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It goes without saying that fledgling entrepreneurs would be more than foolish not to protect their interests - and intellectual property - by opting for umbrella business insurance that includes cover for fire and natural perils, employee fraud and book debts as well as losses to motor fleets, office equipment and the business premises themselves.
Two hundred motor vehicles destroyed by an inferno
In January 2009, a Durban-based import and export companys vehicle depot was virtually destroyed by an inferno that broke out on the 4th floor of the building. It is estimated that over 1,000 imported Japanese vehicles were being stored in the five-storey building and, although fire fighters were able to contain the raging fire, more than 200 cars were totally destroyed and many more damaged by the fire and water hoses.
The cars were allegedly parked so close together that firemen found it impossible to move freely in an effort to control the blaze and many had full tanks of petrol that exploded in the heat, adding to the danger. Another inexplicably foolish move, on the owners part, is that several full fuel storage tanks were in the self same building.
The vehicles had allegedly been shipped into South Africa only days before and the companys losses ran into the millions.
Bad debt decisions by banking behemoths leads to economic meltdown
We dont have to search very hard for the horror stories of bad debt. Debt is the singular reason for the failed economies the world over and even as we speak, western giants are literally on their knees, crippled by debt.
As with the United States and the UK, two areas profoundly affected by the global economic implosion, all businesses, big or small, are particularly vulnerable to debt be it money owed to suppliers by the entrepreneur or money owed by clients to the business. Any business insurance broker worth his salt will insist that a budding entrepreneur cover him or herself adequately for a debt crisis that could arise from elements beyond their control.
It was the failure of the banking behemoths of both the US and the UK to sustain ever increasing private sector debt that has effectively brought the entire global economy to a complete standstill and we still havent felt the full effects of this disastrous macro-economic policy yet. Just think what it could do to a small to medium enterprise.
Tonnes of lobster destroyed in freak New Years Eve celebration
Another freak accident that could have been an unmitigated disaster for a multi-billion rand sector leader was the 1993 fire in the Cape Town harbour that destroyed a cold storage facility and all its contents.
Minutes after midnight on the 1 January 1993 an unidentified New Years Eve reveller fired a flare into the night skies in celebration but, instead of soaring into the heights, it fizzled down onto the roof of the cold storage facility causing a fire that destroyed the entire building and millions of Rands worth of fish and lobster inside!
