The Chartered Insurance Institute of Ghana (CIIG) has assembled a youthful team to run the affairs of the Institute for the next two years. They were sworn in last week Friday at the Marriott Hotel in Accra.
The Executives include; Tawiah Ben-Ahmed – President, Dr. Geraldine Abaidoo – Vice President, David Avor – General Secretary, Daisy Stead – Assistant Secretary, Kofi O. Akoto – PRO, Enoch Narh – Treasurer, Richard Okyere – Ghana Insurance College Representative, Hannah Frimpong – National Insurance Commission Representative, George Addison – Ghana Insurance Association Representative and Shaibu Ali – Insurance Brokers Association of Ghana Representative.
The current President Ben Ahmed thus becomes the 8th leader and the youngest, coming from a direct underwriting company to lead the CIIG. Previous Presidents had been insurance brokers and older.
Speaking at the investiture programme, the new president commended all in attendance for their commitment and support to attend particularly at a time where the country is faced with a global pandemic – COVID -19.
Saying that his predecessor, and immediate past President – Bishop Asante Marfo Ahenkora invited him to be his Vice President about 3 years ago. “I wondered why he called me, I thought about it and eventually obliged. I was subsequently elected to the office as Vice President of CIIG and served a term of 2 years which ended in 2020.”
He said his team and him were elected during the Annual General Meeting of the CIIG at the University of Ghana – Legon, in September 24, 2020. They then swung into action immediately with the incoming council which includes Elected National Officers into a strategic session to develop a strategy for the institute. The strategy was dubbed “Defend and Grow Strategy”, which aligns with the theme of the investiture.
According to him, the Defend and Grow Strategy considered the following:
- The Ghana Insurance context including the Life and General Insurance sector regulated by the National Insurance Commission (NIC), the new Insurance Bill which has recently been passed by the Parliament of Ghana, Health Insurance sector regulated by the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) and the Pensions sector regulated by the National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA) where insurance professionals predominantly practice.
- The objectives and aspirations of our founders when the Insurance Institute of Ghana (IIG) was established in 1971 and inaugurated on October 06, 1972 with 86 members.
- Where the CIIG is after 50 years of its establishment and appreciating its strength and areas to improve as well as the huge opportunities to grow.
- The broad objectives of CIIG contained in the CIIG Constitution and CIIG Draft Bill, 2019.
- Where we want to be in the next 2 years under the Defend and Grow Strategy.
- How we will get there using a set of Strategic actions under the Defend and Grow Strategy aligned with each objective and
- How we will track and measure execution of actions and initiatives consistently during the period to go as far as possible.
More importantly too, the Defend and Grow Strategy has two strategic pillars with an aspiration to grow CIIG within a world class governance environment to improve insurance professionalism, insurance contribution to Ghana, improve insurance awareness, improve insurance trust and confidence as well as insurance too be accepted in Ghana as part of our way of life, he explained.
However, the Defend Strategic Pillar also have three objectives while the Grow Strategic Pillar have eight objectives, he further narrated.
The Objectives under the Defend Strategic Pillar include:
- To establish Governance excellence reference point for members.
- To move from insurance Professional Association to Professional Body backed by Law (Chartership).
- To improved cash flow and investment management.
The Objectives under the Grow Strategic Pillar include:
- To double the size of active membership, that is, focus on value addition to members and expand scope of CIIG to recognize members practicing in other sectors of Ghana including but not limited to the Health and Pensions Sectors.
- To formalise collaboration with the GIC to act as the training and examination body of CIIG.
- To institutionalize mentorship and strengthen Continues Professional Development (CPD) to improve insurance professional practice and build future-fit capabilities of members.
- To win together with stakeholders and other bodies through goal alignment to improve insurance awareness, confidence and trust.
- To Author ABC of Insurance Book and Ghana Insurance Practice Reference manuals to improve insurance education and practice.
- To double the size of CIIG Balance Sheet as at December 31, 2020.
- To redefine and consolidate Insurance Penetration in Ghana to promote insurance contribution to the development of Ghana.
- To improve the capability of the Institute’s Secretariat to deliver on the strategy as the Executive with happy employees governed by appropriate Conditions of Service.
Profile of new president
He is the 8th President and a Fellow of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Ghana (CIIG). Tawiah served as the Vice President of CIIG for a team of two years before his election as President of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Ghana. He holds International Executive Master of Business Administration Degree in Banking and Finance and he is a member of the Chartered Insurance Institute of London, (CII – UK).
He is a board member of the Ghana Insurers Association (GIA) and a Council member of the Ghana Insurance College (GIC). Tawiah was a member of the committee set up by the National Insurance Commission (NIC) in 2015 to review and recommend new compulsory insurances to ensure the sustainable socio-economic development of Ghana.
Mr. Ben-Ahmed has been in the business of Insurance all his life. He is currently the Managing Director of Metropolitan Life Insurance Ghana Limited and Country Head of Metropolitan Health Insurance Ghana Limited and Metropolitan Pensions Trust Ghana Limited. He is an EXCO member of Momentum Metropolitan Africa Segment of Momentum Metropolitan Holdings, a South African based authorized Financial Services provider Group listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). Before he joined Metropolitan in 2016, he was the CEO of SAHAM Life Insurance Ghana Limited, where he led the growth and profitable transformation of the Company. Tawiah is licensed by the National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA) as a Corporate Trustee.
