The focus was on advocacy, fintech and mental health when the Lagos Area Committee (LAC) of the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB) held its first ever virtual Mid-Year Workshop between Wednesday 22nd and Thursday 23rd July, 2020.
The two-day virtual conference held via the Microsoft Teams Live Conference had Mr. Peter Braid, Chief Executive Officer of the Insurance Brokers of Canada (IBAC) as the guest speaker of the occasion. Braid who spoke on the topic, “Advocacy as a Major Tool for Business Success: the IBAC Story,” enjoined insurance brokers to engage key decision makers across levels of government as well as key stakeholders like the fintech in order to boost the growth and penetration of insurance in Nigeria. 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 the parallel between IBAC’s pillars with the Nigerian market 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, title “Fintech for Insurance penetration as a Financial Service.” Presentations on this were made by foremost Mobile Money providers in Nigeria, Systemspecs, EFinA; an organization that has been helping Banks to increase customer base in the rural areas, driving penetration to assist Banks reach out to the unbanked.
Wragby Business Solutions & Technologies who equally made a presentation through Dr. Oluyomi Alarape, an Executive Director of the firm who introduced the iBroka and shed more light on the All-in-One Solutions that can be accessed from a single platform based on Brokers’ subscription level. The Application according to Dr. Alarape is to assist Insurance Brokers deliver efficient and quality service at optimal cost.
The second focused on a health talk, “Effect of COVID-19 on Mental Health of Families and Business Owner,” delivered by Dr. Maymunah Y. Kadiri, popularly known as ‘The Celebrity Shrink’ a multiple award winning Mental Health Physician & Medical Director of Pinnacle Medical Services. 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.
The workshop equally featured two very robust panel discussions moderated by Mrs Olufunke Adenusi, CEO, Colximate Insurance Brokers and Mrs Enitan Solarin, MD, YOA Insurance. Speakers at the panel included Mr. Deremi Atanda, Executive Director, SystemSpecs and Mr. Tope Adeniyi, Managing Director, AXA Mansard HMO.
Earlier while welcoming virtual 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.
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