First South African Insurtech partner to join Plug and Play

Ahmed Banderker, Chief Executive of Sanlam Business Development.

Sanlam, a South African-based life insurance company, announced today its partnership with Plug and Play, the world’s largest global innovation platform headquartered in Silicon Valley. This is the first South African partner in the Plug and Play Insurtech program.

“Insuretech is fundamentally changing the way we present insurance solutions to our clients. Sanlam is a client-centric company and joining hands with Plug and Play is a natural fit as we look for ways to enhance our business models and technology layers to improve our offering to our clients. Sanlam is known for leading the market when it comes to innovative technologies and the application thereof and this partnership can only benefit our business and clients,” says Ahmed Banderker, Chief Executive of Sanlam Business Development.

Sanlam joined Plug and Play Insurtech to tie the South African insurtech ecosystem to Silicon Valley. Through the implementation of start-up technology into their company, Sanlam aims to transform the customer experience, automate processes within their organization for a better experience, and leverage the data they have to boost growth.

“We are thrilled to welcome Sanlam to Plug and Play Insurtech. Their expertise will be hugely valuable to startups and our ecosystem at-large. As our first African partner, we have much to learn and are looking forward to tackling innovation together,” says Ali Safavi, Global Head Insurtech and Principal Plug and Play Ventures. To kick off the partnership, Sanlam will be co-hosting an event with Plug and Play in South Africa. This October event will celebrate compelling insurtech startups and highlight Sanlam’s innovation initiatives. Together they are working to bridge the gap between Silicon Valley and South Africa.