Capital Legacy celebrates 10 years of helping South Africans leave a legacy

September is a huge month for Capital Legacy, SA's leading wills and estates specialist, which also offers insurance cover to indemnify the legal fees associated with dying.

Not only is the company celebrating a decade of helping South Africans leave a legacy, but it's marking its 10th anniversary with a striking rebrand.

As a testament to its mission of making the loss of a loved one easier for its clients' families, Capital Legacy has also extended National Wills Week (September 12 — 16) and dubbed September Wills Month.

Baby steps

Capital Legacy made its first imprint in the industry with a humble beginning in September 2012. At this point, it had a headcount of only four staff members.

Founders CEO Alex Simeonides and director Eduann Vorster took the company's offering to market themselves. They introduced Capital Legacy's innovative approach of drafting a free will, indemnifying the legal costs associated with passing away with insurance cover, and then administering the deceased’s estate in-house.

Simeonides sold the company’s first policy the same month it launched. The team went on to draft 984 wills and sell 190 Legacy Protection Plan^TM policies in the remainder of their first year. Staff members increased to 18.

2013 marked the company’s first claim being approved. That same year, it sold 2,093 plans, drafted 3,552 wills and administered 38 estates.

Big steps

2019 was a watershed year for the company. Businessman Patrice Motsepe’s African Rainbow Capital Investments bought a 25% stake in the business and then, just a few months later in early 2020, the outbreak of Covid-19 hit SA.

People started thinking of their mortality and of drafting their last will and testament. Capital Legacy, as the leader in this sector, was a logical first choice and the company was inundated with calls from people looking for assistance with their wills.

During the pandemic, Capital Legacy had to drastically increase its headcount to keep up with its growth, while other companies were downsizing. The company now has about 1,000 employees and is growing at a rate of about 35 new staff members a month. 

In the 10 years since its launch, Capital Legacy has grown into a mature, industry-leading company and keeps on evolving. But it continues to stay true to its mission of making the loss of a loved one easier. 

The company uses the experience gained from drafting more than 500,000 wills and administering more than 5,000 estates to keep bringing new solutions to the market. This ranges from the core Legacy Protection Plan^TM, to its MyLegacy^TM life cover offering, to its latest education protection cover called EduCare^TM. 

Problem-solving

An example of how the company stays attuned to the needs of its clients is how it has addressed the matter of procrastination.

Research has shown that procrastination is the main reason for South Africans not signing their wills. And a will without a wet signature (signed in ink) is invalid.

This issue really puzzled the company because South Africans do not hesitate to get life cover, medical aid or insurance for their motor vehicles. A person dying without a will dies intestate and their estate will be bequeathed according to SA law and not their wishes.

Even more research was done, which showed that a major reason for people procrastinating in signing their wills is that they do not have printers available to print their wills. Two independent witnesses are also not always available.

Capital Legacy’s solution was to make printers available in their offices countrywide to customers. They can come in, print their wills, and have two independent witnesses sign it.

For clients not in a position to drive to an office, the company has set up a fleet of will-signing teams countrywide with two consultants in each vehicle. They print the will, take it to the client, and sign as witnesses. They then take the will to Capital Legacy’s offices, scan it in for safekeeping and mail the signed will back to the client.

Rebrand

The company realised last year that it had outgrown the start-up branding from 2012, and it was time to create a new brand that not only represents the business that it has become, but also helps define its aspirations for the next 10 years.

It wanted to create a strong brand that was recognisable and, as with everything it does, category defining.

In its DNA is still the cheeky start-up, the agile company which gives personal attention to one client at a time. But, 10 years and more than 500,000 wills later, the brand needed a level of refinement that would allow it to stand on the world stage of financial services brands. 

Yellow and life

The company decided on yellow as its new corporate colour, because it celebrates life and, in contrast to what many think, wills are not about death, but about life — the life of the deceased's family after they're gone.

Yes, a will outlines the last wishes of the person who has died, but the bequeathment goes to the living, that person's surviving spouse, children, and family.

The new branding galvanises Capital Legacy's commitment to continue to be a category leader over the next 10 years and beyond, both locally and soon, globally.