Hollard Botswana and Babereki Investments, the Financial Services arm of Botswana’s largest trade union, Botswana Public Employees Union (BOPEU) have signed a joint venture agreement. The agreement, which has a term of five years, will see Hollard Botswana become the preferred provider of insurance products to the union. The union has more than 27,000 members but through its affiliated unions has a membership of over 100,000.
In terms of the agreement, Babereki, which is responsible for providing BOPEU members with access to insurance and insurance-related products, will assist the joint venture in marketing to these members. The agreement involves both Hollard Life Botswana and Hollard Insurance Botswana, meaning that members will have access to both life and short-term insurance products.
Says Jane Tselayakgosi, MD of Hollard Insurance Botswana, “This is a significant opportunity and one that we will be tackling with great care and respect. The deal also marks a further step in Hollard Botswana’s attempt to create sustainable alternative distribution channels for insurance, following its historical deal with BotswanaPost last year.” This deal saw BotswanaPost (a parastatal) bringing funeral and parcel insurance products within reach of non-traditional markets. Potential policyholders can visit a BotswanaPost branch to pay their initial and subsequent premiums, as well as to receive their policy document.
With these inventive partnerships and joint ventures, Hollard Botswana hopes to effect greater insurance penetration, but also bring inclusive and accessible financial services to all of Botswana. These initiatives position the insurance group towards securing significant market share within the next year.
Andrew Motsamai, President of BOPEU, says, “We are very excited to have found a partner that shares in our vision of creating a brighter future for our members. This agreement has been a long time in the making, but we believe that the hard work that has gone into it has already strengthened our relationship.”
The partnership also includes a commitment by Hollard Insurance to provide training and skills transfer to Babereki Investments employees to equip Babereki Investments to be able to obtain an insurance license from the regulator in the future.
“Hollard has always sought to embark on partnerships that create real value for everyone concerned – not only for ourselves but for our partners and for our customers as well; we believe that this partnership between our rapidly growing Botswana business and the great team at Babereki will bring better insurance delivery to the members of BOPEU and to the Botswana market,” concludes Frans Prinsloo, Head of International for Hollard.
