Mutual Benefits Assurance retail sales rides on microfinance subsidiary

Mutual Benefits Assurance plc, one of the leaders in retail insurance distribution in the country having carved a niche for itself, is driving sales through its microfinance bank, a wholly owned subsidiary.

The underwriting firm using the platform among other channels has sold over 65,000 policies, providing credit guarantees to customers and loan beneficiaries of micro finance banks.

Akin Ogunbiyi, group managing director, Mutual Benefits Group said this is one of the initiatives the company has adopted to increase market penetration, create shareholder value as well as add to overall economic growth.

Ogunbiyi said this opportunity to sell insurance could not have been possible, if there was no strategic plan to create such a platform, stating that opportunities in the retail market are huge and can transform the insurance industry.

“If you don’t have a Mutual Benefits that can think outside the box, it would be difficult to harness these potentials lying untapped, and this is what makes us different from other companies,” Ogunbiyi said.

Ogunbiyi noted further that Mutual Benefits will roll out 50 micro-insurance products into the market beginning from April, adding that the products were developed along social, demographic, trade groups and risks peculiar to each segment of the population.

He noted that the firm has a projection to open 200 offices between 2012 and 2015, while 32 offices were already opened last year and that the number would reach 70 by December this year. He said the effort would bring existing and new offices of the firm nationwide to 96 by the end of this year.

Ogunbiyi also said the firm would create 22,000 new jobs by 2015 in line with the man-power need of the industry, and currently has a staff strength of about 5000, of which 3000 are marketing executives.

“We currently have 67 insurance professionals in our workforce. We have also created six regional hubs in Lagos, Ibadan, Abuja, Enugu, Port Harcourt and Kano, while each regional operation is headed by a Regional Franchise Administrator (RFA) and the state operation is headed by a Territorial Franchise Administrator,” he said.

MODESTUS ANAESORONYE