News

Etana gains more than a century of engineering expertise

31 January, 2012

With more than 100 years’ collective expertise in insurance, the newly appointed team at Etana’s Tyger Valley branch in the Cape is equipped with a wealth of knowledge and the complementary skills to grow engineering insurance business prospects in the region.

Etana’s acquisition of the Cape Town branch of Firedart Engineering Underwriters saw the divisional director of Construction, Engineering and Guarantees, Anthony Jones and his team join up with experienced Etanan marketer Vincent Geffroy in December 2011.

By adding their collective expertise to Etana’s existing Construction, Engineering and Guarantees team, the newcomers have bolstered the ranks and repositioned Etana as the second-largest business insurer in South Africa in this specific realm.

The former Firedart team members bring with them a spectrum of insurance skills, including engineering, underwriting, claims handling, policy administration, renewals and more. Joining Anthony and Vincent are Benita van Rensburg (marketing), Angelique van Heerden (claims/office management), Billy Jephtha (underwriting), Clint Ruiters (underwriting/claims) and Lourens van Heerden (office admin/trainee).

Their area of responsibility includes, but is not limited to, the whole of the Western Cape, including Cape Town, Boland, George, Port Elizabeth, the West Coast and Namibia.

Anthony says the economics of the region in which they operate has led to specialised insurance needs in the construction and construction equipment spheres, where machinery breakdown cover plays a large role. Another of Etana’s niche offerings, which covers the deterioration of stock, is widely used in many of the fruit-producing regions of the Western Cape, where produce is grown
for export.

“Our first priority is to consolidate and secure existing business being handled by various branches under our new administration,” says Anthony. “We targeted this area some time ago as one in need of a more focused approach.”

Having operated in the region for many years prior to joining Etana means the team has built good working relationships with the majority of local brokers. Their second priority will be leveraging those existing relationships to start growing engineering business and the branch as a whole.

“I also see an opportunity for synergy between our ‘local is lekker’ Etana branches and their brokers in the region to explore alternative insurance options with clients. Once again, having good business relationships is beneficial in this regard,” says Anthony.