Background
The business was founded as Sable Offshore Management Company by Roderick Phillips, Gael Duchenne and the Sable group in April 2011. Summit Trust International, a subsidiary of the Sanlam group, acquired Sable’s 50% interest in early 2013, and the business was re-branded to Summit Trust (Mauritius) Limited.
Summit Trust International then acquired the balance of the equity held by the Mauritius management team in early 2016, before selling 100% control of the company to the Sanlam Group in late 2017.
Management Team
Gael was born and raised in Mauritius. He completed his tertiary education in Cape Town and qualified with the South African Institute of Chartered Secretaries (ICSA) in 2002. He then moved to the UK to complete his Masters in Corporate Governance at London South Bank University, and worked as a company secretary for major FTSE100 companies in the UK. Before co-founding Sable’s offshore business with Rod in 2011, Gael was head of the risk and compliance division at Investec Bank (Mauritius). Gael is an associate member of the Mauritius Institute of Directors, a board member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) in Mauritius as well as an associate member of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators.
Rod completed his tertiary education at the University of Cape Town, and his articles with Deloitte. He qualified as a chartered accountant in 1997. After relocating to the UK in 1998, he was involved in start-up businesses before founding Quotient, an accounting services firm, in 2002. Rod sold Quotient to the Sable group in 2010 and relocated to Mauritius in 2011 to establish a joint venture with Sable in the offshore sector. Summit Trust International acquired Sable’s 50% in the Mauritius company in late 2012, and the balance of the equity held by the Mauritius management team in early 2016. Rod is a member of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants and the Institute of Chartered Accountants for England and Wales.
Nirmala has worked in the global business sector for over 16 years, including for leading management companies in Mauritius, where she headed up a team primarily responsible for the overall management, including trusts and corporate secretarial services, for a portfolio of clients. She is a fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators, UK (FCIS) and is a full member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners of England (TEP). Nirmala also holds a Degree in Statistics and a Masters in Business with Law and Management. In 2010, she was named a ‘rising star’ of the private client profession in Private Client Practitioner Magazine in the UK. In October 2018, she was awarded the title ‘Chartered Governance Professional’ by the Governance Institute of ICSA UK.
Nick studied at the University of Stellenbosch and completed his articles with BDO Spencer Steward in 2003. He continued working for the company in its business risk division. In 2006, he was appointed as a senior relationship manager at Stonehage in Switzerland – his focus was on helping wealthy international families structure and manage their global wealth. In 2011, Nick relocated to South Africa and joined Geneva Management Group where he spent six years as a director of the South African business managing key client relationships, developing new business and running the local operation. Nick joined Sanlam in March 2017 and oversees business development and client interface in Southern and East Africa. Nick is a member of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants and the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP).
Daniel attained an Honours Degree in Finance and Portfolio Theory from the University of Cape Town and is a member of the Mauritius Institute of Directors. He has over 12 years’ experience in the offshore corporate, financial and fund services arena. His responsibilities have included management of international corporates, fund administration and accounting services. He was previously a director of Caledonian Fund Services, a global custodian and corporate finance service provider. He was appointed as managing director of Southern View Finance Mauritius Ltd, a JSE-listed company, to manage its Mauritian operations. He was then appointed as director at Osiris Corporate Solutions (Mauritius) Ltd before moving to Sanlam Trustees International. Daniel currently serves on the boards of Astoria Investment Ltd, Trevo Capital Ltd and New Frontier Properties Ltd, on which he is also chairman of the Audit and Risk Committee.
Divya completed her tertiary education at University Aix-Marseille III in France and qualified as a chartered accountant in 2014. Divya worked for eight years for a leading management company in Mauritius, where she headed up a team primarily responsible for overall management, including corporate secretarial and accounting services, for a portfolio of clients. She also acted as a director on investment holding, trading and listed entities. Divya joined Sanlam in April 2019.
Vanida holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration and is a member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. She has 14 years’ experience in the financial services industry and has worked for leading management companies in the global business sector in Mauritius. Vanida started her career as an accountant, but gradually took on more responsibilities, including leading a team responsible for the overall management, administration and accounting of a portfolio of structures such as trusts and companies. She joined Sanlam in August 2019.
Tom began his professional journey in the British Virgin Islands where he was employed as a fund accountant, responsible for calculating the periodic net asset values of a portfolio of clients. He then moved to Belgium to work for a family steel business, where he was the new business development manager for the Balkan region. Upon his return to Cape Town in 2010, Tom worked with the Maitland Group as new business development manager and key account manager. He was responsible for looking after and sourcing new business in predominantly the hedge fund and private equity fund markets. Before joining Sanlam Trustees International, Tom was the new business development manager for the Maitland Group in Mauritius.