Nothing more senseless than the sensible choice to live a meaningless life – Gondwana MD
Coaxing his new co-shareholders to take Gondwana Collection to new heights, Managing Director Gys Joubert announced on Wednesday, 01 November, all 821 employees have become shareholders in the hospitality company.
Joubert also announced the restructuring of the group with a new holding company, Gondwana Holdings Limited, now the ultimate shareholder of the group.
Shareholding to employees is ranked according to number of years as a staff member.
Joubert said the group’s restructuring and the employee shareholding scheme will not have a big impact on operations but it does the create the structure required for future expansion of shareholding to new investors. “This also means that from today, for the first time there is no limitation on the number of shareholders of the Gondwana Group,” he said.
Talking to all the employees through a personal letter, Joubert said “Gondwana has always been a company that lives its values. Values of caring for our country, caring for our communities, caring for our staff members and caring for our environment – ultimately values of sustainability and caring for each other.”
“Sustainability also dictates that we live and work in this company not as consumers who simply consume what we have, but as protectors, as a family who restore and look after what we have been given, not as owners, but as custodians for the next generation of Namibians – for our children and their children,” he continued.
The Gondwana Group is doing well and the company is growing, he said adding that 150 new jobs were created in the group since the beginning of this year.
All employees that are permanently employed as at 01 November 2017 qualify for a share allocation, the number of which is determined by the completed years in service. There is however a minimum allocation of 100 shares for individuals who have not yet completed their first year. Joubert is one of them. All shares are issued free of charge without any form of compensation from the employees’ side.
The longest serving employee received 2310 shares at an estimated value of N$18,500. This gives a share price of just over N$8 per share. Shareholder certificates will be issued to all permanent employees in the next few weeks.
Employees are not allowed to sell their shares before 01 June 2018 and resignation or dismissal before this date will forfeit the shareholding.
“In all other respects these shares are 100% the same as all current issued shares, and you will receive the dividends payable around April 2018. This is a once off gesture from the Board of Directors and also the start of a share incentive scheme in terms of which all employees will be given the opportunity to purchase more shares in Gondwana. The details of this Staff Incentive Share Scheme will be communicated within the next few months,” said Joubert
“So from today, you are not only a staff member of Gondwana, you are not simply a Gondwanaian family member, you are also a part owner of this company, and your colleagues are now your co-owners. Let us remain humble, honourable and curious,” concluded Joubert.
