Equity assurance Limited is the Ghanaian subsidiary of Equity Assurance Plc of Nigeria. It started operations in Ghana in 2008 providing general insurance services. Jessica Acheampong (GB) met its Managing Director, Prince Adeyemi Adetuwo (PAA) who shared some insights about the insurance industry and the company’s seven year milestone anniversary.
GB: Tell us about equity assurance?
PAA: We are one of those companies who have their root in Nigeria, but we are truly a Ghanaian company. The company started operations in July 2008, but we got our license to operate early in the year. We brought onboard our experience from our parent company, Equity Plc of Nigeria which has been in operations for over 20 years. We are able to leverage on their experience to be able to storm the weather and overcome our challenges.
GB: What is your core line of business?
PAA: We are a general insurance company. We provide fire and special peril insurance, motor trade Insurance, consequential loss insurance, burglary insurance, performance/bid/advance payment bond, and group personal accident insurance. We currently do not provide life insurance cover.
GB: What has been the company’s growth in previous years?
PAA: We have had a steady growth from 2008 till date. We are one of the fast growing insurance companies in Ghana. Our premium income for 2012 was US$5,625,000 compared to US$3,946, 550 in 2011. In 2010, also our premium was US$2,879,000. The company is also a member of the Ghana Club 100, you know before a company can be part of it, they look at a lot of fundamentals.
GB: To what do you attribute this growth?
PAA: Firstly, we give glory to God. You know whatever you achieve in life, is by His grace. Secondly, we have committed and dedicated staff members. We also believe in prompt and efficient service delivery. In the insurance business, what you are selling is a promise. If someone insures with you, it means you are making a promise that in the event anything goes wrong, you will compensate the person for their loss, and that is a promise you must keep.
We have been living up to our promises and we reward loyalty and trust. Our clients many at times come back because they are happy with our services. The ultimate is to pay claims and compensate your clients, every insurance company is paying claims and that means they are not doing anything different from what you are doing. The only thing is how promptly you pay your claims, and this has been our strength.
Again, we have a parent company that gives us the free room to operate because of the confidence they have in us. Unlike some companies where the parent company takes all the decisions, we are different. We also leverage on the technical expertise of our management team to run our operations.
GB: As an industry player, what is your assessment of the insurance market in Ghana?
PAA: Ghana is an emerging market and there are so many areas of growth. I believe that there should be a deeper penetration of the insurance market in Ghana. People in this part of the world consider insurance as secondary. People do not take insurance seriously. Even when the insurance legislations are compulsory, people still cut corners. Insurance companies will need to engage in more education because of the general perception about the industry. We need to reach out more through publicity campaigns about the essence of insurance and let people know that insurance is not what it used to be. Insurance is rapidly changing and people must be made aware.
GB: What innovation sets equity apart from the rest?
PAA: At Equity, we have gone beyond the normal way of doing business. To sustain your growth, there must be a paradigm shift and thinking outside the box. We have strategic sessions, where we focus on our operations and brainstorm on how to sustain the growth we have achieved. We also undertake research and development as well as periodic operational restructuring. It seems like everyone else is doing the same thing and because of that we came up with a student accident welfare scheme in collaboration with others. We are rebranding our existing products and repackaging our products to offer more for our clients. We also believe in continuous training of our staff.
GB: What is your assessment of the role of the regulator, which is the National Insurance Commissioner (NIC)?
PAA: There are some laws concerning insurance and one is that there should be compulsory fire insurance for commercial buildings. As a regulator, the NIC should liaise with the Ghana Fire Service, the Ghana Insurers Association (GIA) and all the industry players to make sure that the laws are enforced. There should be collaboration between the regulator and the law enforcement agencies like the police and fire service to ensure that people adhere to this directive.
GB: What are some of the activities marking the anniversary celebrations?
PAA: For us at Equity, this a time of sober reflection on what we have done in the past and how we can improve on it. There are no planned activities per se but what we are doing is looking more inward and brainstorming on how best we can improve our customer service in the years ahead.
GB: What should customers expect from you in the years ahead?
PAA: They should expect more quality services from us. We are going to maintain the tempo of our customer service. The primary purpose of being in business is to pay claims; if you are unable to do that then you are not fit to be in business.
We have six branches currently as well as agency offices all over the country. The plan is to open more retail outlets in the coming years, what we are doing is total rebranding. We are also building more synergies with banks to build our brand.
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