The South African finance company where most employees stay for more than 10 years

Nearly half of Sygnia’s staff complement and all of its executive team have been at the company for more than ten years. 

This is unique in the competitive asset management industry and also means that most employees have been at the company for most of its existence. 

Sygnia was founded in 2006 by Magda Wierzycka after she led a management buyout of the asset management business in the Africa Harvest Group. 

The company was tiny at the beginning, with only six employees and R2 billion in assets under management. 

Today, it has grown into an asset management giant with R460.8 billion in assets under management and 450 employees. 

Wierzycka has had a strong run as CEO, compounding assets under management at 12% per annum and revenue at an even faster rate. 

Shareholders have been rewarded handsomely during this journey, with a compound annual return of 17.5% annually. This includes Sygnia’s handsome dividend payouts. 

Much has been said about Sygnia’s competitive advantages, such as its innovation in low fees, its international exchange-traded funds, and its vertically integrated model. 

Wierzycka has praised the company’s strong institutional administration division in particular for its role in giving Sygnia an edge over competitors. 

However, she has recently pointed to the company’s ability to retain staff for long periods as a key advantage. 

For a young, relatively small company, this is impressive, as it would have been easy for competitors to poach executives and key employees. 

Wierzycka has also been described as hard to work with, given her demanding standards and willingness to continually innovate. 

Speaking to BizNews, Wierzycka used the company’s retention rate to dismiss this concern. 

“On our executive team, many of them have been here for 10-plus years, apart from one new addition. Some for 18, some for 15,” Wierzycka said. 

“I have an amazing executive team, and they have not really been rewarded that much. With changes to our employee share scheme, this will change.”

It is not just the executives who have stayed at Sygnia for most of its life. Most of its employees have been at the company for long periods. 

“For our 20-year anniversary, we want to have the celebration in our office in Cape Town, which can only fit 120 people. To cut off the rest, as we employ 450 people, we limited it to anyone who has been at Sygnia for 10-plus years,” Wierzycka said. 

“We are struggling now because we have more than 120 employees who have been here for 10 years or more. The culture is unique. It is like a family, and I do not say that lightly.”