BizCover has launched its online business insurance platform in South Africa as it targets opportunities from a potential digital transformation in SME purchasing in the country.

The platform will be known locally as Bi-me, representing business insurance made easy, and will feature products from Hollard Insurance and Discovery Insure initially, with more insurers expected to join.

The South African venture will be headed by Francois Potgieter, ex-COO of Hollard Insurance and a non-executive director of Discovery Insure.

“Like many countries around the world, commercial insurance in South Africa has not seen the digital transformation that general insurance has experienced and is still very manual and time consuming,” he said.

“With around 2.25 million small businesses in South Africa, we see huge potential to disrupt this space and allow SMEs to compare, buy and manage their insurance, online and in real time.”

AUB Group last year bought a 40% stake in BizCover, which is headquartered in Sydney and has operations in San Francisco and Auckland.

BizCover says it currently has 177,000 SMEs insured through its platform globally and has processed 650,000 policies using its technology.

Hollard Holdings Australia MD Richard Enthoven says the expansion of the BizCover model to South Africa represents “a massive opportunity to disrupt a very traditional and sizable industry that has not yet embraced technology”.