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Business insurance that matches how your business actually runs
Commercial cover for owner-run businesses anywhere in South Africa: trades, retail, transport, professional services and light industrial.
What a commercial policy is usually built from
Business insurance is modular. You choose the sections that match your risk, which is exactly why generic online quotes so often miss something important.
Assets, stock & equipment
Fire, storm, theft and accidental damage to the premises, plant, machinery, stock and office contents that the business depends on.
Public liability
Your legal liability if a customer, supplier or member of the public is injured, or their property is damaged, in connection with your business.
Professional indemnity
For businesses that give advice or provide a professional service, cover against claims that your advice or work caused a client financial loss.
Commercial vehicles & goods in transit
Bakkies, panel vans, trucks and trailers, plus cover for the goods you are carrying while they are in transit.
Business interruption
The section most under-bought and most needed. If a fire stops you trading for three months, this covers the income you lose while you rebuild. Worth reading: what business interruption cover does and does not do during load shedding.
Money, glass, fidelity & more
Cash on the premises and in transit, shopfront glass, employee dishonesty, machinery breakdown, electronic equipment and employer’s liability.
Built for owner-run businesses, not corporates
Most of our commercial clients are businesses where the owner still knows every employee’s name and signs off the invoices personally. That shapes how we work: plain language, one point of contact, and a policy you can actually understand.
- Trades: plumbers, electricians, builders, contractors
- Retail & hospitality: shops, restaurants, franchises
- Transport & logistics: owner-drivers to small fleets
- Professional services: consultants, agencies, practices
- Light industrial & manufacturing, from the East Rand to the Cape
- Body corporates, landlords and rental portfolios
Where commercial cover most often falls short
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No business interruption section. The building gets rebuilt and the stock gets replaced, but nothing replaces the six months of trading you lost. For most small businesses this is the claim that actually decides whether they survive.
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Public liability limits set years ago. A R1 million limit that seemed generous in 2015 does not go far against a serious injury claim today.
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Contracts requiring cover you do not have. Landlords, municipalities and larger customers increasingly require proof of specific liability limits before they will contract with you. Check the requirement before you sign, not after.
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Personal vehicles doing business work. A private motor policy may not respond when the bakkie is being used commercially. It is a small change to declare and an expensive one to get wrong.
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Growth that was never reported. Stock levels, turnover and asset values move. Sums insured that were accurate at inception quietly become under-insurance, and average is applied at claim stage.
What business owners ask us
Longer than a personal one, and deliberately so. We need to understand what the business does, where it operates, what it owns and what it is contractually required to carry. For a straightforward business that is usually one meeting or call plus a few days for insurers to respond. For anything with unusual risk it can take longer, we would rather be slow and right.
For commercial risks in Gauteng, yes, and it makes a real difference. Seeing the yard, the stock, the machinery and the security in person produces a far more accurate submission to insurers than a form ever will.
Further afield, we do it by video call and photographs, and the insurer appoints a surveyor local to you where one is needed. It has never stopped us placing cover for a business in another province.
Yes. Send us the clause from the lease or contract and we will arrange cover that meets the stated limit and issue the confirmation letter your landlord or client needs. This is a routine request, it is usually turned around quickly.
It costs nothing to find out. Send us your current schedule and we will read it properly and tell you where the gaps are, even if the answer is that your existing policy is well built and you should stay where you are. That happens, and we will say so.
Send us your current schedule. We’ll tell you what’s missing.
A proper read-through of what you already have, and a comparison against what the market will offer you today. No obligation either way.
Micah Financial Services (PTY) Ltd. is an Authorised Financial Services Provider, FSP 46080. A quote request is not advice until a representative has engaged with you.