Business mogul Douw Steyn dies, aged 72

In lieu of flowers, a donation in Douw Steyn’s memory can be made to the Diepsloot Food Security Programme.
In lieu of flowers, a donation in Douw Steyn’s memory can be made to the Diepsloot Food Security Programme.
Image: Steyn City Properties

Billionaire insurance mogul and property developer Douw Steyn has died.

Steyn, who had been in poor health for years, was 72 years old.

He leaves behind sons TJ and Louis, daughter Tanya and widow Carolyn Steyn, a music radio presenter and founder of the non-profit organisation 67 Blankets for Mandela.

"Douw will always be remembered as an exceptional entrepreneur who built a global business of immense scale across seven countries, and a visionary with a deep-seated commitment to South Africa and its people," the businesses founded by Steyn said in a joint statement.

Steyn made his fortune after he launched Auto & General insurance. He also founded companies such as Telesure Investment Holdings and the Budget group in the UK, now known as BGL.

Initially, he saw the potential of a monthly policy that covered both cars as well as home contents, and promoted this type of policy via door-to-door leaflet distribution campaigns via a company he started in 1975 called Steyn’s Insurance Brokers in Johannesburg. He had a stint in the US and then returned to South Africa in 1985 after obtaining an insurance licence that allowed him to sell motor insurance over the telephone. This disrupted the traditional insurance landscape and resulted in the launch of Auto&General Insurance. This success resulted in the launch of some of South Africa’s leading financial service providers including Budget, 1st for Women, Dialdirect, 1Life and Hippo, which are housed under the TIH umbrella.

Steyn later moved to the UK, where he established the BGL Group, the parent company of price comparison website, Compare the Market. In 2000, the group also launched Auto & General in Australia.

Steyn stepped down as executive chairman of his global business interests in 2012. Collectively, these businesses now employ more than 10,000 people, who are based in over 50 offices globally.

His dream of building a city within a city materialised with the launch of Steyn City, a 2,000 acre residential and lifestyle estate in northern Johannesburg.

The neighbouring communities of Diepsloot and Cosmo City have benefitted from various philanthropic pursuits through the Douw Steyn Family Trust and the companies he founded. In 2020, they also pledged R370m to assist coronavirus relief efforts of which R50m went towards the National Solidarity Fund, R250m to support feeding schemes in Diepsloot, Cosmo City and beyond, and a relief fund of up to R70m to support small businesses.

Steyn famously loaned his former Saxon home in Johannesburg, now a luxury hotel, to Nelson Mandela for six months after the late stateman's release from prison in 1990. Madiba also went on retreats to a private villa built for him by Steyn at the Shambala private game reserve in Limpopo.

Mandela counted Steyn as a good friend while Steyn referred to Madiba as a father figure.  In 2005, Mandela paid tribute to Steyn as "not only a great businessman and visionary, but one of this country’s most successful entrepreneurs who enriched South Africa with his business skills and who always believed in South Africa’s future as a country of opportunity."

Steyn's sons, who are involved in a range of real estate and private equity ventures in South Africa, the UK and the US, are also heavily invested in philanthropy work, primarily with the protection of wildlife through the EMS Foundation they established and named in honour of their mother Elizabeth Margaret Steyn.

 

TimesLIVE