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The Lagos Area Committee of the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers had its Mid-Year Workshop recently. The focus of the workshop, which was held virtually due to the Corona Virus Pandemic, was on advocacy, fintech and mental health.
The two-day conference was held via the Microsoft Teams Live Conference. Mr. Peter Braid, the Chief Executive Officer of the Insurance Brokers of Canada (IBAC), who was the guest speaker, spoke on the topic, “Advocacy as a Major Tool for Business Success: the IBAC Story.” He enjoined insurance brokers in Ngeria to engage key decision makers across all levels of government as well as key stakeholders like the fintech in order to boost the growth and penetration of insurance in Nigeria, which currently stands at 0.3 per cent. He shared the success story of the IBAC in the same vein and explained how that can be replicated in Nigeria.
His presentation was followed by that of the Deputy President of the NCRIB, Barrister Rotimi Edu, who drew a parallel between IBAC’s pillars and the activities of NCRIB in a presentation titled, “Federal Government Advocacy.” Among other things, he noted: “the Canadian experience in advocacy and its effect on the brokers growth in the Canadian insurance market becomes very important so that we can draw from the experiences of both nations and make comparative inference on topic and the practice in both countries.”
The second day of the workshop featured two broad presentations with the first focused on “Fintech for Insurance penetration as a Financial Service.” Presentations on this were made by Systemspecs and EFinA, an organization that has been helping banks to increase customer base in the rural areas and driving penetration to assist banks reach out to the ‘unbanked’.
An IT expert, Dr. Oluyomi Alarape, said “brokers have to transform themselves by leveraging technology and catering to customers’ changing needs and preferences to stay relevant in the business.”
The health talk by Dr. Maymunah Y. Kadiri focused on “Effect of COVID-19 on Mental Health of Families and Business Owner,” The Mental Health session also featured Dr. Dr Umeh, Consultant Clinical Psychologist at the Psychology Department of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) who is also a first responder with COVID 19 Team.
Earlier while welcoming participants and setting the tone for the workshop, the Lagos Area Committee Chairman, Mrs Bukola Ifemade, said that this year’s workshop is designed exactly for what it is, a workshop with three segments focused on different areas but interlinked for innovations to take the insurance industry and Brokers to the next level with Insurance Brokers as the key players.
“Our beloved country, Nigeria is a great country indeed and we as Insurance Brokers are about to make it greater through new ideas. We are poised to take away from this Workshop fresh ideas to drive insurance penetration and enhance service delivery to every stakeholder in the industry, especially the customers.
“This is time for our industry to evolve with us insurance Brokers as the game changer. To take insurance into every corner of our great nation, deploying insurance solutions for the stability of families and businesses and doing so in the most effective and efficient manner,” she concluded.