Industrial and General Insurance Plc (IGI), Nigeria’s largest insurance company and leading risks underwriting groups in the country, has expressed optimism in securing a new future as Africa’s biggest insurance group.
According to the group’s Executive Director (Finance and Accounts), Yinka Obalade, IGI is looking forward to achieve this feat after it has conquered the West African insurance market.
While speaking at the IGI day at the recent Lagos International Trade Fair, Obalade noted that in spite of growing its business to become the leading underwriter in West Africa; the group is still working hard to assume the leadership position in the continental insurance market.
“Today, the IGI group is the largest insurance company in Nigeria and the largest underwriter in West Africa. Insurance remains our flagship and we have subsidiaries and strategic investments in other diverse sectors. In spite of our achievements till date, we still nurse a very healthy ambition. IGI’s ultimate corporate goal is to become the leading pan-African insurance and financial supermarket in Africa in the shortest possible time,” he said.
Obalade credited IGI’s success to the fact that the insurance giant was able to discover before its competitors – that the East and West African sub-regions provide enormous opportunity for business growth, especially because it is clear that Africa needs private sector-led socio-economic transformation to achieve sustainable development.
He explained that the benefits derived from investing across the continent strengthened the leadership position of the company across its countries of operations.
Obalade also stated that the group’s capacity to underwrite big ticket risks was hinged on the profile of its board, the technical expertise of its management and its partnership with the Swiss-Re and Lloyds of London.
According to him, “As a dynamic organisation, IGI is focused on improving its services to all its stakeholders and the Nigerian nation. Our mission, as we seek to become a global brand, is to continue to create, protect and preserve wealth. Our strength has made us the preferred insurer for individual and corporate clients seeking premium insurance and related financial services. Our core values remain Professionalism and Integrity. These core values drive our medium term plan to become a mega one-stop financial shop providing a vast array of world-class insurance, financial intermediation and investment services.”
IGI was established in 1992, the insurance giant boasts of several branches spread across Nigeria, Uganda, Rwanda, Ghana and Gambia and representative offices in London and Washington, DC. As a market leader in the underwriting of general insurance in the West African sub-region, the insurance company specialises in industrial risks including oil, gas, maritime, aviation, engineering as well as comprehensive and confidential risk management reports on property with the view to helping them determine areas that require improvements in physical infrastructures.
Other investment portfolio includes real estate, banking, telecommunications, mining, construction, waste management and engineering.
