After years of contemplating whether to acquire an existing insurance company in Nigeria to kick-start operations in the country or not, Enterprise Group has settled on the acquisition of a new licence to start insurance business in Nigeria from next year.
Keli Gadzekpo, Group Chief Executive Officer, explained that the move is to ensure the company takes on no risk at the early stage, to provide it room to roll-out measures which ensure it grows organically in Africa’s most populous nation.
Speaking to capital market stakeholders when the company took its turn at the 2020 Fact Behind the Figures Series organised by the Ghana Stock Exchange, Mr. Gadzekpo noted that Enterprise wants to understudy the Nigeria insurance market and determine how quickly its model can synchronise before it makes huge steps.
“We don’t want to just ride the horse fast and furious; we first go into the market, understand the market, and ensure that our operational model is relevant to that market,” Mr. Gadzekpo said.
Enterprise Group, he said, has indicated that its vision is to dominate the retail life sector in Nigeria, and that will be done through a number of serious investments which would project its operations and offer the market attractive products across all sectors of the economy. The move to Nigeria is expected to be a start to the expansion of Enterprise Group throughout the sub-region.
According to Mr. Gadzekpo, the company wants to meticulously learn the insurance ropes in Nigeria; as a result, it will give itself some time before expecting investment in the country to yield profits. “It is not going to be a three-year time-frame, because you know retail distribution takes a lot of investment and a lot of patience to build right.”
Meanwhile, the company recorded GH¢108million profit in the first nine months of 2020 and is hopeful of sustained growth despite the impact of COVID-19 on the business: “We think that the future looks very bright for Enterprise Group Plc. Our position is to continue delivering value to our shareholders. We are seeking to improve on our new business line, which we will do by applying innovation and technology on the back of our new operating model.
“We are very positive that we will continue to see the trends we have seen in the first three quarters into the rest of the year; so we are very hopeful we will sustain these growth levels,” said Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Daniel Larbi Tieku.
Enterprise Group comprises Enterprise Insurance Company, Enterprise Life, Enterprise Trustees Limited, Enterprise Properties and Enterprise Funeral Service.
