From insurance to cheese-making …

Rina Belcher to be retiring to a quieter life. Twenty one years after joining Lombard Insurance and eleven years after setting up the clearing and freight division, whose share of the market has grown to around 45%, she leaves the position at the end of this month for a new career – this time in cheese-making, It’s a business she’s been building with husband Norman for the past six years – and true to form already has several awards to her name. Building a successful business from scratch is nothing new to this feisty businesswoman who thrives on challenge. She started her career at Lombard in the administration department – which she believes was the best possible grounding – and took on the challenge of building up the freight division from zero, establishing Lombard as the first specialist guarantor in this industry. Its client list currently numbers almost 200, mostly in the clearing and forwarding industry, an industry for which Belcher has developed huge respect. “You see an enormous amount of trade going through their hands. I’ve seen them lose huge contracts and then watched them restructure and bounce back. “I’ve also seen them dance up and down when the exchange rate was all over the place, but survive its volatility – and although it’s pretty steady now there was a time when it went from 8-15 to the dollar overnight.” What has been highly rewarding, says Belcher, is seeing how Lombard has been able to make a difference. “For smaller companies, taking out a guarantee stimulates growth because immediately they’ve got more overdraft facilities and room to grow – and that’s been particularly heartening in the case of family businesses.” It’s been the interaction with these companies that has been her lifeblood, and as she closes the door on this chapter in her life, it’s the people she’ll miss the most – her colleagues and the industry. But never comfortable sitting on the sidelines, she’s looking forward to her involvement in the dairy industry where she has already set up a small association which she chairs. For the past 11 years Belcher has lived on a 30-acre smallholding on the East Rand, a one and a half to three hour journey to work – depending on the vagaries of traffic. And ironically this is one of the aspects of retirement that she will miss – the quiet time to herself. “I have a good religious grounding and spend the time talking to God, strategising – for the cheese business or Lombard – and listening to classical music. I find that I come up with some of my best ideas when I travel.” Clearly for Belcher, retirement is a time of new beginnings – and a time to share with her husband, four children and seven grandchildren. FTW wishes her well!