Events – Sanlam Cape Town Marathon
By Takudzwa Zuze
Zimnat offered its social media followers an opportunity to win an all-expenses paid trip to Cape Town to participate in the annual Sanlam Marathon.
The marathon took place from September 22 to 23. It is the only Gold status marathon on the African continent.
Every year the marathon attracts over 23 international running clubs, including a world class elite field of athletes and more than 15 000 runners.
As a way of making life better, Zimnat gave away an all-expenses paid trip to three lucky winners – two social media followers and one member of staff – who participated in the marathon.
On arrival the three of them were chauffeur driven from the airport to the Radisson Red hotel situated at the world renowned Waterfront and had welcome dinner at The Yard, where they joined other runners invited by Sanlam across Africa, during which they shared ideas on how best to tackle the marathon the next day.
Here’s a video of the journey and stay in Cape Town for you to enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qreBfLPRzc&feature=youtu.be
After the race they were invited to the Sanlam hospitality tent to unwind and relax over some food and drinks, after which they had enough time to go shopping and sight-seeing of what is arguably one of the most beautiful cities in the world.
“We wouldn’t have made it without you Zimnat. Thank you for such a beautiful experience,” said Lilian whose eyes were filled with tears of joy and excitement.
Zimnat group marketing executive Angela Mpala was also excited about how the event turned out.
“As Zimnat, we continue to make life better in every way that we can,” she said. “Our partnership with Sanlam, the largest non-banking financial institution on the continent, provided us with an opportunity to enable Lilian, Tariro, and Patricia to participate in this top-class marathon, alongside athletes from many other countries.
-End-
Zimnat offers travel insurance
Over the past 400 years insurance has become an intrinsic part of our lives. Whether in a store, driving, sleeping in a hotel, visiting a friend abroad or even walking to work, you or your assets are to some extent covered by insurance.
Travel insurance is one of the things we often forget to arrange in our rush to get ready for a trip, yet accidents and emergencies do happen.
These are never welcome but if they occur when you are away from home they come with an extra level of stress, since obtaining help in a foreign country can prove a challenge and be very frustrating.
If you are travelling anywhere in the world, whether alone or with your family and friends and whether for business, cross border trading or pleasure, Zimnat can at least make sure that an accident or emergency does not become a total disaster.
Zimnat General Insurance offers you and your loved ones cover that will help make your life better in your time of need, with cover ranging from emergency medical expenses and illnesses, including pre-existing conditions such as HIV, to legal assistance, transmission of urgent messages, replacement of travel documents, money or credit cards, injury, flight cancellations and even lost baggage.
Perhaps you or a member of your family falls sick and has to be hospitalised while on holiday, leaving you faced with huge hospital bills, or you are left stranded at a border because your travel documents and money have been stolen.
Situations like these are why travel insurance is a must. When you have travel insurance with trip cancellation benefits, you can obtain reimbursement for prepaid, non-refundable trip costs when you have to cancel your journey for a covered reason.
Covered reasons can include serious illness, injury or death of the insured person, a travel companion or a family member or a natural disaster or other event that renders your destination uninhabitable.
When you are wondering whether paying for travel insurance is worth it, weigh up the small cost of buying insurance against the massive costs of a medical emergency overseas or replacing stolen or lost goods and money.
For business people, whether they are travelling to other continents or to a neighbouring country, perhaps as a cross border trader, Zimnat travel insurance provides cover for travel delays, lost trade samples and cancellation costs.
It even has an optional hospital cash back plan in the event you are hospitalised.
For those travelling as groups, whether on holiday or on an educational trip, Zimnat offers affordable group cover schemes. A group might be made up, for instance, of friends, family members or students.
Insurance can be really affordable. When you request a quotation for travel insurance, Zimnat will present you with multiple coverage options, so you can pick the plan that best suits your trip and budget. The best way to find a low-cost travel insurance plan is to request a quote for your next trip and plan ahead.
-End-
Zimnat launches another innovative billboard campaign
By Shingirai Mazambani
Motorists driving towards Harare’s city centre along Borrowdale Road are likely to be surprised to see just before the racecourse what appears to be boulders falling from a container on a billboard and a car beneath the billboard that appears to have collided with them.
This is our latest innovative billboard advert intended to illustrate how unexpected accidents can occur, the implication being that it is wise to be insured against accidents.
“Whatever life delivers, Zimnat makes it better,” is the message displayed on the billboard. The message here is that whatever life throws at you, Zimnat can make the situation better.
The 3D advert which includes a realistic looking container and a real wrecked car at the foot of the billboard, makes the scene that is portrayed of a car colliding with falling boulders look realistic. This makes the advert dramatic and unique.
The billboard was launched exactly a year after we made headlines with our award winning 2018 billboard campaign, which included a real car embedded in a wall in the city centre.
With this billboard we hope to replicate the success of last year which saw us winning an award for the Best Outdoor Advert of the Year at the Marketer’s Association of Zimbabwe Exceptional Marketing Awards.
We have also revamped all our billboards across the country to communicate our new theme of how we make life better for our customers.
The messaging on the billboards covers all Zimnat business units, which include general insurance, life insurance, asset management and micro finance.
In a dramatic twist of events the billboard made social media headlines immediately after its installation when the wrecked car at the foot of the billboard was vandalised resulting in the wheels being stolen.
A true reflection of what may happen after any accident. However thanks to the Zimnat General motor insurance cover the wheels were replaced in 2 days reiterating our commitment to making life better for our customers in their time of need.
-End-
milkShake
Sanlam hosted a graduation ceremony for the 2019 Cohort of the Sanlam Senior Leadership development program in September. The program attracted leaders from African countries where Sanlam is represented.
Zimbabwe was well represented by a team of 5 (Imagine Acacia) which was made up of senior leaders drawn from the Masawara Insurance group of companies. As part of the training program the country teams were asked to come up with a viable business plan which they were to pitch to Sanlam for buy-in.
Team Imagine Acacia were awarded the best business pitch out of 10 countries further highlighting the great talent within our ranks.
Team Imagine Acacia decided to think outside of the proverbial box and came up with “a milkShake” for all the Zimnat products on one platform.
The project called milkShake is a platform that will allow Zimnat customers to create a mix of the Zimnat products according to their financial capacity and preference.
The business world is gravitating towards financial inclusion, and with the new milkShake Team Imagine Acacia hopes to change the Zimbabwean non-banking financial services sector as we know it.
With the Masawara Group having already acquired a 50% stake into the trademarked brand, Milkshake is the next big thing to happen to insurance in Zimbabwe. Keep looking out for more developments on milkShake!
-End-
How Exercise Combats Stress and Improves Mental Health
By Shadreck Mhlanga
Exercise is excellent for improving many different aspects of our physical wellbeing and is especially beneficial for our mental and emotional health.
Exercise and mental health go hand in hand, and of recent, science has a lot to contribute to this topic.
Let's look at the mental health benefits of exercise and see why we feel like a million bucks after a spin class or get that post-working out "high" after a morning run – as well as the long-term health benefits.
Mental health benefits of exercise
Helps with managing major depressive disorder
After reviewing several randomised trials testing the efficacy of exercise on chronic depression, a team of researchers found that participants who trained for three or more sessions each lasting 45 to 60 minutes saw a notable improvement in their symptoms.
On average, the participants began noticing a difference after around four weeks of regular exercise. Still, the researchers suggest working out regularly for at least 10-12 weeks to start seeing more quantifiable results.
Anxiety relief
You’ve probably heard of runner’s high, that energised feeling and sense of euphoria you get after an intense workout. That’s due to your body releasing hormones - enkephalins and endorphins - that can improve your mood and relieve stress. Although these feel-good hormones are integral for creating this sensation, the fact is, exercise also a great way to refocus and feel rooted in the present moment.
Think about it – when you concentrate on an intense workout, what do you think about most of the time?
Probably about how you're out of breath, how your feet are running in sync with the beat of the music you're listening to, or maybe how much your arms are burning while lifting weights.
Focusing on your body rather than ruminating about worries can help you realize you're more than your thoughts.
May help with confidence and self-esteem
Low self-esteem and confidence levels are common among people suffering from mental illnesses or distress. Exercise shines in this realm once again.
Just think about how great you feel when you complete a workout, especially when you weren’t in the mood to work out in the first place.
Small accomplishments like these can add up and make you feel fantastic.
By creating a workout plan that you can stick to – and setting goals that you can achieve – you’ll start feeling a sense of achievement that will continue to grow as you keep moving forward with your training.
In one study published in the journal Psychology of Sport and Exercise, researchers found that feelings of wellbeing and heightened self-confidence improve after just 30 minutes of exercise.
In this study, the effects analysed lasted around 20 minutes following the exercise session, but as we discussed earlier in the case of depression, exercise seems to have an impact that's more far-reaching when it's completed regularly over several weeks.
-End-