SLM

Sanlam Ltd

One of Africa's largest financial services groups, Sanlam sells life and short-term insurance, retirement savings, and investment products to individuals, families, and businesses across dozens of countries. Founded in 1918 to help Afrikaners access insurance often denied them by English-controlled banks, its name compresses the Afrikaans phrase "Suid-Afrikaanse Nasionale Lewens Assuransie Maatskappij" — South African National Life Assurance Company. A fun quirk: its short-term sister company Santam was registered first, and the founders split the two so long-term life and short-term profits stayed separate.