Participants at the event.
Text of the Speech Delivered at the Members’ Evening of the NCRIB Abuja Area Committee Meeting by Mrs Joyce Ojemudia, MD/CEO, African Alliance Insurance on 29 July, 2021
The President of Council, NCRIB,
The President and Executives of the NCRIB Abuja Area Committee,
All brokers here present,
The Management and Staff of African Alliance Insurance here present,
Our Guest Speaker,
Members of the Press,
Ladies and gentlemen,
It delights me to stand before you to share the progress of African Alliance with you. I boldly say progress because there is no better word to define the massive changes, and growth we have been experiencing in the business for almost a year now. The good book says we can do all things through Christ that strengthens us, indeed, his strength has been shown mightier than our weakness. But then, I must quickly acknowledge the place of every one present here in helping us up and aiding our progress month by month, quarter by quarter. We do not take you for granted. In a few paragraphs, let me quickly tell you the highlights of our business thus far, the figures, which I know you all want to hear, and of course other constituted activities that have combined to make us a progressive company.
Participants at the event.
Our Financials
By our unaudited Q2 2021 results, I am very happy to report that our market share has grown by 23% yoy, a figure way above the industry average of 18%. This is just the start, we are looking at having a minimum of 50% yoy growth by year end.
Our Gross Premium Income also rose by 66% yoy from N1.8b to N3.05b.
We paid 29% more claims yoy from N2.43b to N3.12b, an obvious testament to our ongoing commitment to paying genuine claims as due. As we are wont to do and in the spirit of transparency, here is the breakdown of the figure stated above in claims payment according to our business lines:
Details Jun-20 Jun-21
₦’000 ₦’000
Individual Life 389,227 622,047
Group Life 230,071 703,763
Annuity 1,397,955 1,413,817
Takaful 190,675 383,597
Esusu 223,887 1,842
Total 2,431,815 3,125,066
Therefore, as seen above, we have paid a total of N3.12bn claims in the period under review.
All these efforts are backed by a robust reinsurance treaty with top reinsurer in the business. This has helped us spread our risks and also aided our capacity to take in more risks at any point in time.
Market Expansion
We recently opened a branch office in Abeokuta. One of our strategic goals for 2021 is to grow our premium income via deliberate market expansion and identifying regions that have good prospects for life insurance. This Abeokuta branch -and the others soon to be opened- brings us closer to realizing those goals. This further demonstrates our growing retail strength and I must quickly say this would be the first new branch the company will open in recent years. Over the next few weeks, we are opening another in Akure, Ilorin and another in the South East as soon as we conclude our feasibility studies.
Product Development
As a life insurer of repute with a continuous quest for customer satisfaction, we are currently working on an array of products as demanded by the market. First, our Esusu plus is being revamped in response to our customers’ yearnings. Then we have concluded work on our innovative Term Assurance plan, a product sure to excite the market for its short term focus and value addition. These products are outcomes of a customer survey and therefore addresses their needs whilst ensuring viable benefits for all and sundry.
Digital Adoption
It is clear the direction every forward-thinking organization must go: increased digital footprint. We are easily one of the most active insurers across the major social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and, until recently, Twitter. In addition we have set up a self service policy takeup platform specifically for brokers as it concerns our Term Assurance product. Call it a do-it-yourself portal, the portal is customised for all brokers to buy end-to-end without need for any intervention from us, the insurer. This is one of the ways we are embedding technology in the way we work just so we can achieve more quicker and do more faster.
Human Capital Development
The quality of an organisation is directly linked to the quality of its staff. For 4 generations of staff, African Alliance has led in producing first-class human capital across departments and business lines. In recent times, you would agree with me that our industry demands a nimble, well-informed and constantly upgraded workforce to meet the market expectations and deliver on time for the Z generation. In order to ensure we are not left behind, we have hired an in-house Training and Development expert, someone whose years of experience across various sectors and industries has, in a short while, grown our human capital on a budget. This is in a bid to ensure we are ahead of the game in offering best value and on time to you our respected brokers as well as our teeming customers out there. We have now incorporated a robust training and retraining schedule into our human capital management across all staff cadre. Several of these trainings have already been completed while a couple more are in progress.
Also, we have centralised our claims system whilst restructuring the entire claims team. Now led by a versatile claims professional, the department has been adequately fortified with more staff and new processes put in place. This has given us immediate results as our claims profile suggests with faster and prompt claims payment now the order of the day.
Our ICT team has been beefed up with a Head of department with demonstrated experience across the financial services. The impact is being felt in the area of digital adoption and we are definitely excited about the many more innovations to come in the weeks ahead from this reenergised ICT team.
Our Wins
In less than one year of this new tenure, we have recorded outstanding wins on several fronts. First, our ISO 22301 certification was renewed following an extensive audit by the global ISO audit team. We make bold to say we are one of very few insurance firms with an ISO certified business continuity management in place. This confirms our oft-repeated affirmation that we will be with our customers for life. With this recertification, we have exhibited practical success in ensuring we remain with you for life, through thick or thin, come rain, come shine.
Within the period of our assumption of office, Champion Newspapers, one of the leading newspapers in the Nigerian media recognised us as the Insurance Company of the Decade. The recognition was bestowed on us for our resilience and boundless staying power which has become the stuff of legends. This win means a lot to us as a business because it clearly shows that our best efforts and complementary results are not unnoticed by the fourth estate of the realm. We look forward to many more of these awards, as they keep us on our toes and help us get better in what we do.
Closing
A lot is ongoing but clearly, we are making progress. Unless the Lord builds the house, the good book says, the builders build in vain. I thank you for believing in us and building with us through thick and thin. It is a new dawn, esteemed gentlemen and ladies, come join us as we steer the ship of this legacy insurer to safe and profitable harbours.
Thank you for listening.
Long live NCRIB.
Long live African Alliance Insurance PLC.
Good evening.
