Old Mutual, SA’s third largest insurer, has received more than 30,000 applications from black South Africans, small businesses, and trusts and stokvels since launching its latest empowerment scheme on August 22.
Known as Bula Tsela, loosely translated as “open the way”, the scheme makes Old Mutual the first insurer to offer shares directly to black South African retail investors.
The scheme includes a R1,000 12-month payment option for those who cannot afford the R2,000 one-off payment, whereby applicants can pay R1,000 up front and the remainder can be paid off over 12 months. Each share costs R10.
Old Mutual head of corporate finance Taskeen Ismail said the R1,000 instalment option had attracted a lot of interest, and people over the age of 60 were also keen applicants.
“If you can afford more shares, you can apply for a minimum of 200 shares for R2,000. However, you must pay for these up front,” Ismail said.
The latest empowerment scheme comes after more than R7.9bn of value was created when Old Mutual’s 2005 broad-based BEE deal matured in 2015.
Old Mutual shares were up 0.8% at R9.67 shortly after midday on Thursday, in line with other insurers.
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