AFTER losing a significant
amount of money due to
internal fraud and poor
corporate governance, owner
of travel agency, First Travel,
Andree Venter, and gm Leon
Malan, saw an opportunity
to introduce professional risk
management services to the
travel industry, and launched
Etna Risk Advisories.
Many travel companies,
particularly SMEs, cannot
necessarily afford to incur the
costs linked to implementing
traditional risk management
systems, says Doné Joubert,
ceo of the company. Based on
this, Etna Risk Advisories has
developed an online ‘plug and
play’ risk management system.
available to travel and tourism
businesses for a monthly fee.
Doné says the high incidence
of issues such as fraud and
mismanagement in the local
travel industry is due to a
lack of regulation such as
that found in the banking and
finance sectors. “Travel and
tourism is self-regulated,” he
says. “Directors are expected
to know which processes to
implement in their companies
as well as keep up to date
with the laws that need to be
followed.
“We have designed
an enterprise-wide risk
management plan, including a
risk register and risk controls,
after identifying close to 300
risks applicable to a business
operating in the travel
industry. In addition, Etna Risk
Advisories has also designed
compliance risk management
plans that include the legal
requirements to ensure a
travel company is compliant
with applicable legislation.”
The management plan
assists companies to
identify possible risks
in their businesses and
provides generic controls
that can be implemented
to control them. Doné says
the system is between
90% and 95% applicable
to all travel businesses.
Additional risks, specific to a
particular company, can be
added to their individual risk
management plan, he says.
Clients will be given a
password and username to
access the risk management
system via an online portal.
From the portal they will
be able to draw reports to
measure their performance
and monitor improvements.
Etna Risk Advisories will
also send a consultant to
each client once a month
to assist them during the
implementation phase.
The company plans to launch
its website in May.
