Maravi

(TIMES) ‘Informal sector should be harnessed for savings’

‘Informal sector should be harnessed for savings’
By Business Reporter

SERVICE industries should help to mobilise savings from the informal sector which could be used to finance productive activities and enhance growth in the economy, Professional Life Assurance (PLA) managing director, George Silutongwe has said.

Mr Silutongwe said the informal sector in Zambia was cash rich and needed to be encouraged to save the money with financial institutions.

Speaking at the launch of a mobile office for the company in Lusaka, Mr Silutongwe said savings were important to national development because they were a major means of resource mobilisation.

“This is a method of resource mobilisation, the informal sector can contribute to the boosting of a savings culture, and if we get everybody tuned in, then we are getting everybody to contribute effectively to national savings and national development.

We believe that the informal sector is cash rich, but have no knowledge of these products. We are trying to promote savings among them through investment in life insurance services,” he said.

Mr Silutongwe said the mobile office for Lusaka, the company’s second after the launch of the first one for the Copperbelt region two years ago, would serve Lusaka and surrounding areas and parts of Southern Province.

The mobile office would be used as a base for direct sales campaigns in markets, shopping centres, entertainment places and work places in Lusaka, Kafue, Chongwe, Mazabuka, Chirundu, Kafue Gorge, Nampundwe, and other areas.

Mr Silutongwe said the mobile office facility would be selling products including personal and group life assurance services, funeral cover, group credit life cover, pension schemes, overseas travel insurance and education policies among other products.

He said the first mobile office on the Copperbelt had worked very well for PLA, recording significant growth in clients’ base in the two years that it had been operational.

“We have seen quite substantial growth in the number of people taking up life assurance policies on the Copperbelt, and we hope that we will create the same impact in Lusaka as well,” he said.

Labels: GEORGE SILUTONGWE, PLA

posted by MrK @ 3:39 AM