Ganiyu Musa, the long-serving GMD of Cornerstone Insurance Plc has retired after 12 years, pushing the underwriting firm from 18th position to 6th position in the industry.
Under his leadership, Cornerstone has become one of the top six insurance companies in Nigeria, with shareholders fund, growing from N4 billion when he took over in 2012 to over N30 billion at the end of 2023.
Happy ‘GM’, as he is fondly called by colleagues and friends, ascribed his success in office to the people and quality of human capital he had while providing leadership as GMD of Cornerstone Insurance.
At a dinner organised by the Company in his honour at Oriental Hotels in Lagos Ganiyu Musa, who could not alone take glory for his achievements in Cornerstone said, “I give it to God and the people”.
“I can’t lay claim to have done it alone by myself, I am just the instrument. I am just the leader of the team. That is why I continue to emphasise on teamwork. Even as the MD, there is only so much you can do. If you do not have the troops behind you, you are isolated, you cannot lead. So the real work, the real heavy lifting is done by the people.”
“You know, our business is a people business. We do not have plant and machinery. We do not have Coca-Cola that you can open and drink and feel satisfied immediately. Its service and service is about people.”
“And we have been great, we have been fortunate to have the quality of people that we have in Cornerstone. To be able to do the things we do in a very professional and ethical way and not get drowned in all the shenanigans going on in the industry and still have all the results that we were able to post, you have to give credence to the people because they toil , they work a lot harder than the market. They work smarter than the market and we thank God we have just had reward for it.”
“So today, it feels so good to wear the Cornerstone badge. It is a very good time to be a Cornerstone staff and ambassador, Ganiyu Musa said
The event attended by colleagues, friends, industry players and his immediate family witnessed positive testimonials about GM, and how he impacted people that worked with him.
According to a larger number of them, his ability to stay cool, calm, and focused endeared many people to him, and that affected positively on the result and performance he achieved while he was the GMD of the company.
As he steps down from his role, the company is poised for continued success under new leadership.
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