Gary Smith

After a five year articles stint with a registered auditing firm, Gary entered commerce andindustry, spending the next twenty years in the motor, manufacturing and construction industries, serving as both financial and managing director of medium-sized companies; the largest with a current turnover of some R300 million per year. In 1997 Gary created Finserv, based on a desire to help in the development of small-to-medium sized enterprises in South Africa; working initially on specific turnaround projects. Gary has been married to Deborah for 34 years and they have two daughters, both living in the UK. He is a practicing Christian and an elder of his local church where he is involved in teaching and counseling; more specifically on how people should be managing their money! He is also a member of the South African Institute of Directors, and serves on the boards of a number of companies in the Pietermaritzburg area.

Gary specializes in company turnarounds, sound but simple management systems and structures; coaching business managers and their teams; and helping them to understand what makes their businesses tick!

Dylan Horn

Dylan is a Chartered Accountant. He qualified In Pietermaritzburg after a five year article stint in Ladysmith, followed by a number of years as an accountant for a construction and allied industry-related group of companies, currently turning over in excess of R300 million. Dylan joined Finserv in the beginning of 2006 and is currently responsible for all the income tax and financial accounting for a range of clients. He has been married to Sheryn for three years and they have a baby daughter. Dylan is also a practicing Christian and active in a local church.

Dylan specializes in income tax for individuals and corporate entities; and in the presentation of statutory financial reports.

Rob Evans

Rob is also a Chartered Accountant and a Certified Financial Planner. After serving articles with Ernst & Young he joined a local investment house known as Surelink Wealth in 1998, where he is currently one of their directors. Finserv has a mutually beneficial working relationship with Surelink Wealth, and Rob is an integral part of that relationship, acting as one of our trustees. Rob has been married to Claire for fifteen years and they have four children. Rob is also a member of the same eldership team as Gary and serves as a practicing Christian in the same church.

Rob specializes in investment and estate planning.

Egbert Von Reiche

Egbert has a B.Com degree, majoring in financial management and accounting. He is the newest member of the team having joined in January 2009. He has been married to Vicky for one year, and both he and his wife are active in the same church as Dylan and Sheryn.

Egbert currently serves as Dylan’s assistant on the team.

Louise Madgwick

Louise’s key function is office administration, client liaison and as personal assistant to Gary Smith. She is also responsible for the administrative management of a number of Bodies Corporate, and more particularly commercial property developments.

Louise spent 16 years in the insurance industry, starting off at Old Mutual, and subsequently with various independent brokers. She was involved with administration, financial planning and marketing, and her passion in this industry was marketing medical aid and short-term insurance products. She recently completed a Certificate in Financial Planning through Damelin.

Louise is married to Tim, and they have 3 daughters, and are praciticisng christians at a local church in Pietermaritzburg.

Noreen Bhengu

Noreen currently serves as a bookkeeper to a number of clients, as well as the financial affairs of Finserv, where she has been a member for nearly five years. She is studying towards a B.Com degree through UNISA. Noreen is married to Jeffrey, they have one child, and both are actively involved in a local church in the city.

Lisa Padayachee

Lisa is a certified bookkeeper and is currently studying towards a B.Compt. degree with UNISA. She has been with the company for nearly three years, and is married with one child. Lisa is responsible for all the income tax returns and ensuring that clients’ tax deadlines are met. She really enjoys working with tax and plans to become a chartered accountant, majoring in that discipline. Lisa and her husband are also active Christians in a local church.

She serves on the team as Dylan’s income tax assistant.

Lynelle Murugan

Lynelle is the youngest member of the team and is currently responsible for managing a busy switchboard and reception area. In addition, she provides a great deal of assistance to Louise and Lisa with their various administrative tasks. Lynelle plans to study towards a business-related qualification.

Lynelle is a practicing Christian at a local church.

Moira Pottow

Moira Pottow is responsible for all our Quickbooks and Vanilla Payroll installations, training and ongoing maintenance. Moira operates out of her business known as Accounting Solutions, but is very much part of our team. She is married to Bev and has two teenage sons.

Stuart Holliday

Stuart is a business coach. He has worked for a number of privately owned companies over the past 30 years, and has been involved in manufacturing, costing, marketing, selling and general management. Stuart has a particular ability to create structure where there is none (and where it is needed), and to re-engineer structure and systems where appropriate. He is a great encourager, and loves challenging people to be the best they can be. Stuart is also a practicing Christian and active in a local church.

Mark Allen

Mark brings a wealth of over 20 years business experience, much of it at management level, and with particular focus on all the sales disciplines, to our coaching team. He specialises in new business development/drives, competitor and customer analysis, correcting price points, as well as marketing/branding/launches; and identifying key, and the most profitable, target markets. He has on numerous occasions set up complete sales structures and controls for businesses, including the apointment of external agents. He has also been responsible for re-designing existing structures in businesses, where necessary, and then training up sales teams to maximum efficiencies, within those structures. Mark has also been extensively involved in production, warehousing, logistics and the supply chain and their integration with sales. This experience has been gained in numerous industries, including corporate banking, foodstuffs, building materials, timber, LPG gas and electronic outdoor advertising; and in businesses ranging in size from small enterprises to listed company subsidiaries. Although he brings a fresh and unique out-of-the-box approach to the challenges faced daily in the sales and marketing arena, his exposure at management level has enabled him to provide invaluable general management mentoring, especially within the small-to-medium business environment. Mark, his wife and 3 young sons are committed Christians at Hilton Christian Fellowship & are passionate about helping people grow and reach their full potential.

Anley John

Anley John, is a qualified operations and production manager, bringing with him some 17 years of experience in that field. He has worked in manufacturing, sales, operations planning (strategic, tactical, production and capacity) and has been involved with product management, bills of material, costing, inventory management (raw material and finished goods) and warehouse management. Anley has the ability to identify the need for a system, to design and implement it, and then empowering a team to use it. Anley is particularly effective as an interventionist – especially in distressed manufacturing environments; finding the problem and then fixing it – before handing back the ‘well-oiled machine’ to clients! Anley, his wife and son are also practicing Christians and active in a local church.

Kim Baldie

Kim Baldie

Kim Baldie joins the Finserv team with some twenty years front-line client experience. She will be taking over our all-important front-desk, and it will be her voice on the telephone that welcomes all our clients and friends. Kim is not married and has a teenage daughter.