WAICA Reinsurance Corporation has promised to support the winner of its maiden edition of ‘Annual Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Competition Project and Ambassadors for 2021/2022’ with US$100,000, across all its operating countries.
Established in 2011 with the philosophy of strengthening the financial sector of the sub-region by providing greater and viable insurance and reinsurance capacity, the corporation said the theme of its CSR competition is ‘Practical Solutions to Natural Disasters in West Africa’.
Speaking on this development recently, Group Managing Director of the corporation Mr. Ezekiel Abiola Ekundayo said the competition’s winner will become WAICA Re’s goodwill ambassador for a year, having supported the winning project with up to US$100,000, while the ambassador will receive a cash award of US$5,000.
There will also be 1st and 2nd runners-up with cash awards of US$2,000 and US$1,000 respectively, he stressed.
Besides the competition, he said, WAICA Re has initiated several CSR projects across all its operating countries and has always felt that education is one of the major backbones of the industry, and as a result has contributed immensely to education in the sub-region as well as development of the insurance industry.
We also carry out CSR activities to support the countries where we operate, as listed below Ekundayo pointed out:
Sierra Leone – Supporting the insurance industry by establishing a college of Insurance designated in the Insurance Commission’s building. We will furnish and supply the needed textbooks, facilitators, and conducive environment for learning. This will be the first insurance training platform in the country.
Nigeria – Supply fittings such as cooling systems and computers to the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria, including the installations.
Cote d’ Ivoire – Tree planting and gardens at the insurance college.
Ghana – Refurbishing the insurance institute’s library and stocking the same with textbooks.
The Gambia – Sponsoring WAII’s digital training platform.
Zimbabwe – Supporting the insurance institute with an operational vehicle.
Tunisia – Tree planting and regreening of selected schools.
Kenya – Providing the insurance institute with insurance textbooks.
Also, in the past we have:
- Sponsored five students to WAII each year since 2018
- Funded WAII’s student hall
- Helped the West African Insurance Industry to achieve harmonisation
- Supported a number of insurance commissions in the sub-region.
Furthermore, he stated that WAICA Re has made giant strides because of the inestimable support it is getting from the reinsurance market across Africa, the Middle East and Asia. The corporation, he said, started as a spark during July 2011 in Sierra Leone, West Africa.
“Today, it has grown into a group. We have continued to expand throughout Africa and beyond – with 4 regional offices located in Nigeria, Ghana, Tunisia, and Ivory Coast. Also, we have four subsidiaries: WAICA Re (UK) Ltd., WAICA Re Zimbabwe (Private) Ltd., WAICA Re Capital Ltd. (Ghana) and WAICA Re (Kenya) Ltd. In the 10 short years of the WAICA Re’s existence, our gross premium grew from US$35,000 in 2011 to US$103million in 2020.”
According to him, “In 2020, despite the COVID–19 challenges, we grew by about 50%. The performance makes WAICA Re one of the fastest-growing reinsurance companies within the African region”.
Assessing reinsurance business on the African continent, he said: “Reinsurance in Africa is on a steady growth path despite the turbulence created by COVID-19. The top-10 reinsurance players still control a significant share of the market. There have been improvements in local content; however, significant large risk exposures in engineering, oil and gas are still ferried to non-domestic reinsurers”.
While believing there has been a continued shift in building capacity as major players have conferences, academies, training and competitions tailored to skill enhancement and capacity building, he added that the level of capital needs to be shored-up to provide capital adequate enough to bear risks and meet stakeholders’ expectations.
To him, “Reinsurance companies should focus more on emerging risks: such as political risks, terrorism, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, among others. Finally, African reinsurers need to invest and leverage technology in driving their businesses. Support for insurtech is the way to go”.
Mr. Ezekiel Abiola Ekundayo
FIN
