Hollard Group

Established in 1980, the Hollard Insurance Group is today South Africa’s largest privately - owned insurance group. Since its start, the Group has been devoted to match the needs of corporate customers in Africa and nurture long term business partnerships.

In 2009 Hollard entered an exclusive partnership agreement with Generali Employee Benefits to offer employee benefits in Sub-Saharan Africa.

With established insurance operations in over 14 countries on the continent, Hollard Group provides locally compliant insurance and risk management solutions for companies. Risk benefits are available to both local and international employers.

Premium products for employees include:

  • Health Insurance, with variety of both ‘in’ country hospitalisation and medical evacuation benefits.

  • Group Risk Benefits, providing specialist ‘risk only’ products made available as part of our employee benefits offering.

Hollard vision is to be the provider of choice for employee benefit solutions thanks to its unique capacity to:

  • Devise clear and relevant solutions that better respond to each client’s specific circumstances

  • Manage risk: it is not just about adjusting rates in response to changes in the claims, but about adopting a sustainable approach to risk management. When the claims experience is negative, Hollard teams engage with clients to identify and resolve the underlying cause

  • Handle claims and overall quality service: Hollard is recognised by clients for above-average service and quick turnaround times.

 

Awards

  • 2015 Commercial and Corporate Insurer

Hollard Insurance has been awarded 2015 Commercial and Corporate Insurer of the Year at the annual awards of the Financial Intermediaries Association of Southern Africa (FIA).

Pierre Geyer, Joint MD of Hollard Broker Markets said: “It’s a challenging environment but we understand the risks that South African businesses face and we are perfectly positioned to serve the needs of this market. We are particularly pleased to have received these awards because we have made several significant changes to Hollard’s strategy in the business space over the last 18 months”.

January 2014 saw the creation of Hollard Broker Markets, a business division with a focus on business insurance sourced through brokers.  The division was created when Hollard purchased Etana Insurance Company, one of SA’s fastest-growing commercial insurers and merged it with existing businesses. The purchase consolidated Hollard’s ability to offer comprehensive corporate and commercial insurance solutions in a broker-driven market.

“This space is very competitive and we have to be increasingly innovative and agile in order to accommodate and best serve our brokers and our mutual customers, in an ever-changing environment” adds Geyer.

Nash Omar, joint MD with Geyer, says, “Corporations want the comfort of working with underwriters that have a global perspective, yet a firm grip on local conditions. Working with our brokers in developing comprehensive risk management solutions, consolidating our strong local presence around the country and strengthening our “Centres of Excellence” approach to specialist risks have all contributed to this success.”

  • Risk Benefit Underwriter of the Year 2015

Hollard Group Risk has been further awarded Risk Benefit Underwriter of the Year 2015 at the Imbasa Yegolide Industry Awards, an annual event dedicated to Professional Excellence in the Retirement Fund Industry.The aim of the Awards is to reward professional excellence by recognizing service providers who have given excellent service to retirement funds and to create a platform for participating organisations to showcase their talent. More information on Hollard business solutions

 

Youth Employment? A business priority.  Smart Hiring And Job Re-Structuring To Improve Youth Employability 

“It’s time for businesses to become innovative in redesigning entry-level jobs in order to open up more work opportunities for youth” says Brent Wyborn, Executive Head of Group Services at Hollard Insurance Group – and a founding partner of Harambee, a private-sector initiative to support new entrants into the world of work.

 South Africa’s unemployment rate is at its highest in 12 years (26.4 percent in the first quarter of 2015), and youth unemployment rate is ranked 3rd highest globally, according to the World Economic Forum, with two out of three South Africans between the ages of 18 and 28 being out of work.

One of the main barriers is that young people lack skills required to perform in the workplace. What if business can help? Harambee’s Work for Work Youth Employment Accelerator programme gets businesses involved in developing work-ready and valuable employees through training and mentoring activities – a win-win for business and society.

“It is a business priority to find sustainable solutions to youth employment”  says Mr Wyborn. Harambee has grown from being a human capital exchange forum between Hollard and its sister companies in 2011 to now serving over 100 corporate employers in various industry sectors. This has allowed Harambee to successfully create jobs for well over 10,000 people to date – a target it now hopes to achieve on an annual basis going forward, while bringing 500 000 young people closer to the labour market by 2020. The Programme also received a grant from the Government’s Jobs Fund – an indication that the public sector supports the programme. “The model is simple and it works”: Find more details from the interview with Mr Wyborn.

For more information about Harambee’s Youth Employment Accelerator programme, visit www.harambee.co.za