Trustco expands to Zimbabwe

LOCAL financial services company Trustco has expanded its operations to the Zimbabwean market.

Partnering with two Zimbabwean outfits, Econet Wireless and First Mutual Life (FML), it introduced free life-insurance cover to 4,5 million Econet subscribers.Econet is Zimbabwe’s largest cellphone operator.According to Trustco’s group managing director, Quinton van Rooyen, Zimbabwe is an untapped market.’And if you are looking at an expansion strategy, you would look for people who are the highest qualified in Africa. And that is why we came to Zimbabwe.’Van Rooyen said that they were also drawn to Econet Wireless’s ‘progressive way’ of conducting business.FML will act as the underwriter of the new life insurance for which subscribers will have to fork out US$3 (approximately N$21) for airtime per month for six months to qualify for the ‘free life cover’. The more subscribers recharge, the ‘bigger their life insurance becomes’.Because Econet has 4,5 million subscribers, this was the next ‘logical step’ following Trustco Mobile’s 250 000 local customers.It would have been premature to venture into the larger South African market at this stage, Van Rooyen said.On the day that the deal was announced, the company’s Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) price rose by nearly 12 per cent.At the occasion held in the Zimbabwean capital Harare, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Econet Wireless, Douglas Mboweni, said the signing of the deal was ‘a pioneering event’ in the history of the company that opened its doors in 1998.Trustco will earn about US$1 (about N$7) per subscriber per month. From this, it will have to pay about 30 cents for actuarial expenses.According to Van Rooyen, their ‘next target is probably Kenya or Ghana’.Recently, Trustco announced a N$137,544 million profit for the financial year ending March 31 2010.