BUSINESS prospects remain high in South Sudan with possibilities for expansion in the market despite the continued civil war, Fidelity Life Assurance has said.
BUSINESS REPORTER
The life assurance company is in a partnership with the National Insurance Company of South Sudan in a deal signed last year.
Fidelity Life Assurance managing director Simon Chapereka said the company remains buoyant about the business opportunities for insurance in the market.
“The market has been encouraging, but obviously as reported, the issue of war has had an impact. But we are not the only business affected in that market as we are competing with three Kenyan companies, another from Uganda and other Sudanese companies,” he said.
Chapereka told shareholders at an annual general meeting last month that the group has begun writing business in South Sudan, but was restricted to Juba due to clashes in Africa’s youngest state.
“The challenge is that disturbances limited us to three states in the north which are oil-producing. Where there is oil, there is much activity. We would have wanted to sell our insurance there. Our ability to expand outside Juba and neighbouring States is constrained,” he said.
Chapereka said the company would continue to expand operations in the market with the objective of consolidating its presence in Juba.
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Oil-rich South Sudan is presently considered as a key strategic investment niche particularly in the services and manufacturing sectors despite the continued civil conflict.
“Suffice to say that we are very happy with that market’s performance, we are continually scanning the environment, always on the lookout in that market to identify areas in which we have the capacity to exploit,” said Chapereka adding that more East African companies were entering the country’s insurance sector.
The partnership was consummated last year after the National Insurance Company of Sudan had shown interest in partnering Fidelity with the aim of tapping into the country’s insurance business. Both companies invested just above $500 000 to initiate operations.
The money was used as working capital for the joint venture’s running costs.
Under the joint venture, Fidelity is basically running the Information technology infrastructure, motor vehicles and the human resources aspect of the operations.
Fidelity Life already has a presence in other regional markets where it already runs business in Malawi operating Vanguard Life Assurance, which it acquired in 2005 as it sought to spruce up its life and individual pensions for the group.
Fidelity’s portfolio on the local market is spread into property development, micro-finance, asset management and actuarial consultancy.
