AFGRI extends financial services offering to Northern Cape
AFGRI, the leading agricultural services, food processing and grain commodities company, is expanding its financial services offering through a working relationship between UNIGRO Financial Services and KLK Landbou.
UNIGRO Financial Services, one of the businesses in AFGRI’s financial portfolio, is spreading its wings to the Northern Cape in line with its strategy to expand beyond the areas where it is currently doing business.
Early in 2016 a working relationship with Northern Cape-based KLK Landbou Limited was established. This relationship was put into place to enhance KLK’s offering to their clients and to enable KLK to supplement their services through UNIGRO’s relationships with various insurers. This co-operation is now being expanded to include UNIGRO’s lending products.
UNIGRO not only provides crop insurance, covering hail, extended hail, wind, transit, fire, frost and multi-peril, but also asset insurance, health, wealth management and planning, medical aid as well as credit life insurance which provides farmers with security against production loans.
Traditional lending products such as term loans, hire purchases and production loans are augmented by innovative financial solutions such as UNIGRO’s revolving credit facility.
Theo Potgieter, Insurance Director at UNIGRO, says the agreement offers new opportunities to both entities. “UNIGRO together with KLK will be able to expand its crop insurance and asset insurance offering to established as well as emerging farmers in the region, whilst KLK will have the opportunity to target large corporate clients with the assistance of UNIGRO. The working relationship will place emphasis on the KLK clients especially those not insured via KLK”.
The agreement with KLK was followed in February by the establishment of a working relationship between UNIGRO and Indwe Risk Services, a leading personal, business and specialist risk and insurance advisory business.
This agreement allows Indwe access to UNIGRO’s expertise in agricultural insurance and financial products, while UNIGRO will gain by utilising Indwe’s full range of risk advisory services.
Potgieter says the collaboration with Indwe creates an opportunity for UNIGRO to expand into Africa through Indwe’s Allied Africa Broker Network, an integrated network of independently African-owned and operated short-term insurance brokers.
As a parting comment, Potgieter indicated that in hard times, such as those currently being experienced in the agricultural sector, purchases such as insurance and cover, are often the first areas to be cut back, unfortunately to the detriment of the farmer, should anything unforeseen happen. “In times like this, it is much better to approach your broker or relationship manager, and discuss possible options, rather than cancel policies and cover outright,” said Potgieter.
