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Interview With Ross Beerman, AllLife

> Posted by Eric Zuehlke, Web and Communications Director, CFI

In South Africa, people living with HIV (about 18 percent of the population) are often unable to access basic financial services. AllLife, founded in 2004, provides life insurance and health management services to HIV-positive clients across income groups in South Africa. The company provides financial services, gives individual counseling, and facilitates access to health services. Recently AllLife Co-Founder and Managing Director Ross Beerman visited CFI and discussed AllLife’s unique model, why life insurance is vital to those with HIV in South Africa, and future opportunities for the company.

Why is it so important to provide life insurance to people living with HIV in South Africa?

If we look at the economically active, people who earn more than 500 dollars a month, we’re talking about 2.5 million people [in South Africa] living with HIV. If you get declined for life cover from a life insurance company, really what the company is telling you is that they don’t think that you’re going to live long enough for them to make a profit. Whether it’s HIV, or it’s cancer or something else, there are certain ways you behave if you think you’re terminally ill. You withdraw from your support structure… You don’t invest in long-term projects. That means that you don’t get educated, necessarily. You don’t buy a house. You don’t start a business… That’s what happens in South Africa.

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