Mortgage Broker

MBprofile 40 | winter 2018 cmba-achc.ca CMB MAGAZINE U rma Mollema doesn't back down from a challenge. By age 32, she was a four-time, award-winning national athlete who represented South Africa's University of Pretoria on its road relay team. Propelled by a fiery competitive spirit, Mollema achieved success at age 33 in the business world, too, as the founder of the South African mortgage broker industry. Today, at 54, she is Director of National Business Development at Mortgage Architects in Vancouver, B.C., having moved to Canada with her husband in 2011. "In simple terms, my job today is about sales," Mollema explains. "But I don't see myself just as a salesperson. I think it would be a shame to leave it at that, when I can share my experience." Canadian Mortgage Broker connected with Mollema to discuss her tendency to take the path less travelled, the lessons she's learned along the way and her ambitious plans for the future. Canadian Mortgage Broker: Tell us about your career. When and how did you get started in the mortgage industry? Urma Mollema: In July of 1996, I visited my brother in Ohio. I was walking through a park one morning and I saw a sign in front of a house that said, "Let us organize your mortgages! Don't work through a bank." at just caught my eye. I was a secretary at the time in Pretoria, South Africa. I asked my brother to take me to visit that mortgage company. I had a conversation with the broker and he tried to explain to me how it worked and how they did it. On my return to South Africa, I thought maybe I could do that and make more money. I was not paid a lot and my husband was a full- time law student at the time. I had a student loan at a bank in the area where I worked, and so I went to my contact there and said, "I'm going to quit my job and start doing this and you will pay me commission." I did just that and got started in September 1996. CMB: That's an amazing story. What happened next? UM: I had no business background whatsoever. e very first thing I did was buy an advertisement in a big newspaper. It said, "Do you need money? Call me." You can imagine who called me! Eventually, I sorted through all the calls and found some people who I thought I could help with a mortgage. I had no clue how to fill out a mortgage form, so I went back to my contact at the bank; she showed me how to do it. Long story short, I did the mortgages and I was paid commission. at branch began increasing their mortgage volume dramatically. From September to December of 1996, I funded almost $60 million in mortgages! Some of the high-level bank executives wanted to meet me in Johannesburg. When I went there, one of them looked me dead in the eye and said, "I just want you to know that we will never allow origination in this country. Ever." CMB: Obviously, he was wrong. UM: Yes. rough another friend of mine, I was introduced to an even higher power at the bank. e next morning, I got a phone call. I got the very first official brokering contract that ever existed in South Africa, through Nedbank, one of the bigger banks there. ey increased my commission to a high commission, and basically that was where I really took off. is was the end of 1997. In 1998, I won Businesswoman of the Year Award for my region and became a finalist in the national awards. at ensured some media traction, and then I was approached by two people who wanted to start a franchise in Cape Town. Aer lots of consultation with my husband, we decided to do it. at's how Wizard Financial Services was born, and it became the largest mortgage originator in the country, with 128 franchises. CMB: What did you learn from your experience pioneering mortgage brokering in South Africa? UM: e very first, basic thing I had to learn was how to run a business while I was a mortgage broker. I had to learn to spend my time effectively. I had to learn who I could e pioneer of South Africa's mortgage broker industry reveals how one well-placed sign kicked off her remarkable 22-year (and counting) career Meet Urma Mollema By Lisa Gordon

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