Six Hundred Insurance Operators Set for AIO Conference in Zimbabwe

Daily Independent (Lagos)

Sola Alabadan

10 May 2011

More than 600 insurance practitioners and observers across 54 countries around the world are expected to participate at the 38th Conference and Annual General Assembly of the African Insurance Organisation (AIO) holding in Zimbabwe from the May21 to 26, 2011.

The theme of the conference is “In pursuit of the Uninsured African”.

The AIO image maker, Mr. Moki Charles Linonge, confirmed that the host country and the AIO organising committee are already prepared for the number of participants that will attend this year’s AIO.

According to him, “I can confirm that the Local Organising Committee and the AIO Secretariat are making giant strides aimed at making the conference a veritable success. Going by the reports we have from the LOC in Zimbabwe, headed by the Vice President of the AIO, Mr. Solomon Tembo, preparations are going on smoothly with no major hitches this far”.

He added that, “The affluence is quite high and this is already exerting pressure on existing accommodation facilities. Last year in The Gambia, we had 500 delegates. So far, we have close to 600 delegates registered already and from the look of things, this figure may increase because the last-minute-rush is almost becoming traditional”.

Zimbabwe’s Minister of Finance will enlighten participants on Insurance in Africa: Issues and Opportunities. Other topics to be treated include: Reaching the untapped markets: Risk perception in Africa, insurance model, the insurance product and insurance marketing in Africa; Increasing the Insurance Penetration Index in Africa: The case for Micro Insurance; Unlocking growth through strengthening the insurance regulatory framework.

The event will also feature series of meetings such as Association of African Insurance Supervisory Authorities (AAISA), Association of African Insurance Brokers (AIBA), African Life Insurers Meeting and networking on business ideas.

AIO is a non-governmental organisation recognised by many African governments, including Cameroon which has signed a headquarters agreement with it and where it has set up its permanent secretariat. The organisation was established in 1972.

AIO is the umbrella under which all the insurance operators in the continent of Africa fall. Its membership is made up of insurers and reinsurers, brokers and all intermediaries, insurance institutions and trade associations, as well as supervisory authorities.

The primary objective of the association was to promote inter-African cooperation and to develop a healthy insurance and reinsurance industry in Africa. To a great extent, the organisation has achieved this through the establishment of specialised association and the setting up of some technical pools and committees.

The AIO was formed on the same basis as that of OAU (Organisation of African Unity now African Union). It was formed by insurance operators in the continent at a time many independent African countries were leaning towards socialism.

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