Insurance group, First Mutual Holdings (FMH), previously known as Africa First Renaissance Corporation, has outlined a new strategic direction for its subsidiary in Botswana FMRE Property and Casualty.
Speaking at a breakfast meeting, Business Growth and Strategy for FMRE Botswana and the region, Ian Taonesa, said the group is executing traditional and value-added strategies to keep pace with the growth of the region’s markets.
“We believe there is a larger opportunity for value added solutions where we help primary insurers introduce new products and develop new markets,” said Taonesa.
FMH subsidiaries include Pearl Properties, First Mutual Life Assurance Company, FMRE Life & Health and FMRE Property Casualty Zimbabwe and Botswana.
Taonesa said the growth strategy is mainly focused on Botswana because that’s where FMH is domiciled. He added that Botswana is a good market and they are looking forward to grow bigger in this market.
The dominant provider of reinsurance in the region is introducing three new products in Botswana that is agriculture, micro and credit insurance. Taonesa said under agriculture, the primary focus will be on crop and livestock insurance.
“Botswana government strategy is to cut down on the food import and prioritise local purchase, we come in to support this initiative to protect farmers against unforeseen circumstances as well as improve lives of farmers,” he said.
FMH is set to launch the agriculture product in Botswana immediately and the micro insurance product will be launched during the course of the year.
Taonesa said African governments do not provide drought insurance as such FMH has put everything in place to launch the product at a full scale in Botswana.
“We intend to expand our business into the region and Botswana offers the right platform because of the regulations and infrastructure in place, we are looking at Namibia and Uganda,” said Taonesa.
He, however, said establishing the subsidiary company in Botswana was not an easy task.
“Being a Zimbabwean company, we experienced serious challenges that included suspicion that we are not a financially sound institution, nevertheless we have managed to overcome that suspicion,” he said.
