By Kingsley I. Ilechukwu, Correspondent Lagos

The African Reinsurance Corporation (Africa Re) has expressed its sincere gratitude to all the participants and the judges of the just concluded 6th African Insurance Awards. Over 1,250 professionals took part in the 2020 edition which was held virtually this Friday, 18 December 2020.

The winners of the four categories of awards were revealed as follows:

Alpha Direct Insurance Company of Botswana won the Innovation of the Year award. The company has developed an easy-to-understand ‘Insurance-in-a-box” product that makes it accessible to low -income groups to access vital insurance products and services. This BOX IDEA is unique and original with free scratch card and 60 second sign up. It is accessible to all mobile users, even with very basic mobile phones.

The Mauritius Union Assurance (MUA Ltd) from Mauritius won The Insurance Company of the Year award. The company’s strong and steady growth in the last three years, successful digitisation of its services and client centric strategies have earned it the consensus ranking from the Judges to be the winner.

PULA from Kenya won the InsurTech of the Year award. The company found a solution for smallholder farmers to easily access insurance. PULA has also partnered with the World Food Programme to insure 3.5 millions of farmers in 10 African countries.

MD/CEO of FBN Insurance, Nigeria, Valentine Ojumah won the CEO of the Year award. This former broker has turned around FBN Insurance to be a top performer in terms of premium growth (3rd position in Life Insurance), profitability, shareholders’ funds and Return on Equity. Under his leadership FBN insurance oversaw a strategic acquisition.

This year, the Awards featured two panel discussions with industry leaders like Richard Lowe, Hammam Badr, Patrick Tumbo , Dominic Christian and prominent economists like Ludovic Subran and Carlos Lopez who reflected on the impact of Covid-19 in the African economy, especially the insurance industry , and how it can be rebuilt after the pandemic.

The event also witnessed the performance of some African artists like Betty G. from Ethiopia, Femi Kuti from Nigeria and Magic System from Côte d’Ivoire

In his congratulatory message, Dr. Corneille Karekezi, Group MD and CEO of Africa Re congratulated all the nominees and disclosed that each winner will get a sum of $ 25,000. He said “You have made all of us, in the insurance industry, proud and even more determined, to achieve greater success, and to serve our customers and communities to manage better the risks they face”

A recording of the Awards ceremony is available via the organiser’s portal: https://www.AfricanInsuranceAwards.org/