THE UWIN IWIN STORY
People have potential. Unleashing that potential is the seed from which Uwin Iwin took growth in 1994.
Potential exists within every human; all it takes is a committed visionary, spurred on by what unleashing potential can ultimately achieve, to bring it to the surface. When our first democratic election ushered in new hope, also in 1994, the unwavering passion that Nelson Mandela had to unleash the true potential of each and every single South African was realised, and this vision has defined the face of our rainbow nation ever since. He inspired hope and opportunity for all because he truly believed in the power of potential.
Starting with one client, an unwavering belief in a human-centric approach to rewarding loyalty and unlocking the secrets of just how to structure those rewards to maximise results, we changed the Incentive Landscape within South Africa forever.
Opening up the world to incentivise sales.
With a primary focus on creating and developing rewards focussed on specialised travel destinations, Uwin Iwin quickly became the travel incentive go-to guru’s, offering breathtaking travel incentives for our clients interested in both local or African excursions, and those interested in international Incentive destinations. Our team grew to include an array of travel experts, making it possible to offer such compelling destination options such as Italy, Russia, Lapland, Argentina, The Amazon; Asia and African options such as Rwanda, Kenya and Egypt.
Our unstoppable travel team, always pushing the envelope across that competitive edge, was honoured by the global Society of Incentive Travel Excellence – SITE with not one, but two International SITE Crystal Awards – the global incentive industry’s top honour. These awards celebrate creative, practical, and completely unforgettable travel incentive programs that propel businesses to new levels of success. Winners are lauded for their inspirational experience and reward offerings, as well as their business results and they, represent nothing less than top-notch excellence within the industry. Proud moments to say the least, and a time that was to mark the beginning of our quest to provide award-winning incentive travel rewards that are simply unparalleled. Technology has also had its impact on the Travel landscape with the introduction of online registration, travel apps and google maps integration for traveller convenience.
The driving force of rewards and recognition.
With our highly successful travel incentive team in place, we began exploring the rewards and recognition space, based on an inherent belief that harnessing the power of an organisation’s sales and workforce with attainable, everyday rewards could fundamentally change the bottom line for our clients. The staggering realisation that professionally planned recognition and rewards could galvanise a workforce into achieving unprecedented sales and business results became our driving force in pioneering a brand-new online reward solution. In 1999 NetUwin was launched – The first and only platform of its kind in South Africa to combine cutting edge technology with a passion for people, offering intelligent sales incentive and rewards products.
As front runners in the field of online incentive points banking and online reward fulfilment, we inherently understand that the digital environment demands that everything be kept fresh, edgy and exciting and using that as our daily challenge, we began to continuously push technological boundaries; and harnessing the power of the NetUwin platform became a priority to us. By fully immersing ourselves into each and every unique client, and completely comprehending the needs of their particular sales channels and workforce, we had an unprecedented insight into the nature of the rewards that could potentially be offered. We came to the realisation that an ever-changing on-the-ground workforce required an ever-changing rewards programme tailored to fit exactly within their own personal lifestyles. Our ground-breaking daily rewards portal was developed and launched, offering same-day payouts to participants; which proved to be a complete game-changer for the South African Incentive landscape.
A life-changing shift in how people want to be rewarded.
Along with our daily rewards offering, we also launched our branded Kudosh gift cards. These cards mean that our clients now have the opportunity to reward not only top performers, but entire sales teams with an array of prize options, housed in an online catalogue, to inspire and motivate sales and loyalty, and the best part is that rewards are able to be claimed as and when the participant requires them. With choices to include a variety of vouchers, cash options, airtime options, gifts, experiences and tangible rewards we even took over the logistics of prize fulfilment and delivery through our logistics department.
From here on out the possibilities have proven to be endless – Not only for us but most importantly for our clients. To date, we have implemented an array of life-changing programmes that have given our clients the opportunity to truly change the lives of their employees. Simple rewards programmes are effective, but our passion has driven us so much further than that. The implementation of the Loved One’s Programme allows participants to nominate a beneficiary to receive a percentage of their cash rewards. This essentially means that our programmes allow clients to give rewards that have a tangible ripple effect that extends so much further than to just the participant. Our clients are literally able to have a lasting impact on their employees’ lives, whilst creating unquestionable employee loyalty, commitment and increased staff productivity.
Ever-changing times call for ever-changing technologies.
The next logical development step for us was the development of a client-specific incentive payment and transactional Mobile Application. This was a giant stride forward towards the most innovative incentive journey on South African soil, that enhances the user experience, client control and brand affinity. Our winning edge has always been our ability to deliver and this Mobile Application allows business owners access to big data that can potentially change the way they leverage their sales teams. Reporting and business intelligence gained from the incentive results are fed back continuously and in live time to clients; along with detailed insights and strategic recommendations. This constant data exchange ensures that strategy is continuously being advanced, and goals are always achieved. From a participant perspective, users are able to transact on the platform through a user-friendly desktop and mobile phone interface and view, calculate and receive payouts through multiple channels tailored to the client’s choice.
With advanced rewards technology development, we were able to integrate e-learning and gamification on already existing incentive platforms. Employees can now be incentivised to not only embrace their growth opportunities but to really excel. All rewards are facilitated and managed online through the NetUwin platform and Kudosh gift card solution.
Rewarding the world.
Our passion for specialising in the exceptional to bring out the exceptional was recognised internationally, and the launch of our GIC (Global Incentive Card) Solution because the springboard for us to, quite literally, reward the world. Created in partnership with Barclays Bank UK, and backed by MasterCard International, the GIC is not only unique but it is supported by global giants. This means that wherever the MasterCard logo is displayed in the qualifying 171 countries, participants can transact and receive their reward payouts through a system that can be managed centrally by us – Rewards given from our clients that require very little admin and manpower from their side. Another first for a South African Incentive provider; and to date, we are still the only incentive company to administer and fulfil rewards through a singular global payment solution.
With the launch of these, and other unprecedented online rewards solutions came an influx of new clients eager to implement programmes to encourage, change and reward the behaviours of their internal team members. As our stable of blue-chip clients grew, so did the Uwin Iwin team.
Expanding our service offering.
Stringent commitment to creatively developing strategic rewards programmes for each and every client quickly saw us becoming the number one service provider to many of them and the opportunity to offer conferencing and events services to our already loyal clients opened up a whole new Conferencing and Events department. With the same meticulous attention to detail, a consistently creative approach and the ability to provide unforgettable events, our conferencing and events team creates customised solutions backed by extensive event management experience, destination know-how and industry-specific knowledge. This offering is underpinned with full marketing and communication support, offering our client’s a full spectrum of end to end solutions. Our experienced team manages events globally and is proud to be benchmarked with the best in the world when it comes to this service.
With two Site Crystal Awards under our belt for travel incentive excellence, and a one of its kind online rewards platform changing the face of the South African rewards and recognitions space, the sky truly became the proverbial limit for us, and expansion was the next logical step. The Cape Town office broke ground in 2007 and after a record growth year propelling us to the pinnacle of South Africa’s top-performing companies in 2009, international waters were crossed, and now, more than 10 years down the line we proudly have offices in the UK, India, Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana.
Committed to tangible transformation.
We are also completely invested in the changing landscape of South African business practice, and in 2014 we became a BBBEE Level 1 Company, which certainly deepens our transformational role in South Africa. In addition, we’re thrilled that our rating also improves the competitiveness of our clients and suppliers. Few actions speak louder than becoming a contributor on this level, and this proves that Uwin Iwin is serious about South Africa, its development as a nation and the growth of its businesses.
The unwritten future potential is made possible by the pillars of our past.
And today? Today we can proudly take a retrospective look back over 25 years and celebrate a multitude of successes. Bringing home many more industry accreditations with an array of SITE Crystal Award nominations and wins; the election of our CEO as a SITE Global President; an IMEX Award; the continuous implementation of unbeatable daily rewards programmes; a client-specific app that places the management of tailored rewards programmes right at our client’s fingertips; an international team built on integrity and driven by delivering inspired incentive and loyalty solutions; business partners who share not only our values but our vision; technological innovation that we are pioneering with each new challenge; and the fact that across the span of 25 years we have not once strayed from our fundamental driving force – an unwavering passion to unleash human potential.
With all of this said, our crowning achievement, and the one that gives us unprecedented pride is the fact that we have collaborated with each of our clients to embrace them in the process of unleashing their team’s potential and as a result, their business’ potential too. The tools, products and services that we provide are grounded in an ethos of excellence, progressive innovation and creativity, but their potential is only unleashed in the hands of a client who shares our vision of what is possible when a human-centric approach to rewards and incentives are embraced.
All of that is what we celebrate today; but most of all we celebrate the future – the still unwritten promise of what is to come as we navigate this incredibly exciting global incentive landscape; we stand here with you and celebrate the exciting challenges, possibilities and rewards of tomorrow…
