Peregrine Capital launches Building Conviction, a podcast with leaders of exceptional businesses

Peregrine Capital today announced the launch of Building Conviction, a new podcast exploring what it takes to build something exceptional: the businesses, the leaders, and the decisions behind them.

The first episode features Marthinus Visser, Group CEO of OUTsurance, in a wide-ranging conversation about the 28 years he has spent inside one of the JSE’s most closely watched compounders.

Says Jacques Conradie, CEO and portfolio manager at Peregrine Capital: “As investors, our job is to find businesses run by people with genuine long-term conviction and then have the conviction ourselves to back them for the long run.”

Jacques Conradie, CEO and portfolio manager at Peregrine Capital. Image: Supplied

“Building Conviction is our way of pulling back the curtain on that process. We wanted a series where the leaders who’ve actually built these businesses explain the decisions – including the hard ones – in their own words.”

Episode 1: Marthinus Visser on 28 years at OUTsurance

Visser joined OUTsurance as a young actuary in 1998, the year the company was founded on a simple promise: you always get something OUT.

He has run the group as CEO since 2018, and has seen it grow from a single office in Centurion into a multinational insurer spanning South Africa, Australia and Ireland – today worth more than R100 billion on the JSE.

In the episode, Visser walks through OUTsurance’s early days as a roughly 100-person business with “a great culture, great systems … but a poor loss ratio”, and the subsequent sprint to achieve break-even within two years of launch.

He explains the origins of the OUTbonus, the product innovation designed to reward claim-free customers, and reveals that OUTsurance will pay its first OUTbonuses in Ireland next year.

The conversation moves through the deliberate, unglamorous discipline behind OUTsurance’s international expansion: why the group scanned the globe and chose Australia over Brazil to launch Youi in 2008, why it walked away from ventures like OUTvest and exited New Zealand when the numbers didn’t work, and how management thinks about the true capital at risk in greenfield ventures.

Visser also sets out the five priorities he identified on becoming group CEO in 2018 and reflects on the mentors who shaped how he lead, from OUTsurance co-founder Willem Roos to former Youi chair Campbell Corfe.

He closes with what will become a series staple: the Conviction Card, a single high-conviction view of the next decade.

Visser’s is a reframe of how investors should read natural-catastrophe headlines – not as bad news, but as a signal of long-term growth in an industry that, in his words, only earns the right to charge a premium because claims exist.

“What struck me most about OUTsurance is how disciplined they actually are,” says Conradie.

“No bet-the-farm moves, a hard rule about not chasing the wrong countries for the wrong reasons, and a 29% compound growth rate since 1998 that comes from patience over multiple 10-year J-curves rather than any single masterstroke.

“That’s precisely the kind of conviction we look for as investors, and precisely why we wanted this to be episode one.”

Episode highlights

Time
What happens

01:16
Meet the guest: 28 years inside OUTsurance, CEO since 2018

04:19
Day one at OUTsurance, 1998 – “100 people … great systems … but a poor loss ratio”

08:42
Where the OUTbonus came from

10:14
Ireland pays its first OUTbonus next year

11:46
Visser’s rule for hiring: “Never be afraid to appoint people smarter than you”

14:27
Why OUTsurance picked Australia over Brazil to launch Youi in 2008

17:53
A 29% compound growth rate since 1998

35:58
Capital discipline: “Don’t bet the farm”

53:07
The Conviction Card: Why a big natural disaster can be good news for long-term investors

Future episodes of Building Conviction will be released every few weeks, each featuring a conversation with the leader of a business that Peregrine Capital follows closely.

Upcoming episodes include Fortress Real Estate, Capitec and Premier Foods.

Listen/watch

The full episode is available now on your favourite platform, and here.

This podcast is produced by Peregrine Capital (Pty) Ltd, an authorised Financial Services Provider Views expressed by speakers are their own at the time of recording, may change without notice, and don’t necessarily reflect those of Peregrine Capital. Nothing in this podcast is an offer, solicitation or recommendation to buy or sell any security; Peregrine Capital and its associated funds may hold positions in companies discussed, which listeners should bear in mind. Statements on strategy, targets or expected performance are forward-looking, involve risk and uncertainty, and actual results may differ materially – past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. Listening does not create a client or advisory relationship with Peregrine Capital. This episode was recorded on 10 June 2026.

Brought to you by Peregrine Capital.

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