One of the young insurance companies in the country, NEM Insurance (Ghana) Ltd, is poised to deepen its presence in the country, having posted phenomenal growth since its inception about four years ago.
The Nigerian insurance giant, which entered the Ghanaian market in 2009, has since grown its gross premium income from the region of GH¢1.6 million in the initial year to GH¢6.7 million in 2011 and close to GH¢9 million last year.
For this year, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mr Cornelius Iyiola Saraki, told the GRAPHIC BUSINESS in an interview in Accra that the company was targeting GH¢10 million gross premium income for 2014.
“This performance is a good leap for us considering the fact that this is what the big companies which are already established do. We believe our open door operational policy has been the selling point,” he said.
The company, which was established in Nigeria in 1948 and listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, entered the Ghanaian market in May 2009 as part of its West Africa expansion programme.
Already, it has six branches - Kumasi, Tema, Takoradi, Sunyani and two in Accra. “We have a lot of agency offices, numbering about 70, which we have mainstreamed into our main operations, offering them support and motivation for them to deliver,” Mr Saraki said.
NEM Insurance has a lean and therefore quick decision-making process which cuts bureaucracy and enables its staff and agencies deliver optimum performance.
Mr Saraki said NEM Insurance Ghana was satisfied with its quick claims payment record, saying there had been no single cause for clients or the regulator, the National Insurance Commission (NIC), to complain about its operations.
Innovations
The insurance market is reeling under pressure from motor claims and companies have to innovate to survive.
NEM said it had liaised with banks to provide fire cover for the premises of companies they granted loans to. This means that accidents such as fire cannot vitiate the repayment of such loans. This way, both the bank and the borrower will not lose.
No premium, no cover
On the new directives for clients to pay premiums before insurance companies provide cover for policies, the managing director said it was a good move by the regular and should be enforced to the letter.
He said the policy, which was already in the insurance law, would be in the interest of the companies themselves.
Outlook
The CEO of NEM Insurance said first quarter into the year, the company was already on track to achieve its 2014 target of GH¢10 million, saying: “the future is bright and things are pointing in the right direction.”
He said in the coming years, the company would expand its information technology platform so as to improve its reach. GB