More protection for consumers, as new NIA Chairman plans big

Kunle Ahmed, the 26th Chairman of the Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA) who was invested recently says the focus of his administration is to restore confidence in the insurance industry by ensuring the consumers of insurance get the best of services.

Ahmed in his investiture speech said, superintending over the affairs of an Association like NIA with members at different stages of development and maturity can be challenging but interesting, stating that of utmost concern for him will be customers certification.

“Ensuring the satisfaction of our clients and partners should be of interest to all of us. Ease of on-boarding clients, provision of advisory services, and elimination, to the barest minimum, of conflicts during claims processing are some of the actions that can potentially increase customer satisfaction.”

He said insurance must grow and impact the economy. “The challenge of growing our revenue is common to all of us. The industry achieved the N1trn Gross Premium Written target in 2023, eleven years after the initial target date of 2012. Increased growth will improve our contribution to GDP and insurance penetration in the country.

“Insurance companies are business entities and we all desire to make profit, of course, not at the expense of fairness to our customers. Most companies are aware that there is a nexus between customer satisfaction and profitability. Companies that are making profits are also able to contribute and make social and economic impacts on their operating communities.”

Ahmed said after a critical review of the state of development of the industry, he has chosen the theme of his tenure as: “Digital Disruption & Social Insurance, Re-shaping of our Traditional Models”.

Under this broad theme, he said his tenure shall be focusing on the following four strategic imperatives – Advocacy & Inter-Governmental Relationships, Digital Innovation, Claims & Technical Excellence, and Education & Human Capacity Development.

Kunle Ahmed was born on July 11, 1965, at the Island Maternity Hospital Lagos to the family of Ahmed Okanlawon and Ebunoluwa Ahmed. He is the second child out of nine children.

He had a very humble beginning. Growing up in the Alafia Lane area in Shomolu, Lagos, he was enrolled at St Peter & Paul UNA Primary School, Morocco Road Lagos, for his primary school education. After his primary school education, he wrote the common entrance examination and was admitted to the Ansarudeen College Surulere, Lagos.

He believed living away from your parents toughens a child, ensures focus, and reinforces the ability to be resilient. Kunle was, therefore, ‘shipped’ to Kwara State, where he attended Ilala Primary School and sat again for the common entrance examination. He was admitted to the Federal Government College Ilorin and Government Secondary School Omu Aran. He chose the latter school. Boarding school life, including the need to stick with bullying by senior students, the cutting of grass, and general corporal punishments, were all new to him. But he adapted and went on to excel in both academics and extracurricular activities, passed his WAEC examination in flying colours, and represented the school in various competitions as a member of the school football and handball teams.

Kunle’s preferred course was mass communication, but he had to choose the University of Ilorin for its stable academic calendar to study Sociology and graduated with Second Class Honors Lower Division. Upon graduation, he was posted to Oyo State for his National Youth Service, where he taught at Ejigbo High School, Ejigbo, now Osun State.

After youth service, Kunle briefly joined the family business, buying time before landing his preferred job, Kunle applied and got a role in the Industrial & General Insurance Company (IGI) in 1994; the rest, as they say, is now history.

He started in the Marketing department before being transferred to the Oil & Energy department, where he had the opportunity to learn on the job and attended several trainings in the United Kingdom and South Africa. Kunle rose through the ranks in IGI and left in 2004 as a Manager in the Oil & Energy team.

Kunle joined Heritage Assurance Limited, now AXA Mansard Insurance in 2004. Over the last 20 years, Kunle has served AXA Mansard Insurance in various capacities. He resumed as the Head of the Energy Team in Lagos before being posted to Port Harcourt to start the company’s South-East/South-South operations. A year later, he was saddled with the responsibility of starting the company’s Abuja/Northern operations and rose to become the Group Head, Regional Offices Group. He was posted back to Lagos in 2008 as the Head of Energy Group.

Kunle was appointed divisional director, Institutional Business Division in 2011 with the responsibility for corporate sales and managing the relationships with corporate customers across Communication, Logistics, Manufacturing, Oil & Gas, Public Sector and Financial Services Institutions. He was invited to the board as an Executive Director in 2012 and he became the company’s Crisis Leader, Chairman of the Risk Management Committee and managed the corporate sales and underwriting activities of the company. In 2017, Kunle was appointed Chief Executive Officer.

He is an Associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute, London (CII) and achieved the qualification within one year of sitting for the examinations. He is also an Associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN).

Kunle is also an alumnus of both IMD Switzerland and the Lagos Business School. Kunle currently serves on the board of companies and Pools across HMO, Oil & Gas, Academic, Computers, Industry Associations, and the Chamber of Commerce. He is a Board Member of AXA Mansard Health Limited, EMOCOM Computer Services Limited, a member of the Academic Board of the West African Insurance Institute (WAII) Gambia, Vice Chairman of Prudential Committee, Nigeria Insurers Committee, Board Member, Africa Oil & Gas Pool, Vice President, French Nigerian Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FNCCI), National Bureau Chairman, ECOWAS Brown Card and Governing Council member of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria.