Sanlam and MTN Group have formed strategic alliance to market and distribute insurance and investment products across Africa.
To this end, the partnership has been approved by the regulatory bodies as the arrangement commenced on Monday.
The strategic alliance will be implemented through MTN Group’s InsurTech platform aYo Holdings (aYo) and each partner will hold 50 per cent of aYo.
Through aYo, the alliance will continue to build and develop digital insurance and investment offerings that provide people across Africa with easier access to Sanlam’s products, particularly, those people who have typically been unable to access traditional distribution channels.
MTN group president and CEO, Mr Ralph Mupita said, the alliance was aligned to the Group’s strategic intent to lead digital solutions for Africa’s progress:
“We are confident that this alliance will build and leverage the strengths and assets of both companies to establish a digital insurance and investment capability across Africa,” he stressed.
On his part, Sanlam Group CEO, Mr Paul Hanratty, said: “we are delighted to reach such a critical stage in our drive to deepen penetration of insurance and investment products across Africa through strategic partnerships.”
“We are confident that a strong foundation is in place for this alliance. Sanlam believes that this strategic alliance with the MTN Group will make a considerable contribution to financial inclusion in Africa.”
By leveraging the MTN brand, Sanlam’s licensing, broad product capabilities, financial services expertise and both group’s geographical footprint across the continen t will be enlarged, even as the alliance has the potential to pre-empt and adapt to digital disruption in markets where both companies operate.
Meanwhile, Sanlam Life Insurance, formerly known as FBN Insurance, recently held a series of customer stakeholder forums in Abuja, Port Harcourt, Uyo, and Kano.
The purpose of the event was to express gratitude to her clients, stakeholders and partners for their support over the years. The forum also gave the business a chance to promote customer-management strategies like paying attention to client concerns, issues, compliments, and feedback.
Responding to this development, the managing director/CEO, Sanlam Life Insurance Nigeria Limited, Tunde Mimiko, expressed his delight that the company is satisfying its customers’ needs.
“We are humbled by these heart-warming comments from our esteemed customers. They say, ‘the customer is king’, if these kings and queens find us worthy of these kind words, it shows that we are indeed, doing many things right,” Mimiko stated. We are grateful, and we promise not to rest on our oars to ensure optimum satisfaction for all our customers,” he noted.
