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It's a typical short-term insurer until you get inside its Centurion-based headquarters. The new kid joining the JSE next month, OUTsurance, doesn't have a shiny head office that matches its competitors' in Sandton. At just 25 years old, it's confident it has much to offer investors as it goes public, even as it must steal market share from competitors that have been around for more than a century.
The insurer's CEO, Marthinus Visser, doesn't have his own office. He sits at a corner desk in the open-plan office where all the support staff, like IT technicians and actuaries, have only screens partitioning them. He doesn't even have a window nearby providing a view of the few things Centurion has to offer.
But even as it holds on to parts of the small business atmosphere it had when it launched with 70 staff members in 1998, the company is gearing up for further offshore expansion. Australia, where OUTsurance owns a short-term insurer, Youi, already contributes 53% of the annual premiums the group collects. Now, it's preparing to expand to its third market, but will only be giving a name next year.
