Africa-Press – Botswana. One of the country’s biggest undertakers, Funeral Service Group (FSG) is eyeing further international expansion as the company targets more value and growth for its shareholders.
With a flourishing footprint developing in Zambia and South Africa, to go with its formidable Botswana base, the company now have their sights set on an unlikely new market: Zimbabwe.
Confirming these ambitions to the media recently, FSG Managing Director (MD) Fergus Ferguson said, “We are considering expansions for South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
“With the latter we know most companies have exited the market for various reasons which are mostly economic but it’s an area which we are considering setting up operations. We see more opportunities in the South African and Zambian markets. Our Zambia business is performing exceptionally well; it has moved from being a three-branch business to operating with 11 branches. With South Africa it is different since it’s extremely competitive so for a start-up like us it is challenging to be penetrative,” explained Ferguson, noting FSG has evolved from being primarily a funeral services provider to a retail insurance provider.
With interest in manufacturing, insurance, services, properties, investments and private cemeteries, FSG has close to 140,000 insurance policy holders under its fort.
Following the disinvestment of Botswana Life from the group, FSG’s funeral insurance policies are now underwritten by Hollard.
“We want to ensure that the services we produce are top notch. We have also closed the financial gap; in the past when there were funerals people struggled but we have established affordable policies for decent burials for Batswana. We want to triple the size of this business in five years which ends in 2028. We will do things not associated with our historical side of business, we find big opportunities in our neighbouring countries because we want to create value for the shareholders,” stressed Ferguson adding FSG boast 800 shareholders.
“Our expansion is going to come in different forms such as product diversification in insurance and geographically and it may mean we will also expand via acquisitions. Our intention is for the success of each business in different countries we operate in. We are working on strategies to help the business in South Africa to become top like Botswana and Zambian operations,” he said.
Established in 1993, FSG operates 23 branches in Botswana, with 362 employees; in Zambia, its empire stands at 11 branches manned by a workforce of 120 while in South Africa it has six branches.
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