May 10, 2019

Risk assessments for SMMEs and SMEs in South Africa

Small Medium Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) and Small Medium Enterprise (SMEs) form an important sector of the South African economy. In March this year, the small business sector received significant backing from government with the launch of the R1.4 billion SME fund. The fund is managed by some of the top business minds in the country, who are members of Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA). It is dedicated to helping develop the opportunities in this space.

Small businesses are often exposed to diverse and different risks compare to more established and bigger businesses. Some of these risks may not be included in the cover offered by a standard short term commercial insurance policy. With this in mind, it is important that the risk assessment for SMME and SME businesses is done correctly to ensure that they receive the type of cover that is needed.

Jon-Jon Smit, Executive Head: Sales & Marketing at our partner CIB, shared his thoughts on the SMME market and the appropriate risk assessments that are needed to ensure that SMME businesses are serviced correctly by the insurance industry.

Jon-Jon focused on addressing the six questions, listed below. CIB is a broker-driven business servicing the short term broker market countrywide. You can read the full article below. Check out the full April edition of Cover Magazine here.

  • What are the main risks faced by SMMEs in South Africa that could easily be addressed by a standard short term insurance policy?
  • In your experience are businesses taking these risks seriously enough?
  • When a broker approaches a potential new SMME client, what is the process to follow to identify risks that need to be addressed? 
  • How should they decide, based on the client’s budget, what to leave out initially? 
  • Where does CIB come in, in terms of equipping and assisting brokers in the assessment, take-on and servicing process?
  • Any recommendation regarding what brokers could do to take advantage of the huge SMME market’s insurance needs?