In a country like Portugal, where, according to a study by Informa D&B¹ 33% of companies created wind up after a year and 48% of the remainder collapse before they make it to three years of continued operation, with only a third of these making it past seven, the fortieth anniversary of MDS must be doubly celebrated: for the event itself and for what their longevity demonstrates in terms of commercial vision and management abilities, attunement to the market and its evolution and a willingness to challenge it and blaze new trails.

 
When MDS decided to form their first risk consultancy specialist team in 1997 its pioneering spirit was plain to see already. It was consolidated in the year 2000 when the Group’s fundamentally disruptive leadership was appointed.  
 
Bringing meaning to their words through concrete action, that very year MDS would create reinsurer Sonae Re and would immediately thereafter embrace the global market. The starting shot, the acquisition of French online broker FirstAssur in the aftermath of the dotcom bubble bust, represents the perfect illustration of the courage and flair that leads them to bold investments — qualities essential to anyone who sees risk as their natural habitat.  
 
Over the ensuing years, MDS would make more acquisitions throughout the world until, in 2004, they made another bold move. MDS formed Brokerslink, an international brokers network based in Oporto, which also happens to be RandTech Computing’s home.  
 
Organizing the FERMA Forum, investing in Cooper Gay, and establishing Seguros Continente — an ongoing operation— or the launch of initiatives like MDS Partners, HighDome, Herco, and platforms such as Proximity or Mlearning, all these moves demonstrate time and again how MDS grows and reinvents itself with each new step, as well as its keen sense for the power of technology. 
 
In 2014, when MDS celebrated their 30th anniversary (one year after their entrance into the Angola market), RandTech Computing was taking its early steps and developing its flagship product, ERP Anywhere+ (currently assisting 14 of about 20 Angolan insurers with numerous demands and complexities a company in this industry needs addressed).  
 
In 2018, while MDS became a Lloyd’s broker, we helped Angolan insurers develop their bancassurance channels — a segment the MDS CEO had pioneered in Portugal years earlier. 
 
Commitment to innovation and especially the emergent power of software once again became evident in 2015, when we made our official entrance in the market. MDS would embrace the cloud by taking up the Phoenix system to optimize management processes. Two years later, MDS would take a step further and acquire employee benefit tech firm FlexBen. 
 
For all these reasons, it’s no surprise our paths would cross. RandTech Computing came to be at a key moment, when major advances in technology met the perception that it was possible and necessary to demand more from the digital tools employed in businesses as complex as insurance. It was in fact this new landscape that gave rise to new players like ourselves.  
 
Had we started out a little earlier we would be chained to legacy technologies which demand larger framework, limit project scalability and compromise the swift restructuring of projects to accommodate new, emerging needs and the user experience. 
 
Today, we can say we elevated market standards. Substantially. Be it through process efficiency or fluid interfaces, driving productivity substantially. This when we are an SME handling customers with the high profile, scale, and exigencies posed by MDS. 
 
Which is only possible in a partnership environment where both parties are significant. The customer isn't merely passive: working with a company aware of technological potentials and an insider’s understanding of technological idiosyncrasies, such as MDS, makes a world of difference. Collaboration becomes not only easier but also more pleasant for both sides.  
 
So when they ask you to contribute to the company’s history, that's an honour. For all of the above, the RandTech Computing team thanks MDS for their vote of confidence and wishes them many decades of success to come. We hope we’ll again be able to help you bring about the future you envision for all of us. Congratulations, MDS. 

¹ IDB_longevidadedasempresas_setembro2013.pdf (informadb.pt)