Saham Assurance

Saham Assurance

Saham Assurance was established in 1980 by Moroccan businessman Moulay Hafid Elalamy, who later served as Morocco's Minister of Industry, Trade, Investment and Digital Economy. The insurance carrier grew from a local Moroccan operation into a regional West African platform, offering health, personal accident, and medical cover products. The Elalamy family remains deeply involved — Moulay Mhamed Elalamy now runs Saham Group as CEO — while long-time business partner Said Alj chairs Sanlam Maroc, cementing the strategic alliance with South Africa's Sanlam group. The firm deploys capital across insurance operations spanning North and West Africa, with a focus on health, personal accident, and medical cover lines that anchor its retail and corporate client base. Unlike a traditional family office that allocates to external funds, Saham Assurance retains its capital within the insurance enterprise, using the balance sheet to underwrite risk across its regional affiliate network. The group's representative office in Paris reflects a cross-continental posture, though its core book remains concentrated in Africa. The partnership with Sanlam, which acquired a stake in Saham Finances, creates a multi-national insurance architecture that blends the Elalamy family's regional distribution with Sanlam's institutional underwriting capabilities. The broader Saham Group ecosystem extends into adjacent businesses and assets, including the Saham Foundation for philanthropic activities and a collection of real estate holdings — among them Vert Marine, Hamilton, and Le 25 residential properties in Casablanca, the Casablanca Finance City Building, and an apartment in Paris's 6th arrondissement. The group also holds a Dassault Falcon 7X aircraft and the Ghandi Clinic in Casablanca. Moulay Hafid Elalamy's tenure as President of Morocco's main employers' association, CGEM, and his previous ministerial role embed the firm in the country's political-economic architecture. Saham Assurance's structural differentiator lies in its hybrid model — an insurance group functioning as the core asset of a family enterprise, rather than a pure-play family office allocating to external managers. The Sanlam partnership creates a governance layer that separates operational insurance risk from the family's broader asset portfolio, while the multi-generational leadership transition from Moulay Hafid Elalamy to his son Moulay Mhamed Elalamy signals an institutionalized succession plan that peer family offices in the region often lack.