45 IT, Insurance Experts to Speak at e-Insurance Confab

ABOUT 45 experts in Information Technology (IT) and Insurance Industries have indicated their interest to speak at the maiden e-Insurance conference being organised by Pinet Informatics.

Billed to hold on March 23, the speakers would be discussing issues affecting insurance growth in Nigeria, how to re-build customers' confidence in insurance business and how technology could act as a catalyst in boosting insurance business in the 21st century, where technology innovation is the key driver.

Some of the technology companies that have indicated interest to share their wealth of experience at the eInsurance conference are MainOne, MTN, Airtel, Vodacom Business, VDT Communications and Google.

According to the organisers, apart from technology companies, major insurance companies operating in Nigeria have also indicated interest to speak at the conference. The Chairman of Nigeria Insurance Association (NIA), Mr Eddie Efekoha shall be chairing a panel discussion in which Managing Directors of some leading insurance companies are slated as panelists.

Aside speakers, most IT and Insurance companies have also indicated their interest to participate at the conference and to sponsor the event, which promises to digitally transform insurance business in Nigeria.

The Chief Executive Officer of Pinet Informatics, organiser of the conference, Engr. Lanre Ajayi, who confirmed the participation and attendance of various companies from the IT and Insurance sectors, said new technologies that would best drive Insurance development in the country would be on display during the one day conference.

The ICT and Insurance experts will gather at the Lagos Sheraton Hotel for the e-Insurance Conference with the theme: "Driving Insurance Penetration with Information and Communication Technologies." The conference is expected to bring together corporate organisations, ICT experts, insurance experts, academia, consumers of insurance products and regulators of both ICT and Insurance industries, to discuss how to use technology to deepen insurance penetration in Nigeria.

The conference, the first of its kind in the country, is been organised by Pinet Informatics Limited, Nigeria’s first Internet Service Provider, in collaboration with major stakeholders in Insurance and ICT industries.

According to Ajayi, the  Insurance  industry  is  a  vital  part  of  the  Nigerian  economy  but  the  industry  is  not  living  up  to  its full  potential saying, "there  are  less  than 1.5 million insurance policy holders in Nigeria out of a population of 170 million,  which translates to 0.9 per cent insurance penetration." 

When compared to  23 per cent  bank  accounts  penetration, 105 per cent of telephone penetration and 55 per cent of Internet penetration,  then, there  is  a  lot  of  room  for  improvement in the insurance industry and this could be achieved by deploying the right technology, Ajayi said.

"The Nigeria insurance industry  can  be  turned  around  if  the  industry transit to a technology driven one, the same way the banking industry got transformed through the infusion of information and communication technology in its service delivery processes," he said.

Ajayi who is the former President of Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), said after the conference, there would be one week training workshop on e-Insurance for staff of insurance companies.