Sasria, Business Development Executive, Collin Macheke
State-owned insurance underwriter recognised for extraordinary BEE success
Sasria, the insurance company that covers the extraordinary, has scooped the 2010 Metropolitan Oliver Empowerment Award in the Government Agency and Parastatal Category. The Metropolitan Oliver Awards are South Africa’s leading awards for achievement in the area of black economic empowerment (BEE), and recognise strides that have been made to make local companies and organisations more representative.
While Sasria is a state-owned insurance underwriter, this does not negate the need for a strong focus on BEE, says Business Development Executive, Collin Macheke.
“Sasria plays a key role in risk management in South Africa,” he says, “providing insurance for such extraordinary events as public disorder, labour disturbances, civil unrest, strikes, lock-outs and acts of terrorism. In the same way, we aim to be at the forefront of transformation, and are honoured that our BEE efforts have been recognised in this way.”
In fact, says Macheke, BEE is at the heart of everything that Sasria does.
“In line with our corporate responsibility to redress imbalances of the past, we adhere to the principles of BEE in procuring goods and services,” he says. “Sasria addresses the issue of BEE through professional appointments, social responsibility programmes, skills development programmes, enterprise development and preferential procurement. We also give preference to historically disadvantaged candidates, while always ensuring that this is done within the framework of sound business and procurement principles.”
Sasria’s aim is to reflect the demographics of the country in the organisation’s structure and practices. As a result, 78% of the board is made up of black directors, while 55% of the directors are women. Furthermore, black representation at executive management level is 83%, while female representation is 50%.
“Since the promulgation of the Conversion of Sasria Act in 1998, we have transformed our organisation at every level,” says Macheke, “right from the most senior to the most junior level. We comply fully with the Financial Sector Charter, which prescribes that 50% of discretionary purchases should be made from black suppliers by 2008, and that this should increase to 70% by 2014. And fully 90% of our procurement is done through BEE companies.”
Sasria has further pioneered a number of private equity BEE investment deals through Enterprise Development, an Aloecap (Pty) Ltd company, and has invested R130million in Future Growth, which specialises in retail building projects in underdeveloped areas.
Among our key strategic CSI projects is the South African Actuaries Development Programme (SAADP). We established the SAADP programme with the primary aim of unearthing and harnessing mathematical and analytical skills amongst black students in order to expose and help them to capitalise on career opportunities in the field of Actuarial Science. The programme is geared towards creating greater awareness, understanding and appreciation of Actuarial Science as a field of study
SAADP has been around for more than seven years and has produced 39 graduates so far, including two fully qualified actuaries one of which now holds a position at Sasria. To date an amount of R23 million has been utilised for the development of black actuaries. During 2009/10 financial year Sasria has donated R3.8 million to SAADP. We have contributed not only financially but also in terms of executive time who sit on various committees of this initiative to ensure its success.
Furthermore, to improve Maths and Science at matric level, Sasria has partnered with University of Johannesburg to form the Sasria Maths and Science Academy which seeks to train teachers on soft skills to deliver Maths and Science subjects in a simple way.
While the political situation in South Africa has changed significantly since Sasria was first established, it remains as relevant today as it was then.
“Recent service delivery strikes, for instance, have shown that there is still a need for special risk cover,” says Macheke. “In fact, businesses and institutions all over the world know how important this kind of cover is, and acknowledge that it is prudent to insure against extraordinary risks.”
“We remain the only insurance company in South Africa with the expertise and financial strength to cover the full range of special risks and, as such, fill a significant niche. We’re also living proof that real BEE is not only feasible, but a tremendous benefit to both companies and their clients.”
Sasria is transforming on the back of strong financial performance.
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