South Africa’s largest short-term insurer, Santam, has wholly acquired Kandua, a leading online marketplace company for home services.
Kandua will merge with Santam’s home service offering, Home+, forming a wholly owned, independent subsidiary of the insurer.
The Kandua.com website offers an online marketplace for home services that enable consumers to connect with, compare and hire professionals across hundreds of service types, such as plumbers, electricians, carpenters and more.
Service providers can use the “Kandua for Pros” app to find new customers and easily manage their core business processes.
Gloria Tapon-Njamo, the CEO of Santam Partnership Solutions, said Kandua’s talent, technology and customer base were valuable assets for their business as it opened new avenues for client growth and digital innovation.
“The business has an established technology and extensive network of customers. Critically, this is a strategic acquisition aimed at accelerating our digital innovation and expansion into new market segments,” she said.
“This acquisition expands the impact that Santam can have on informal artisans and small businesses, through access to training, enabling business growth, job creation, financial inclusion and introducing products tailored for their needs.”
Kandua for Business, a division of the company that specifically caters to retailers and insurance companies, uses technology to make service integration into the value chain transparent and efficient. Many large retailers and financial services use the service.
On a monthly average, Kandua connects more than 40 000 vetted home-service companies to about R50 million worth of work opportunities from individual and business customers.
Kandua was founded by entrepreneurs Sayo Folawiyo and Arjun Khoosal in 2014 to help small businesses grow, through connecting professional services firms with consumers.
“Our vision is to make home service fulfilment seamless and equitable for service providers and the customers they serve, driven by trust and simplicity,” said Folawiyo, who will continue to serve as CEO of Kandua.
“Being part of Santam accelerates this work.”
BUSINESS REPORT