BusinessDay 19 Dec 2017

18 BUSINESS DAY
C002D5556 Tuesday 19 December 2017
Marketing&Pr
‘Our target is to unlock the potentials
in Nigeria’s insurance market’
Equity Assurance Plc., now part of the SUNU Group recently launched the Equity USSD Mobile Insurance *931*11#
to deepen market penetration. The mobile platform which allows customers purchase 3rd party insurance on their
phone in less than 5 minutes provides cover against bodily injury, death, and 3rd party property damage. Seyi John
Salau engaged Moruf Apampa, MD/CEO Equity Assurance plc on the new initiative. He assured that Equity USSD Mobile
Insurance platform will ensure customers receive 3rd Party claims benefits within two days. Excerpts:
Equity Assurance’s rebuilding
process under the SUNU Group
brand name started about a year
ago; one year after how has the
experience been?
In the last one year we have been
on the rebuilding process, putting
up the necessary structures
in place with the SUNU Group.
The SUNU Group actually sees
potentials in Nigeria. I think it’s been
a very wonderful experience, taking
our parent company strategy-we
think globally but also act locally;
we are mindful of the environment
where we do our business. The SUNU
Group was set up in 1998. However,
the beauty of it is that the company
now is in 17 countries. Our vision is to
be a pan-African insurance company
which is in tandem with the SUNU
model. In Nigeria for instance, when
we resumed we realized that we need
to build capacity, which is what we
have done in the last one year. We
have done tremendous training for
our people both locally and abroad
because they are our asset.
Specifically, what are the benefits
of the partnership with the
SUNU Group?
With the SUNU Group partnership
we have worked on our processes
to a large extent to rebuild
almost everything: the way we work.
For us as an institution, adopting the
SUNU model, the structure, leveraging
technology led to the launch of
the first USSD mobile service in the
insurance sector. The first in the banking
sector was GTB. We are the first in
the insurance sector to help simplify
insurance and bring insurance services
to the doorstep of everybody.
In the last one year we have seen
tremendous improvement; last year
we made a lost but this year we have
returned the business to profitability.
Moruf Apampa
tion is usually attributed to level of
education, and the negative mindset
towards insurance. How can we
change that mindset in Nigeria?
It is all about processes. When we
came on board, what we did was to
establish a survey department, as one
of the few challenges faced in insurance
is prompt settlement of claims,
that was one of the reasons we felt
we have to proffer solutions for the
market with the USSD mobile solution,
and we will continue to come up
with more solutions that are market
driven. The reason for launching the
USSD mobile solution is to see how
we can penetrate the market to im-
We are here to make a difference.
Our focus is on service and we have
been able to differentiate ourselves
in terms of service excellence. We
are more like a broker now and to a
large extent we have repositioned the
business. On the rebranding process,
we have gotten approval from the
board to change our name by the end
of the year for full transition into the
SUNU brand.
How do you see the acceptance
level of the new SUNU brand by the
domestic market?
We are very Nigerian, we know
the domestic market, we understand
the business, and we understand our
peculiarities. So we will be wrapping
up the basic into the communication
plan, we have a holistic plan that will
run for at least a year, beginning from
January through to December of 2018.
Very soon we will be unveiling a very
thoughtful well-tailored plan that is
going to capture the essence of the
brands, so that people can understand
what the SUNU/Equity brand represents
going forward. For us it’s about
a widen value that put the customer
at the center of our strategy; everything
we do, the decision, process, the
employees we hire are hired with the
customers in mind, the facilities we acquire,
the technology we invest in, everything
we do is only for the customers,
ultimately only the customer that will
be able to verify and affirm the values
of the brand. We understand that it is
not going to happen overnight, it is not
a magic wand but with our concerted
effort, with discipline execution on the
part of the organization and with focus
on meeting customer aspirations and
needs, we understand it is only a matter
of time that the SUNU brand takes
full root and continues to grow in the
mind of our people.
The low level of market penetraprove
financial inclusion in support
of the Federal Government initiative. I
give you a case study for instance, the
Insurance company with the largest
agent has less than 3000 active agents,
the population of Nigeria is about 170
million, how many people do you
think 3000 people can address: the
number of mobile phone users in
the country today is about 120 million
people, so we felt to address that
problem we have to come up with
mobile solutions. The task on our
part is to see how we can unlock the
potentials in the market, and we are
poised to do that, because the parent
company has done that across Africa
in the last 20 years, so we will just
leverage on that success to grow the
brand in Nigeria.
How then do we maximise the
potentials in the insurance industry?
It is very easy, if you go to Marina/
Broad street, the first set of high rising
building you see were owned by
insurance companies, Nicon insurance,
Reinsurance, and the likes,
guess what happen, I think along the
line there was a missing link, there
was a gap in the 80s. I will give you a
case study, insurance business like
any other business is no longer block
business, it is now largely driven by
technology. In year 2,000, there was
a company called Blockbuster, it is
a film house. As at that time Blockbuster
was doing very well, it has cinemas
everywhere in the U.S. Another
company was formed that same year
in 2,000 called Netflix. Fast-forward
to 2010, Blockbuster declared a loss
of $1.1 billion, Netflix income rose to
$70 billion, what was the difference;
Blockbuster was building cinema
houses everywhere while Netflix
adopted a technology solution: that
you can rent and buy your film from
the comfort of your room. Netflix was
able to address a very large population.
The biggest company in this
market, like I mentioned has access
to 3000 agents, how many people do
you think 3,000 agents can reach. The
USSD solution we started has access
to 120 million mobile phone users,
so it’s left for you to now decide. The
solution is not just insurance business;
there is a scope of evolution
for new business solution evolving
globally not just in insurance even
in the banking sector. Now we are
bringing solution to the market, we
want to remain a reference point for
the insurance industry in this market.
Noah’s Ark emerges best advertising agency at 2017 LAIF Awards
ning the only Grand Prix for
“Lost”, its much acclaimed commercial
for Airtel, a repeat of
what had happened in the 2015
edition of the award. With this
development, Noah’s Ark is now
the only agency in Nigeria that
has won the LAIF Grand Prix
back-to-back. To lead the medals
table, Noah’s Ark won 1 grand
prix, 6 gold, 9 silver and 8 bronze.
Some of the campaigns that
won awards for the agency include
Airtel Lost, Three Crowns Fitness
Challenge, Airtel’s 10X and many
others.
Speaking on the remarkable
Noah’s Ark Communications
Limited, has reaffirmed
its leadership
position in the advertising
landscape in Nigeria as it
emerged the overall best creative
agency at the just concluded Lagos
Advertising Ideas Festival in Lagos.
Noah’s Ark, unarguably the
best creative agency in Nigeria was
announced as winner after beating
DDB and X3M Ideas which
emerged runners-up on the medal
table.
The highpoint of the event
came when Noah’s Ark carted
home the coveted prize by winfeat,
the MD/Chief Creative Officer
of Noah’s Ark Communications
Limited, Lanre Adisa, who
recently marked his 50th birthday
described the achievement as a
symbolic milestone, which he noted,
has come as the best birthday
gift he could ever have wished for.
Adisa described the achievement
as a big milestone for the
agency, noting that the success
would not have happened without
the support of the clients who were
willing to accept market-changing
creative ideas.
Commenting on the successful
outing, the Executive Creative
Director of the agency, Abolaji
Alausa, described the feat as a
product of immense support from
clients who have done well to hold
the agency to the highest standard.
LAIF, a brainchild of Association
of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria,
(AAAN) is a platform that seeks to
recognize creative excellence, improve
the quality of creativity and
promote the spirit of healthy competition
in the Nigerian dvertising
industry.
Other winners on the medal table
include Leo Burnet, Up in the
Sky, SO&U, 141 Worldwide, 7even
Interactive.