New equestrian specialist Arco360 strikes strategic partnership with GENRIC Insurance Company

Cornel Schoeman, Chief Commercial Officer at GENRIC.

Brand new niche broker Arco360, which offers innovative insurance cover for horse owners and their beloved animals, has entered into a strategic partnership with specialist insurer GENRIC Insurance Company.

GENRIC’s first introduction to the faces behind Arco360, Gen McNeill, CEO, and Candice Hobday, Chief Commercial Officer, came barely one month before the broker launched.

“We immediately recognised that Candice and Gen have a lot of credibility in their industry to launch this new broker,” Cornel Schoeman, Chief Commercial Officer at GENRIC, says. “They have an intricate understanding of the equestrian world. Candice sets trends in her industry. She is a specialist. We saw the energy in these women and knew this will be a success.”

He added: “As a niche short-term insurance company, GENRIC is in the business of incubating new products and getting them to market quickly, but with solid foundations and sound administrative support.”

Hobday agrees. GENRIC was the perfect partner to set up Arco360, she says.

“Not only could we open our doors to our business within one month, fast bringing this idea to fruition, but also the compliance standards I’ve witnessed in this process with GENRIC are outstanding,” she notes.

Equity stake demonstrates confidence

GENRIC further strengthened its coalition with Arco360 by taking up an equity stake in the company, demonstrating GENRIC’s confidence in this new broker, according to Schoeman.

“GENRIC taking an equity stake in our business shows that we have strong backing for our venture,” Hobday adds.

Aside from each having five years experience in the short-term insurance industry, Hobday and McNeill are legends in their own right within the equestrian community. Both are renowned and respected riders, competing and winning numerous titles with their own horses. Hobday owns an international horse transport company, Hobday Equestrian Enterprises.

As she explains, the equestrian community is intimate, consisting of fewer than 50,000 individuals. However, each person owns at least one horse, and often more, making the capital value of this community in excess of billions.

“In exports only, a recent study on shipping indicated the value of horses exported to be R1 billion,” Hobday notes.

Being “horse people” themselves, they have intimate knowledge of horse owners’ financial needs when it comes to the medical treatment of a beloved animal, says Hobday.

Striking a balance

“In the case of a horse, medical treatment is an expensive exercise, however small it may be,” she explains. “You blink once, and the bill is R40,000. But it’s your horse. You have a deeply personal relationship with this animal that is cherished as much as any other family member. Not being in the position to pay can be a heartbreaking affair.”

She continues: “Our feeling is that equestrian medical insurance should operate in much the same way as regular, human medical insurance, since horse owners typically treat their animals like a son or daughter. You need someone on the other side of your claim that operates super efficiently and within the regulatory framework to safeguard your investment, but you also need them to be sympathetic, to understand that we’re dealing with a dear, dear family member here.”

It is in marrying high-quality insurance that is well administrated and managed, with a sympathetic approach, that Arco360 brings something fresh to the market, Hobday believes.

The products themselves are also innovative and tailor-made to fit the special needs of each individual horse owner.

The policies

Arco360 sells tailored policies for the equestrian industry as GENRIC’s juristic representative. The mortality policy provides tiered insurance for any kind of accidental death. The Hospital Plus policy is in turn a hospital plan for the animal in case of critical care and/or life saving surgery and treatment given to the horse in hospital, while MedAid provides medical insurance for the horse for any procedures in- and outside the hospital.

Each product offers tiers to provide for specific needs of individual clients and their animals.

Clients can also buy add-on benefits, for example, public liability insurance, infertility cover, foetus and foal insurance.

A secondary benefit derived from having Arco360 policies in place is that veterinaries can treat horses without fearing that they would not get paid for costly procedures. When a horse owner has medical insurance in place for a horse that needs treatment, the vet is assured to get payment for the treatments he or she performs.

Much like human doctors, the veterinaries welcome patients with medical insurance, since they then have no worries about possible non-payment of costly, but necessary procedures. With the Arco360 products, vets can submit their claims directly, which are guaranteed to be paid within 48 hours after final authorisation.