New Appointment: Richard Makanza – Agriculture Specialist

Maksure Risk Solutions has boosted its Agriculture business division with the appointment of a seasoned computational agronomist, Richard Makanza.

Makanza is a seasoned agronomist who is a finalist Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) in Remote Sensing at Wits Business School. He also holds a Master of Science in Geo-information and Earth Observations for Natural Resources Management from the University of Twente (ITC), Enschede, Netherlands. He has more than 15 years’ industry experience focusing on remote sensing, machine learning, data science, agricultural research, and risk management.

Makanza’s key roles will include the development of an R18 million prototype farm which Maksure invested and acquired in the third quarter of 2019. The farm is expected to showcase best in class agriculture solutions for African farmers as well as run loss simulations in assisting insurers build resilient agricultural portfolios. He will also be responsible for building a profitable portfolio of insurance and reinsurance business.

Richard Makanza commented, “This is an exciting time to be joining Maksure Risk Solutions as there is a significant opportunity for a well-resourced and experienced independent broker to grow in this space. We are in a very tough market with a real lack of carrier capacity; our clients really need brokers that have an in-depth understanding of the insurance sector, specific products, the loss environment and so can talk comprehensively about risk with both them and underwriters. Our team has these capabilities, and we are continuing to build on a great base.

Maksure Risk Solutions already has a sizable book in this sector, with an existing focus on South Africa and the rest of the continent; I look forward to strengthening that presence and driving diversification across crop and livestock markets.”

Simba Makwembere, Managing Director – Maksure Risk Solutions said, “I am delighted to welcome Richard to the team and look forward to his invaluable contribution to this challenging sector. This appointment also underline our strategic vision of growing the business in core sectors by investing in talented market specialists to ensure we continue to provide best in class solutions regardless of the market conditions.”