Jacqui Rickson: The success of Ubuntu: In my opinion

11 September 2007 Channel Life

With their aim of "Africanising" the life industry, Channel Life has already launched more than 15 Ubuntu points in deep rural areas around the country. The objective of the campaign has been to bring "first class" service to the under-serviced communities.

The people of these areas can now have their pension and funeral claims processed right on their doorstep cutting down on expensive travelling costs and time, where in the past they had to travel for hours to get their claims processed. The community can also make phone calls from the Ubuntu point, buy cell phones and get access to cellphone banking with the help of supporting partners MTN banking and Pactel.

When Channel Life took over as re-insurer from Rentmeester in Mpumalanga, Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal, North West and the Northern Cape, they realised that a number of changes needed to be made in order to service these communities properly.

"The biggest issue was the fact that the pensioners could purchase these policies in their rural areas but then had to travel long distances to process these claims. Channel Life then decided to place the Ubuntu containers in and around theses deep rural areas, branded and language specific to these areas," says Jacqui Rickson of Channel Life.

"The containers are run by members of the community that have received the appropriate training and education to service the policy holders," she says. "This already creates a perception of trust and visibility. The people will no longer feel that someone is just trying to sell them a policy and then disappear."

The Ubuntu containers play an important role in creating an entrepreneurial environment because they are run by community members. Channel Life has decided to use the concept of a roadshow to inform and educate the people of the community.

"Because we realise that a large portion of our target community cannot read or write, we want to take consumer education beyond the formal, classroom style. Thats why we have created an Ubuntu Point Industrial Theatre trailer, which will give a theatre production performance to the people of the community," says Rickson.

The production will be followed by formal consumer education, provided by a SETA accredited trainer and with SAQWA approved training material in accordance with the charter requirements. The roadshows will also help to remove a sense of uncertainty. The aim is to help the community understand the difference between an insurer and an administrator; explain the funeral process, the claiming process, and what other services are available within the container. Because our goal is long-term sustainability, we will continue with management courses and AIDS awareness.

"We have spent a lot of time training the people that man the containers; they require soft skills training, numeracy training, technology training and the basics of running your own business," says Rickson. "We like to believe that we are bringing first world technology to the rural, developing areas and we can already see the success of this programme in the measurement of the policy sales that have been made thus far as well as the claims, and airtime sales. The containers are definitely being well utilised."

Channel Life is meeting the requirements of the Financial Services Charter in terms of access and education and with the roll-out of the roadshows we will also be launching a CAT compliant funeral product.

"We rely heavily on the advice of the community. We need them to tell us what it is that they need so that we can service them properly. This is a collaborative effort and we rely on them to help us get it right."

She concludes: "Historically these funeral policies have always had a very hierarchical structure, with the pensioner at the bottom being dictated to the community leaders that were usually affiliated to one administrator and acted as brokers. By going directly to the community through the Ubuntu points we are giving power back to the individual. What it boils down to is high service levels, greater visibility and trust."

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