Array ( [episodeID] => 403 [featureSeriesID] => 1 [featureSeasonID] => 15 [featureEpisodeID] => 9 [featureTitle] => Eugene Strauss on taking AVBOB beyond funeral insurance [featureDescription] => AVBOB is expanding beyond funeral insurance as it looks to play a much bigger role in the financial lives of millions of South Africans.\r\n\r\nEugene Strauss, CEO of AVBOB Group, explains his vision for evolving the 108-year-old mutual while preserving the trust, member focus, and community presence that made it successful.\r\n\r\nStrauss discusses opportunities in life insurance, investments, affordable lending, savings products, and member rewards. He explains why AVBOB’s mutual structure creates an opportunity to return more value to members, including its recent R300 million rewards allocation.\r\n\r\nThe conversation also explores AVBOB’s major digital transformation programme and how technology could help the group serve lower-income and rural communities more efficiently without replacing human interaction. Strauss also reflects on lessons from AVBOB’s recent cyber incident, rebuilding trust, and why stronger action against cybercrime is needed.\r\n\r\n0:00 Intro\r\n1:16 Strauss's vision for AVBOB\r\n5:07 The advantage of being a mutual\r\n7:35 Expanding beyond funeral insurance\r\n12:40 Scaling without losing member trust\r\n15:03 AVBOB's digital transformation\r\n19:20 Lessons from the cyber incident\r\n25:46 Leadership, culture and AVBOB's future\r\n\r\nFollow BusinessTech:\r\nX - https://twitter.com/businesstechSA\r\nFacebook - https://web.facebook.com/BusinessTechSA\r\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/businesstechsa\r\nWebsite - https://businesstech.co.za/news/\r\n\r\n#AVBOB #FinancialServices #DigitalTransformation [featureEpisode] => https://player.vimeo.com/video/1233951320 [featureDuration] => 33:15 min [featureImageMobile] => img/guests/ET-001-0030-009.jpg [featurePublication] => 2026-10-08 07:04:48 [featureLogo] => img/logos/SL115.png )