Debtfree DIGI July 2016

The guests then had the opportunity to enjoy some light refreshments during an intermission.
The break afforded the guests a chance to mingle and meet the generous event contributors
and sponsors. Contributors such as ABSA, Capitec, FNB and Nedbank were present along with
sponsors such as DCM NPDA, DC Partner, Hyphen PDA, DCASA, Consumer Friend and ONE|SURE
and Maximus (for a full list of all the sponsors and contributors click here).
Once again the MC, Seb Alexanderson began the session with a few words (and a joke about
how a DC, PDA and CP walk into a bar). Sebastien is a registered Debt Counsellor and business
owner. He was well poised to remark on industry developments.
Seb then invited Bernidene Thierhof, of the charitable Debt Counselling Community Support
program to the podium. Bernidene made a short audio visual presentation in regard to the recent
DCCS projects and what DCCS has been up to since last year’s awards. She briefly recapped how
she had run the Comrades on behalf of DCCS to raise awareness (and funds) for the project. She
thanked Meliorleaf and other sponsors for their help throughout the year.
Next Mr. Clive Pintusewitz, CEO of the DCM Group gave a presentation in regard to helping
shift the perception of the industry in the public’s mind and how the insurance industry had
previously faced the same issue. He showed how Discovery Health had turned their business
focus onto their consumer’s physical well-being, and made this understandable and accessible
to consumers. He stressed how the Debt Counselling industry needs to likewise shift focus
toward consumers financial well being and not just data capture and court orders.
The third speaker of the session was our own Mr. Zak King, Editor of Debtfree Magazine and
founder of the Debt Review Awards. Zak spoke about the peer review process and explained a
bit about how it worked. He thanked the Audits BKF and Mr. Barry Fuchs who was present on the
evening to hand out the results. This year, rather than through evaluation by an industry expert
panel, the Awards are based off an industry wide peer review where members of the industry