PROFILE Market maven
For more than a decade, Mutual & Federal has had to concede the title of SA’s top short-term insurer to Santam. But it is ready for another frontal assault.
A key leader in this push will be Nangula Kauluma (38), who is in charge of customer, brand and responsible business.
In hard numbers, her ambition is to help the business grow market share from 11% to at least 15% and eventually 17% over the medium term. But certain things have to happen first.
“We need to make buying insurance and making claims easier for customers and particularly for brokers, through digital solutions. And as part of responsible business we need to progress transformation through our procurement strategies and policies, with a greater diversity of suppliers.”
Kauluma has lived with diversity all her life. She is the daughter of James Kauluma, the late Ovambo-speaking Anglican bishop of Namibia, and Sally Camp, a white woman from Brooklyn, New York.
“I had a colourful upbringing with different backgrounds and belief systems. We had a huge extended family in Windhoek and we often had a dozen people around the dinner table.”
Kauluma was educated at Spelman College, a historically black liberal arts college in Atlanta, US. Her degree was in political science. Later she got an MBA from Stellenbosch, setting herself up for her current role with a research project entitled “Framework development for multinational strategic brand management in Africa”.
Much of her experience has been outside financial services. Her first job was as PR assistant for Air Namibia, which included air travel co-ordination for the Face of Africa and related television advertising production.
She later spent three years as the sales representative for the whole of Namibia for Pfizer, manufacturer of brands such as Anadin and Advil. After a short spell as PR of the Polytechnic of Namibia she became head of marketing operations for the Namibia Tourism Board.
In 2006 Kauluma joined Old Mutual Namibia as a corporate communications consultant, a job which included the planning and development of market research as well as a brand advertising strategy.
She joined the business on the same day that Raimund Snyders started as CE of Old Mutual Namibia (and in 2014 he would headhunt Kauluma when he became head of Mutual & Federal).
Kauluma climbed the corporate ladder, moving to manager of central marketing and a year later to marketing executive. By 2009 it was time to move to a wider stage.
As marketing executive of Old Mutual Africa she moved to Johannesburg, where she was responsible, in a dress rehearsal for her current job, for the brand, reputation and customer experience of the Old Mutual brand in the rest of Africa from Swaziland to Nigeria.
To build her experience she was sent to the tough school of the mass & foundation cluster, which serves the low-income market in SA. A large part of this job was providing financial education.
With her experience of managing the Old Mutual brand, there is speculation that Kauluma has been brought in to change Mutual & Federal’s name to Old Mutual — something even the chatty Kauluma won’t comment on. Following the call by the ANC for comrades to provide information about alleged business influence on the state, a number of comrades came forward to engage with the office of the secretary-general. It was unfortunate that only one person could make a written submission. ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe in a statement after the weekend NEC meeting.