NOW WELL into its third year of operation in South Africa and the United Kingdom, Eikos Risk Applications has expanded the Eikos brand into Australia. Research carried out by Mike Murrell, director of Eikos Risk Applications and now managing director of Eikos Risk Applications Australia, indicated a fertile ground for the Eikos business concept. "The model successfully adopted in South Africa of incentivising the managers of the business through real equity while establishing a strategic alliance with high profile investors who understand the risk business has been carried across into the Australian environment," says Murrell. The directors of the Australian company own a majority of the equity and control the company, the balance being owned equally by Eikos Holdings and its partners, Australian Independent Reinsurance Services (AIRS). AIRS is an independent reinsurance broker formed in 1995 in Sydney and owner managed by chairman Rob Ellis. It recently set up an office in Melbourne and also has representation in New Zealand. "Research has shown that the Australian freight market is somewhat behind the South African market in the provision of value added financial services (such as cargo insurance) to its client base and is ready for the products which have been developed by Eikos over the past two and a half years," says Murrell. "With the interest that has been shown by a number of international freight businesses in the Eikos model we believe we have something to offer the global market, and Australia is a good springboard for expansion of these products internationally." Joint managing director of Eikos Risk Applications Victor Vaz commented: "After two and half years of existence our strategy has been vindicated. Big is definitely no longer better. The effective management of knowledge that stems from strategic collaborations between leading specialists produces innovative, flexible and very focused solutions."
