

The amounts administered by PARTNER RISK Advisory, for the benefit of insured clients are similar to an “out” bonus.

Risk Management

We believe that effective risk management stems from strong relationships with respected industry partners. Our passionate and determined team of experts boast significant experience across many industry groups to ensure specialised solutions are delivered to clients.

In order to help our clients to achieve a more sustainable business, we draw on respected risk management and survey skill sets.