Liberty Health Thinks Big

July 17 - The Chief Executive Officer of Liberty Health has said that the group was set on a huge expansion plan that would more than double its presence in African markets by the end of 2012.

Peter Botha said that Liberty Health has aims to become the biggest health insurance provider in Africa, following in the footsteps of its parent company, Standard Bank, which has pioneered its services into previously untapped African markets.

Liberty Health is currently operating in nine countries and aims to double this number to 17 by the end of next year.

"We definitely want to be the largest player in the health insurance sphere on the continent in terms of lives under management by 2012," said Botha, who believes that the current number of 300,000 can easily be doubled.

"The continent presents huge opportunities, which, if effectively and efficiently captured, can unlock significant value for our stakeholders," he noted.

Out of all the African markets, Nigeria seems to be the most promising for now, said Botha.

"To us, Nigeria is a big growth market and has potential to grow more, because it is not yet as developed or mature as other markets like (those) in east Africa, for example," he said.

"The vision of Liberty Health to be a pan-African health business, providing technology health solutions in growing markets and the launch of Optimum Global strengthens this growth plan," he concluded.