Pan Africa Insurance boss quits after six-year tenure

Tom Gitogo has resigned as Pan Africa Insurance Holdings CEO. PHOTO | FILE

By DAVID HERBLING

In Summary
A statement issued Wednesday indicated that Tom Gitogo had resigned to pursue personal interests even as he was linked with a likely move to a rival insurance firm.
People close to Mr Gitogo indicated that he could be headed to another NSE-listed insurer, but the Business Daily could not get him to confirm or deny the claims.
The insurer has appointed Stephen Kamanda, who was general manager in charge of finance and administration, as acting CEO.
The Pan Africa Insurance Holdings chief executive Tom Gitogo has quit after a six-year tenure at the helm of Kenya’s fourth-largest listed insurance company.

A statement issued Wednesday indicated that Mr Gitogo, who took over as Pan Africa’s boss in April 2008, had resigned to pursue personal interests even as he was linked with a likely move to a rival insurance firm.

The insurer has appointed Stephen Kamanda, who was general manager in charge of finance and administration, as acting CEO.

"Mr Tom Gitogo has tendered his resignation as a director and the chief executive officer of the company to pursue other interests," said John Simba, the chairman of Pan Africa Life.

The insurance firm is majority-owned by South African financial services group Sanlam, which controls a 55.82 per cent stake.

Mr Gitogo succeeded Andrew Greenwood who was Pan Africa CEO between 2000 and 2008. Mr Greenwood is the current CEO of Metropolitan Life Kenya.

People close to Mr Gitogo indicated that he could be headed to another NSE-listed insurer, but the Business Daily could not get him to confirm or deny the claims.

Pan Africa is ranked Kenya’s eighth largest insurance firm, controlling premiums totalling Sh1.6 billion as at March 2014, which gives it an overall market share of 3.9 per cent.

Mr Gitogo, 45, is one of Kenya’s youngest CEOs, having risen to the helm of Pan Africa Life at the age of 39.

He presided over Pan Africa at a time when majority owner Sanlam had been aggressively buying additional shares in the company with a view to raising its stake to 60 per cent.

READ: South African group targets more Pan Africa shares

His tenure at Pan Africa has seen gross premium income more than double to Sh5.3 billion last year from Sh2.5 billion in 2008 when he took office.

Pan Africa’s net profit increased to Sh1.25 billion last year from a loss of Sh96 million in 2008. This saw the company pay a dividend of Sh4.50 per share last year from Sh3 a piece a year earlier; compared to 2008 when it did not pay dividend as it was in the red.

Mr Gitogo’s strategy has been to develop micro-insurance products, harvesting high returns from a bullish NSE and diversifying into financial services and asset management.

Pan Africa in partnership with Airtel last year unveiled a mobile-based life insurance product covering death and disability dubbed Bima Mkononi, which targets the informal sector that is currently poorly covered by other insurance products.

The insurance firm last year acquired Sanlam Investment Management (SIM Kenya) and plans to rebrand it to Pan Africa Asset Managers.

Mr Gitogo had in June said the new asset management firm will begin operations by end of year and will offer unit trusts and investment schemes to the retail and corporate clients.

Pan Africa has also bought a minority a 3.59 per cent stake in Family Bank to tap into the ever-expanding demand for credit and banking services and use the lender as a channel for offering bancassurance products.

Source: Business daily