The Organisation of Eastern and Southern Africa Insurers celebrates its 50th year Anniversary this year and on behalf of the Management Board and Secretariat we would like to thank you all for the partnerships, collaborations and learning together during these years. The Organisation of Eastern and Southern Africa Insurers (OESAI) was formed in 1973 as a result of the initiative of eight Insurance Companies in the Eastern and Southern Africa region. The eight founding Insurance Companies include:
- Kenya National Reinsurance Corporation, (Kenya Re) Kenya
- Zambia State Insurance Corporation Limited, (ZSIC) Zambia
- Kenya National Insurance Company Limited, Kenya
- Jubilee Insurance Company Limited, Kenya
- National Insurance Corporation of Tanzania Limited, (NIC) Tanzania
- National Insurance Corporation of Uganda Limited, (NIC) Uganda
- Pan Africa Insurance Company Limited, Kenya
- Reinsurance Company of Mauritius
From the founding membership of eight companies from five countries, OESAI now has over a hundred active members from across Eastern and Southern Africa and beyond.
The Organization of Eastern and Southern Africa Insurers (OESAI) has been on a growth track which is as a result of a rebranding and marketing initiatives which has been taking place since 2013. As the organisation has continued to grow in membership numbers, in activities and in value addition, we are proud of some of the milestones that we have achieved.
Over the past ten years, OESAI has hosted an annual conference in most of the member countries where the organisation is represented, from a small number of conference attendees of 100 delegates in Maputo, Mozambique, in 2013, to more than 300 delegates at most of our subsequent events. We are delighted that the Conference is now being recognised as the premier Insurance event in the region.
OESAI has also made administration changes that have strengthened the organisation, including establishing a permanent head office in Nairobi, Kenya, developing a robust constitution and strategic plan as well as a proper governance structure that guides how OESAI works. This project included putting in place the organisation’s policies and procedures such as HR and Finance policies.
OESAI has also applied for a Host Agreement with the Kenya government, and this will be a game changer for the Organisation once the approvals are given and as we move into the Africa region.
In order to meet its mandate of developing insurance technical skills within the industry, OESAI has been at the forefront of hosting insurance workshops and webinars for the market. We launched the Global Insurance and Reinsurance Leaders (GIRLs) forum in Kigali in 2019 to give safe spaces for women in insurance to network and grow. Since its launch, we have held several GIRLs webinars in order to encourage networking and knowledge sharing among female Insurance executives. OESAI also hosted the Regulators Forum in Zimbabwe in 2021, a gathering of Regulators and CEOs to find common solutions to pertinent issues in the industry. Even during the COVID pandemic, OESAI was at the forefront of hosting webinars to enable the market to embrace the new normal as we called it then.
In the past year alone more than 2000 delegates were trained on various topics by OESAI and its partners. Three years ago, OESAI partnered with Ghana reinsurance to host a regional insurance quiz which brings together insurers from across the region. This has been a great success with companies in the region and has been made even more popular as the Captains of the winning teams are presented with their prizes at the OESAI conference.
OESAI has also established partnerships with regional institutes, to add value to our members, including the Insurance Institute of South Africa (IISA) and Insurance Training College (ITC) in Uganda, to offer CPD points to the delegates who attend our training workshops and webinars as well as the conference. OESAI is also a Supporting member of the UNEP PSI. As a PSI supporting organisation, we are publicly demonstrating the organisation’s support for sustainable insurance. OESAI actively supports the UNEP PSI initiatives by placing sustainability at the center of our skills and leadership development initiatives. We have enabled our members to access training by such organisation as the African Development Bank (AFDB) as they hosted the Enhanced interventions for Africa’s financial sector engagement in global sustainable finance webinar in 2021. The session shared key insights from the flagship report “Climate risk regulation in Africa’s financial sector and related private sector initiatives” that was commissioned by the African Financial Alliance on Climate Change (AFAC) in partnership with the Global Center on Adaptation and UN Environment Financial Initiative (UNEP FI), with analytical support from McKinsey & Company.
On a personal note, I would like to thank all the Past Chairpersons and Board members who have served OESAI so diligently over the years. The past Chairpersons in recent years include Mrs Irene Muyenga, Managing Director of SAVENDA Insurance, Zambia, Mr Lawrence Nazare, Group Chief Executive Officer of Continental Reinsurance, and Mr Charles Nakhoze former Managing Director of Zambia State Insurance Company. During the 44th OESAI Annual Conference in Zanzibar, we had the honor to recognise them with awards for their contribution to OESAI. The Organisation would not be the same without their hard work.
OESAI also hosted an induction training workshop for Board member in Zimbabwe in 2022. We would like to thank our Member, Minerva Risk Solution and Mr Shingai Mutasa, Group Chief Executive Officer of Masawara Holdings, for facilitating this workshop, which coincided with the first in country OESAI Meet the Market Golf Day, in which we partnered with the Insurance Council of Zimbabwe. We would like to host more of these training workshops to develop the Board and partner insurance associations in various countries for networking events.
At the 2022 Conference Gala dinner, OESAI presented Honorary awards to Mr Shingai Mutasa, Group Chief Executive Officer at Masawara Holdings and Mr Tryphon D. Rutazamba, CEO of F&P Insurance Brokers and Vice Chairman of the Board of the National Health Insurance Fund, Tanzania, and the late Mr Jonathan Shenyagwa , former CEO of Tanzania Reinsurance , for their contribution towards the growth of the insurance industry in Africa. OESAI will continue to honour those contributing to the growth of the industry in all our upcoming conferences and other events.
The OESAI Management Board’s gratitude also goes out to all past Secretary Generals and our current Secretary General who have sometimes worked under very challenging economic situations, to grow the organisation.
We have worked with many partners over the years and OESAI would not be the same without the members who joined the organisation over the years and gave us their support. To the OESAI Life members, Africa Reinsurance, ZEP Reinsurance and College of Insurance, we thank you for your continued support. To all companies which support our activities and especially the OESAI Annual Conference, we say a big THANK YOU. To all our members, new and old, we thank you for being members of OESAI and we would like to urge you to continue actively participating in the Organisation’s activities.
As OESAI embarks on the next 50 years of its journey, we look forward to working with you in the coming months and years.