Peter Todd receiving a certificate from NERPO that recognises M&F as the strategic partner of the year
Peter Todd, Managing Director of Mutual & Federal, a member of the Old Mutual Group, addressed guests at the National Emergent Red Meat Producers’ Organisation’s (NERPO) 14th Annual General meeting dinner on Wednesday, 21 September.
“We are proud to be associated with NERPO and the re-emergence of tribal farming communities who have shown great resilience during a history of marginalisation,” Todd told NERPO members, adding that Mutual & Federal has supported NERPO initiatives in the past, and would continue to do so.
Mutual & Federal also believes in the spirit of the Financial Sector Charter (FSC) and is committed to meeting and satisfying all its pillars of transformation. “Transformation is critical for the future of Mutual & Federal, the insurance industry and indeed our country – it is a business imperative,” said Todd.
“The two pillars of the FSC our New Markets business division is passionate about are access to Financial Services and Enterprise development. In an environment that is underinsured and where unemployment is at high levels, this is where we believe Mutual & Federal can make a difference.
“This begins with educating communities on financial and insurance matters, something we are pursuing in association with the South African Insurance Association (SAIA),” he said.
The Mutual & Federal New Markets team also develops black brokers with knowledge of the black market to enable communities to access financial and insurance services. The objective is to develop aspiring sales people into fully-fledged and accredited insurance intermediaries for the industry. Once developed these aspirant brokers return to their communities and sell insurance products in relevant languages
Referring to the insurer’s commitment to improving the lives of emerging farmers, Todd told NERPO members of a number of recent projects.
“In conjunction with the department of Agriculture in the Eastern Cape, Mbhashe area, Mutual & Federal renovated dilapidated dipping tanks and built new ones. We also donated generators to extract used and dirty water, and trained dipping tanks’ foremen on the importance of risk management and continuously dipping livestock to prevent animal sicknesses.”
The insurer also helped farmers with the tagging and branding of livestock for ease of identification and livestock management with group companies Old Mutual and Nedbank, setting up ‘green shops’ in areas where access to financial services and products was a problem.
“We also developed a livestock product to insure livestock for aspirant farmers at an affordable rate,” said Todd. “This is a market first in South Africa.”
Going forward, and in partnership with NERPO, Mutual & Federal would like to participate in relevant initiatives of the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, such as the Mafisa fund, Heifer SA, the Nguni cattle project and Asgisa.
“We know that these initiatives are sitting firmly on the strategic agenda of the Department,” said Todd. “We would like to be part of the rural development strategy linked to land and agrarian reform as well as food security.”
Mutual & Federal is one of the leading short-term insurers in southern Africa.
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