*This content is brought to you by Simply Financial Services.

There are approximately 1 million people employed as domestic workers in South Africa. And yet, according to Namhla Duma, Director at Premium Domestic Services, insufficient salary was the biggest challenge South Africa’s domestic workers faced in 2017. This finding is supported by a report by the International Labour Organisation, which found that South African domestic workers, compared with those in other similar countries, are among the least-protected in terms of job security.

This is surprising because, if you think about it, domestic workers generally have an unusually intimate relationship with their employers. They look after children, work in the employer’s home and often have free access to virtually every nook and cranny of that home. Domestic workers regularly form deep bonds with their employer families that last for decades. More often than not, long-term domestic workers are virtually members of the family.

But life is risky and uncertain for domestic workers and their families. If, as the family breadwinner, a domestic worker becomes disabled or dies, this can leave the family without significant savings due to the domestic worker’s low salary ‒ and with large funeral bills to pay.

Simply Financial Services (Pty) Ltd, a Cape Town-based fintech start-up, is offering domestic workers – and other workers (and their employers) – easy-to-understand, affordable life insurance products that are up to half the cost of comparable policies on the market.

Anthony Miller, CEO of Simply, explains: “When a breadwinner dies or becomes disabled in South Africa, his or her dependents are often consigned to poverty – that’s the harsh reality. A large percentage of South African households earning under 30k per month do not have life insurance as many feel it is too expensive and find the sign-up process daunting.”

Simply Financial Services sells life, disability and funeral insurance combos designed to meet people’s needs in a way they understand and at an affordable price. Simply has three products on offer:

• Domestic Cover: life, disability and funeral cover for home employees, paid by their employer.
• Group Cover: life, disability and funeral cover for small business employees, paid by their employer (more than five employees).
• Family Cover: life, disability and funeral cover for breadwinners earning between R5 000 and R25 000 a month.

Simply Financial Services policies are underwritten by Old Mutual Alternative Risk Transfer Limited and reinsured by RGA Reinsurance Company of South Africa Limited.