Our Culture
How we make all this work?
If you shared a few days in the life of a Strategic Wealth staff member, you might encounter some slightly odd occurrences. For example, before leaving the office for a meeting you might see our consultants wrapping freshly baked bran muffins in a knapsack and wooden crate to take to the client. Or you might find a camera crew drinking sparkling wine and filming our investment team presenting on a client’s quarterly investment feedback. Or you might be attending our annual workshop and be enjoying a neck and back massage while listening to a panel discussion with the CEO of the Botswana Stock Exchange, the CEO of Botswana Accounting Oversight Authority and a panel of industry experts.
You would see these things but also experience some less bizarre events, like sitting in on management meeting where the team are evaluating problems from many different angles and considering all possibilities. In such a meeting you might hear, “but surely we can make this work. It has to be possible, we will find a way.” Or you might attend an investment committee meeting where a team of people are providing expert opinions and using a specially designed tools to assist them with scenario planning”
If you were a member of our Strategic Wealth team you might see things that an outsider may miss. For example, a colleague might offer to help you with your workload. Or you might find a senior member of the team spending their time showing you how, to help develop and grow you as a professional. You might also be blown away by the insight and experience of the exceptional people that you find yourself working with, and if you were new to our team, you would most definitely be amazed by the high standards of professionalism, the processes and the levels and quality of work that we strive for in such an unassuming and friendly firm.
Mind Blowing
My personal experience and first interaction with Strategic Wealth was mind blowing.
I had met Nadine previously at a café and she then invited me for an interview. The directions she gave me led me to a warehouse in Broadhurst Industrial. I could not believe what I found. I mean, surely the offices of a financial institution of this stature had to be in the CBD? But that was not the case and as if that was not enough, when I entered the building, I found employees in jeans and T-shirts, playing music in an open plan set up. Some of the workstations were made of wooden pallets?
I fell in love with this setup immediately, the atmosphere was so relaxed and casual. All during my interview, I really had only one question, “can I wear jeans to the office”. When I couldn’t bear it anymore, I asked Nadine, is this a special clothing workday? “No”, she said, “this is a normal working day at Strategic Wealth, this is our culture, we keep things relaxed and casual at the office, but everything we do for our client is professional”. I was hooked.
Baboloki Mothuti – Asset Consultant Strategic Wealth
The Motlopi Tree
This tree is so connected with its surroundings that Batswana and regional farmers use it to predict when the time is right to reap and sow crops. It is always that one tree that remains in a field of crops and offers the tireless farmer shade and calm in a sometimes harsh world.
We have chosen this remarkable tree as our symbol as it represents what we stive to be for our client’s.
It is a symbol of defiance and resilience remaining green and healthy during the worst droughts.
The temperature under a Motlopi tree can be as much as 20 degrees cooler than the surrounding temperature.
The Motlopi tree is also know as the “Sheapard’s Tree” and “Tree of Life”
“When we were photographing the tree in during the Botswana winter in the Mokolodi nature reserve, we would go up to the top of worlds view and look for the only green trees. This is how we were able to find the Motlopi tree.”
“At the beginning of spring, long before the rains came, the tree blossomed. The beauty of the flowers left us in awe and as we stood below the tree and peered up through the branches filled with bright green, almost luminescence looking branches and covered in tiny perfectly formed white flowers. We couldn’t help but feel like were at the bottom of the ocean looking through coral formations.”