OMNISURE
Schalk Van Der Merwe is director of Omnisure in North Sydney, a business he describes as having “tightly held underwriting and client relationships.”
“My portfolio mainly consists of medium and small enterprises across a wide and varying range of industries,” he says. “However, I have recently had a particular focus on country pubs, hotels, kitchen manufacturers, accommodation, hostels and hard-to-place professional indemnity risks.”
Looking back on the past 12 months, Van Der Merwe says his highlight has been “building a high-performing team at Omnisure, and seeing the growth and camaraderie of these young, driven and immensely passionate individuals. We are really lucky to have such a dedicated and loyal team who share our vision."
In regards to his personal success, Van Der Merwe again credits his team: “Omnisure is a family business that lives and breathes insurance, so I believe that teamwork plays a significant role in my success,” he says. “I have had immense support from my parents, who are great business mentors. With over 70 years of experience in the industry combined, my mother and father have given me a great foundation of knowledge and wisdom for all things business and insurance.”
In a year in which Omnisure took on more than 500 new clients, Van Der Merwe says his greatest challenge has been “managing the business’s rapid growth and maintaining our high quality of service. I’ve had to focus on staff training, improving processes and investing in new technologies to ensure my team is efficient in handling this growth."
Van Der Merwe is excited about the next 12 months at Omnisure. “We’re on track to make two broking hires and have plans to market our company and ourselves as professionals across additional platforms,” he says. “I personally am looking to become more involved in emerging issues such as cyber risk and insurance technology. As advisors, we need to be at the forefront of these rapidly evolving pitfalls so we can better educate our clients on the risks facing their businesses.”
