Borde: Sabga a leader, mentor

This was revealed by the conglomerate’s Sector Head - Automotive, Jerome Borde, during an interview with Business Day about Dr Sabga’s legacy. The business mogul died last Wednesday at the age of 94.

“Mr Sabga felt so strongly that he had an organisation that was unique compared to others (locally). Our services include insurance, finance and vehicles, that we should be creating a convenient purchasing experience for the end-user. He didn’t want them to have to deal with three different companies, so we created InOne. It’s proven to be a very powerful product for us; creating a tremendous amount of loyalty from people who’ve used InOne.”

“InOne was designed as the complete auto finance package. It does not only take into account the cost of the vehicle, but the total cost of vehicle ownership. It includes finance, insurance and maintenance InOne Monthly Payment,” the bank stated.

Borde said the one-stop-shop aspect of InOne has resulted in “very high number of repeat buyers who are very loyal to the product itself.”

He revealed that it evolved out of conversations Dr Sabga had with employees in the automotive sector more than a decade ago.

“Mr Sabga tabled a vision that he had around providing convenience to customers and the team created a product with him that eventually evolved into what we call InOne today. It was launched 12 to 15 years ago and Mr Sabga was a real advocate of it. It was a product that he believed in 100 percent. He spent a lot of his time driving the companies to operate and deliver a particular level of experience under the InOne product,” Hill shared.

Asked about similar offerings by competitors, he argued that they may be “trying to mimic InOne but the advantage the ANSA McAl Group has is that we are an insurance company, a finance company and an automotive company.”

“To really give your customers the best benefit, you have to have those three components. Others are trying to match the product but they have to buy the service, which makes it expensive.”

Hill estimated that about 40 percent of ANSA McAL’s automotive customer base are InOne users; the result of year-on-year growth in the last five years, “because people have been through the initial cycle and recognised the value it’s brought to them.”

ANSA McAL’s website states that its “automotive subsidiaries represent the world’s leading automotive brands.”

Here in Trinidad and Tobago, you can purchase Honda, Mitsubishi, Ford, BMW/Mini, Jaguar/Land Rover, New Holland, Hyster, UTILEV and, since 2016, Jin Bei panel vans, while Barbados-based customers can purchase Ford, Mazda, Kia, BMW/Mini, Volkswagen, Hino and Daihatsu vehicles.

Although Dr Sabga stepped down as chairman in 2000, and given the title of chairman emeritus, he always maintained an active interest in every sector of the conglomerate.

“I interacted with Mr Sabga two or three times a week and certainly would see him once or twice a week. He was very involved, from a point of lending his opinion and his experience, not operational at all but purely as a mentor and someone you could’ve discussed ideas with. He was the kind of leader that often liked to come to his people. He would stop by any time, any day. Very seldom did he ask you to come and see him.”

“Mr Sabga would never leave without ensuring the customers and employees were okay. If he didn’t think they were, he wanted to know what needed to be done to change that... His intent was to provide support and (get feedback) from customers, employees and management,” Borde said