Ghana, six African countries to benefit from Airtel insurance and health funding products

BY EDMUND SMITH-ASANTE

Bharti Airtel, a leading telecommunications company in Africa, has announced that it has entered into a strategic cooperation agreement with leading South African financial services group, Sanlam, for the distribution of insurance and health funding products.  

A press release announcing this, says the agreement covers seven African countries, on a non- exclusive basis, in which both companies have a presence, namely Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania, Zambia, Uganda, Malawi and Nigeria.

The agreement is aimed at enhancing value for Airtel customers and increasing access to insurance, which will enable Sanlam to market and sell its Life, General and Health insurance products through Airtel’s extensive telecommunications networks in the seven countries.

Commenting on the deal, Chidi Okpala, Airtel’s Director and Africa Head, Airtel Money, said: “We are delighted to be partnering with Sanlam on this exciting initiative. This will offer our customers in Africa access to a broad range of sophisticated products and services to support their lifestyles and aspirations, and this partnership will enable us to significantly enhance the value we offer our loyal customers.”

Our customers stand to benefit from access to Sanlam’s world-class Life, General and Health Insurance products,” he explained further.

For her part, Margaret Dawes, Executive Director for Africa at Sanlam Emerging Markets, stated; “We are passionate about supplying sound financial solutions to the wider African market and are delighted by this opportunity to provide our services and solutions through Airtel’s network. We look forward to providing competitive products that meet the client’s needs – drawing on our collective years of experience and research in these markets.”

Bharti Airtel Limited is an integrated telecommunications company with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa and had over 257 million customers across its operations at the end of June 2012. Headquartered in New Delhi, India, the company ranks amongst the top five mobile service providers globally in terms of subscribers.

In Africa, the airtel brand is present in both Francophone and Anglophone markets spanning 17 countries, namely Burkina Faso, Chad, Congo Brazzaville, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.

Sanlam on the other hand is a diversified financial services group, originally established as a life insurance company in 1918 and currently provides financial solutions to individual and institutional clients.