Mzansi billionaire Douw Steyn dies at 72
- Douw Steyn started with door-to-door insurance sales and built a business empire that now employs more than 10,000 people worldwide.
- He was close friends with Nelson Mandela, who stayed at Steyn’s Saxonwold home for six months after leaving prison.
South African billionaire Douw Steyn, who started selling car insurance door-to-door and went on to build a global business empire, has died at 72 after years of poor health.
Steyn leaves behind his wife Carolyn, who runs the charity 67 Blankets for Mandela, and three children – TJ, Louis and Tanya.
His close friend Giuseppe Plumari from Steyn City Properties said: “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 SA and its people,” BusinessLive reported.
Steyn’s path to success began in 1975 when he started Steyn’s Insurance Brokers in Johannesburg. He went around neighbourhoods leaving leaflets about policies that covered both cars and home contents.
After working in America, he came back to SA in 1985 with a plan to sell car insurance over the phone. This new way of doing business shook up the insurance industry when he started Auto & General Insurance.
His success grew as he started well-known insurance companies like Budget, 1st for Women, Dialdirect, 1Life and Hippo. He then moved to the UK and started Compare the Market – a website that helps people find cheaper insurance.
Steyn was good friends with Nelson Mandela. When Mandela left prison in 1990, Steyn invited him to stay at his Saxonwold home, which is now The Saxon Hotel; he remained there for six months. Steyn also built Mandela a private villa at his game reserve in Limpopo.
Mandela once said Steyn was “not only a great businessman and visionary but one of SA’s most successful entrepreneurs who enriched the country with his business skills and who believed in its future as a country of opportunity”.
In his later years, Steyn focused on helping others. His family trust gave R370-million to help people during Covid-19, including R250-million for food in Diepsloot and Cosmo City.
He stepped down from running his businesses in 2012 but left a lasting mark with Steyn City – a massive 2,000-acre estate in northern Johannesburg.
His sons now run property and investment businesses in SA, the UK and the US. They also protect wildlife through the EMS Foundation, named after their mother Elizabeth Margaret Steyn.
Pictured above: Douw Steyn with his wife Carolyn.
Source: @carolyn_steyn