Phakathi-rambau identifies gap for black women in insurance
Serial entrepreneur creates and leads Splendid Cover
The founder and CEO of Splendid Cover, Zama Phakathi-rambau, is an astute businesswoman boldly navigating the business world in an endeavour to reach the top of business success.
Phakathi-rambau is now one of the few black women to get into the insurance business sector and currently holds ownership and leadership positions in various entities.
“I’m humbled to be one of a few black women to get into the insurance space. I am inspired to do more and work hard.”
She wants to ensure her latest venture takes off in a big way and makes an impact by educating people about all matters related to insurance.
“I’ve played in different sectors over the 15 years that I have been in business, from marketing, public relations, health, IT, etc. In all I’ve done, I discovered the financial services sector is a niche market, and not many black women play in it,” said Phakathi-rambau.
She started doing research around financial services and how she could get into the sector by speaking to stakeholders. That is when she discovered a gap in the insurance business.
“I’m a serial entrepreneur and I’m always looking for different banking business solutions, and the insurance business has always been on my mind. I’ve been working on it for a while, doing my own research and setting up the ground for Splendid Cover.” Phakathi-rambau believes in the mantra: “If you want to get into business, you should start with what you know, learn the tricks of the trade, then in time you will start to see gaps.”
“By doing this you can plug and close the gaps in the broader market.
“There will be opportunities and challenges needing you to find solutions and you must be prepared to possibly provide those solutions.
“You can then partner with the right people with the necessary skills and knowledge in a particular sector.”
She has roped in several partners to try and educate artists about medical insurance and funeral cover plans.
“It has been a difficult period in which the industry had to deal with a crippling global pandemic, but we have come this far.
“It is through the collaborations of business and the arts fraternity that life became bearable in difficult times and brought the nation together,” she said.
Born and bred in Hammersdale in the outer west of Durban, she has spent most of her career working in marketing and public relations.
She was inspired to start Splendid Market
ing by her colleagues she worked with while she was a marketing and communications manager at the Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
“I used to interact with a lot of entrepreneurs and many of them would encourage me to go into my business because of the professionalism and commitment I had for my job.”
Some of her achievements
If you want to get into business, learn the tricks of the trade
include the Standard Bank Top Women Achiever Award, Fast Growth Women-owned SMME Award, and she was a finalist under the category Top Young Female Entrepreneur.
In 2018, she won the Top Young Executive of the Year at the Top Company National Business Awards.