Over 300 CEOs and leaders in the insurance industry in Kenya, Africa, the Middle East and Asia have convened in Nairobi to identify solutions to challenges facing the industry.
The global conference was convened by the Kenya Reinsurance Corporation (Kenya Re) under the theme “Leader’s Perspective: Sustainable Growth in the Global Insurance Industry”.
Insurance penetration rates vary significantly across regions, with developed countries generally having higher penetration rates.
In Kenya, this rate falls below 3%, demonstrating the need to provide create awareness and development of innovative solutions that are both accessible and affordable to masses.
Dr Hillary Maina Wachinga, Group Managing Director of Kenya Re commented on the summit saying: “This is the first conference of this magnitude in Kenya by a Kenyan-owned insurance player.
This is also the first CEO Summit by Kenya Re since its inception in 1970. Mostly, the local insurance business professionals attend similar events hosted by foreign-owned players either here in Kenya or abroad.
The main objective of the summit is to bring together great minds and influence policy decisions on how insurance industry can do grow business sustainably, especially in Africa, Middle East and Asia where Kenya Re sources business from.”
The industry captains discussed various topical issues that mutually affect their operations and proposed varied solutions. Among them is developing products that mitigate climate risk, sustainable investments, cross-border partnerships, sustainable innovations, data privacy, artificial intelligence (AI) and the wider spectrum of both 4th and 5th industrial revolutions.
“This summit is crucial in enhancing resilience of insurance industry by offering sustainable solutions to the identified gaps.”, added Dr. Wachinga. In recent past, the insurance industry has faced catastrophic (CAT) events such as global pandemic (Covid19 and monkey pox), floods, drought and earthquakes that have eroded their profitability. Due to unpredictability of such events, there is need to re-think the current market solutions whilst doing business sustainably and responsibly.
Embracing technology in product development and distribution will also contribute to accessibility and affordability of the insurance which will eventually improve insurance penetration.