Finance of the Future
Insurance is an important pillar of any advanced financial ecosystem.
In Mauritius, officially ranked the easiest place to do business in Sub-Saharan Africa, the sector is helping provide peace of mind to consumers and business alike, and a key facilitator is Guardrisk.
With its parent company in South Africa, the Mauritius division is moving from strength to strength in the cell captive insurance and resinsurance segment, a journey which is helping to propel the country up the global ease of doing business ranks (it now sits in 20th).
“We are in one of the most dynamic and fastest-growing economies in SubSaharan Africa and the country’s business environment and investment climate has also made it one of the most business-friendly destinations in the region,” Vikram Ramlochun, Managing Director, tell us.
“Furthermore, Mauritius has emerged as an important platform between Asia, the Middle East and Africa for investment into the African subcontinent. The financial services sector, including the insurance industry, is an important economic pillar of the Mauritian economy and the insurance industry’s contribution to GDP is about three percent.”
Continuing our focus on insurance is an exclusive interview with Hollard Ghana’s CEO Patience Akyianu, who details the rapid rise of the sector in the country, especially in the area of life insurance which is growing at 25 percent a year.
Also operating in the financial arena is DPO Group, the largest pan-African payment services provider. We put our questions to Co-Founder and Chairman Offer Gat about his company’s journey and the importance of an advanced payments infrastructure in driving economic development.
Other industry insights cover the likes of construction, retail, food and drink, supply chain and manufacturing activities, while this month’s Expert Eye comes from Prof Lucille Blumberg and Dr Kerrigan McCarthy of South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases.
Staying in South Africa, we explore the country’s growing MICE tourism potential via a Q&A with the Southern African Association for the Conference Industry (SAACI). Having spoken with the organisation in 2018, here we catch up with Kim Roberts, Vice-Chairperson of SAACI, to get the latest insight on South African tourism, as well as some detail on what SAACI has planned for the year ahead.
Our other business travel guide dives into Liberia, in particular its vibrant capital city Monrovia, to explore what is on offer for leisure and business travellers.
Enjoy the issue!