Ebere Nwoji
Leadway Assurance Company Limited has listed the relevance of data and digital channels in driving insurance market.
The insurer also said insurance companies that want to remain relevant in the nearest future must consciously create digital channels that are customer friendly, customer-centric and device ways of delighting their customers in order to position their products in the minds of the customers.
Speaking on the topic “Insurance For The Future In 2021,” at the virtual training for insurance journalists organised by Leadway Assurance Company Limited, the company’s Principal and Investment Strategy Manager, Mr. Akinyemi Alebiosu, said underwriting in the future was going to be driven by data.
He explained that data would enable companies predict losses and properly price their products.
“Data is the new oil for engine of underwriting therefore, future underwriting is going to be driven by data and analytics.
“We are getting to a point where we will be using historical records, using robotics, artificial intelligence in making decisions of pricing, type and extent of risks we take”, he said.
He noted that insurance companies of the future would seek to collect large pools of data, analyse them, try to make meaning out of it, prepare or create predictive models and at the end of the day make decisions that will make the product better.
He cited example, saying in analysing data, insurance underwriter may want to know the price point of his customers, what is their biggest concern, how will he be able to create products that meet the customers’ needs at the lowest cost .
“Because if I have a proper data, I can predict incidence of loss and properly price it and also know what their price point is.
“So at the end of the day, if we use data and analytics correctly in our underwriting process, the customer will be happy, the underwriter will be happy and all the stakeholders will benefit from the insurance ecosystem.”
Alebiosu, stated that digital channels will in future dominate insurance marketing worldwide, adding that underwriters need to consciously migrate from direct selling to digital channels that are customer friendly and customer centric.
Bayer to Organise Maize Conference.
Bayer Nigeria Limited, a subsidiary of the Bayer Group has announced plan to hold the third edition of its annual Nigeria Maize conference. This year’s conference which will be virtual is tagged: “Much More Maize,” and is scheduled for April 22nd, 2021.
Speaking ahead of the conference, the Country Sales Manager, Bayer Nigeria Ltd, Mr. Temitope Banjo, was quoted in a statement to have said the Nigeria maize conference is an initiative to bring together stakeholders in the maize agricultural value chain, to deliver innovative solutions that would help Nigerian farmers maximise their farm yields and secure their harvests from devastating disease and pests.
According to Banjo, “Nigeria is yet to reach its full potentials in terms of maize productivity, for example where a hectare of farmland in Egypt can yield up to seven metric tonnes per hectare, a farm of the same size in Nigeria only produces around 1.8 metric tonnes per hectare which is one of the lowest among the top 10 maize producers in Africa.”
He went on to say that even though Nigeria is presently the largest producer of Maize in Africa, the country is still not able to meet up with its domestic and industrial needs for the crop.
He stated that the challenges with maize production in Nigeria are mainly due to poor agronomic factors and the use of bad seeds during planting and cultivation, and there is a need to educate our farmers on how they can increase the productivity and profitability of their farms, hence the theme for this year’s conference.
Commenting on how Bayer intended to address the maize production challenges in Nigeria, the Managing Director of Bayer Nigeria Ltd., Mr. Sefihait Kone, explained that Bayer has a suite of products which is called the Bayer “Much More Maize” toolkit, specially put together to help farmers protect their crops and boost productivity of their farms from the planting phase through the harvesting stage.
“We will show how these products, if used properly have the potential to increase the profitability of their farms which translates to higher revenue for them. We hope that once all farmers imbibe these proper procedures, it will have a ripple effect on the economy and increase the food sufficiency of the country, Kone stated.”
Some of the guests and keynote speakers expected at the virtual conference include Alhaji Abubakar Bello who is the President of the Maize Association of Nigeria (MAAN); Dr. Olusegun Ojo, the Director of the National Agricultural Seed Council (NASC); as well as experts from Bayer in person of Dr. David Wangila and Dr. Joseph Kibaki
