Billionaire Steyn City founder passes away at 72

Douw Steyn, the insurance giant responsible for revolutionising South Africa’s insurance landscape, has passed away at the age of 72. 

The businesses Steyn founded released a joint statement announcing his passing on Tuesday, 4 February 2025.

Steyn built his empire from the ground up. Ranked 58th on the UK’s Sunday Times Rich List 2024, he boasts a net worth of around £3 billion (around R70 billion).

Born in Brits in 1952, Steyn grew up in Johannesburg in a well-known Afrikaner family, though his parents were not wealthy. 

He attended Rand University – now the University of Johannesburg – and Potchefstroom but never completed his degree, opting instead to work as a train conductor. 

There, he discovered an overtime loophole allowing him to out-earn some professionals.

Later, he pursued a two-year business course in Germany before returning to South Africa to work in his father’s estate agency.

His foray into insurance began in 1975 when he founded Steyn’s Insurance Brokers in Johannesburg and started selling policies door-to-door.

Steyn saw the potential of a monthly policy that covered both cars as well as home contents, and promoted this type of policy via door-to-door leaflet distribution campaigns.

However, unable to secure a brokerage license in South Africa, he moved to California, where he founded Calamerica. 

Upon hearing of Crusader Insurance’s financial collapse, he returned to South Africa, acquired the bankrupt company in 1984 for just R50, and transformed it into Auto & General. 

He revolutionised the industry by introducing telemarketing, paperless insurance, and debit orders.

At the time, the concept of telephonic insurance was totally unique, but Steyn, through Auto & General, changed the way insurance was bought and sold and shaped the entire insurance industry.

Auto & General’s success resulted in the launch of some of South Africa’s leading financial service providers, including Budget, 1st for Women, Dialdirect, 1Life and hippo.co.za. These brands are housed under the TIH umbrella.

In 1992, he expanded to the UK, launching Budget Insurance, which later evolved into BGL Group, the parent company of the well-known price comparison website Compare the Market.

In 2000, the Group launched Auto & General in Australia to replicate the success of its businesses in South Africa and the UK.

Steyn stepped down as Executive Chairman of his global business interests in 2012.  Collectively, these businesses now employ over 10,000 people, who are based in over 50 offices globally.

Despite setbacks, including backlash for befriending ANC members in the late 1980s, Steyn continued to thrive. 

He housed Nelson Mandela in his Sandhurst residence – now the Saxon Hotel – where Mandela worked on Long Walk to Freedom.

Mandela counted Steyn as one of his most valued friends, and Steyn referred to ‘Madiba’ as a father figure.

In 2005, Mandela said that Steyn was “not only a great businessman and visionary, but one of this country’s most successful entrepreneurs who enriched South Africa with his business skills and who always believed in South Africa’s future as a country of opportunity”.

“He created a company that is proudly South African and prominent in the South African business community.”

Among Steyn’s biggest ventures is Steyn City, launched in 2015 with an R6.5 billion investment. 

Spanning 2,000 acres, the luxury estate features a golf course, equestrian centre, helistop, and state-of-the-art infrastructure.

Recognised by New World Wealth as one of the top ten lifestyle estates globally, homes in Steyn City range from R2.45 million to R22.24 million.

Steyn emphasised that his investment reflects his confidence in South Africa, choosing to reinvest locally rather than abroad. 

“Too much time is wasted in cities commuting,” he says. “We wanted to bring daily life into one estate and give residents back time in a secure, upmarket environment.”

Despite many South African businesspeople moving their wealth offshore, Steyn remained committed to his home country. 

“I’ve always wanted to invest further in my country. The spirit of Ubuntu is unique and unparalleled anywhere else in the world I’ve lived or visited.”

This commitment to South Africa materialised during the construction of Steyn City when, at Steyn’s request, over 28,000 jobs were created.

In the majority of these positions, residents from the neighbouring communities of Diepsloot and Cosmo City were employed.

Steyn was also involved in other various philanthropic pursuits. Recently, through the Douw Steyn Family Trust and the companies he founded, he pledged R370 million to assist coronavirus relief efforts. 

R50 million went towards the National Solidarity Fund, R250 million went towards supporting feeding schemes in Diepsloot, Cosmo City, and beyond, and a relief fund of up to R70 million was established to support small businesses.  

His companies say Steyn will be remembered as an exceptional entrepreneur who built a global business of immense scale across seven countries and a visionary with a deep-seated commitment to South Africa and its people. 

Steyn is survived by his wife, Carolyn, his three children and their families.

“His courage, determination, generosity and vision will continue to inspire the businesses that he founded.”