By Michael Eboh
Old Mutual Insurance has disclosed that the Nigerian insurance market is far bigger than the South African and Ghanaian insurance markets.
Speaking in an interview in Abuja, during the relocation to a new office space in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Mr. Zomunoda Chizura, Chief Executive Officer, Old Mutual West Africa, also stated that the company, which is less than four years in the Nigerian market, had put strategy in place to ensure that it ranks among the top five insurance companies in Nigeria within the next five years.
Chizura noted that though the company was yet to record significant returns on its investment, it is hopeful, especially with the size and potential of the Nigerian insurance market and the fact that the Nigerian market is bigger than the South African market.
He said, “The returns, though we have not yet gotten them, but we are long term. We see a massive potential. The population in Nigeria is big; the insurance penetration is big; they are 70 million formally employed people in Nigeria.
“It is bigger than any of the markets that we have presence in Africa. It is bigger than Ghana and bigger than South Africa. In South Africa, the entire population is 50 million, but in Nigeria, the people that are employed are 70 million, so it is a very exciting market for us.
“Our plan is to grow massively. Right now, we are sort of maybe at the bottom of the middle, in the next five years, we want to be among the top five in the market. Definitely, that is where are going to be.”
Source: Vanguard