MIP Holdings, one of South Africa's leading software development companies, has entered into a partnership with Kgali Investment Holdings, to extend its reach into Africa.
In terms of the partnership, Kgali chairman Freda du Toit will help drive MIP's range of financial services solutions into African markets, with particular emphasis on financial services.
"Freda has extensive experience in building market presence in Africa," says MIP CEO and chairman Richard Firth. "We have already had a dynamic run of business across Africa in the last six months, and Freda's knowledge and understanding of business in Africa will be vital in helping us grow our footprint across the continent."
Du Toit is confident of securing the partnership's first success in Ghana, where she says the market is ripe for MIP's offerings.
"MIP has earned a reputation in South Africa, and now increasingly in Africa, for the quality and strategy enabling nature of its solutions," says Du Toit. "This, and the fact that it is delivered via the risk-based software as a service model, makes it ideally suited for emerging markets such as we find in Africa."
MIP targets a number of markets, among them employee benefits, medical aid administration, insurance, treasury and investment. All of its solutions are based on the principle of shared risk, with clients not making up-front payments, but rather smoothing payment for solutions and services on a monthly basis once they have gone live. MIP can either deliver its solutions in-house or on a fully hosted basis. Key to its success is that it helps its customers grow their business through its solutions. It counts many of South Africa's largest corporates among its customers, and has more than 6 million lives covered across the customer base.
“MIP has a comprehensive solution servicing front office and back office,” says Du Toit. “Its front office offering embraces all elements, including sales force, Internet and contact centre, while its back office approach includes administration, general ledger and reporting. This is probably the most important differentiator MIP has in this market.
"I have spent the last 19 years working in the insurance software field, so I see huge potential in Africa, and still in South Africa, for MIP. The deferred payment model, along with the potential for cloud-based delivery and access, should ensure rapid take-up in parts of Africa that are growing rapidly. Importantly, the increasing availability of high-speed and low-cost bandwidth will make software as a service a reality."
Du Toit will initially target English-speaking countries, where she discerns more than enough opportunity for the partnership to flourish.
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