Project Name:	South Africa – IHS Technologies
Region:	Sub-Saharan Africa
Sector:	Health Care
Project No.:	009402
Projected Board Date:	March 31, 1999
Company Name:	IHS Technologies (Pty) Ltd

Technical Partner and/or Major Shareholders:

The shareholders are Kwacha (Pty) Ltd, a black-owned investment company with 90 %;  and Sanlam Development Fund with 10 %

Project cost including proposed IFC investment:

The project cost will be US$3.4 million and IFC is being asked to provide an income participating loan of US$1.3 million.

Location of project and description of site:

The project is located on floor 24 of the Kine Center, Commissioner Street, Johannesburg.

Description of company and purpose of project:

IHS is a new company set-up to own and run a managed health care insurance company.  It is an offshoot of Sizwe Medical Aid, one of the oldest medical insurance funds in South Africa aimed mainly at the black employed population.  The purpose of the project is to equip IHS with the IT facilities needed to run an efficient managed health care insurer.  IHS will offer health care packages to Sizwe’s existing clients, to new clients and to groups of medical practitioners seeking an on-going business relationship with the growing HMO industry in South Africa.

Project Development Impact:

The project will support the country’s objectives of bringing the black majority further into the mainstream private sector activity, and improve the availability of managed health care for lower income groups.  The project is expected to create up to 50 direct jobs at full rollout.  Many of these positions will be for skilled IT people.  Technical advice is coming from Kaiser Permanente of the USA and this will involve the transfer of a certain amount of technology.

Environmental category and issues:

This is a category B project according to IFC’s environmental review procedure. Key environmental, health and safety issues include handling and disposal of medical materials; disposal of medical and bio-hazardous wastes; source of water and power including fuel storage if applicable; disposal of solid and liquid wastes including sewage; hygiene and implementation of good hospital management practices; CFC-free air conditioning and cold storage equipment; employee health and safety training; and fire protection and life safety.  The sponsor has provided IFC with details on the operating procedures, hygiene and good management practices, fire safety program and other environmental mitigation measures it uses or intends to use to ensure that the project complies with all relevant IFC guidelines.  IFC has reviewed this information as regards IHS Technologies as well as other enterprises in which IHS’s parent company has a major shareholding.  Details of these procedures and mitigation measures are provided in the Environmental Review Summary (ERS) for the project, which will be available from the InfoShop on or about December 4, 1998.

Host country location of environmental documents:

IFC office, Hyde Park, Johannesburg

Date SPI sent to InfoShop:December 7, 1998
“This Summary of Project Information is prepared and distributed to the public in advance of consideration of the proposed transaction by the Corporation’s Board of Directors.  It is provided for the purpose of enhancing the transparency of IFC''s activities and should not be construed as presuming the outcome of IFC Board consideration”.

For additional Information contact:  Corporate Relations Unit –
Telephone: (202) 473-7711
Facsimile: (202) 974-4384



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Environmental documents for this project are available at http://www.ifc.org and from the World Bank InfoShop (http://www.worldbank.org/html/pic/aboutinfo.html).