For Africa to realize its growth potential, the continent must embrace insurance as a core pillar of financial and development policy.
Corneille Karekezi, group managing director /CEO of The African Reinsurance Corporation (Africa Re) made the remark at the recently concluded Africa CEO Forum held in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire where the reinsurance giant won the prestigious “PanAfrican Champion” Award.
He said the political leaders, regulators, and private sector actors must now move beyond advocacy to action, building the institutions, policies, and partnerships that will shape a resilient and prosperous African future”
The award highlights the role of the private sector in economic integration. It rewards an African company whose involvement throughout the continent has increased the most, specifically by increasing its presence in several regions, and implementing a consistent and coherent regional expansion strategy.
The “PanAfrican Champion” Award has come indeed to acknowledge our 49 years of efforts of fostering the African insurance and reinsurance industry, covering all the 54 African countries through our 9 offices located in all the geographic zones of the continent, paying billions of dollars in claims to replace lost assets and other economic damages in the continent and training thousands of young insurance professionals every year to build human capacity for the African insurance industry.
Read also: Africa Re grows profit to $132m on market expansion, new business acquisition
For us in Africa Re, this award is a call for perseverance in what we are doing by investing in Africa, doing business in Africa, training Africans, promoting Africa, developing Africa, protecting Africa, and leading in Africa. It reinforces our unwavering belief in the continent and the role the insurance industry can play in building macroeconomic resilience.
We dedicate this award to all African professionals including all nominees in this category. In the end, we are all winners working for the advancement of our dear continent, Africa, the cradle of humanity brimming with resources coveted by the world’s superpowers but struggling to find real partners for its development.
The “PanAfrican Champion” Award crowns more than 49 years of efforts and an exceptional 2024 financial year in our key performance metrics. We are the largest reinsurance company in Africa and the Middle East in terms of business volume. We are also the strongest based on our financial strength and credit rating from AM Best and Standard & Poor’s. With over US$ 1.2 billion in revenue, Africa Re remains an attractive and reliable Pan-African brand in Africa, the Middle East and Brazil as well as selected parts of Asia. In 2024, the Corporation also hit another milestone in net income of over US$ 132 million. Beyond the figures, Africa Re has impacted the insurance and reinsurance industry in Africa as a model of resilience, excellence, performance, and professionalism”.
