Sanlam Maroc, a subsidiary of Sanlam Restricted, Africa’s main insurer partly owned by billionaire Patrice Motsepe, mentioned it has taken an fairness stake in Woliz, a Moroccan startup that helps neighborhood retailers transfer their operations on-line.
The insurer invested $2.2 million, marking its first venture-style deal underneath a long-term personal fairness strategy. The transfer brings Sanlam right into a fast-growing nook of Morocco’s financial system, the place small retailers stay central to each day commerce however usually lack entry to formal monetary companies.
Sanlam backs Woliz retail fintech
Sanlam mentioned the funding is geared toward supporting the modernization of native retail whereas widening monetary inclusion. Small retailers account for a big share of employment and consumption in Morocco, but many nonetheless function largely in money and outdoors formal techniques.
Woliz mentioned the funding will velocity up the rollout of its know-how and fintech platform, which connects store house owners to a single community spanning funds, telecommunications, suppliers, establishments and shoppers. The corporate positions retailers not as intermediaries, however because the core of the system.
Sanlam Maroc faucets small retailers digitally
For Sanlam Maroc, the deal additionally serves as a studying alternative. The insurer mentioned it expects the partnership to enhance its understanding of small retailers and assist it design insurance coverage and monetary merchandise higher suited to their wants, a phase that’s usually arduous to achieve via conventional channels.
The funding aligns with Morocco’s “Digital Morocco 2030” plan, which seeks to modernize the financial system and develop entry to digital and monetary companies, with the goal of strengthening the nation’s function in Africa’s digital financial system.
Throughout Africa, digital companies have continued to attract investor curiosity regardless of international uncertainty, international direct funding flows to the continent rose to $97 billion in 2024 from $55 billion a yr earlier, in keeping with UNCTAD’s 2025 World Funding Report, pushed partially by digital financial system tasks.
Motsepe-backed Sanlam deepens funding technique
Sanlam Maroc, previously SAHAM Assurance, offers life and non-life insurance coverage and is headquartered in Casablanca. Based in 1949, it turned a part of Sanlam Restricted after rebranding in 2022.
Sanlam is partly owned by billionaire Patrice Motsepe, who holds an oblique 7.8 p.c stake via Ubuntu-Botho Investments and serves as vice chairman. The group reported a 6.9 p.c rise in first-half profit to $654 million, helped by good points throughout insurance coverage and funding models.
The insurer has been stepping up personal market investments, together with the launch this month of a $234.8 million Property Impact Fund targeted on social infrastructure and inexpensive housing, because it appears to be like past public markets for regular returns.
