As the 39th Annual Conference/General Assembly of AIO kicks off in Khartoum, Sudan in a matter of days, Ms. Prisca Soares, Secretary General of AIO, xrays the uniqueness of the summit and her expectations.
Much attention deserves to be focused on insuring the average African with modest means. This could be achieved through Micro-insurance and Micro-takaful.
Sudan is the most developed Takaful market which makes it the ideal place to learn about that aspect of insurance. It would also be the first time the conference would be holding in Sudan.
The African insurance industry is quite healthy and vibrant. Practitioners are well aware that the insurance sector is contributing very little to the world’s insurance output and that insurance penetration is very low in most of our countries.
I believe you could say that practitioners have decided to take the bull by its horns going by recent events and activities, ranging from recent regulations from CIMA to various regional conferences and seminars.
There are also ample opportunities of partnering with international organisations, such as the World Bank, Access to Insurance Initiative (A2II), International Labour Organisation (ILO) and Making Finance Work for Africa (MFWA), in organising capacity building programmes in areas of need.
Also, with the considerable increase in the membership of the AIO currently 326 members there is a strong chance that, with the collaboration of all, the African insurance sector will achieve greater success and have more impact on the economies of African countries in the years to come.
