Who They Are

Fedgroup is a South African financial services provider with a reputation for doing things differently. Headquartered in Sandton with offices across the country, they serve clients across investments, private capital, and employee benefits, all underpinned by a people-first philosophy that extends inward just as much as it does outward.

At the heart of their employee wellbeing culture is Carrie Fenn, now Chief of Staff for Alternative Asset Management, who has been the driving force behind Fedgroup's Strove programme since day one. Even after her promotion, which technically moved her away from the people function, Carrie never handed over the reins. Her team advocated that she stays on as Strove Champion, and it is easy to see why.

Why This Mattered

Fedgroup already had something most organisations don't: a genuine wellness culture. Monthly steps challenges ran like clockwork, participation was real, and leadership actually cared. But Carrie and her team wanted to give employees more value for the effort they were already putting in. A steps-only tool couldn't reflect the full picture of their people's health, and it wasn't giving HR the data needed to make informed people management decisions. They needed a platform that could match their ambition: one that rewarded healthy behaviour meaningfully, connected employees across their subsidiaries, and gave leadership real visibility into workforce wellbeing.

The Challenge

• HR spent considerable time and resources manually purchasing and distributing vouchers to reward employees, creating admin overhead that grew with every challenge they ran.
• Employees had limited choice in how they could use their rewards, restricted to pre-selected vouchers or company merchandise rather than what they actually wanted or needed.
• There was no flexibility in the reward experience. Vouchers came with expiry dates and employees couldn't save or accumulate value toward something bigger.

They needed a rewards system that removed the admin burden from HR, gave employees genuine choice and flexibility, and made the whole experience feel less transactional and more meaningful.

Why Strove

• Strove Coins replaced manual voucher distribution entirely. No more bulk purchasing, no more logistics, no more admin on HR's side.
• Employees gained access to a versatile rewards marketplace with real choice - from coffee and shopping vouchers to planting trees - with coins that never expire, giving people the freedom to save up for something that matters to them.
• Automatic activity tracking removed friction for employees and gave HR clean, reliable data without any extra effort on their side.
• Reporting and analytics gave leadership meaningful visibility into participation and wellbeing trends across all three entities, bringing Fedgroup, Matriarch, and Intellicoms together under one platform for the first time.

What Launched

Fedgroup went live on Strove's Core Plus programme in July 2024, bringing all three entities onto one shared platform.

The monthly steps challenge they had always run continued, but the experience was transformed. Instead of waiting for HR to send a voucher, employees earned Strove Coins in real time. Every employee who reached their steps goal was awarded Coins: no one left out, everyone recognised. Those Coins could be spent on whatever mattered most to them - a coffee, a shopping voucher, a tree planted in their name, or saved up over time toward something bigger.

For the first time, the reward felt genuinely personal. And for Carrie, running the programme no longer meant running after vouchers.

Impact

What changed for employees

For Fedgroup employees, Strove didn't just replace a tool; it elevated an experience they already loved. The monthly steps challenge they had always participated in now came with real, tangible rewards that reflected who they are and what they care about. The feeling of being recognised for every goal reached, not just for coming first, created a culture of sustained participation rather than one-off engagement.

What changed for HR and leadership

For Carrie Fenn, the shift was equally significant. What once required manual purchasing, distribution, and tracking of vouchers is now handled automatically by the platform. HR gained clean data and reporting without adding a single task to their workload. Wellness was no longer something that had to be managed. It just ran, and the insights it generated helped leadership make smarter people decisions across the entire group.

The proof it worked

Perhaps the most telling signal is who topped the leaderboard. In 2025, Fedgroup's top three Strovers included Stef Valenti, Managing Director of Alternative Asset Management, and Yusuf Moosa, Regional Manager of Distribution. When leadership doesn't just endorse a wellness programme but actively competes in it, the message to the rest of the organisation is clear. Strove didn't just give Fedgroup a better tool. It gave them a shared language for wellbeing—one that leadership speaks fluently.

99% activation rate across Fedgroup, Matriarch, and Intellicoms.

In Their Own Words

"Strove has become so much more than a wellness app for our team; it's part of how we show up for each other. What I love most is that it removed all the admin on our side while giving our employees something that actually feels rewarding and personal. The fact that our people keep coming back, month after month, tells you everything."

– Carrie Fenn, Chief of Staff: Alternative Asset Management, Fedgroup

"I like Strove's rewards systems, which help in achieving goals and assist with monthly budgets. I use it for fitness and find it motivating."

– Yusuf Moosa, Regional Manager of Distribution, Fedgroup

"Having been in the well-being game for a number of years, I was pleasantly surprised by the ease of getting started, linking devices and other health apps. With the Strove app it is easy to navigate between the different challenges, to follow your progress and to be part of your own community."

– Jaco Kruger, Fedgroup

Where They Are Now

Fedgroup joined Strove in July 2024 and hasn't looked back. What started as a desire to give their people more than a step count has grown into a thriving wellness culture that spans three entities and shows up consistently, month after month. With a 99% activation rate and leadership competing shoulder to shoulder with the rest of the team, Fedgroup is proof that when an organisation genuinely commits to its people's well-being, the results speak for themselves.